May 5, 2014

Dear Sir,

May I go on record as stating that I welcome the efforts of many of Bermuda’s animal lovers to expose the terrible conditions of “puppy mills” in Europe and North America.

I may be one of the few Bermudians who has actually visited these facilities. I can confirm that they are horrifying.

I went to see them because I think it is important to verify second-hand information for myself.

It’s a shame that the backers of a petition seeking to prevent local pet stores from selling puppies from their premises did not do the same. A large number of assumptions are made in the petition’s supporting statement. Apart from accurately describing the problems with puppy mills, every one is demonstrably wrong. Finding that out would have been easy, but apparently the framers of the petition prefer to perpetuate lies in pursuit of their vendetta.

Unfortunately the story about the petition in Saturday’s newspaper blindly repeated the same claims. A simple call for response and comment could have prevented these untruths being disseminated, which I thought was a newspaper’s first responsibility. It might be claimed that because the petition does not name a pet store, there is no need to contact those affected. But as the only pet store in Bermuda that does sell puppies, even the blind can see at whom this petition is aimed and it is cowardly to pretend otherwise.

For the record, Pic a Pet does not sell puppies from puppy mills. Why not? Because they are indeed “horrific commercial breeding facilities” and we do not believe responsible Bermudian dog owners would buy from them or would support such a trade. So aside from the clear moral objections, it would be bad business too. The well documented physical problems of puppies that come from puppy mills mean that few people would buy from us. Bermuda is too small to get away with that kind of “reputational risk”. We would be out of business before you could say “Jack Russell”.

The allegation that pet stores in Bermuda are “not concerned for the well-being of the puppy and only about profits” is grossly inaccurate and deeply offensive to myself and my family, who have been providing pets to Bermuda families for 40 years.

In fact, our puppies are housed in specially designed playpens, not cages, where they can romp and play. The room in which they are housed is temperature controlled so there is no risk of overheating. Water bowls are checked every two hours. The puppies are walked by our staff and get to play with visiting shoppers and prospective buyers. We’re fortunate too that our loyal customers love the puppies so much that few stay in the store for more than a couple of days before finding a home.

Ensuring the puppies’ well-being is the reason we worked very closely with Government animal officials to ensure we met the highest possible standards before opening our store at 27 Queen Street. Our goal is to find good homes for our beautiful puppies, not to mistreat these precious animals.

If a shop created the kinds of conditions described in the petition, I would be the first to sign it. The problem is, that shop is not Pic a Pet.

We would invite passersby who have doubts about our business to come in to the shop and see for themselves instead of circulating vague and inaccurate accusations. Who knows, they might leave with a new member of the family.

BRIAN AND KYLE PARKIN

Pic a Pet

City of Hamilton