Cruelty Caught in Hollywood Glare
December 11, 2007
LOS ANGELES—An investigation of Pets of Bel Air, an upscale pet boutique on the edge of Beverly Hills, reveals that employees have routinely deceived customers by falsely claiming that all puppies sold at the store, which is frequented by Hollywood celebrities, are raised by private breeders and that they don’t use puppy mills.
In fact, HSUS investigators uncovered evidence that many of the puppies sold at Pets of Bel Air come from puppy mills in the Midwest—factory-like operations where the dogs are kept in barren cages and treated like production machines.
Wayne Pacelle, the president and CEO of The Humane Society of the United States, unveiled the results of the undercover investigation at a press conference at Los Angeles Animal Services. A six-minute video report chronicling the months-long investigation is posted at humanesociety.org.
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.
“Even the trendiest, most upscale pet stores may sell puppies from puppy mills,” Pacelle said. “No consumer is immune to the lies and deceit. It doesn’t matter who you are or where you shop. This investigation shows that a high-price and prestigious address are no assurance of a dog from a reputable breeder.”
State and federal inspection reports examined by HSUS investigators reveal that some of Pets of Bel Air breeder/dealers have been cited for their failure to comply with animal-welfare regulations, including inaccurate or non-existent record keeping; inadequate shelter from the elements; rusted, filthy and overcrowded cages; leaky roofs; feces-encrusted runs; filthy food bowls and, at one Missouri puppy mill, a leaking waste disposal system that "allows the waste to flow out onto the ground and on other animals."
Two of the breeders did not have a USDA license, which is required for commercial breeding operations that sell puppies to pet stores.
Read entire article here and see video
