Rabbit Advocacy Animal Matters

Pets of Bel Air, Celebrity Boutique to the Stars, Closing

In Defense of Animals – Action Alert

November 26, 2008

Store Is Feeling Pressure From Animal Rights Activists, Class Action Lawsuit

Pets of Bel Air, an “upscale boutique” that has sold companion animals to celebrities like Britney Spears and Paris Hilton, will be closing its doors before year’s end. Jamie Katz, the store’s manager, has confirmed this information to an undercover investigator.

Pets of Bel Air has been subject to weekly protests by animal rights organizations, including In Defense of Animals (IDA), due to their connection with breeding factories known as “puppy mills.” A 2007 investigation by The Humane Society of the United States revealed that dogs sold in the store were supplied by midwest puppy mills, with heartbreaking, substandard conditions. The undercover investigation also showed the pet store’s manager deceiving customers.  

For five and half months, the store’s sale of puppy mill puppies has been under vocal attack by animal rights activists from IDA and other organizations. The demonstrators never intended nor expected the store to go out of business. “Our goal was to get this store to go humane. We would have been their vocal advocates if they had been willing to stop selling puppies and work exclusively with rescue organizations to adopt out dogs and cats,” said IDA Executive Director Karen Snook.  “We want them to make their money selling pet supplies not animals.”

Snook pointed to successful pet supply stores that have decided to partner with animal rescues to promote the adoption of homeless animals. “Every major city in the nation has pet supply stores that do not sell dogs and cats – they help find homes for some of the millions of homeless dogs and cats in our country,” said Snook.

Pets of Bel Air’s decision comes as it has experienced legal pressures as well, defending itself in a class action lawsuit with eight hundred participants.

One of the regular participants in IDA’s demonstrations was Carole Raphaelle Davis, author of "The Diary of Jinky, Dog of a Hollywood Wife" and investigative reporter for American Dog Magazine. Ms. Davis expressed the widely-held concern that Pets of Bel Air would continue to sell puppy mill dogs over the internet: "The dogs being sold by this store are from pet factories, and those factories remain in business. As pet stores that sell dogs succumb to humane concerns, puppy millers are finding refuge in Internet sales.”