Feds Cite Mars Petcare for Buying 13 Puppies From Unlicensed Peddler

For Immediate Release:
May 25, 2023

Contact:
Tasgola Bruner 202-483-7382

Please see the following statement from PETA Senior Vice President Kathy Guillermo regarding U.S. Department of Agriculture citations issued on April 27 to the laboratory of Mars Petcare, which manufactures pet food, for two violations of animal welfare regulations:

A company with an annual revenue of $19 billion should be able to afford legal advice, but Mars Petcare apparently doesn’t take federal law seriously. The pet food manufacturer was just cited by the feds for buying 13 puppies from an unlicensed peddler. The six Welsh corgis and seven basset hound puppies it bought from an unlicensed and unregulated person could have been stolen from someone’s yard for all we know, because according to a federal inspection report, Mars Petcare—the number two pet food maker in the U.S.—didn’t bother to get a scrap of documentation for them.

Federal inspectors also found an exercise yard littered with broken plastic garbage and riddled with holes up to a foot deep, in which dogs could easily injure themselves, perhaps even breaking a leg. Mars Petcare can afford to do better—and for decency’s sake, it most certainly should.

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