Petland Supports More Than Just Puppy Mills

Who was a likely repeat customer for some of the 27,000 neglected animals that were recently rescued from U.S. Global Exotics' Texas warehouse? The answer is no surprise: Petland.

On the hypocritically titled webpage Pet Welfare at Petland the company says they are "aware of the many animal welfare issues in the news today." That makes sense, considering many of the stories have to do with Petland.

As recently as June 2009, Humane Society investigators confirmed that the company continues to support puppy mills, despite class action lawsuits over selling unhealthy puppies in at least 20 states. Then there was the story last summer of Petland employees who killed two rabbits, who had injured themselves fighting in their cage, by drowning them in the sink ... and then took pictures of themselves with the dead animals.

Now there's the U.S. Global Exotics debacle. Petland's major competitors, Petco and PetSmart, were not customers of U.S. Global Exotics, although they do sell some live animals. Unlike the others, Petland is one of the few national chains that still sells puppies and, with this latest story, they've shown again and again that they make purchasing decisions that have nothing to do with the well-being of the animals. As far as Petland is concerned, animals are just products that can be bought cheaply, warehoused, and sold for a profit.

The government regulation of the pet industry, especially when it comes to exotics, is complicated, falling under the jurisdication of several different underfunded and understaffed departments. According to its website, U.S. Global Exotics was licensed with the USDA, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. Inspections, which would only happen once a year at most, couldn't accomplish much when, for example, the USDA was only there to regulate the warm-blooded animals. The judge who is hearing the case said that the evidence indicated that the warehouse wasn't violating any industry standards, so clearly the exotic pet trade doesn't compensate for the flawed oversight with self-regulation.

While local animal cruelty laws provide some protection (as they did in the recent raid on U.S. Global Exotics), it often amounts to too little, too late for the animals. Change in the exotic pet trade will most likely happen through the market. If Petland stopped selling live animals, or chose to adopt out rescued animals instead, the puppy mills and exotic pet warehouses would lose one of their biggest customers. For them, business is all about supply and demand.

Tell Petland President Frank Difatta that it's time for Petland to change its policy on selling animals in its stores. And, of course, don't spend money at pet stores that sell animals.

Photo credit: Cara B Anderson