Animal rights advocate claims proof that store sells puppy mill puppies

(EL PASO, Texas, February 13,2012)

Petland El Paso franchisees, Marlene and Mario Vasquez, are instead looking forward to continuing to provide El Pasoans with happy, healthy pets, pet education, and community service.

The lawsuit stemmed from repeated accusations that Petland acquires puppies from substandard suppliers. Petland is strongly opposed to operations that provide substandard care and conditions with little or no regard for the health and well-being of breeding dogs or their puppies.

Brian Winslow, Director of Animal Welfare Education for Petland, Inc., explains that "Petland has a policy that limits Petland stores to the sale of puppies that come from one of the following sources: (1) breeders that are licensed with the United States Department of Agriculture and that have not had any direct violations on their most recent inspection report; (2) small hobby breeders; and (3) local rescue and adoption puppies."

Petland's goal is to provide customers with a wide variety of pure-bred, designer-bred and mixed-breed puppies that are certified as healthy by a licensed veterinarian, well-socialized, and ready to go home with their new family.

"Petland has a long history of raising the standards in the pet industry and we have never supported substandard breeders," said Mario Vasquez.

In addition to requiring United States Department of Agriculture licensure and reviewing USDA inspection reports, one of the tools used by Petland to avoid substandard operations is the maintenance of an internal "Do Not Buy List" that is intended to alert Petland stores to individuals that may seek to sell puppies to a Petland store, but that fall below Petland's standards. Petland remains committed to working with federal, state, local and other organizations to educate breeders on proper animal care.

Like its customers, Petland as a company and its employees are animal lovers committed to the proper treatment of animals and animal care education. Petland is proud of its nearly 45-year history of introducing young children and families to a lifetime of responsible petownership.

"We are committed, as we always have been, to use our resources for purposeful community service efforts such as Paws for Hunger and feeding the Fabens community with donations submitted to the West Texas Food Bank," said Mario Vasquez. "We appreciate the tremendous outpouring of support from the El Paso community and we believe our attention should remain on doing what we do best and that is to use pets to make lives of people better. In addition, Petland El Paso will continue to provide the knowledge and education to its customers and community to help make their pets' lives better."