WASHINGTON — Today during a news conference, The Humane Society of the United States revealed the results of an 8-month investigation into Petland Inc., the country's largest chain of puppy-selling pet stores. The results reveal that many Petland stores across the country are supporting cruel puppy mills, even while telling unsuspecting customers that the dogs come only from good breeders.
There are approximately 140 Petland stores in the U.S., selling tens of thousands of puppies each year. In the largest-ever puppy mill investigation, HSUS investigators visited 21 Petland stores and 35 breeders and brokers who sold puppies to Petland stores. Investigators also reviewed interstate import records of an additional 322 breeders, USDA reports and more than 17,000 individual puppies linked to Petland stores.
According to Stephanie Shain, director of The HSUS Stop Puppy Mills Campaign, "Petland stores investigated by The Humane Society of the United States are perpetuating the abusive puppy mill industry, where dogs are treated not like pets, but like a cash crop. They know that consumers won't stand for the cruelty inherent in mass-breeding facilities, so they make outrageous claims to hide the reality that the dogs came from puppy mills. People have a right to know exactly what they are buying, but the real victims are the breeding dogs who are confined to life in a cage for as long as people are duped into buying their puppies."
This is the latest in a series of HSUS investigations exposing abuses at puppy mills, dog auctions and pet stores around the country. The new Petland investigation revealed:
- Despite assurances by Petland staff and on their corporate website that the company knows its breeders and deals only with those who have "the highest standards of pet care," many Petland puppies come from massive commercial breeders in Missouri and other Midwestern states, where hundreds of breeding dogs are packed into cramped, barren cages — often for their entire lives, with no socialization, exercise or human interaction.
- When HSUS investigators visited 35 of the large-scale breeding operations linked to Petland stores, they witnessed puppy mills where puppies are factory farmed in large numbers. At many, investigators saw appalling conditions: puppies living in filthy, barren cages reeking of urine, with inadequate care and socialization.
- Many of Petland's puppies are not supplied directly by breeders, but are purchased from a "middle man" — large-scale "pet distributors," otherwise known as brokers — showing that the company may not even know who the breeders are or what their standards of care may be like. The investigation revealed that some of Petland's brokers are also buying from puppy mills.
- Some of Petland's puppies are ordered online using a pet auction website called the Pet Board of Trade, demonstrating that many Petland stores are not screening breeders as its website claims. In fact, in some cases they may not even know the breeder's name until after purchase.
- One of the most common sales pitches made by Petland staff is that they use "USDA licensed" breeders. However, investigators reviewed publicly available state and USDA inspection reports for more than 100 Petland breeders and found more than 60 percent of the reports listed serious violations of basic animal care regulations. Many USDA breeders exhibit a long history of substandard care and yet remained licensed. While USDA regulations are minimal, some of the Petland breeders are not even complying with these basic animal welfare standards.
- Documented USDA violations at some of Petland's breeders and suppliers included dirty, unkempt enclosures; inadequate shelter from the cold; dogs kept in too-small cages; and inadequate veterinary care. Some of the breeders were found with sick or dead dogs in their cages.
Puppy mills are a source of unbearable cruelty where breeding animals are kept in tiny cages without any socialization for the sole purpose of supplying pet stores and the Internet market with puppies. The HSUS urges all of its members and supporters to spread the word about the great suffering associated with these mills, which also contribute to tragic pet overpopulation.
The HSUS has broadcast-quality video and photos available from this investigation for viewing and download by news media outlets at video.hsus.org.
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The Humane Society of the United States is the nation's largest animal protection organization — backed by 10.5 million Americans, or one of every 30. For more than a half-century, The HSUS has been fighting for the protection of all animals through advocacy, education, and hands-on programs. Celebrating animals and confronting cruelty — On the web at humanesociety.org.
