This week the People For The Ethical Treatment Of Animals otherwise known as PETA have decided to take a stand against those trying to purchase pets using credit cards. Now since there’s no way they can stop people from using their hardly earned plastic, they are instead targeting the pet stores that allow people to pay on credit. The reason behind all the efforts to cease credit card use at pet stores is their belief that by allowing people to purchase an animal on credit, the stores are encouraging impulse buying; which often leads to buyer’s remorse. It’s easy to understand their point that when someone sees a cute fluffy little kitten all locked up in a cage in some giant pet store they instinctive want to do everything they can to give the animal a better life, even if it means going into debt. Their thinking is that the new owner eventually ends up regretting the decision once the bills start coming end and the pet trashes their home for the first time. At which point they decide to send the animal to the local shelter or worse just abandon it on the side of the road (either way the chances of a good life for the pet drastically decrease).

Realizing they couldn’t tackle ever pet storing in the country, PETA decided to focus on one location in hopes of setting an example to other stores. In a letter sent to the Pet World pet store of Jennings, LA. Peta is quoted as saying “As you might know, 6 to 8 million unwanted dogs and cats are turned in to U.S. animal shelters annually, and approximately half of them must be put to death for lack of suitable adoptive homes…..It's no secret that PETA opposes the sale of live animals in pet stores like yours. But today, we are writing to ask that you make one simple change that would go a long way toward saving unwanted animals' lives: Prohibit customers from using credit cards to purchase live animals…Impulse purchases with credit cards too often result in an animal receiving inadequate care and/or being abandoned at an animal shelter once the "honeymoon" period wears off. Caring for an animal is an expensive, years-long commitment of time and money. People should not buy animals on a whim, especially if they cannot afford the initial cost of the animal--let alone the ongoing cost of supplies, food, and veterinary care. A cash-only policy for live animals would encourage prospective buyers to more carefully consider if they have what it takes (financially and otherwise) to provide a good, stable home for the animal”

While the pet store has yet to issue a response and though the cause may be one that no doubt would help animal shelters around the country, it’s hard to find it feasible for pet stores to refuse a customer’s money no matter what form they offer it in. Pet stores aren’t alone when it comes to dealing with the rising costs associated with operating a business and refusing sales no matter how valiant the reasons behind them are, is simply something that most stores can’t afford to do though.