• Berwick News

By Callan Date

20th December 2007 02:05:21 AM

Pets at Home managing director David

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ALL puppies and kittens have been removed from sale at a Fountain Gate pet store in a bid to stop the increasing amount of abandoned animals after Christmas.

Pets at Home have made the decision to highlight the risks associated with impulse pet purchasing at this time of year.

The company will also help introduce abandoned animals into caring homes through a partnership with The Lort Smith Animal Hospital.

Pets at Home managing director David Herman said each store would contain a Lort Smith Animal Hospital Adoption Centre, where customers could buy a dog or cat which had been vet checked, wormed, vaccinated, micro chipped and desexed.

“We stopped acquiring and taking in animals in early to mid-November and then the last of the animals left our store about a week ago,” he said.

“We appreciate this is a controversial first step but one both organisations believe is necessary in order to bring about positive changes in animal welfare,” Mr Herman said.

He said the pet industry had been tarnished with many bad practices, including keeping animals caged up in small glass enclosures at the front of pet shops.

“Those kind of practices are really tough and have given the industry a bad name and rightly so.” Mr Herman said the move would have some financial impact on his store – with Pets at Home not receiving any money from the adoption out of a dog or cat.

Lort Smith Animal Hospital CEO Ric Holland said pet welfare and responsible pet ownership had become increasingly important issues over the past decade.

“Lort Smith has partnered with Pets at Home to effect positive change in the responsible care of animals,” he said.

“Adopting a pet is a lifetime commitment.”

The first Lort Smith Animal Hospital Adoption Centre is expected to open in January at Pets at Home in Fountain Gate.

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