Petland Faces Class Action Lawsuit for Peddling Unhealthy Puppy Mill Dogs in at Least 20 States

edited March 2009 in General
March 17, 2009
PHOENIX — Members of The Humane Society of the United States and other consumers filed a class action lawsuit alleging that Petland, Inc. and the Hunte Corporation are conspiring to sell unhealthy puppy mill puppies to unsuspecting consumers in numerous states. Petland is the nation's largest chain of pet stores that sells puppy mill dogs and Hunte is one of the country's largest distributors of factory-produced puppies.

The lawsuit, filed in federal district court in Phoenix late Monday, alleges that Petland and Hunte violated federal law and numerous state consumer protection laws by misleading thousands of consumers across the country into believing that the puppies sold in Petland stores are healthy and come from high-quality breeders. Many of the puppies sold by Petland come either directly from puppy mills or puppy brokers such as Hunte, which operates as a middleman between the mills and Petland's retail stores.

"Unscrupulous dog dealers like Petland and Hunte reap massive profits by pushing unhealthy puppies on well-intentioned dog-lovers who would never knowingly buy a puppy mill dog," said Jonathan Lovvorn, vice president & chief counsel for Animal Protection Litigation at The HSUS. "Families often bear the great expense of veterinary treatment for sick and unhealthy dogs, or the terrible anguish of losing a beloved family pet. This industry has been systematically lying to consumers for years about the source of the dogs they sell, and it's long past time for a reckoning."

The class action lawsuit is the result of many months of investigative and legal research, and comes after an eight-month investigation into Petland stores by The HSUS that demonstrated a direct link between multiple Petland stores and unscrupulous puppy mills. Numerous other reports have also surfaced of Petland's allegedly deceptive sales practices, including the marketing and sale of puppies with life-threatening genetic defects and highly contagious parasitic and viral infections.

The 34-page complaint includes numerous examples of sick or dying puppies that Petland sold, including:

Mainerd, a Boston terrier, was diagnosed with a congenital spinal condition. Some of her vertebrae have not formed completely while others have fused together causing tissue to grow underneath along with possible nerve damage. Mainerd is now receiving steroid treatments for her ailments and may require expensive surgery.
Minchy, a miniature pinscher, was sold by Petland at 10 weeks old. He was immediately diagnosed with coccidian, an intestinal parasite that causes diarrhea and weight loss. Minchy was also diagnosed with an inherited disorder, Progressive Retinal Atrophy, which will ultimately lead to permanent blindness.
Tucker was sold at 4 months old. The bloodhound puppy experienced severe separation anxiety and various health problems before developing orbital cancer at only 7 months of age.
Patrick, a Pomeranian puppy, was sold at 3 months old. He suffered from diarrhea and vomiting shortly after arriving at his new home. At 11 months old, Patrick was diagnosed with a genetic disorder, dual luxating patellas, which will require expensive surgery on both of his knees to correct.
Puppy mills are mass breeding operations where the health of dogs is disregarded in order to maintain a low overhead and maximize profits. The dogs are often kept in wire cages, stacked on top of each other, with no exercise, socialization, veterinary care, or loving human interaction. They are treated not like family pets, but like a cash crop. Petland denies it supports these substandard breeding facilities, and claims to follow "Humane Care Guidelines" developed in conjunction with the USDA. However, USDA recently informed HSUS in writing that it has no record of any such guidelines.

The class plaintiffs are being represented in the case by Saltz Mongeluzzi Barrett & Bendesky, PC; Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro, LLC; Garen Meguerian, Esq. and lawyers in The HSUS's Animal Protection Litigation section. The suit requests a jury trial on behalf of the consumer class plaintiffs, and seeks reimbursement of the puppies' purchase price along with compensation for all related monetary damages for the class members.

http://www.stoppuppymills.org/pdfs/final-class-action-complaint-martinelli-v-petland.pdf

Comments

  • edited November -1
    YAY! I like that!

    I will have to keep an eye on this story and see how it progresses. I hope it gains attention so people can see the horrid things with their own eyes!
  • edited November -1
  • edited November -1
    me too! so glad this is finally happening! I too hope that people will become more aware of puppy mills.
  • edited November -1
    I was just reading about his as well... got the e-mail this morning :o)
  • edited November -1
    As much as I hate to hear about those poor puppies, I am REALLY happy to hear that something is finally being done about this.

    I think this is a great opportunity to publicize the atrocities that are puppy mills and what they are doing to the dogs we love. I hope this gains more attention and will help to stop puppy mills altogether.
  • edited November -1
    Ugh. places like that disgust me. I hope they get what's coming to them!! btw I saw this quote in the news and thought I'd share:

    "At Petland, we offer healthy, happy and well-socialized pets to our customers," Petland vice president Joe Watson said in a statement. "As our business requires that our customers be highly satisfied, it only makes sense that we would do everything possible to ensure that we provide healthy puppies."

    what a load of BS!
  • edited November -1
    yeah but unfortunately, the puppies are not the customers........
  • edited November -1
    : < yeah i heard about this.
    stupid petland. they get really mad if you don't want a puppy right then too, which i find agitating. (i go in sometimes to pet and give love to puppies because i am sad and need a pet here and they look unhappy in their wall boxes...i know its bad)

    petland makes me sad cause every time i go in 3 or 4 people leave with a puppy. when i was little i was too naive to understand they must get puppies from mills because otherwise they couldn't keep enough stocked. i also noticed that some puppies look rather ill and those ones are often on sale for a limited time "deal"

    ew.
  • edited November -1
    Personally, I'd like to see the Joe Watson stuffed in a cage for 3 - 5 months, left at the mercy of store clerks, and then explain to me how this is humane treatment of any living creature.
  • edited March 2009
    Ok before I say anything PLEASE DO NOT give me crap. I have not, nor will I ever buy a dog from Petland! For exactly the reasons they are getting sued. I have worked there, I know how bad it is. I saw something about this lawsuit, and I almost want to testify for the Humane Society. Petland (and any other petshop) buy from puppies from brokers (Marsha, Lambriar, Perfect puppies, etc.) from "commercial" breeders. People breeding for profit. Way to many of the smaller breed puppies come to the store in terrible condition, namely the "designer" muts, and the fads, "imperial" Shih tzus, and "teacup" Yorkies and Chihuahuas. Alot of them will have hernias, and stenoic nares. Staff at Petland is told watch for hypoglycemia, because the puppies are to damn small to be left alone. They wont eat and then, as staff refer to it, "crash". The dogs constantly have coccidia (the sicknesses vary from store to store, depending on the way they do things). I worked at Petland for 2 months and saw two puppies die. They are poorly bred, poorly cared for dogs. Petland always tries to get the newest fad puppies.I have seen them sell white Golden Retrievers for more money because they are white. The puppies that are on medications for being sick are allowed to go home if they have a day or two left, because the staff tell the buyers that they have to go to the vet within a certain number of days (its less than a week, but I dont remember exactly) to get the free vet visit they offer with puppies as an incentive to get people to buy them, pawning the sick puppy off on the vet. That is probably why they are getting sued. The puppies are not very healthy to begin with, they get taken away from mom, shipped in a truck, handled by staff and tons of customers, bathed before they go home with a buyer, taken to a new place, and then the puppy gets stressed worse than it was and gets sick, or sick again. I have heard people come in the store and want to buy a dog that is AKC registered specifically so they can breed the dog. This is just a small part of what happens at those stores.Its a disgusting cycle. I would love to see Petland shut down.
  • edited November -1
    Places like this suck big time, but then we are only thinking one sided about this. What about the other animals sold at pet stores. What about the birds, reptiles, rodents and fish. They are all commercially bred and sold, spend a good deal of time in less than adequate conditions, get bought by someone who knows nothing about the animal, dies and gets returned for a new one. I can't wait to see greater fairness to all these animals as well as dogs.

    Plus, and I'm sorry if I offend anyone, but I'm so sick of North Shore Animal League. They disguise themselves as being a rescue, but their just a cheap pet store with a pretty face. They get their puppies from idiots who don't get their dogs fixed and not bother to prevent pregnancies. And once they take the puppies, North Shore doesn''t even mention that getting their dog fixed would be a good thing. They just keep bringing in puppies from elsewhere, not even caring about the local ones. Plus, 80% of the puppies are sick with something, usually Parvo, and treatment isn't always covered.

    Sorry about ranting OT, I just see too much of this stuff and really wish it would all end.
  • edited November -1
    its true about the other animals, i've seen tons of kids grab and drop various ones and they tend to be in bad condition. i think people think about puppies more because they are more "popular" I feel sorry for all of these. : (
  • edited November -1
    I had thought about getting a ferret when I was in college, long before I ever entertained any ideas about Shiba Inu. I hated the idea of buying one from a store because I knew that would support some unwholesome breeding practice somewhere.
    There really aren't many other places that I know of for the greedy uneducated public to go for the smaller critters (I didn't get anything). There are rescues here and there for the exotics, and some are in shelters, but this sort of leads me to believe that perhaps these sorts of critters probably shouldn't be kept as pets to begin with (rabbits and domestic foul aside because they can be obtained from good breeders and do play a part in agriculture worldwide).
    I had a lot of the easy pet store pets when I was a kid, hermit crabs, mice, parrots, lizards, boas, fish-they are interesting "pets" and may teach children a lesson about care and feeding of animals, but it comes at a price (the critters usually die or get dumped when they get too big or bite). I wish they wouldn't sell pet animals at all in petstores.
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