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Inaugural Protest of Pet Love

June 25, 2008, 12:6PM MT

By Jennifer S Hayes

Puppy-Store-Free L.A. team focuses on new location.

Puppy-Store-Free L.A. team focuses on new location.

By Nikki Sharp, Best Friends Staff

Last Saturday marked the inaugural Pet Love peaceful protest in Los Angeles. The “Puppy-Store-Free L.A.” team of Best Friends Animal Society and Last Chance for Animals has been working with mall management at the Beverly Center solidifying details and completing necessary requirements, so that our “Puppy-Store-Free” message could be heard loud and clear at Los Angeles’ most historic shopping center.

The Beverly Center is a monolithic eight-story structure located at the edge of Beverly Hills and West Hollywood and is home to stores like Bloomingdale’s, Macy’s, Mann Beverly 13 Theatres, and our target - Pet Love. The pet store has been in the mall since its opening in 1982 and for decades has been selling dogs from puppy mills. Jen Krause a campaign specialist with Best Friends stated, “Everybody in L.A. knows of Pet Love. The store is symbolic to everybody who is fighting the fight against puppy mills. If we can get this store to stop selling puppy mill dogs, we believe we can have a “Puppy-Store-Free L.A.”

Although our ultimate goal is to be in front of the store, our first endeavor was a tabling event and presentation, where we displayed our anti-Pet Love signage, anti-puppy mill literature, and looped DVDs with undercover footage from actual puppy mills that supply Pet Love, in addition to an exposé that CBS aired on Pet Love selling sick puppies to customers, unqualified staff pumping puppies full of antibiotics several times a day, and then denying it.

Krause stated, “We were set up in a prime location on the eighth floor of the mall, near the information booth, food court, Movie Theater, and many frequented retail shops. We were thrilled with the amount of positive feedback we received from shoppers our first day out. Many of them had bought sick dogs from Pet Love and were outraged that Pet Love was still in business. Others were unaware of what puppy mills were and wanted to know more information about how they could adopt.” Krause said that “It’s amazing how many people thanked us for being there and were perplexed why a store like that would be in such an upscale mall.”

Saturday’s event was a great start to getting people to think twice about buying a puppy from Pet Love while educating the public on the dishonesty and consumer fraud associated with Pet Love.

HOW YOU CAN HELP:

1. If you are interested in volunteering for “A Puppy-Store-Free L.A.,” please contact Robin Harmon at robinh@bestfriends.org.

2. A volunteer orientation meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, July 2, to announce the many opportunities available with Best Friends in L.A., including the pet store protests. Please RSVP to Robin Harmon at robinh@bestfriends.org.

3. Interested in learning even more about puppy mills and what you can do to stop them? Please join The Truth About the Pet Trade community and e-mail networkinfo@bestfriends.org to subscribe to the Breeding Bytes e-newsletter.

4. Do not patronize stores that sell puppies and kittens; not for an animal, not even for supplies. Even if it is a little more inconvenient or expensive, please choose to shop at stores that support animal rescue. Request that your friends and family do the same.

5. If you are considering a new pet, do not purchase from a store. Instead, help save a life and adopt from a shelter or rescue. Search through the thousands of homeless animals posted on Petfinder.com to find one near you.

For more information:

• Los Angeles community
• Last Chance for Animals (LCA)

Posted by Jennifer Hayes, Best Friends Staff
Photo credit: taken by Jen Krause, Best Friends Staff

Comments

Posted June 26, 2008, 1:59PM by EmergencyOps

"...and were perplexed why a store like that would be in such an upscale mall".

I'm not too surprised. Many people, celebrities and wealthy included, will frequent puppy stores. All they see is the cute puppies and what appears to be a clean business. What they don't see is what goes on in the 'employees only' area and back at the breeders' property. I'm only marginally surprised that Mall Management perpetually ignores the complaints about the business and still allows them there as tenants.

I am glad to hear about your efforts and your success in tabling. Having looping videos sounds like a great idea; it gives table visitors real evidence of the horrors of the pet trade, instead of just reading a pamphlet.

Posted June 27, 2008, 1:1PM by just_tracy

This is just FANTASTIC!!!

Great news!!!

Posted June 27, 2008, 5:17PM by southerndogmom

I don't even know how many times I've managed to bring up the subject of mills, only to have people become outraged that such an industry is legal in our country. I truly believe the key to change is awareness - people don't get outraged about what they don't know about. Putting the issue on the radar of public awareness through tablings like this is a perfect start. I hope the people who were there that day told other people who told other people.

Posted June 30, 2008, 7:8PM by nomorepuppystores

Thank goodness these protests are starting to happen nationwide, the only way to inform the public not to buy their companion animals in petstores or the internet these poor puppies & kittens are from mills and the mother & fathers are suffering the worse abuse imaginable--please everyone needs to boycott these petstores.

Posted June 26, 2008, 12:16PM by SilvaB

Very, very exciting. I'm so happy this is happening. Thanks everyone.
Silva