The quality of their care may lie in the eye of the beholder.
Cell video shows a bulldog puppy with twisted front legs. One of them is wrapped in what appears to be electrical tape.
Another image captures a small terrier pacing in a kind of aquarium that appears to double as a cage.
The floors are covered in shavings.
“They should be in aired cages, they should have walkers walking them in the play areas and adoption rooms,” animal advocate Gia Campola said. “They should not be together in one, sometimes three to four to five, in an aquarium.”
The images were allegedly captured last year inside “Pick of the Litter,” a pet store which has been at Southpark Mall in Strongsville for the past 11 years.
Its owner, Tom Collins, describes himself as “an animal lover” and claims the bulldog went to a good home.
“That breeder could have put that dog to sleep if he wanted to, but he didn’t,” Collins said. “We got that bulldog, we took it to Litchfield Animal Clinic, it was totally checked over.”
Yet advocates are petitioning the mall to revoke the store’s lease and that of nearby "Petland." This weekend, they will also be staging a protest a few blocks away.
PETA has investigated, while WKYC Channel 3 News was told by the county that “Pick of the Litter” did nothing illegal.
Collins says he is happy at Southpark Mall and plans to keep his store there. Animal advocates are unlikely to give up.