Humane Society charges national chain with selling puppies from mills

McALLEN - The Humane Society of the United States is accusing Petland stores of selling puppies from mass breeding facilities that keep animals in poor conditions.

On Thursday, the national animal protection organization released the results of an eight-month investigation it conducted on the pet store chain.

Petland Inc. refutes the organization's claims and accuses the Humane Society of producing false information so that people will adopt animals from humane societies rather than the stores.

"We've got nothing but quality here," said Juan Mares, floor manager of the Petland store in Brownsville.

A U.S. Department of Agriculture spokeswoman said the Humane Society has not filed a complaint in regard to its investigation, nor has the department received any complaints about the breeders the organization claims operate such facilities. The USDA does not use the term "puppy mill."

"It is disturbing to us that we haven't (received a complaint from the Humane Society)," said Jessica Milteer, the USDA spokeswoman.

Dogs bred at puppy mills are often unhealthy because of of poor conditions and haphazard breeding programs.

The organization says it visited 21 of the chain's 140 stores nationwide and 35 breeders that supply puppies to Petland, reviewed interstate import records of more than 300 other breeders and examined documents for more than 17,000 individual puppies linked to Petland stores.

Officials with the Humane Society said the organization did not visit stores in the Rio Grande Valley and does not have information about them. Petland has stores in McAllen and Brownsville.

Investigators found that many puppies came from large commercial breeders in the Midwest where animals are packed into cages and receive no exercise or human interaction, according to the Humane Society.

They also claim to have found that some Petland stores bought animals online or used pet distributors as middlemen in purchasing the canines, even though the company and staff members from stores they visited said they knew the breeders from whom they receive puppies. Some of those brokers were buying animals from the mass breeding facilities, which the Humane Society calls "puppy mills."

The Humane Society defines a puppy mill as a breeding operation where the animals are kept for breeding purposes only, remain confined and do not interact with people.

The USDA issues licenses to commercial breeders and inspects them. Although it does not cite violations, it does note if a breeder is not following federal animal welfare laws.

About 97 percent of the breeders it licenses comply with federal laws, Milteer said. Those who don't comply have a chance to correct themselves. If they don't, they are taken to court.

"Our goal is to settle things before they get to court," Milteer said.

But Kathleen Summers, deputy director of the Humane Society's Stop Puppy Mills campaign, said there are some breeders that have U.S.D.A. licenses and operate within the law but the Humane Society still considers them "puppy mills."

"We're hoping people stop supporting Petland and other stores that sell these puppies and look at their local shelters first," Summers said.

Petland defended itself further, saying it does not support substandard breeding facilities and provides each store with guidelines it developed with the U.S.D.A. in selecting pets to sell.

"Reports such as those posted on the (Humane Society) web site surface every year around the holiday season in conjunction with their annual fundraising efforts," the company states on its Web site. "Unfortunately, we were not interviewed or consulted nor were we a part of any of the editing process. This is sensationalism at its best."

"(Humane Society) has a history of publicizing false information in an effort to raise money. They do not operate a single pet shelter or pet adoption facility anywhere in the U.S. To the contrary, over the last 10 years, Petland has adopted out more than 270,000 homeless puppies and kittens nationwide."

Locally, a representative of the Palm Valley Animal Center said she has heard complaints about the McAllen Petland store from people who came in looking to adopt animals. But no formal complaints have been filed against that store.

Local Petland owners and managers, meanwhile, said they make sure every dog they purchase has the proper documentation.

Cesar Cepeda, who owns the Petland franchise in McAllen, said he meticulously screens every puppy and the breeder from which he buys.

Each puppy has to be checked and inspected by state agencies, the USDA and veterinarians. The breeders also have to provide vaccination records, family trees and other records pertaining to the dogs for him to consider buying them, Cepeda said.

He has visited facilities considered "puppy mills," he said, adding he would never purchase dogs from such a place. If he found out a breeder had turned his or her operation into a "puppy mill," he would notify other Petland franchise owners, he said.

Like the McAllen store, the Brownsville Petland location also checks the documentation of each dog and visits the breeding facility from which it buys the animals, said Juan Mares, that store's floor manager.

All of the dogs the Brownsville store sells come from the Hunte Corp. in Missouri, he said.

Some animal rights groups have accused the commercial dog breeder of running a "puppy mill," a claim the stores refute.

Furthermore, the local Petland reps said, the company's stores offer a one-year warranty for each puppy they sell and a two-week health warranty.