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November 20, 2008
ALBUQUERQUE — The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) broke news this morning of its eight-month investigation of Petland stores, the country's number one retailer for puppies born in puppy mills: breeding facilities where dogs are treated like a commodity and warehoused in cages that they never leave, except to be bred.
The largest concentration of puppy mills that Petland buys from are located in Missouri and the Midwest in general. Puppies are routinely shipped many hundreds of miles to their pristine store windows, leaving behind their parents to languish in squalid wire cages surrounded by the stench of urine and the mess of feces, and often hundreds of other captive dogs, all barking for attention. They are treated as merchandise, and not as the social animals that most people appreciate and love.
Petland represents puppy mills' best customer, according to the HSUS. New Mexico's relatively new Petland store is located in Rio Rancho.
HSUS Executive Vice President for External Affairs, Michael Markarian, stated that customers who ask at Petland stores about the conditions the store's puppies were born in always hear a standard response, such as, they deal only with reputable breeders who maintain "the highest standards of pet care." The investigation proves the fraud being visited upon the public every day at Petland stores.
"When the public buys animals from a shop like Petland rather than adopting from New Mexico shelters, they are supporting puppy mills and their hideous living conditions," states Animal Protection of New Mexico Executive Director Elisabeth Jennings. "New Mexico's animal shelters take in more than 120,000 animals every year. More than half of them have to be euthanized because there are not enough homes for shelter dogs and cats."
Petland stores visited by investigators are located in Florida, Indiana, Minnesota, Nevada and Ohio. The HSUS tracked almost 17,000 puppies from 322 different suppliers, and visited 35 breeding and brokering operations in the course of its investigation. In total they documented the sources of puppies sold to 76 different Petland stores, including stores in Louisiana, Michigan, Texas, Kansas and Illinois.
"This investigation of puppies sold in pet stores like Petland reveals many victims," states APNM Legislative Director Heather Ferguson. "Families who buy pet store puppies often take them home and find them unhealthy. Ironically, the healthy animals at community shelters and rescue organizations go unadopted, and suffer a high rate of euthanasia."
Ferguson urges the public to do their part to shut down the cruel puppy mill enterprise and adopt only from shelters and rescues.
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ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:
Animal Humane Association of New Mexico
Peggy Weigle, Executive Director
505-620-6554 cell
Please see HSUS Video:
video.hsus.org
Humane Society of the United States – Petland Investigation – November 2008 (pdf)
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