Puppy mills said to supply pet shop of the stars
What do Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, Denise Richards, Demi Moore and Robin Williams have in common -- outside of being wealthy celebrities, of course?
All are among the clientele of Los Angeles' upscale Pets of Bel Air, a chi chi pet boutique that provides grooming services and sells pets -- some of them, the Humane Society of the United States says, from puppy mills.
An undercover investigation by HSUS -- a non-profit agency that is (pardon my language) kicking some major butt of late, and doing a fine job of telling the world about it -- found that employees of the Beverly Hills store are encouraged to lie to customers about their animals' origins and medical condition.
The investigation took place earlier this year, and is part of an ongoing campaign by HSUS against puppy mills that has included undercover investigations, public awareness campaigns, lawsuits and the legislative process.
About 2,500 of the nation's 9,000 pet stores sell puppies, and the HSUS estimates 2 million to 4 million puppy mill puppies are sold annually in the United States.
The HSUS released details of the investigation -- and the video above -- yesterday.
According to the agency, employees have routinely deceived customers by falsely claiming that all puppies sold at the celebrity-frequented store are raised by private breeders and that the store doesn’t buy from puppy mills.
In fact, HSUS investigators uncovered evidence that many of the puppies sold there did come from puppy mills - factory-like operations where the dogs are kept in barren cages and treated like production machines. The operations that supplied Pets of Bel Air with puppies are located in the Midwest.
The HSUS reviewed records documenting that at least 28 commercial breeders in Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma have supplied Pets of Bel Air with puppies. HSUS undercover investigators also visited five of the suppliers that store management insisted are “private breeders” and not “puppy mills.” Each of those five locations, investigators discovered, are actually mass-breeding operations that house 100 to 300 dogs.
Comments
ADOPT. A. DOG. FROM. A. SHELTER!!!!
I am sorry, but at this point in time, anyone who thinks it is a good idea to BUY a puppy is an IDIOT. You will be spending hundreds of dollars for a sick animal and helping to support an inhumane industry. Is it really so hard for you to fit it into your schedule to visit the pound?
Dogs are family members, not property. They should all be adopted and not sold. If we continue treating dogs like merchandise, people will continue viewing them as disposable goods.
I am just so sick of our sick society and its obsession with puppies from the store. Adopt a dog, spay and neuter your pets, and GROW UP!!!!
Posted by: Emily | December 12, 2007 1:18 PM
ALL pet stores buy puppies from puppy mills, though they often lie about it. ALL of them. They need to buy cheaply enough to make the price markup.
And puppy mill puppies are cheap because the puppy millers skimp on care- no vet care, parent dogs caged for life, often kept outdoors, horrible abuse.
Those websites that ship puppies are also puppy mills- they don't want buyers to see the kennels, so they scam with pictures on a website.
And most of the classfieds are puppy mills pretending to be private breeders.
Instead of these places, go to Petfinder.com and contact shelters and breed rescue groups. They have great dogs, and can give referrals.
When we stop buying puppy mill puppies, the mills will close and the abuse will stop.
Posted by: Teresa | December 12, 2007 3:08 PM
A lot of the so-called celebrities they mention in the video seem to be into "cute-little-doggie-as-accessory" as opposed to wanting genuine companionship and a true friend. I suppose that's better than "adopted human baby from third world country as accessory," but I suspect the attitude's quite similar.
What I don't understand is that it's entirely possible to make a good living and a fair profit by having a pet store that doesn't sell any animals at all but just caters to their needs and those of their owners. As long as we allow pets to be sold in retail outlets, puppy mills will find a way to keep going.
Posted by: Anne | December 12, 2007 6:29 PM
This is a fraud that has been well planned and executed be the HSUS against this unsuspecting store owner. All of the businesses he bought puppies from are USDA licensed facilities and they are individual breeders, I do not know of any breeder that is a corporate breeder so they are all individual breeders. and they are not Puppy Mills a "Puppy Mill" is a illegal unlicensed facility. So the story is the Pet Store did not lie and the Pet store participated within the guidelines of federal law when it come to the purchase of animals used in the commercial supply system. There is no story here.
Except.. The Fraud the HSUS has committed against the public and the Pet Store Owners.
I am appealing to the nature of fair play we as Americans have, Call and send letters to your Congressmen and women and your local TV station to expose this tragic use of a public media and trust. Make the HSUS stop these acts of terror against American Business.
Posted by: Joe | December 13, 2007 12:12 AM
If you have purchased a puppy from Pets of Bel Air, or ANY pet store, go to www.petshoppuppies.org and request your free puppy report. We are a non profit organization dedicated to educating the public about the commercial dog industry. YOU DESERVE TO KNOW THE TRUTH!
Posted by: PetShopPuppies.org | December 13, 2007 6:25 AM
Today's society continues to remain very uneducated as to the attrocities animals suffer every single day. This abuse is not just limited to those housed in puppy mills.
I was on the PETA website the other day and watched a video of a fur farm in China. It made me absolutley sick and I urge anyone who owns a fur coat to watch this video. If it doesn't change your mind about wearing fur then you need help!
Please take care of God's creatures and remember the key - it all starts with spaying and neutering.
Posted by: Donna | December 13, 2007 8:04 AM
I was heartened to see all but one comment promoting adoption and depicting pet stores for what they are. Trucks deposit dogs as if they were stoves and refrigerators to these stores, who then sell them at inflated prices. Meanwhile, the dogs who are breeders are being bred to death.
We have a couple of locations like this in town, one of which refused to give the breeder information when we went in to ask about buying a dog (which we actually had no plans of doing--we were simply curious). We've heard from people who have bought dogs who've turned out to be ill, and in one case, a woman who was laughed out of the AKC when she applied to show her "purebred show-quality" dog in a show.
If these were baby mills, you'd hear a lot more screaming than you hear now. Who's to say that animals are less entitled to humane treatment than people? Thank God this happened--finally, a celebrity involvement that may wake folks up.
Posted by: Kate | December 13, 2007 1:16 PM
puppy mills are death and torture facilities made by humans , but humane humans are working to bring them down and out of buisness, this I pray for every night amen.
Posted by: fran | March 7, 2009 1:56 PM