Petition for permanent shut down of Petland of the Oconee
- by: Eraina DeLong
- recipient: Judith and Harry Keim, Owners, Petland of the Oconee
Help us shut down Petland of the Oconee in Milledgeville, GA forever! Over the last several weeks it has finally become evident to the public that Petland of the Oconee uses inhumane and inconsiderate practices concerning the sale and keeping of animals in their store. Help us put an end to these practices permanently.
We, the undersigned do hereby demand that Petland of the Oconee, located at 159 Garrett Way, Milledgeville, GA 31061; be shutdown immediately and permanently. We demand this action in light of the fact that over the last several weeks, seven different articles have run in the city’s local newspaper The Union Recorder documenting inhumane and inconsiderate practices toward animals for sale, in their care. Petland of the Oconee has been quarantined three times this year alone for presence of infectious diseases in animals for sale.
At least two dogs, a toy poodle and a beagle puppy, tested positive for parvo in August 2006. The store had been quarantined for parvo prior that same month. We do not believe proper steps were taken to ensure the safety of other animals on the premises. (Puppies were quarantined on the premises even after it was specifically stated by the State Secretary of Agriculture Tommy Irvin, that the animals should be quarantined in a separate facility) Patrons were allowed to bring their own companion animals onto the premises without warning of possible infection with parvo being given before or after the state issued quarantine. Speculative evidence suggest puppies were being sold and left the store during quarantine, which would have been a violation of the state issued order for such quarantine. It has been noted on more than one occasion that animals on the premises were ill, in need of water, food, attention or clean cage/bedding. Never has anyone on staff at this store shown the initiative to see that such problems were taken care of. The premises smells of stale urine and feces at all times. This is unacceptable.
News evidence from one news article has brought to light that Petland of the Oconee buys from H & F Kennels in Rhine, GA which as of February 2000 had 300 adult dogs and 67 puppies on the premises and has a history of USDA regulations violations. Contrary to statements made that Petland of the Oconee does not buy from puppy mills, only local and private breeders, both misleading and placating terms, evidence proves they do. We constitute H & F Kennels as a puppy mill (a puppy mill being constituted as a facility that raises animals strictly for profit in large numbers without the benefit of personal contact and conditioning normally found with a pet owner, keeping animals in runs or cages with little or no human contact, also called a commercial breeder) and will not tolerate the sell of puppies from such inhumane, unsafe, unhealthy and filthy conditions.
The least we, the undersigned, will be able to concede to is that Petland of The Oconee stop all sale of living animals in their store. We believe the cages puppy mill puppies now reside in would be far better served as holding areas for animals from the local shelter or animal control for pet adoption days. Further we believe that sale of puppy mill puppies not only hurts the puppies it hurts the already rampant stray overpopulation problem and has no place in an store that claims to care about the welfare of pet animals.
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