Call on Petland Officials to End Rabbit Sales on Heels of Employee Rabbit Killings

Last week, PETA discovered a disturbing photograph and comments posted on Facebook by Petland employee Elizabeth Carlisle, who worked at the store in Akron, Ohio. The photo shows a grinning Carlisle posing for the camera as she scruffs the bodies of two dead, soaking wet rabbits. Carlisle admitted to a Facebook friend that she drowned the rabbits, claiming that her manager took the photograph while Carlisle was "swearing at [the rabbits] to just hurry up and die …." Carlisle's comments go on to state that the rabbits had been "attacking and eating each other" and had sustained injuries as a result, including "deep wounds all over," "an eye missing," what Petland staff "suspected was a broken jaw," and paralysis from the waist down—injuries that clearly had taken some time to occur and would not have occurred had proper care and supervision been provided to these animals. But instead of treating the animals or having them humanely euthanized by a veterinarian, Carlisle—and apparently her manager, whom Carlisle claims took the photo—decided to drown the animals.

Petland has long been under fire for buying animals from breeding mills, among other allegations, and PETA routinely receives complaints about deplorable conditions for animals at Petland stores across the U.S. It is clear that Petland has no business selling live animals, period, but in light of this cruelty case, we are renewing our call on Petland Founder Ed Kunzelman and Petland President Frank Diffata to end rabbit sales immediately, as other national pet store chains have recently done.

Please send polite comments to:

Ed Kunzelman, Founder and Chair
Frank Difatta, President
Petland USA
250 Riverside St.
Chillicothe, OH 45601
740-775-2464
800-221-5935
740-775-2575 (fax)
frank.difatta@petland.com

Click here to see PETA's letter to Petland officials about the rabbit killings.