Animal Planet Investigates PETLAND

[dragonfiregeckos]

HSUS is engaging in borderline criminal behavior. Sorry, but it's the truth. In some cases, it's outright criminal behavior.

I'm all for shutting down anyone who is abusing/neglecting their animals, whether they have one or two hundred. I'm NOT in favor of shutting down a person who happens to breed dogs for a living, or seizing the animals from someone just because they have XX dogs. HSUS has done both. They are also very fond of swooping in and seizing dogs, holding them for the photo ops, then dumping them onto the local rescues and pounds and rushing off to collect a bunch of donations to help support "all our work in helping these poor poor animals!". In the meantime, the local rescues have a ton of animals with little to no support finiancially.

The very fact that HSUS is pushing to get the bans passed tells me the organization is in favor of outlawing pets.

Actually this lady who had the puppy mill kept them in rabbit cages, and some dogs has bad sores on thier feet. the mother dog to my lil one i have from there had to have a leg amputated cuz it had infection so bad that it was on the verge of gangreen... I do have to beg the differ... myself and the other rescues stepped foward to take the dogs in... there are limited shelters here in west virginia and half of them refused to accept any of the dogs... There was complaints about the ammonia and fecal smells as that was not a lightly populated area and you could smell the ammonia before ever seeing the place... some of the cages i emptied had no water bowls, no food, and was nasty... they only caught the some better looking cages on film as the others were not so viewer friendly... we had one female who had a litter of pups and all 6 puppies were dead and had been in the cage for a few days.. But i aint trying to start anything on here but people misjudge orgs sometimes... the hsus rescuers are no different than the people on animal cops...

[Jay_Bunny]

HSUS is engaging in borderline criminal behavior. Sorry, but it's the truth. In some cases, it's outright criminal behavior.

I'm all for shutting down anyone who is abusing/neglecting their animals, whether they have one or two hundred. I'm NOT in favor of shutting down a person who happens to breed dogs for a living, or seizing the animals from someone just because they have XX dogs. HSUS has done both. They are also very fond of swooping in and seizing dogs, holding them for the photo ops, then dumping them onto the local rescues and pounds and rushing off to collect a bunch of donations to help support "all our work in helping these poor poor animals!". In the meantime, the local rescues have a ton of animals with little to no support finiancially.

The very fact that HSUS is pushing to get the bans passed tells me the organization is in favor of outlawing pets.

I'm not directing any of this at YOU as a volunteer in helping in cruelty cases. Just wanted to put my opinon on the topics in. I'm glad that neglected and abused dogs have people like you to help them in their time of need. I've helped my fair share of neglected dogs, fostered a bunch, all on my own dime. It's a hard thing to do.

Often times though, people that have their dogs taken away because they have X number of dogs are usually people that are breaking local laws. I know that here where I live you have to get a kennel license and all sorts of things and even then I think you are limited to how many dogs you can have. If you go over that number, you are technically breaking the law.

I may not agree with it, but the law is the law. Now that is not the case every time. I'm sure there are some breeders and people who keep dogs and take very good care of them.

[wolfy-hound]

Of course there are bad ones. Just like there's bad people who keep snakes and starve them or let them die of cold because they won't heat them in winter, or just don't care.

That wouldn't make it right for HSUS to come barging into one of our houses and confiscate all our snakes just because we have over say.. 20 snakes.

If someone is breaking the law, obviously they are to be held accountable. If it's over the limit of dogs, or neglecting them, or fighting them.. then the law is perfectly in line to come in and make things right.

HSUS has gone into places and screwed the people over royally in order to grab a few headlines and funds. Maybe not every time, but they've done it before, and god knows they'll do it again. They've seized animals from a place while admitting in print that 'the dogs were not in bad shape', and it ended up being a illegal seizure, and they STILL dumped all the animals on local shelters without offering any of their 100 million dollars to support their care.

HSUS is a private organization who tries to act like they have full authority of the police. I'll never support them. I'll support my local rescue or shelter when they have to deal with the fallout, but NEVER HSUS.

[Ginevive]

Of course there are bad ones. Just like there's bad people who keep snakes and starve them or let them die of cold because they won't heat them in winter, or just don't care.

That wouldn't make it right for HSUS to come barging into one of our houses and confiscate all our snakes just because we have over say.. 20 snakes.

If someone is breaking the law, obviously they are to be held accountable. If it's over the limit of dogs, or neglecting them, or fighting them.. then the law is perfectly in line to come in and make things right.

HSUS has gone into places and screwed the people over royally in order to grab a few headlines and funds. Maybe not every time, but they've done it before, and god knows they'll do it again. They've seized animals from a place while admitting in print that 'the dogs were not in bad shape', and it ended up being a illegal seizure, and they STILL dumped all the animals on local shelters without offering any of their 100 million dollars to support their care.

HSUS is a private organization who tries to act like they have full authority of the police. I'll never support them. I'll support my local rescue or shelter when they have to deal with the fallout, but NEVER HSUS.

So true.

I have only ever been to one Petland. But that store was clean, with healthy animals, and no dogs/cats for sale. I had no problem with it.

Many people are so upset about chain stores, just because they are chain stores. I have seen very bad private mom n' pop stores just as well.

And the HSUS.. you said it Wolfy.

[wolfy-hound]

Oh yes!! The "mom and pop" store local to me is horrid when it comes to the puppies.. but their reptiles and fish are actually set up well. And they DO get most(I can't confirm ALL of the pups origins) of the puppies from local breeders, they just mark the price up to make a profit. But the pups are always not groomed, with matted fur and such. I haven't heard anyone say the puppies were sick there, and trust me, around here they'd gripe loudly.

The Petland I do remember being local(no idea if it's still there, I moved from that city) was always very clean, the animals were always clean and healthy looking, including the puppies, which the staff took to a small room to play with a few times a day so they didn't stay in kennels all the time. They had a display play area set up with tons of shredded paper to play in, and it was over-all a good looking store(with typically high petstore prices on everything).

I don't know where that particular Petland got their pups, but they were healthy good looking pups. This was a few(cough several cough) years ago, and it might have been only one store, but it was a good petstore.

Just goes to show you, not all chains are bad, not all small independants are good. Not all large scale breeders are "puppy mills" and not all small breeders care for their dogs. It's better to prosecute those that are breaking laws and abusing the animals, rather than making labels of "puppy mill" or "stock breeder" and accusing ALL of them of being abusive neglectful evil people.

There used to be tons of breeders that owned large scale places. HAving a 100 dachunds or 200 german shepards wasn't unheard of. Kept in proper space, cleaned and fed and watered... there's nothing wrong with a place that keeps a lot of animals. If someone has ONE dog chained in the backyard starving, hit THEM. If they have 100 dogs all clean and well cared for, leave them alone.

Labeling people with terms like "puppy mill" is ridiculous. What definition is puppy mill referring to? A place that makes money by breeding dogs? Or a place that neglects dogs? Any place with over XX dogs? A lot of people want to say things like "Oh, a puppy mill is a place where they breed dogs for profit without caring for the dogs!" but then you'll see places labeled a puppy mill because they breed dogs as a business, whether or not they care for the dogs properly... while "no kill" shelters are touted as wonderful places, even if they are full of dogs that should be humanely euthanized so they won't be suffering from chronic painful ailments or locked into a kennel for years due to un-resolvable behavioral problems.

Similiar to people who shout "It's the Deed, not the Breed" about not blaming all pit bulls for the actions of a few, don't try to villify all dog breeders just because they breed dogs.

[Shyshoos]

So true.

I have only ever been to one Petland. But that store was clean, with healthy animals, and no dogs/cats for sale. I had no problem with it.

Many people are so upset about chain stores, just because they are chain stores. I have seen very bad private mom n' pop stores just as well.

And the HSUS.. you said it Wolfy.

Not all Petland stores sell puppies, let alone kittens, but I've been to many that do. The local Petland here won't even tell you who you get your puppy from until you initiate a purchase (I say purchase, not adoption). Legally they have to tell you who they supply the puppies from, but when I just asked who the puppies were bought from they told me 'that's confidential information' and were very abrupt with me. As if I was trying to investigate them myself. I was simply a customer but they treated me as if I was suspecting something.

THAT is suspicious enough. Customer's have every right to know where their puppies are being purchased, and it's perfectly okay if they are buying from reputable breeders.

However I do not even agree with pet stores buying from breeders. That should be the breeders job alone, while pet stores may supply all your pet needs and support humane society's and shelters with what they already need adopted. Breeders don't need the help, so why do some franchise pet stores supply puppies? Because they're not looking out for animals interest, they're looking out for themselves.

I haven't been to -every- Petland, Petco, and Petsmart in the world, but I've lived all over the united states and I've seen plenty of Petland's who sell pure bred puppies, and I've seen plenty of Petsmart stores who sell kittens from shelters. I've worked at a humane society and Petco let us set up a station in their store to help adopt out kittens and puppies. So Petland in my opinion is sketchy.

HSUS may not always do everything right, they may not do what everyone wants them to do the way they want them to do it, but there isn't a lot of organization out there that help animals. They help a lot more than they DO NOT.

[BPelizabeth]

HSUS may not always do everything right, they may not do what everyone wants them to do the way they want them to do it, but there isn't a lot of organization out there that help animals. They help a lot more than they DO NOT.

I tend to disagree with this statement as it has been proven already that little to NO money that they make goes to any of their local shelters. Most goes to lobbiests and commercials and to pay their corp. heads. Pretty sad when you think you are sending in money to help animals ....what you are really doing is funding the laws they are trying to get passed.

[Shyshoos]

Just goes to show you, not all chains are bad, not all small independants are good. Not all large scale breeders are "puppy mills" and not all small breeders care for their dogs. It's better to prosecute those that are breaking laws and abusing the animals, rather than making labels of "puppy mill" or "stock breeder" and accusing ALL of them of being abusive neglectful evil people.

There used to be tons of breeders that owned large scale places. HAving a 100 dachunds or 200 german shepards wasn't unheard of. Kept in proper space, cleaned and fed and watered... there's nothing wrong with a place that keeps a lot of animals. If someone has ONE dog chained in the backyard starving, hit THEM. If they have 100 dogs all clean and well cared for, leave them alone.

Labeling people with terms like "puppy mill" is ridiculous. What definition is puppy mill referring to? A place that makes money by breeding dogs? Or a place that neglects dogs? Any place with over XX dogs? A lot of people want to say things like "Oh, a puppy mill is a place where they breed dogs for profit without caring for the dogs!" but then you'll see places labeled a puppy mill because they breed dogs as a business, whether or not they care for the dogs properly... while "no kill" shelters are touted as wonderful places, even if they are full of dogs that should be humanely euthanized so they won't be suffering from chronic painful ailments or locked into a kennel for years due to un-resolvable behavioral problems.

The reason why Petland is being spotlighted and not these 'mom and pop stores' is because it doesn't take much work to shut down a mom and pop store for neglecting animals. It just takes a rally of people to stand out front and expose them, and likely their business will go down the drain.

Petland however is a huge company who, even if rallied against, won't take my damage from a meager protest outside of ONE of their stores all over the united states. So they are being put into the national spotlight so everyone can see what they have been suspected of. There will be live footage and proof, for the animals sake.

I'm not sure what you're trying to say about the 100 dogs who are healthy with one starved and chained dog in a background statement. Did this happen? That's sad if it did.

A puppy mill is a place where puppies are mass produced, females and males are used just for breeding, and neither adult females, males, and puppies are given any human socialization and ethical treatment. They are generally kept in crates either made of wire or wood, they are given water and food as they need it (sometimes through automatic feeders so the breeders don't even need to interact with them), and it's not uncommon that they are kept to play and sleep in their own feces. Veterinarian care is little to none. This is a puppy mill. And yes, they are usually housing TONS of puppies. And when an adult dog who's being used to breed cannot breed anymore, it is sent to a humane society/shelter/or pound.

No kill shelters are by far a lot better places than puppy mills. You really need to get your facts straight. Shelters have people who take care of the animals in all aspects: cleaning, playing, walking them. Some cannot afford extensive veterinarian care, but most will offer what they can (some a lot more than others, some at a minimum, but they a good shelter will not sell you an animal they know has a disease, like heart worms, without at least informing the person wanting to adopt). It sounds like you're also refering to a pound, not a humane society or shelter. But shelters and humane society's aren't owned by a corporation, so they are all run differently. But if you were to walk into a humane society, and then walk into a puppy mill, you wouldn't be making those claims that there is basically no difference or that a humane society is hardly any better.

[BuckeyeBalls]

I tend to disagree with this statement as it has been proven already that little to NO money that they make goes to any of their local shelters. Most goes to lobbiests and commercials and to pay their corp. heads. Pretty sad when you think you are sending in money to help animals ....what you are really doing is funding the laws they are trying to get passed.

x2

None of it helps the animals. Well take that back VERY LITTLE helps the animals

[Shyshoos]

I tend to disagree with this statement as it has been proven already that little to NO money that they make goes to any of their local shelters. Most goes to lobbiests and commercials and to pay their corp. heads. Pretty sad when you think you are sending in money to help animals ....what you are really doing is funding the laws they are trying to get passed.

Like I said, they may not do everything right, and I agree their financial spending is wacky.