Pets Plus stops selling animals raised in puppy mills
A Philadelphia-area pet store chain has joined a program of The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) to stop selling commercially raised animals from puppy mills and to save lives.
Puppy mills notoriously breed puppies in “horrendous” places and the puppies when rescued are in terrible health, have mangled hair, are malnourished and, in many cases, are injured, according to John Moyer, outreach coordinator of The HSUS Puppy Mills Campaign.
Four of nine locations in the Pets Plus chain have been converted into stores that offer puppies for adoption. They are: Jenkintown, Lansdale, Conshohocken and Northeast Philadelphia. An additional five stores are slated to be converted: Quakertown; Bensalem; Fairless Hills; Delran, N.J.; and Lawrenceville, N.J.
Pets Plus offers adoption contracts to people. Background checks are done and they ask for a veterinarian’s review. If the dog is ever needed to be surrendered, the Philadelphia SPCA will take it back so it will not be euthanized. There may be a situation where someone is moving out of state or perhaps a senior citizen is moving into housing and cannot take them to their new home.
The puppies, which are adopted through Pets Plus, are rescued by HSUS from facilities in Kentucky. Also, the company has a new partnership with a New Jersey resident who goes to Georgia herself and saves puppies. Her organization is called Animal Aid of New Jersey. Soon, Pets Plus and the SPCA will work with the state of Pennsylvania to save puppies’ lives.
There are so many puppies, they would otherwise be euthanized.
Bruce Smith, who co-owns Pets Plus with Mark Araeia, said he was compelled to switch over to adopting animals to his patrons instead of selling them because of a meeting he had with Moyer.
“He told me how many puppies in the South were being euthanized every day,” Smith said. “Once I found out that puppies were being euthanized, I agreed to move forward with the program and that we would help to save lives.”
The reaction from the public has been “huge,” Smith said. “Our Facebook has been getting ‘Thank-yous’ all over the place. We’re getting thank you letters written to us personally and we also have been getting new customers who support us.”
He noted some people did not stop in Pets Plus stores before and would not support them because they sold animals from puppy mills. Now, there is more incentive for those folks to come in. More people are going to the stores as a result of the adoption model.
“Now they are supporting us 100 percent,” Smith said. “We are very excited.
“We are in the process of moving the whole chain forward with this program,” Smith continued, noting they are investing money in their stores during the conversions. “We’re redoing our kennels. They’re a lot bigger. There’s more room to roam back and forth.”
Smith said people in Lansdale became so passionate about Pets Plus working on adoptions rather than selling animals from puppy mills that the chain appointed Dawn Bateman as an adoption coordinator.
In addition to puppies, Pets Plus will arrange adoptions for kittens.
“They’re coming from the Philadelphia SPCA,” Smith said.
Converting to the adoption model has a positive result for Smith and his business partner.
”We feel with us giving up the commercial dogs, we are helping to save lives,” he said. “We are hopeful that people will help support us, the local resources and the SPCA. Their main goal is to try and save lives across Pennsylvania and that people will hopefully adopt the puppies.”
Pets Plus will partner with the Philadelphia SPCA in a “round-up” program. If a customer’s bill is $14.50, that is rounded up to the next dollar. Pets Plus will donate the extra 50 cents to the SPCA to help them fund their projects, such as purchasing a new van to help fight animal cruelty.
Smith said kids, including his daughter, are excited about the adoption program and rescuing puppies from the puppy mills.
“She can’t wait to bring her friends in to help with the new puppies that are coming in,” he said.
Moyer cannot be happier about Pets Plus’ decision to stop selling animals from puppy mills.
“We’re thrilled that Pets Plus has made the humane decision to help these homeless pets rather than selling commercially raised puppies,” he said.
Moyer stressed that the chain is giving dogs a chance at finding a loving home.
“The community will have another great way to find a family pet,” he said.
The HSUS Puppy Mills Campaign has assisted eight pet stores in converting their locations to offering adoptable shelter pups and dogs instead of selling commercially raised puppies. Some of these stores are also offering adoptable shelter cats and other small animals.
“Additional pet stores across the country have converted their locations to more humane models, but they have done this on their own or with the assistance of other animal welfare groups,” said Moyer.
He had contacted Pets Plus to see if it would be interested in converting its store model to one that offered shelter pups and dogs instead of selling commercially raised puppies.
“They were open to the idea and interested in continuing our conversations,” he said. “I have been extremely happy to assist with their life-saving efforts to help more animals in any and every way that I can.”
Meanwhile, in the HSUS Puppy Friendly Pet Stores program, pet stores qualify if they sell pet supplies and do not sell puppies. The stores host adoption events or regularly offer adoptable shelter pups and dogs on a daily basis, instead of selling commercially raised puppies.
In addition to getting a welcome package, the stores receive a laminated sign: “We Love Puppies That’s Why We Don’t Sell Them.” Also included in the package are educational fliers to hand out to customers.
The program was started in 2008. Over 2,200 pet stores have signed the HSUS Puppy Friendly Pet Stores pledge since the inception of the program, including the eight stores that have stopped the sale of commercially raised puppies and are now offering adoptable shelter pups and dogs instead.
Part of the program is promoting public awareness and education.
“We hope that people will support these pet stores that are part of the Puppy Friendly Pet Stores program instead of stores that are supporting the cruel puppy mill industry,” Moyer said.
The HSUS Puppy Friendly Pet Stores program encourages pet stores to make it their official policy not to sell puppies.
The Humane Society of the United States is the nation’s largest animal protection organization. For 60 years, HSUS has worked to protect all animals and confront all forms of cruelty.
HSUS is also the nation’s largest provider of hands-on services for animals, caring for more than 100,000 animals each year and prevents cruelty to millions more through its advocacy campaigns.
Animal rights advocates were asked to comment on what Pets Plus is doing.
Teresa Lynn Chagrin, animal care and control specialist for the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, said, “It’s always good news when pet shops stop selling animals from puppy mills and breeders, which contribute to the homeless-animal crisis by churning out more puppies and kittens into an already severely crowded world.”
She said that showcasing animals available for adoption from local animal shelters is a wonderful way to find homes for animals in need, as long as potential adopters are thoroughly screened so that impulse adoptions don’t land animals right back at animal shelters or, worse, in negligent or abusive homes.
“PETA encourages everyone who is ready to make the lifelong commitment of adding a dog or a cat to his or her family to save a life by always adopting from shelters and never buying from pet stores or breeders,” Chagrin said.
Meanwhile, Carmen Ronio, executive director of the Montgomery County SPCA, said he is very happy Pets Plus is out of the business of buying and selling animals that are raised in puppy mills.
“It is also our hope that other pet stores will follow this example as this program will indeed help eliminate the needless suffering and overbreeding of animals raised in a puppy mill environments,” he said.
“We would also hope that Pets Plus sends its customers to organizations such as ours to adopt a pet,” Ronio said.
World for All, an animal rights group, put it simply: “Why shop when you can adopt?”
Puppy mills notoriously breed puppies in “horrendous” places and the puppies when rescued are in terrible health, have mangled hair, are malnourished and, in many cases, are injured, according to John Moyer, outreach coordinator of The HSUS Puppy Mills Campaign.
Four of nine locations in the Pets Plus chain have been converted into stores that offer puppies for adoption. They are: Jenkintown, Lansdale, Conshohocken and Northeast Philadelphia. An additional five stores are slated to be converted: Quakertown; Bensalem; Fairless Hills; Delran, N.J.; and Lawrenceville, N.J.
Pets Plus offers adoption contracts to people. Background checks are done and they ask for a veterinarian’s review. If the dog is ever needed to be surrendered, the Philadelphia SPCA will take it back so it will not be euthanized. There may be a situation where someone is moving out of state or perhaps a senior citizen is moving into housing and cannot take them to their new home.
The puppies, which are adopted through Pets Plus, are rescued by HSUS from facilities in Kentucky. Also, the company has a new partnership with a New Jersey resident who goes to Georgia herself and saves puppies. Her organization is called Animal Aid of New Jersey. Soon, Pets Plus and the SPCA will work with the state of Pennsylvania to save puppies’ lives.
There are so many puppies, they would otherwise be euthanized.
Bruce Smith, who co-owns Pets Plus with Mark Araeia, said he was compelled to switch over to adopting animals to his patrons instead of selling them because of a meeting he had with Moyer.
“He told me how many puppies in the South were being euthanized every day,” Smith said. “Once I found out that puppies were being euthanized, I agreed to move forward with the program and that we would help to save lives.”
The reaction from the public has been “huge,” Smith said. “Our Facebook has been getting ‘Thank-yous’ all over the place. We’re getting thank you letters written to us personally and we also have been getting new customers who support us.”
He noted some people did not stop in Pets Plus stores before and would not support them because they sold animals from puppy mills. Now, there is more incentive for those folks to come in. More people are going to the stores as a result of the adoption model.
“Now they are supporting us 100 percent,” Smith said. “We are very excited.
“We are in the process of moving the whole chain forward with this program,” Smith continued, noting they are investing money in their stores during the conversions. “We’re redoing our kennels. They’re a lot bigger. There’s more room to roam back and forth.”
Smith said people in Lansdale became so passionate about Pets Plus working on adoptions rather than selling animals from puppy mills that the chain appointed Dawn Bateman as an adoption coordinator.
In addition to puppies, Pets Plus will arrange adoptions for kittens.
“They’re coming from the Philadelphia SPCA,” Smith said.
Converting to the adoption model has a positive result for Smith and his business partner.
”We feel with us giving up the commercial dogs, we are helping to save lives,” he said. “We are hopeful that people will help support us, the local resources and the SPCA. Their main goal is to try and save lives across Pennsylvania and that people will hopefully adopt the puppies.”
Pets Plus will partner with the Philadelphia SPCA in a “round-up” program. If a customer’s bill is $14.50, that is rounded up to the next dollar. Pets Plus will donate the extra 50 cents to the SPCA to help them fund their projects, such as purchasing a new van to help fight animal cruelty.
Smith said kids, including his daughter, are excited about the adoption program and rescuing puppies from the puppy mills.
“She can’t wait to bring her friends in to help with the new puppies that are coming in,” he said.
Moyer cannot be happier about Pets Plus’ decision to stop selling animals from puppy mills.
“We’re thrilled that Pets Plus has made the humane decision to help these homeless pets rather than selling commercially raised puppies,” he said.
Moyer stressed that the chain is giving dogs a chance at finding a loving home.
“The community will have another great way to find a family pet,” he said.
The HSUS Puppy Mills Campaign has assisted eight pet stores in converting their locations to offering adoptable shelter pups and dogs instead of selling commercially raised puppies. Some of these stores are also offering adoptable shelter cats and other small animals.
“Additional pet stores across the country have converted their locations to more humane models, but they have done this on their own or with the assistance of other animal welfare groups,” said Moyer.
He had contacted Pets Plus to see if it would be interested in converting its store model to one that offered shelter pups and dogs instead of selling commercially raised puppies.
“They were open to the idea and interested in continuing our conversations,” he said. “I have been extremely happy to assist with their life-saving efforts to help more animals in any and every way that I can.”
Meanwhile, in the HSUS Puppy Friendly Pet Stores program, pet stores qualify if they sell pet supplies and do not sell puppies. The stores host adoption events or regularly offer adoptable shelter pups and dogs on a daily basis, instead of selling commercially raised puppies.
In addition to getting a welcome package, the stores receive a laminated sign: “We Love Puppies That’s Why We Don’t Sell Them.” Also included in the package are educational fliers to hand out to customers.
The program was started in 2008. Over 2,200 pet stores have signed the HSUS Puppy Friendly Pet Stores pledge since the inception of the program, including the eight stores that have stopped the sale of commercially raised puppies and are now offering adoptable shelter pups and dogs instead.
Part of the program is promoting public awareness and education.
“We hope that people will support these pet stores that are part of the Puppy Friendly Pet Stores program instead of stores that are supporting the cruel puppy mill industry,” Moyer said.
The HSUS Puppy Friendly Pet Stores program encourages pet stores to make it their official policy not to sell puppies.
The Humane Society of the United States is the nation’s largest animal protection organization. For 60 years, HSUS has worked to protect all animals and confront all forms of cruelty.
HSUS is also the nation’s largest provider of hands-on services for animals, caring for more than 100,000 animals each year and prevents cruelty to millions more through its advocacy campaigns.
Animal rights advocates were asked to comment on what Pets Plus is doing.
Teresa Lynn Chagrin, animal care and control specialist for the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, said, “It’s always good news when pet shops stop selling animals from puppy mills and breeders, which contribute to the homeless-animal crisis by churning out more puppies and kittens into an already severely crowded world.”
She said that showcasing animals available for adoption from local animal shelters is a wonderful way to find homes for animals in need, as long as potential adopters are thoroughly screened so that impulse adoptions don’t land animals right back at animal shelters or, worse, in negligent or abusive homes.
“PETA encourages everyone who is ready to make the lifelong commitment of adding a dog or a cat to his or her family to save a life by always adopting from shelters and never buying from pet stores or breeders,” Chagrin said.
Meanwhile, Carmen Ronio, executive director of the Montgomery County SPCA, said he is very happy Pets Plus is out of the business of buying and selling animals that are raised in puppy mills.
“It is also our hope that other pet stores will follow this example as this program will indeed help eliminate the needless suffering and overbreeding of animals raised in a puppy mill environments,” he said.
“We would also hope that Pets Plus sends its customers to organizations such as ours to adopt a pet,” Ronio said.
World for All, an animal rights group, put it simply: “Why shop when you can adopt?”
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