Santa Barbara, CA is home to quaint vineyards, decadent spas, celebrity mansions, and now a humane pet store. Ellen DeGeneres and Oprah Winfrey really have something to dance about!
After viewing “The Dog Whisperer, Inside Puppy Mills” show that aired this past May, Santa Barbara residents contacted Kim Sill, who leads Last Chance For Animals “Pet Shop Project”. They asked Sill for help in protesting the Montecito Pet Shop, suspecting the dogs were coming from puppy mills. Elyse Kuhn, owner of the shop for 22 years, agreed to work with LCA after Sill determined the shop’s pure bred puppies were coming from backyard breeders. Kuhn decided it was time to help the dogs on death row in overcrowded shelters instead of contributing to the problem of overpopulation.
Gail Eatherly was one of the pro-active residents that first contacted Kim Sill. “After watching the Cesar special on puppy mills, and trying to find help and advise thru other avenues which never came thru, I realized that LCA would be the appropriate contact to help convince the Montecito Pet Shop here in Santa Barbara to stop selling puppy mill puppies and/or backyard breeder puppies,” states Eatherly. “I was then referred to Kim Sill and she was immediately on the job!”
On Friday, October 23rd, The Montecito Pet Shop welcomed their first litter of rescued puppies to their store! Sill delivered six eight-week old “Bemis” pups that were rescued from a hoarder’s facility in Mojave, CA. For more details about LCA’s massive Bemis dog rescue in the desert, click here.
After presenting the pups, Kim Sill of LCA commented: "It was very rewarding to watch the change in perceptions as the customers viewed the rescue puppies. The mood is different when people know that it is a rescue, there is hope and there is change in Santa Barbara tonight." Click here to watch the video.
Santa Barbara residents are ecstatic about this conversion. According to Gail Eatherly, “After a few months, this pet shop has stopped selling these particular puppies (from backyard breeders) and now
offers rescue puppies and dogs! Thank you so much Kim! What would animals do without you and LCA on their side?”
LCA is working towards a day when pet stores no longer support puppy mills and breeders. Their members, like Sill, are committed to help oversee and endorse pet stores in Los Angeles that are willing to change their business practice and re-home shelter animals.
The Montecito Pet Shop is located at 2020 Cliff Drive in Santa Barbara, CA. Their website is currently under construction, but they can be reached by phone (805) 965-6780 or email mat@montecitopets.com
Photos and video courtesy of Last Chance for Animals and Kim Sill