Less then purr-fect

Children and adults alike crowd into Petland on Siegen Lane Sunday, touching the glass separating them from the puppies. A young boy balances a bird on his arm, and another plays with a German Shepherd puppy in a small cubby hole. A customer's leashed dog tries to contact the puppies behind the glass, causing the puppies to bark back.

Petland, a new pet store which opened Sept. 18, has puppies, kittens, birds, fish and many other kinds of animals, in addition to common pet supplies.

Rick Singer, Baton Rouge Petland owner and local attorney, said he opened the pet store for two reasons.

"One, I've always been a pet person," he said. "When I was a kid, I'd always wanted to work at a pet store. I say kind of tongue-in-cheek I've spent the last few years taking smiles off people's faces [as an attorney], so this is an opportunity to put them on people's faces."

The second reason, Singer said, was because he thinks Petland is a great corporation.

And, Singer has faith that people will have a good time in his store.

"I think you'd come in here and you'd have a blast," Singer said. "You'd enjoy speaking to anyone on my floor. They're just great people. They're going to bend over backwards to accommodate you."

But some groups are not so happy with Petland's opening. Lindsey Grissom, who serves on the board of directors of Gulf Coast Doberman Rescue, said she will never set foot in a Petland store.

"What I choose to do is to not shop there," Grissom said. "I'm not going to buy dog food there and I'm certainly not going to buy a puppy there. And I'm going to tell everyone I know to shop at Petsmart or Petco."

Grissom said she will not shop at Petland because of the allegations that Petland, a nationwide chain, receives their puppies from puppy mills -- large breeding facilities in deplorable conditions where breeders use their animals until they cannot breed any longer, and then dispose of them.

Grissom said puppy mills breed unhealthy animals, and the problems are not only physical. Most also have social problems because they have been in cages their entire life, she said.

On NBC's Dateline television program in April 2000, Dateline associated the Petland chain with puppy mills and led a 10-month investigation of the chain.

Some animal rights groups, such as In Defense of Animals, have started a boycott of Petland chains because of the store's association with puppy mills.

Terri Cordrey, campaign associate and paralegal for IDA, said she believes most animals from pet stores come from puppy mills.

"I couldn't speak for every single one," Cordrey said. "It's the practice, though, of most pet stores. It's an industry. They have to get their animals from somewhere, and they're not running around to the various shelters."

But Singer said they do not receive their animals from puppy mills.

Singer said the puppies come from the Hunte corporation, and he personally visited the facilities where all his animals come from and has taken pictures of the facilities.

"I have the same concern as everyone else does, to make sure they're not coming from puppy mills," Singer said. "Puppy mills are only for profit. I'm not going to put anything like that out in our community. I'm not going to deal with people like that."

In addition to puppies, Petland sells kittens which are adopted from people locally, Singer said.

Cordrey said another reason for the boycott is the fact that millions of animals are euthanized every year in animal shelters.

"We prefer people to find their animals at shelters," Cordrey said. "Millions are put down every year, so we don't like the idea. Over 25 percent of pets in shelters across the country are purebred so there is no reason to go to pet stores for purebred animals."

But, Singer said he plans to work alongside local animal welfare groups and shelters to plan adoptions, such as Capital Area Welfare Society and Cat Haven. He said they want to work with some of the welfare organizations and bring their animals to the store for people to adopt.

"We have one common thing in our lives," Singer said. "We all love animals."

But Grissom is not convinced.

"I just want to make sure people know what they're buying," she said. "I think a lot of people go into the store and impulse buy. I think people need to think really hard about what they're purchasing and make an informed decision. Since Petland has such a terrible reputation throughout the country, I just think we need to be made aware here in Baton Rouge that that's the kind of business it is."

But, another local animal rights activist, Susan Aaronson, said she went to Petland and thought it was perfectly fine. She said she even knows the veterinarian who works with Petland, Dr. Alfred Stevens, and that he frequently inspects all the animals there.

Singer continues to stand by his store.

"We do everything we can to try to satisfy the concerns of those folks who might be accusational," he said. "I've had people from rescue organizations, people who are generally against pet stores or pro-animal welfare, and they've been here holding puppies and some of them have purchased puppies. You can't accuse us of these things once you see what we're all about, what we do here and how much we care for the animals."