Business & Tech

Puppy Mill Protests Migrate to Pups & Pets in Santee

A puppy mill protest group has taken up shop outside of a local pet store, which denies involvement with puppy mills.

After nearly two years of weekly outside of in Grossmont Center, only stopping when the store , the Companion Animal Protection Society (CAPS) has turned its attention to in Santee.

Every Saturday, beginning at 1 p.m. for the last two months, the group has staged a protest outside of the store, which sells many types of pets and pet supplies, facing the cars on Town Center Parkway, holding signs with slogans like: "Honk if you hate puppy mills!"

Sydney Cicourel is the leader of the San Diego chapter of CAPS, a national nonprofit whose only purpose is to investigate pet stores and puppy mills.

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The CAPS website has a simple definition of what a puppy mill is: "A mass breeding facility that breeds for 'profit.' "

This is how Cicourel explains it: "Mothers and fathers of puppies from puppy mills live in horrific animal cruelty, in cages, never let out; they produce puppies until they die, and it's legal. Responsible breeders do not sell to pet stores. Often there is a broker involved; he might buy a puppy for $100 and sell it to a store for $200, and then the pet store marks them up."

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The basic message from CAPS is this: If you buy a dog from a pet store, you are contributing to animal cruelty. Period.

Cicourel said she has documentation that implicates Pups & Pets in buying from a puppy mill. But when asked if she would share the documents with Santee Patch and allow them to be published, she said CAPS was not yet ready to release them.

Sharon Franco and family, the owners of Pups & Pets, submitted a written reply to CAPS protests and allegations:

"Our customers come to us because they know they are going to get a healthy family pet who has been bred and vaccinated properly and most of all comes with a warranty backed up by the state of California. They know that we choose our breeders carefully and only use USDA approved and inspected kennels. CAPS and other groups like them want to take away peoples right to choose where they get their pet. For them it's adoption or nothing. Without pet shops, a family's only choice for a puppy would be the shelter or an unregulated backyard breeder. We are not your average pet shop. We care very much about our animals and it shows. This is why we have many repeat customers and zero unhappy ones. We are not going anywhere!"

Also, the Pups & Pets website addresses the "reputable breeder" issue in big, bold lettering on the homepage:

"Puppies are our specialty! We only buy from the most reputable breeders and are proud to offer these adorable babies to you! All our pups come with a one year health guarantee, a free vet check and unlimited support!"

When La Mesa Patch reported on the Pet Works protests, Cicourel said: "They play with words," speaking of Pet Works and other stores she accuses of buying from puppy mills. "All [these] stores do the same thing. They're very sneaky, cagey."

Cicourel also had a response to the common argument against the protesters, that they hurt local business.

"We're not people that aren't business friendly," she said. "They could provide rescue dogs and provide a humanitary service, but it's just about profit."

Ingrid Jane, a member of CAPS and resident of Santee who was protesting on Saturday, said she gets a lot of support from the community when she wears her "Pet shops sell cruelty" T-shirt around town. She says she comes out every Saturday to educate the public and "let them know if they'd like a dog, they should go to the shelter, a rescue or straight from a reputable breeder."

It takes a lot of passion to spend one's Saturday afternoon protesting, and Desiree Carpenter, a younger member of CAPS, exudes that passion. "There are so many animals that need love, so I say, 'Don't shop, adopt!' " said Carpenter.

Cicourel said CAPS is in Santee for the long haul. Seeing how the group spent two years at Grossmont Center, there is no reason to doubt her.


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