Ohio Petland Closes After Deliberate Rabbit Drownings

If you haven’t signed it yet, there is a Care2 petition calling on the Akron Municipal Court to punish former Petland employee Elizabeth Carlisle to the fullest extent of the law for deliberately drowning two rabbits at a Petland store in Akron, Ohio on July 28.

Carlisle posted a photo of herself, smiling and dangling two dead, soaking wet rabbits by their scruffs, on Facebook. She confirmed someone’s guess that she drowned the rabbits, and wrote: “the manager took the pic for me. [S]he reminded me that there were people outside as I was swearing at them to just hurry up and die but then she was so kind as to take this picture.”

Her other comments indicate that the rabbits had been allowed to “attack and eat each other” while in the store’s care and custody, and that they had sustained injuries as a result.

After being alerted to the photo, PETA asked Petland to investigate the incident, push for criminal charges, review the company’s procedures for treatment and euthanasia of sick/injured animals and stop selling rabbits.
Soon after, news reports indicated that Petland officials had permanently closed the Akron store because of the incident, claiming that it will not tolerate any abuse of animals in its care.

It’s a start! Petland still needs to take steps to ensure that abuse doesn’t occur in any of its stores nationwide. The chain has no business selling any animals—its staff clearly can’t supervise and care for them. The company has repeatedly been accused of selling sick puppies from puppy mills. (Petland claims it gets its puppies from “reputable breeder.” It’s irresponsible for anyone to breed animals considering that three to four million of them must be euthanized in shelters every year.)

In addition to signing the petition, people can help animals by urging the company to sell animal supplies—not animals.

Read more: animal welfare

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Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of
Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

Mary C.

2:35PM PDT on Aug 17, 2009

Marcia, we set up our Pug rescue every third Saturday at Petco. All the pugs are in foster homes until they are adopted. They do not stay at Petco they are not at a shelter in cages.

Take a good look at her sick evil grin. That is the way of way too many people her age. That is what they are turning into.

send a green star

Amanda L.

2:17PM PDT on Aug 17, 2009

If you plan to email, don't use the address submitted in a prior post. I received this message from the recipient:

This case is with the City Prosecutor - 330-375-2730

Lisa Holdt
Chief Administrator
Office of Prosecuting Attorney
Sherri Bevan Walsh
53 University Ave., 6th Floor
Akron, Ohio 44308
(330) 643-2796
(holdt@prosecutor.summitoh.net)

Marcia L.

4:03AM PDT on Aug 17, 2009

Mammals should never be sold in pet stores. They require more space and care than these stores can offer. In Muskegon, MI Petco and Pet Smart give our rescue groups space for Adopt-a-days but the animals are cared for by volunteers NOT minimum wage employees.

3:57PM PDT on Aug 15, 2009

This Petland closed down ONLY because of this??? I think there is more to it. A lot more BS has probably been going on with those two employed there, and this was the final straw.

Mike D.

1:48AM PDT on Aug 15, 2009

From: Mike Donnelly
To: holdt@prosecutor.summitoh.net
Sent: Thursday, August 13, 2009 2:20:58 AM
Subject: Elizabeth Carlisle deserves prison

Dear Prosecuting Attorney Walsh:

I was terribly upset by the story of Akron Petland employee Elizabeth Carlisle, which I have read about in the national news. Articles like this are haunting reminders of her disgraceful, amoral conduct:

http://www.woio.com/Global/story.asp?S=10848039

I hope that you are as motivated and as angry about this terrible story as I am, and I live in Kansas City, Missouri. This crime happened in your own county - practically under your nose in Akron.

Please hold Elizabeth Carlisle accountable for her evil. Prosecute her to the maximum allowable under the laws of Ohio. Prison is where she belongs not out killing pets and putting it on Facebook.

Thank you, and I wish you an intelligent, sensitive, sympathetic jury. I will pray for your success in this case. If Michael Vick can end up in Leavenworth prison for what he did, I hope Ms. Carlisle is treated equally under the law.

Respectfully,

Michael P. Donnelly

1:45AM PDT on Aug 15, 2009

Has anyone seen pictures of this chick? She looks like Pink on crack. If they don't put her in prison doing hard time for this, she's liable to pop out of couple of kids and drown them next.

Helen T.

7:14AM PDT on Aug 14, 2009

I'm wondering about how the manager of the store could allow her to destroy the merchandise?

Dolores K.

1:16AM PDT on Aug 14, 2009

i work at pet supplies plus and even if an animal is on its way to death we have to let themdie on there own....we are not allowed to do anything but help them et better.....i dont see how any one can kill anything

Carin M.

12:45AM PDT on Aug 14, 2009

I'm happy that Ohio Petland closes! I was really disgusted about Elizabeth Carlisle, I've signed the petition to get her punished for her actions. A pet store can't have employees that are killing the pets!

Jade H.

11:41PM PDT on Aug 13, 2009

Well, while I have to say that like everyone else who has commented, my first thought is "drowning is TOO GOOD for them!" LOL Then common sense kicked in - and the real goal should be that places like Petland, Petco, PetSmart should be businesses that handle supplies for various animals - but keep the LIVE animals out of the stores (that includes the reptiles, fish,parakeets, ferrets, rabbits, etc. So often the purchase of live animals is a spur of the moment decision, or to shut up a whining child. That is NOT the best reason to bring home a live creature that will soon be shunted to the back of the house, the yard, or basically something they throw food and water to when they remember. Having rescue groups show up for "adoption day" is fine - because they don't usually let the people walk out with the puppy/dog/kitten/cat at that moment- they do a background check of some sort to make sure the animal is going to a good home and is truly wanted. Most of the kids hired are not knowledgeable about the animals - it's just a job. And you end up with a situation like this one. Just stick to the food, supplies, toys, etc. It also takes away a place for the puppy mills to sell to!