Attention Holiday Shoppers: Petland Tied to Puppy Mills
I led a press conference this morning, packed with television cameras at The Humane Society of the United States' headquarters in Washington, D.C., to announce the results of a new eight-month investigation into puppy mill cruelty. The HSUS investigated more than 20 Petland stores and found that these stores, part of the nation's largest puppy-selling retail chain, are selling dogs from abusive puppy mills in Missouri and across the Midwest, while assuring consumers that they only buy puppies from good breeders with the highest standards of care. Some Petland stores even buy puppies from brokers and middlemen, and may not even know who the breeder is until after the puppy arrives in the store.
Along with Stephanie Shain, director of The HSUS Stop Puppy Mills campaign, I showed a video of this new exposé, and you can watch it here. It's the largest-ever puppy mill investigation, but only the latest in a series of HSUS efforts exposing the cruelty at puppy mills, dog auctions, and pet stores across the country. There are 140 Petland stores in the U.S., selling tens of thousands of puppies each year, many procured from unscrupulous operators who treat dogs not like family pets but like a cash crop.
The Humane Society Legislative Fund is working to advance public policies that curb the worst abuses in the puppy mill industry. This year, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, and Virginia passed strong anti-puppy mill laws, and the Farm Bill passed by the U.S. Congress banned the import of young dogs from foreign puppy mills in China, Mexico, and other countries. New legislation in Congress -- the Puppy Uniform Protection Statute (PUPS), or "Baby's Bill" -- would require that dogs get 60 minutes of exercise per day rather than being confined in cages for their entire lives, and would also apply the Animal Welfare Act guidelines to puppy breeders who sell directly to the public or over the Internet and currently escape federal regulation.
But in addition to public policies, we need corporate and consumer responsibility. Petland should not perpetuate the cruel puppy mill industry, and should join leading retailers like PETCO and PetSmart who have socially responsible policies of not selling puppies in their stores and who instead work with humane societies and rescue groups to promote adoptions of homeless animals. As the holiday season approaches, which is the top puppy-buying time of year, consumers need to beware and take action. Don't be fooled by false assurances that pet store puppies come from "good breeders," when time and time again we have found the mothers of these puppies suffering in filthy, cramped cages for their entire lives.
Follow Michael Markarian on Twitter: www.twitter.com/mmarkarian
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Compare the posts here with the most recent news item on the travails of Michael Vick. Interesting.
This is kind of a "duh" article for me. I've known for many YEARS that Petland gets their puppies from puppy mills, and I've warned many, many people not to buy puppies there. I can't believe they are STILL in business, since this has been well-known about them for DECADES.
What is really really sickeningly cruel about puppy mills is how the female brood dogs are treated. They are crated their entire lives and treated like puppy birthing machines. They are literally impregnated practically after they give birth, they barely live 5 years because they die from cancer from being pregnant so often or during the birth of their umpteenth litter.
The puppies produced in these mills have many many physical and mental problems because they are not bred for disease or temperament. Puppy mills should be illegal but because of livestock laws in agricultural states like Ohio, they are considered property. That's why animal cruely laws are so backward here as well. Pretty much anyone can do whatever they want to any animal including pets and the worst charge that can be leveled is a misdemeanor which carries a very small fine.
The HSUS, ASPCA etc. have been trying to do something about that here in Ohio for a long time but because of our factory farming industry lobby is so powerful, they have yet to be successful. A boycott of Petland (which is an Ohio based company) and the Amish country (where a lot of puppy mills are located) here in Ohio might be the only motivation for the mills and Petland to change.
With all the abandoned dogs everywhere, it's such a shame to buy one !
What is there with you guys who want this or that pure breed dog ? Do you need this dog to enhance your personality ? Or to parade your social status ? Or to put the last stroke of polish on this pretty picture of your life, the nice house, the manicured lawn, the SUV, the trophy wife, and the pure breed dog ?
A dog is a living animal, as we human beings are. Consciousness hasn't appeared suddenly in our species, it exists in other species even if in a less evolved state. We should respect animals a lot more than we currently do, and stop using them as things.
Puppy mill operators should be crated. Would serve 'em right.
I got the e-mail alert from HSUS about this ugly practice and sent an e-mail to Petland. It bounced. Guess they are screening e-mail and don't want to hear what we have to say.
I will never buy a dog. There are so many wonderful animals for adoption.
See Chuck Lasker's Profile
This makes me so sad. I bought my dog a year ago from Petland. Afterwards I started hearing the rumors of their connection to puppy mills. The thought that my Petey's parents might still be in cages forced-breeding is so horrible. I hope the company simply disappears. There is no forgiveness. They knew it was wrong, and lied to cover it up. No excuses.
I have what has to be one of the finest companions ever born, a beautiful Akita Inu. He is smart, quiet, dignified, affectionate, gentle, and very alert as a guard dog when he's expected to be. People stop me when I have him out in public to say how magnificent he is as he preens and poses at the compliments.
How this well-trained and exceptional animal came to be abandoned in a pound is anyone's guess, but I could have never found a better pet or friend no matter where I looked or how much I spent. Please check the shelters, pounds and rescue groups when you need a puppy or a fully grown dog; you'll be glad you did.
I can get behind the corporate and consumer responsibility and the campaign of asking Petland to discontinue the use of puppy mills. But I feel we are going over the line when we start writing laws telling people and businesses what they can and cannot do with their property.
If you don't like how a puppy mill treats it's product, don't buy from them.
See Chuck Lasker's Profile
I don't see dogs as simple "property.
I don't see pets as "property".
Your name says it all. Right wingers have very little empathy for animals or other sentient beings.
RightWingMarine,
Some decades ago, you would have written exactly the same lines about the property of the cotton plantations.
I guess you don't agree with the laws that have been written to forbid the importation and use of slaves from Africa.
I am always so viciously maligned on here. I see humans as being different from other animals and I support the abolition of slavery and I believe that practice should be ended in those areas where it continues today.
I also believe that since slaves were property long ago that were freed via presidential will without due process that if the descendants of slaves are paid reparations, so too should the descendants of former slave holders. But that if for another article.
I like to suggest that concerned citizens gently remind their friends and neighbors that adoptions from shelters and reputable rescue groups are always a better alternative than buying. If people are confused about where to find a reputable rescue group or shelters they can log onto petfinder.
I keep trying to post this- www.TheVel
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