On Monday I wrote a post on BTC4Animals, asking for help petitioning Petland USA to stop selling pets and fire puppy mills, especially after Petland Canada announced in September that they would be winding down this part of their operations. And what a great response – there are now nearly 30 bloggers who will be writing about puppy mills and Petland today! Stephanie Feldstein of Change.org kicked it off with her post late yesterday, followed shortly thereafter by Kim Clune, Lorie Huston, and Amy Burkert . That means more people will be made aware of what they are doing when they buy a pet from Petland, and how it contributes to great cruelty. It’s no small thing to keep dogs in a cage all their short lives – if you did not know, females are kept pregnant all the time, year after year, so they only last about five years. Then they are killed. When you discover these ugly things, you can’t go back, you can’t forget that you know, and knowing changes everything.
Debbie Jacobs, well-known certified trainer of fearful dogs, passed this news along: according to a new study conducted by the University of Pennsylvania Veterinary School of Medicine in conjunction with Best Friends Animal Society, “dogs in puppy mills suffer long-lasting, severe psychological harm.” The study worked with 1,100 dogs and the findings will be published in the journal Applied Animal Behavior Science. It’s not just unauthoritative opinion now, although those who work in the industry have known this to be true. And if you want a great definition of a puppy mill, it’s in that document – being a clean well-lit facility doesn’t change the facts.
Petland USA turns a blind eye to what their puppy mill centric business model is costing the animals, used as no more than commodities. They are in business only for profit, not for good customer relations. I am not damning the entire franchise, only corporate leadership. If you read what Canadian Jen K, writer of Back Alley Soap Box, has to say about her experience testing Petland Canada’s recent announcement, you will not come away with the idea that corporate Petland is concerned about animals.
There are plenty of individual franchisees I am sure who wonder if it would create too much hardship to change their business model. They only need ask Eric and Marcie Caplan who converted their Petland PA store not quite a year ago and have adopted out more than 240 animals and are pleased with all the community support they get. I am sure there are more examples out there.
Late tonight I got an update from Kim Clune, co-founder of BTC4Animals. It seems that Lucy Postins, Founder and President of The Honest Kitchen has pulled advertising dollars from Pet Age, an industry magazine, after an editorial asking the industry to “ban together” to fight for their right to sell pets at retail stores – in other words they want the right to perpetuate the cruelty of puppy mills. The Honest Kitchen takes a strong stance against puppy mills, and her letter to the editor will make you want to jump out of your seat and cheer! I was so gratified that she took the time to refer people to BTC4Animals to sign the petition.
If you’ve written something about puppy mills and Petland for this campaign, please sign into the Linky List Below the petition with your permalink – and you have my deep regard and great thanks for your participation in this effort!
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