Tell Petland USA to Stop Selling Animals

Petland Inc. has long been under fire for selling puppy mill dogs. In 2008, the Humane Society of the United States revealed the results of an eight month investigation, which indicated that many Petland stores across the country were supporting cruel puppy mills, even while telling unsuspecting customers that the dogs came from good breeders.

In March 2009, HSUS filed a class action suit against Petland for selling unhealthy puppy mill dogs in at least 20 states. A follow-up investigation in June 2009 revealed that more than 95% of Petland stores continued selling puppy mill dogs with over 15,000 puppies traced to massive commercial puppy brokers.

In May 2010, Animal Planet aired the documentary Animal Planet Investigates: Petland, which clearly showed the grim connection between puppy mills and pet stores.

Thousands of people have supported the HSUS Stop Puppy Mills campaign by signing the petition and peacefully protesting outside of Petland stores. Although Petland Inc. has been slow to respond, there has been some movement made by individual store owners.

In November 2010, the East Liberty Petland store located in Pittsburgh, PA announced that they would no longer sell puppies from commercial breeders. Instead, they would offer puppies, cats and kittens from two local animal shelters. The owners made the decision after two years of having local animal advocates hold frequent demonstrations outside their store and upon hearing that a Petland store in Texas had success selling shelter animals.

Recently, Petland Inc. announced that it would begin phasing out selling puppies and kittens in its 50-some stores across Canada. In place of selling pets, the stores plan to work with and help animal rescue groups by having adoption events at their locations and even taking in rescued pets at the stores to adopt out. However, Petland stores in the U.S. are not participating in the phase out.

As a concerned animal lover and member of the Be the Change for Animals Team, I am asking you to participate in Blog the Change Day this Saturday, October 15. We will rally around this cause - asking Petland USA to stop selling animals in their stores and fire puppy mills! I hope you will join us.

Image via morgefile.com