Sunday, September 18, 2011

Canadian Petland Stores to Stop Selling Puppies and Kittens

Canadian Petland Stores to Stop Selling Puppies and Kittens

September 15, 2011, 12:24PM MT
By Cathy Scott, Best Friends staff writer

Pet store chain decides to follow a humane model and work with animal rescue groups

The Petland chain is phasing out selling puppies and kittens in its stores across Canada, giving hope to those in animal welfare that it is a continuing trend. The decision marks the second Canadian chain in recent weeks to make the humane move, with PJ’s Pets recently stopping its sales of puppies and kittens.

In its announcement, Petland said it was phasing out sales at its 50-some stores in Canada. Petlands in the U.S., however, according to the chain’s corporate office, are not participating.

Elizabeth Oreck, national manager of Best Friends’ puppy mill initiatives, lauds the move. “The fact that Canada is taking such progressive steps to address the puppy mill issue,” she said, “is a really good indication that the world is taking notice of the puppy mill-pet store connection.”

That’s because it is widely believed that overpopulation and abandonment at animal shelters is made worse because of pet stores being supplied by puppy mills, where dogs are bred for profit in inhumane conditions.

“Pet stores in the U.S. have been on the same track,” Elizabeth continues, “and I believe that once the Canadian Petlands demonstrate that a pet store can be successful without supporting puppy mills, their U.S. stores will follow.”

In place of selling pets, the stores plan to instead 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.

Petland chief operating officer Robert Brissette, in a statement released to the media, did not acknowledge ethical reasons for phasing out the sales. Instead, he said it was, in part, because of a decline in store sales caused by people shopping online instead of in stores.

“Our business decision to end these sales was a tough one and was based on business fundamentals,” he said. That decision “reflects the fundamental change in the way consumers are sourcing and purchasing puppies, resulting in a decrease of sales within pet stores.”

Lorne Terrault, with Paradise Pet Centre in St. Albert, said he is proud to be at the head of the trend, rallying to make it happen. “It makes me feel great that we were at the start of this," Terrault told CBC Canada, noting that he was motivated by concerns about animal treatment. "We've found, so far, that it hasn't hurt our business. If anything, we're having more people coming in."

Source: http://network.bestfriends.org/17654/news.aspx

3 comments:

  1. It's a little sad when people like Elizabeth claim rumors as facts and be taken seriously. It's like she never left the high school mentality where kids were forced to change themselves on rumors that everyone knew were ridiculous but of course since the rumors existed everyone thought it was because of that the change happens. You want to stop puppy mills how about stopping the puppy mills? Not the people who are already making a difference. You know how you know Petland Canada never used puppy mills? When you ask if they can get a breed of dog in they tell you no, because all their puppies are sourced through local reputable breeders. I don't know about you, but every time I went in to Petland they had pretty much all crosses. If I bought a puppy from a mill I'd at least expect it to be a purebred, there's more money in that and that's what you're claiming it's all about. I've been in to several stores and as long as you're not being an idiot they're more than happy to take you in to the back and show you everything. One of the managers even offered to take me out to meet one person he was doing a house visit for to see if he wanted those puppies. But like I said, it's a shame when irrational people like Elizabeth can make wild accusations without any evidence what so ever and actually get somewhere with it... and also getting so many followers to make a difference against people who are making progress with the problems (actually I think that happened in Germany once). Now instead of going to a pet store and getting a guaranteed healthy puppy you have to go online and hope for the best. Hope that if something happens the breeder doesn't just disappear or say "sorry, nothing we can do". I guess to sum this all up, an idiot started a rumor because of bad service, people took the rumor as fact without any trace of evidence at all. And now a country is forced to suffer because of one idiot and the many idiot followers. Watch that CBC special again on puppy mills, they never once mention Petland, they mention every other pet store except Petland, it's kind of a big one to leave out if you ask me... Guess they couldn't find a shred of evidence they could manipulate in to anything to do with a puppy mill. But they were smart. Using Robert Brisette for their Pijac interview so that people assumed Petland was part of it. But he does work for Petland and would know nothing about where PJ's gets their puppies (those are the kind of company secrets that they don't share with competition, kind of necessary to run a big business). It's like condemning Superstore because you got a rotten grape at Sobey's (or vice versa), it's just stupid.

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  2. "Jason Geschwind" is associated with Construction 25, LLC and holds several roles such as President and Chief Executive Officer and is located in Saint Paul, MN

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  3. The breeders are now getting tons of calls from Canada I had a women drive from north of Toronto and buy 3 puppies of course at a premium price.In the end the average consumer is going to be paying a huge price and driving 9 hrs or more for a puppy that she could have gotten down the street and be able to address any problems with a local vendor instead of someone in another country who may or maynot be honest luckily for her she dealt with me and I guarantee my puppies,but some breeders will take advantage.Idiot animal activists subject the public in Canada to more of their stupidity!Hello

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