Puppy Mills Profit from PPP loans

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© Bailing Out Benji 2020

After millions of families and businesses across the country were affected by the coronavirus, the Federal Government provided financial relief to small businesses across the country. Small businesses were granted loans under the “Small Business Association’s Paycheck Protection Program” and, according to their website,  these loans are “designed to provide a direct incentive for small businesses to keep their workers on the payroll.”

Unfortunately, many puppy-selling pet stores received money from the Paycheck Protection Program. Thanks to this easy search engine of PPP loans , we were able to find many of those stores and make that list public below.

One thing that is very important to note is that many businesses applied for the PPP loan under their LLC name , which was very different than the store name they do business as. After researching these LLCs, we were able to determine that even though Petland’s Headquarters received between 2-5 million dollars through PPP funding, at least 15 of their locations received additional funding. One of the Petland stores that received the PPP funding is currently under investigation by the Florida Attorney General. 

Below you will find the list of puppy-selling stores and the range of funding they received. We also linked each store to our research which connects them to the puppy mills they source from. 

$1,000,000+

 

$350k- $1m 

 

$150k – $350k 

 

Sadly, our research has also exposed puppy mills and puppy brokers that received financial assistance from the government. 

$150k – $350k

 

Even though many states were under lockdown and had travel advisories, many of the above pet stores still imported hundreds of puppy mill puppies from the Midwest in order to continue doing business. This not only put the store employees in danger, but the customers and cross-country transporters as well. We researched this dangerous cross-county transports during the height of the pandemic. You can view our findings here. 

 

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For more ways you can help the dogs trapped in puppy mills, click here.

For more information, please visit our main Facebook page Bailing Out Benji . We also have educational materials that you can print to hang up in your own area.

©Bailing Out Benji 2020

All research and information was done by the volunteer team at Bailing Out Benji and must be cited as such when shared or quoted.

 

We are a small nonprofit organization that makes big changes with very few resources. Our research is used by the leading animal welfare organizations across the country, because what we do is so unique and important.  To make a one time donation or to sign up to be a sustaining supporter to allow us to continue our various programs that expose the puppy mill industry, click the donate button below.

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