PETA Targets PETCO at Expo

Sept. 19, 2003

By Matt Carter

Tri-Valley Herald  

PLEASANTON -- People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is bringing its campaign against PETCO Animal Supplies Inc. to Pleasanton. PETA claims animals sold in PETCO stores are mistreated -- allegations the company strongly denies.

PETCO, the operator of more than 650 pet food megastores in 43 states, is one of about a dozen sponsors of the this weekend's America's Family Pet Expo at the Alameda County Fairgrounds.

Organizers expect the Pet Expo will attract 40,000 animal lovers to the fairgrounds during a three-day run that begins today. That makes the event a target for PETA, which is recruiting pet owners to join a boycott against PETCO until the company stops selling live animals.

A PETA organizer said the protest, which is scheduled to take place Sunday morning at an entrance to the Pet Expo, will be a peaceful one.

"It's more of an outreach opportunity," PETA coordinator Christy Griffin said by phone from Virginia. "We want to talk to people who care about animals. The majority of people going to the Pet Expo are there because they have a companion animal in their lives."

The protesters will carry signs and hand out literature urging people not to shop at PETCO, Griffin said.

PETA alleges that many animals sold at PETCO stores are raised by inhumane breeders, and that birds, reptiles, fish and other animals aren't properly cared for once they reach the stores.

The group, which also has targeted fast food companies for the treatment of animals destined for slaughter, isn't the only one leveling such allegations at PETCO.

Last year, the city and county of San Francisco sued PETCO, claiming the company ignored citations and warnings about the care of animals during a three-year period.

The lawsuit, which seeks to bar PETCO from selling animals in the city, claims that employees at one store told animal control officials that they were ordered to put sick animals in the freezer to euthanize them. The suit also alleges that animal control officers inspecting the same store found three dead finches in a cage with dirty water.

Griffin said PETA has received similar reports from the company's employees and customers about PETCO stores around the nation.

"This is a company-wide problem, not store-by-store, and that's why we're demanding that PETCO halt sales of live animals," Griffin said.

PETCO spokesman Shawn Underwood said allegations of abuse are false, and that the company is committed to buying animals from reputable breeders and caring for them humanely.

"The bottom line is the company and its associates are animal lovers," Underwood said. "We maintain a high level of care in our stores, or we would not be as successful as we are."

Underwood said PETCO is working with breeders on certification guidelines, and that each store has a veterinarian assigned to it.

"There is a strict veterinary policy that if any animal, whether it is a 99-cent mouse or a $900 bird, is required to get care immediately" if it comes into the store sick, Underwood said.

PETCO sponsors events in its stores where stray pets are offered for adoption, and the company has donated more than $13 million to animal welfare groups "that are saving animal's lives, not just holding signs," Underwood said.

The company will never be able to satisfy PETA, he said, because the group's ultimate goal is to abolish pet ownership. PETA co-founder Ingrid Newkirk has equated pet ownership with slavery, he said.

Griffin said the majority of PETA staff members "have animals in our lives. What we're opposed to is the breeding of more animals (as pets), when hundreds of animals are dying for want of a good home."

The Pet Expo is sponsored by the Worldwide Pet Supply Association, a non-profit trade association.

Doug Poindexter, the association's vice president, said he was not worried that the PETA protest will hurt the event, which is being held at the fairgrounds for the first time this year.

Poindexter said PETA could even have been an official exhibitor at the event, but would have been barred from passing out literature critical of other exhibitors, including PETCO.

PETA applied to be an exhibitor at the America's Family Pet Expo held in April in Orange County, but was told some of the pamphlets it proposed to distribute would not be allowed, Poindexter said, under rules that apply to all exhibitors.

"When they sent me the fliers, there were about a half dozen of them, I said two were negative and not acceptable. The others were OK. It was their decision not to exhibit," Poindexter said.