Today we’ve got an update on a story I brought you just last Friday that centered around the Humane Society Of The United States accusations that national pet retailer Petland was selling animals in their stores which they knowingly purchased from puppy mills across the country. In the post I mentioned that according the Humane Society was referenced as saying “They are buying from puppy mills where these dogs are not treated like pets. They're treated like a cash crop, where mother dogs live in wire cages, sometimes stacked on top of each other in filthy, dirty, cramped conditions, where they receive little socialization or human interaction or exercise. “. Furthermore the group “citied at least 21 different locations that they believe sell puppies bred at puppy mills”.

Well over the past weekend Petland responded in sorts with a blizzard of articles all proclaiming the success of their recent Adopt-A-PetSM campaign. In a statement to reporters the retailer let it be known that “In the last 10 years, Petland has placed more than 270,000 homeless pets. We want our Adopt-A-PetSM program to grow even stronger in 2009 so we are inviting more pet care organizations and more individuals to take advantage of the program locally. Some of our larger-format stores have separate Adopt-A-Pet Centers. In nearly all of our Petland stores, we dedicate some of our highly visible retail display space to showcase healthy, homeless pets. Our goal, as with all of the animals we place, is to match the right pet with the right person and meet the needs of both. The homeless kittens or puppies we offer to our customers must be healthy and well-socialized, ensuring they will make good pets for adopting families.”

While it’s obvious Petland is attempting to recover from all the bad publicity that the Humane Society has wrought upon them recently, you can’t help but be awed by the number of pets the retailer is claimed to have helped. Unfortunately the regardless of the outcome the ultimate loser in this situation will be the hundreds of animals that may not be adopted due to fears of where the animal has come from.