[01/12/11] Daily Breeze
CLOSING: Animal activists protested the store, claiming it sold puppy mill dogs.
CLOSING: Animal activists protested the store, claiming it sold puppy mill dogs.
Pet City in Torrance, the target of weekly protests by animal activists, is closing its doors and will be replaced next month by a camping and outdoor sports store.
Torrance Economic Development Manager Fran Fulton said Wednesday that the property owner had canceled Pet City's lease and given the pet store 30 days' notice.
A Turner's Outdoorsman store is set to move into the space in February.
(Read more @ The Daily Breeze)
Animal rights activists are calling for the boycott of Pet City, a Los Angeles and Orange County chain of pet stores, for purchasing its dogs from abusive puppy mills.[01-10-11] L.A. Activist
Pet store faces boycott for dealing with puppy mills
According to activists, four of the store’s suppliers are on The Humane Society’s list of some of the 12 worst puppy mills in the country. The report is based on the number and severity of a breeder’s state and federal animal welfare violations.
Documents, which the Humane Society obtained from the USDA through a Freedom of Information Act request, tell of dogs kept in near zero temperatures without adequate protection, with untreated lesions, feces-encrusted fur, illness, injury and malnourishment.
A protest was held on Saturday, Jan. 8 in front of the Pet City in Torrance to call attention to the issue.
“We want them to stop doing business with puppy mills,” said campaign organizer Lisa Goetz. It was Goetz who sounded the alarm on Pet City and began the boycott.
“I did research to determine where Pet City’s puppies came from, and traced them back to some of the most deplorable puppy mills in the country,” she said in a news release. “Once I had this information, I couldn’t sit back and do nothing.”
(Read more @ l.a. activist)
[01-09-11] Daily Breeze
Critics of Torrance store claims it deals with 'puppy mills'
By Sandy Mazza, Staff Writer
A sign on a Pet City cage holding a 6-month-old Pekingese says: "This is Ollie. He was born and raised by the Marshall family."
Ollie's breeder is listed as Kim and Mort Marshall of Farmington, Ark. They are repeat violators of animal care regulations, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Dogs at the Marshalls' facility were found with bleeding lacerations on their paws and limbs - possibly from their wire cages. The breeders also kept some dogs packed into cramped cages with no solid floor, had dirty cages and moldy food, and had expired medications and improperly identified dogs, according to a USDA inspection report.
But Roja said the store will continue to buy dogs from the breeders it has previously done business with.
