What you should know about Petland, Novi

There is only one Petland store remaining in Michigan, located at Twelve Oaks Mall in Novi. Petland is the nation’s largest puppy retailer who has been exposed locally by Channel 7, the Humane Society of the United States and Animal Planet. Now Michigan dog advocates from the Puppy Mill Awareness Meetup have been calling on the store to stop supporting puppy mills and start supporting rescue.

Join us every Saturday from 12-3 for peaceful demonstrations starting June 4th, 2011. See our calendar for details.

Protests at Twelve Oaks Mall began after Channel 7 exposed this store in October 2009 for selling a sick puppy. Heather Catallo, an Investigative Reporter, completed a second investigation in November 2009 after another sick dog allegation was discovered.

The store is selling sick dogs because they come from large commercial breeders and brokers. One regular supplier, Opal Featherston (Whiting KS), has inventory records listing 773 adult dogs!. This is considered a mega mill.

Just looking at Petland’s 2009-2010 breeder list, this store is not choosy. Puppies are shipped from a wide range of Missouri, Kansas, Minnesota, and Ohio breeders and brokers.

Abe Miller, House of Pets (Fresno OH) was the store’s primary 2010 supplier who delivered 68% of the puppies which equals approximately 57 per month. The United States Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (USDA APHIS) records show that this kennel housed 133 adult dogs and 110 puppies in June of 2008, which indicates it is a commercial breeding operation. With approximately 16 different breeds, the House of Pets provides the wide variety of dogs demanded by pet stores. Inspection reports show this broker was not only working with unlicensed breeders, but that it was also cited for non-compliances to the Animal Welfare Act in the regulated areas of housing, primary enclosures, cleaning, veterinary care, records, compatible grouping, feeding and identification.

The pressure has been on all the Petland stores across the county to stop supporting. Beginning in March 2009, Bora Kim from Channel 4, covered the Class Action Lawsuit with ties to the Peltand Westland store. Animal Planet exposed the chain in May of 2010 after the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) completed a 8-month investigation. In addition, the courts are allowing a racketeering lawsuit to proceed against Petland.

Petition
Support the efforts of Puppy Mill Awareness by telling Petland Novi to stop selling puppies.