Five years ago, it was just a dream.
We wanted to stop the sale of puppy mill
pups in San Diego.
We began our protests at the Pet Works store in La Mesa, starting in January 2009 as the organizers of the original Meetup group there. The SD Animal Defense Team was formed in the late fall of 2009 by Janice, Arnie and Zola and some others who were working with us. Although we broke off from the Meetup group at that time, we continued to protest at Pet Works for 52 straight weeks. We then moved on to target Pups and Pets in Santee, followed by the two California Pets stores in Carlsbad and Escondido as well as Puparazzi in Mission Valley. When Puppy Stars opened in Clairemont, we focused our campaign there as well as at Pet Place and Naedeen Puppies, the other two stores owned by John Le. After months of protests and our complaints to DAS and SDHS about the conditions in the stores, all three stores were raided by the San Diego Humane Society in March 2012. That brought the total number of stores we closed to five. The animals were all confiscated and the owner arrested. We celebrated victory with a vegan BBQ and party in front of the closed Puppy Stars store!
David Salinas opened San Diego Puppy as a dog wash at the same time the other stores were closed. After investigating his sales out of the store and the source of his puppies, we continued our campaign at his SD Puppy store on Mission Gorge Rd. We are still there. We will be there until an ordinance banning this store and others like it is passed by the City Council or the store goes humane or closes.
YOU CAN JOIN US!
Educational Outreach and Protest
at San Diego Puppy
5825 Mission Gorge Rd.
Today! May 3, Friday evening, 5 - 7 PM
May 11, Sat., 2 - 4 PM
May 25, Sat., 2 - 4 PM
We have a booth at the SDHS Walk for the Animals tomorrow, Sat. May 4 at Liberty Station. Please stop by our booth and fill out a postcard supporting the ban for the City Council. Volunteers welcome!
YES! WE HAVE A VICTORY!!!
At the Public Safety & Neighborhood Services committee meeting Wed. May 1, the committee, led by Martie Emerald and Lori Zapf voted unanimously to send the ordinance banning the sale of dogs, cats and rabbits in San Diego pet stores to the
full City Council! We filled the room and WE WERE HEARD!
The San Diego Animal Defense Team has been on the formal working committee for this ordinance for months. We started alone, creating a printed and bound information packet with puppy mill and pet store facts and the San Diego connection. We provided a packet to each City Council member in September 2012 and gave them our petition asking for the ordinance, with 40 pages of signatures. We met with staffs of several Council members.
We eventually joined with the San Diego Humane Society
and APRL to work together toward our common goal. As part of that working committee, the Animal Defense Team has gathered endorsements for a ban from more than 75 animal related businesses and
animal welfare groups.
We expect a vote by the City Council in June or July.
And YES! We will need you there with us!
STAND FOR THE BAN!
~The San Diego Animal Defense Team~
www.sdanimaldefenseteam.blogspot.com
