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To continue the message of yesterday’s post, puppy mills are one of the biggest problems facing animal welfare activists as well as the poor animals being born and bred within the confines of a puppy mill. Unfortunately, there are a lot of pet stores out there who care less about an animals well being and more about their bottom line. These pet stores are the ones most likely buying puppies fro puppy mills to sell and keeping puppy mills in business. One such chain of pet stores, and a notorious one at that, is Petland, and the main topic of today’s post.
Recently, the Canadian branch of Petland decided, after having many a store picketed and lots of towns and cities changing legislation regarding the sale of animals in stores, to change their policy (ETA: It seems they aren’t jumping on the no pet sales bandwagon as fast as we hope). As of September 9th, Petland Canada vowed to no longer sell animals in their stores. Unfortunately, Petland USA did not decide to follow suit.
According to an investigation done by the Humane Society of the United States (again, as stated yesterday, neither my human nor I agree with a lot of what the HSUS does such as not being as upfront about where their money goes, their relationship with Michael Vick, or their animal rights fanaticism, but they do have a lot of valuable information and current investigations involving puppy mills), Petland USA gets 95% of the dogs they sell from puppy mills. It’s a shocking percentage from a chain of stores that claims they “make the health and well-being of our pets our #1 priority” and that they “come from professional and hobby breeders who have years of experiencing in raising quality family pets.” There are already a few Petlands in the US (Pennsylvania to be exact) who are ahead of the pack and have started to only adopt out animals from local shelters.
But what can you do? Well, you can start by signing and sharing this petition that has been started by Mary Haight of Dancing Dog Blog. You can also write your displeasure about Petland being in the pocket of puppy mills on their facebook and twitter pages (or tweet the following on your twitter account: “Tell @Petland USA to Stop Selling Pets! Sign the Petition: http://chn.ge/qT2HNs #BTC4A #Change”). If you have a blog, step on your soap box and spread the word. But most importantly, don’t buy from Petland! If you have ever shopped, or do still shop at a Petland, even if it’s for dog food, cat food, toys, etc, stop until they stop selling dogs from puppy mills! You vote with your dollar and by giving money to Petland you are telling them you are okay with what they are doing.
For more information about the Stop Petland USA Blog the Change Day, please visit the Be the Change for Animals site.
Happy tail wags!
