Alleged Petland puppy thief surrenders: What about Petland?

Shelly Hess is facing charges in Missouri for taking a puppy from Petland. Photo courtesy of Lake St. Louis Police Department.

A woman accused of stealing three puppies from three different Petland stores has turned herself into authorities according to news reports. Shelly R. Hess is facing charges in St. Charles, Missouri while the investigation continues in suburban Chicago. The big question remains - while the alleged Petland puppy thief faces charges will the main stream media look beyond the puppy caper for the real story at Petland?

In case you missed the story last fall, a bold puppy thief walked into Naperville and Bolingbrook Petlands, asked to see small white, fluffy puppies and slipped the dogs into her bag before walking out of each store. The dogs were eventually returned. What she did was wrong...very wrong...and she should be prosecuted.

However, during all the coverage the puppy caper generated in November, not one member of the Chicago mainstream media looked beyond the obvious crime for the real story. What is Petland doing everyday?

What is the true story behind the puppies in the window and where do they come from?

Everyday, Petland and other pet stores in Chicago sell dogs to unsuspecting consumers without telling the truth about their origins. While consumers are told the dogs are 'hand-picked' from the 'best breeders,' they are really shipped out from the worst of the puppy mills.

These AKC certified pups were born to parents sentenced to a life in a breeding factory, locked in small cages, living in their own filth. If you ask to see the paperwork and do a google search at these stores, the paper trail leads back to puppy mill after puppy mill. If the reporters looked a little deeper, they'd see the real consumer fraud being perpetrated everyday.

It's one of the reasons why Chicago is on the verge of outlawing the sale of commercially bred cats and dogs in pet stores...it's the story behind the story. Hess - the alleged Petland puppy thief - turned herself into Missouri authorities at the end of January and posted bail. No charges have been filed yet in Illinois. There are a lot of twists and turns in her story that you'll find in an account written by the Naperville Sun.

But, if you're more interested in reading about Petland in our area and why ther business warrants a full investigation...If you wonder if additional charges should be filed, but not just against Hess....then check out the posts below and skip shopping in stores like Petland. And, encourage your lawmakers to toughen laws in your community to outlaw the sale of commercially bred puppies and kittens in pet stores.

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