Call to Action: Petland USA Says It Will Continue Selling Pets

This is a guest blog post written by Mary Haight, who owns the Dancing Dog Blog and launched the campaign on Change.org calling on Petland USA to stop selling pets.

Stocking more than 150 stores across the US with puppies of all breeds is a model responsible for causing pain, suffering and death. Breeding females are locked in cages until they can no longer breed, around 5 years, and are then killed. Even if a change from the top in a franchise-structured company affects only corporate stores, the intent to do no harm is a clarion call that every company should want to take up, especially one that deals directly with living things.

Sadly, Petland is not interested.

After more than 45,000 people joined my campaign on Change.org calling on Petland USA to stop supporting puppy mills, I sent questions to the company’s headquarters, and the answers received do not recognize the pain and suffering factory farming of family pets inflicts.

Sometimes pictures can be more effective than words. Since they have the power to help stop this, remind Petland USA what breeder puppy mill dogs look like.  Estimates report there are more than a million of them trapped in hopeless lives.

We need your help THIS WEEKEND with this simple action. It should only take 10 minutes of your time:

1) Download the images in this blog post to your computer (right-click and “save as”).

2) Post these images to your Facebook profile and ask your network to share.

3) Post these images to the wall of the following Petland franchise FB pages:

Chilicothe, OH - http://www.facebook.com/PetlandChillicothe

Naperville, IL - http://www.facebook.com/petlandnaperville

Chicago Ridge, IL - http://www.facebook.com/PetlandChicagoRidge

Laredo, TX - http://www.facebook.com/PetlandLaredo

Cicero, NY - http://www.facebook.com/PetlandofCicero

St. Paul, MN - http://www.facebook.com/pages/Petland-St-Paul/152617481423032

Racine, WI - http://www.facebook.com/PetlandRacine?sk=wall

Las Vegas - http://www.facebook.com/PetlandLasVegas

4) If you have a blog, please re-post these instructions and share widely! If not, then please email your networks with a link to this blog post.

How responsible is Petland Corporate for the animal welfare in their franchise stores? It depends what you’re asking.

The company lays claim to the Adopt-a-Pet program, calling it “a national Petland program in which stores help their communities find homes for abandoned or unwanted pets.” They were also sure to mention that the company has a Director of Animal Welfare Education who visits USDA-licensed breeders to make sure “certain standards are maintained.”

But once you question those standards, “Petland stores are individually owned and operated and responsible for visiting and choosing where they select their puppies.”

According to Petland’s rep, blame cannot be laid at the feet of Corporate Headquarters. Yet while that is a technicality, it is not actually true. It’s an issue of leadership.

Petland Corporate boasts that it’s been “a leader in the pet industry” for 45 years. So why not lead? The question I had from a business perspective was why keep selling pets when pet stores who have converted say the money is in the supplies?  Petland claims that is not true for them, but ignored my follow-up asking for specifics on their pet sales.

However, they were quick to turn the blame around, referring back to their belief that people interested in the welfare of animals have a desire to get rid of the idea of having pets, while at the same time, falsely accusing pet lovers like the tens of thousands who have signed the petition on Change.org, of spending too much time “targeting responsible pet stores like Petland” and ignoring other issues in the pet trade.

Petland's franchise structure is an opportunity for local stores to pressure corporate by choosing to do the right thing, as some stores already are. That's why we're targeting some of their most prominent local franchises on Facebook.

Join in the weekend social media campaign to show Petland why we are completely for and about the care and welfare of the animals, and they should be, too.