ANMAL
AID PRESS RELEASE
28 JULY 2005
WYEVALE UNDER PRESSURE OVER ANIMAL SALES
The garden centre chain Wyevale is coming under
pressure from Britain’s largest animal rights group just as
it finds itself the subject of takeover bids.
Wyevale, the country’s leading chain of garden centres,
also claims to be the second biggest retailer of pets in the country,
with animals being sold in approximately half of its stores.
Animal Aid’s key concern is that garden centres are totally
unsuitable environments in which to sell animals. They encourage
impulse buying by customers who will have gone to purchase plants,
not pets. Animals bought on a whim often find themselves neglected
and/or abandoned at already hard-pressed rescue centres once the
novelty has worn off.
For the same reason, Animal Aid undertook a concerted three year
campaign against the DIY chain Focus, which culminated in the company
stopping selling all live animals. The group has now turned its
attention to Wyevale, urging the company to phase out all pet sales
or risk becoming the next campaign target. Animal Aid launched its
campaign against Focus after undercover investigations revealed
telling evidence relating to the company’s animal suppliers
and its staff’s lack of welfare training. Hundreds of demos
were staged at stores around the country, as well as a sit-in at
the Focus headquarters, resulting in major national and regional
media coverage.
Furthermore, based on its detailed research, Animal Aid has found
that staff in such establishments are frequently unable to provide
even the most basic advice on husbandry and may be ignorant of the
often-complex physical and emotional requirements of the animals
being sold. This is especially the case with exotic birds, available
in some Wyevale centres. With birds, there is also the issue of
their origin: some unscrupulous wholesale suppliers claim their
birds are captive-bred, when they have been trapped in the wild.
It is reported that disappointment in performance and lack of confidence
in the current Chairman has plunged Wyevale into a leadership crisis,
at exactly the same time as it is courting new investors and restructuring
its business in order to boost profits. Wyevale, as a PLC, is obliged
to declare all material matters to interested parties, and the possibility
of being the focus of a national animal rights campaign will clearly
not appeal to prospective bidders.
Says Animal Aid director Andrew Tyler:
“Our message to Wyevale is clear: unless it commits to a phase-out
of the sale of live animals, it will find itself in the spotlight.
It should stick to plants, not pets.”
• Background information on the Focus campaign available at
http://www.animalaid.org.uk/campaign/sport/focus.htm
and on the pet trade in general, at http://www.animalaid.org.uk/pets/index.htm.
• Previous successes achieved by Animal Aid include stopping
the 2004 National Cage & Aviary Birds Exhibition (the UK’s
largest bird market), at which around 100,000 birds would have been
on sale, many torn from the wild.
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Find out the background on our Focus
page.
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