PETCO: Do Not Squeeze Out Rescue Groups!

PETCO is one of the largest chains of retail pet supply stores in the U.S. with hundreds of locations nationwide.  Its community outreach arm, The PETCO Foundation, was founded in 1999.  On its web site the PETCO Foundation says it came into being "to promote a wide variety of educational and charitable activities nationwide by partnering with local animal welfare organizations at the grass roots level."  

Now, The PETCO Foundation is in talks with the Atlanta Humane Society to shift its animal welfare partnerships from multiple local "grass-roots" rescue groups and humane societies in metro Atlanta to one group only, the Atlanta Humane Society, giving it exclusivity at PETCO stores and no longer letting even long-standing "PETCO Partners" adopt out animals in their stores or their parking lots.

We believe this kind of exclusivity for a single, already-high-profile animal welfare entity at the cost of dozens of smaller animal welfare groups would:
                                                                                             

• Be a detriment to smaller, independent rescue groups, depriving many of them of their only community presence ... a presence cultivated by some groups over many years at their PETCO sites. 

• Be a detriment to the sick, injured and neglected animals that many of the smaller groups specialize in. 

• Be a detriment to the local animal controls where many of the smaller groups obtain their animals. 

•  Provide would-be adopters/PETCO consumers less choice from whom they adopt pets, as well as less choice about the standards under which those pets are cared for, since many of the smaller groups house the pets in foster homes and provide them with individualized care.

• Cost smaller, independent rescue groups -- and their animals -- adoptions, adoption fees and donation dollars, not only from PETCO, but also from the public --- funds which are vital to their continued operation.

• Potentially put many smaller animal welfare groups out of business to the very real detriment of the dogs, cats and other animals for whom they advocate.

• Potentially impact not only displaced animal welfare groups but also affect other groups at other pet supply stores since all the PETCO groups will need to find new locations from which to adopt animals. 

• Cost PETCO untold numbers of new customers fostered through widespread exposure to a variety of groups who encourage adopters, new and old, to patronize PETCO, because those groups would no longer be doing so.

• Cost PETCO untold numbers of current customers who will boycott its stores due to their perception of the company's lack of fairness and disregard to the needs of animals in the care of many organizations who have depended on their long-standing partnerships with PETCO.

• Undermine community-wide goodwill for PETCO and reduce The PETCO Foundation mission statement of "partnering with animal welfare organizations at the grass roots level" to little more than lip service. 

We respectfully but firmly request that PETCO reconsider its plans and establish partnerships with Atlanta Humane Society only at stores that have no other adoption partnerships already in place. Finally, we request that PETCO remain true to its stated mission and maintain partnerships with multiple grass-roots animal welfare groups, rather than partnering with a single dominant organization.