Unfortunately, seizures of animals used to be commonplace, but as of the last five years, it has become less common. In San Diego, for example, the city actually made an illegal law--and the city attorney I spoke to even agreed the law was illegal. The City passed a ridiculous law which only allowed animal control, rescues, and non profit groups to "sell" animals? The law as written (and I doubt it has NOT been changed) clearly violates the Cartright Act and I believe it enables a potential vertical restraint as applied.
Further, statewide, activists got a law passed which states that only the groups named above (shelters, rescues, 501c3, non profit etc) can sell basically any animal they want, but a pet store in many jurisdictions, cannot do the same? In other words, in CA, one would have to buy (let's say a cat or dog) from a breeder or a private person, but NOT a pet store? The claimed reason for this is because activists believe the sale of pets is really not legal unless THEY do it, then they can sell anything THEY want? Which is why such groups get to sell anything they want inside pet stores while the pet stores themselves cannot do the same??
As for emotional support animals, if sufficiently bolstered by the right data and procedures, this can usually be accomplished. If this is not allowed, it is possible to sue the entity for failure to adhere to the CA law. There is at least one CA published opnion on this. If you have or know someone with an animal who has a legal issue, please feel free to have the person contact me.
