NOVI, Mich. (WXYZ) — The Petland retailer inside Twelve Oaks Mall in Novi is on the heart of a recent undercover operation by the Humane Society of the United States.
Officials with the organization say what they found was disturbing and what they noticed was captured on digicam.
“We have consistently connected Petland to puppy mills and so we wanted to go behind the scenes with hidden camera and see if the problems were as pervasive in the Novi store as they are in other pet land stores and the answer was yes,” mentioned John Goodwin with the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS).
Goodwin is the senior director of the Stop Puppy Mills marketing campaign for HSUS. An Investigator from the Humane Society labored at Petland Novi as a kennel attendant for about two months.
“We found bloody diarrhea,” mentioned Goodwin. “We found incisions from surgeries that were not properly closed. We found all sorts of disease problems.”
The undercover video not solely confirmed sick puppies but in addition caught a supply of the puppies to Petland Novi. HSUS claims they’ve paperwork that exhibits puppies have been delivered to retailer from mass breeding operations or puppy mills which might be based mostly in Iowa and Missouri. The organization additional claims these puppy mills have a historical past of animal care violations.
Petland despatched 7 Action News a press release concerning the allegations.
“Like clockwork, the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) kicked off its annual fundraising season with false allegations from an undercover HSUS operative against a family-owned and operated pet store. Each year, HSUS, which does not operate a single pet shelter, nor provide any support to 98-percent of U.S. humane societies and shelters (Center for the Environment and Welfare report, “Struggling Shelters,” Nov. 2023) publicizes its false allegations in opposition to a lawfully owned and operated pet retailer to get media consideration and solicit donations.This summer season, an undercover operative posed as an worker at Petland, Novi (MI) and made patently false claims to undermine the shop’s operations and integrity. This deceitful undercover HSUS operative additionally failed to offer any quantitative information in her “investigation.” “Petland has a strict ‘If you see something, say something’ policy that requires employees who witness or experience something that makes them feel uncomfortable to report it via an anonymous 800- number,” mentioned Petland VP of Animal Welfare Brian Winslow. “Instead, the undercover employee and HSUS sources withheld the information and imagery she sourced in this plot for months. Not only did they not report their concerns via the tip line, they also chose not to contact store management, animal control, nor local or state officials. She and her HSUS counterparts remained silent; reinforcing the fact that none of the pets were in danger, and they were being cared for properly. Instead, these accounts were produced into a deceiving video clip and rhetoric to launch HSUS’s 2023 Holiday fundraising season.” The operative recorded video of a French Bulldog with “cherry eye,” a quite common situation for the breed and exploited the canine on social media to solicit donations on behalf of HSUS. The reality is the puppy was instantly cared for by means of a corrective process carried out by a state-licensed veterinarian and has totally recovered. Additionally, the HSUS marketing campaign materials features a kennel picture with a false caption that claims “at least one puppy ….fell and broke a leg.” According to the shop proprietor and data, within the retailer’s 20+ years of operation a puppy has by no means damaged a leg by falling from a kennel. Unfounded, false allegations of sick puppies are scattered by means of this HSUS marketing campaign. “The health and well-being of our pets is Petland’s number one priority,” added Winslow. “Petland abides by all local, state, and federal regulations when it comes to the care of its pets. Our highly qualified state- licensed consulting veterinarians check puppies weekly and more frequently if required. All care is documented for each pet.” Additionally, pets present process remedy for any sickness are usually not available to our visitors till they’ve been cleared by the veterinarian. Finally, the undercover operative offered HSUS with video of a distributor appearing in an unprofessional method. Several weeks previous to this report, Petland Novi house owners terminated the transport firm for its unprofessional demeanor.
“The camera tells the truth,” Goodwin mentioned. “What we show in the video that we acquired is exactly what was happening behind these stores.”
If to procure a sick puppy from any Michigan pet retailer, Goodwin says he needs you to get in contact with the Humane Society of the United States instantly. You can name them at 202-452-1100 or 866-720-2676.
