15.12.25
Naturewatch Foundation is proud to stand with rescue groups, campaigners, veterinary professionals and animal-loving celebrities in urging the next CEO of Pets at Home to end the sale of live animals in its shops.
The open letter, which has been coordinated by the brilliant Rescue Not Retail campaign, has gathered an fantastic coalition of voices, including our Companion Animal Campaign Manager, Natalie.
Together, we’re speaking up for the rabbits, rodents, fishes and reptiles who are too often overlooked, yet deserve the same compassion and respect as our more familiar companion animals.
These sentient animals are still being kept and sold in bright, noisy retail environments where constant disturbance from customers can cause real stress and suffering. On top of this, their easy availability makes impulse purchases all too common.
Welcoming an animal into your home should always be a thoughtful, informed decision, but the sale of live animals in a major high-street chain, which has hundreds of outlets nationwide, sends entirely the wrong message.
The letter calls on Pets at Home’s incoming CEO (who is yet to be appointed) to join the growing list of retailers who have already consigned live animal sales to the past. Instead, it urges the company to embrace a more ethical, forward-thinking approach by using its stores to focus on local rescues and charities with small animals in need of loving homes.
Pets at Home already contributes significantly to this work through its Pets Foundation, which is a fantastic source of support for UK rescues, demonstrating that the retailer does care about animal welfare. However, it now needs to address this blind spot within its own stores.
Read the open letter here.
