ARM wins again
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, Jan/Feb 1994:
Animal Rights Mobiliza-
tion director Robin Duxbury, com-
ing off a successful campaign to
keep dolphins out of the Colorado’s
Ocean Journey theme park to be
built near Denver, called for a boy-
cott of the grooming salons in the
PetsMart pet supply chain last
September, following the death of
at least five dogs in five different
states when groomers––independent
of each other and of any direction
from PetsMart ––apparently tried to
perform veterinary procedures
and/or mishandled insecticides.
PetsMart, the fastest-growing firm
in the pet trade, offers shelter ani-
mals for adoption in its stores,
rather than selling puppies and kit-
tens from breeders. Many people
thus thought the ARM boycott call
ill-advised. “I called for this partial
boycott with mixed feelings,”
Duxbury admitted, “because I think
the store has done far more on over-
population than any activist group,
including ARM.” But PetsMart
quickly agreed to implement ARM’s
eight “Guidelines for Safe and
Humane Grooming Facilities,”
endorsed ARM’s list of procedures
that groomers should leave to veteri-
narians, and itself began circulating
the guidelines (available from ARM
at POB 6989, Denver, CO 80206).
