Best Friends Animal Society has scored another victory in the war against puppy mills. Their Puppy-Store-Free L.A. campaign has helped close down another less than reputable pet store.
Pet Love which is located at Beverly Center, an upscale shopping mall, will have its lease terminated within the next few months.
Since last July, Best Friends staffers and members have been at the Beverly Center educating potential customers about where those cute puppies in the Pet Love store really come from.
Mall shoppers saw documented proof from a Best Friends investigation that Pet Love acquires its puppies from puppy mills across the country. They learned that many of these puppies suffer from physical ailments caused by the horrible conditions in puppy mills and being taken from their mothers too soon. They saw a video of a KCBS Los Angeles undercover report that shows a Pet Love worker, who didn’t sanitize the syringe or his hands, pumping puppies full of antibiotics that hadn’t been prescribed.
“It helps people understand the connection between puppies they see in the pet stores and the cruel and inhumane conditions under which they are bred in these puppy mills,” says Elizabeth Oreck, Best Friends’ Los Angeles programs manager.
People listened – and hundreds of Beverly Center patrons and employees signed a petition expressing their concerns about Pet Love’s practice of selling sick dogs. Many of them shared their own heartbreaking stories of having bought a Pet Love dog – costing as much as $3,000 – and then losing them to illness.
In the beginning Best Friends’ didn’t start out trying to close down Pet Love, they were just trying to get them to stop selling animals from puppy mills. The owners refused to change their business model and threatened litigation.
Once again, it was the power of the people, the residents of Los Angeles County saw what Pet Love was doing and would no longer tolerate it in their community. The Beverly Center also listened, they terminated their lease with Pet Love, effectively closing down the business.
Best Friends’ continues to hold peaceful protests, and to educate potential customers about where these dogs come from.
In you would like to help Best Friends’ put cruelty out of business you can make a tax free donation to the cause.
