Event Protest

Connie posted it. Is it really gone?

Here's the copy of my email I sent. I was blown off on the phone, too.

I just received information that Uncle Bill's will be one of your participants at your Pet Festival this summer. This is very upsetting information. I called Ms. Doehrman to express my frustration with this, and she told me you were in a "tough spot", since Uncle Bill's is a member of your Chamber. Interesting. The dogs that are kept in cramped cages are in a tight spot. The dogs, who are kept in a cage and forced to have litter after litter of puppies so that Uncle Bill's can profit, are in a tight spot. The dogs, who get no veterinarian care and are euthanized when they are done breeding, are in a tight spot. I didn't realize taking a "moral stand" and standing up for what is right is a "tight spot". I'm sorry if I don't have much sympathy for the Fishers' Chamber of Commerce and their plight about how to uninvite a KNOWN puppy mill purchaser.

What I can suggest is that each and every member of the Chamber of Commerce watch the show Oprah did on puppy mills or go online and see the horrors of puppy mills or attend a puppy mill protest. What I can suggest is that everyone, who cares about animals, BOYCOTT the festival AND refuse to shop in Fishers. What I CAN do it write a letter to the editor to the Indianapolis Star about how the Fishers Chamber of Commerce cares more about its businesses than the welfare of animals.

I asked Ms. Doehrman where the Chamber draws the line? Would it be okay if a business murdered people, or would that be too egregious? She hung up on me.

I urge you to reconsider your decision to invite Uncle Bill's to your PET FESTIVAL where there will be rescue groups in attendance. These groups are doing what is right for pets. Uncle Bill's is not. To have Uncle Bill's in attendance is like a slap in the face to them.

Thank you,
Nancy Webster

Looks like it. I couldn't find it.

This is what I posted -- Connie, if it gets deleted, PM me.

From FISHERSSTASR.COM--
"June 21: Pet Day. Pet owners and enthusiasts look forward to this event each year. Chamber member businesses with a focus on pet care, pet-related services, pet art and nonprofit organizations will be on hand. There will be local veterinarians, owners of pet suite and bark park, a homemade pet grooming products business, Uncle Bill's Pet Center, Indy Tails Magazine, Indiana Sheltie Rescue and more. Photos of your pet and pet treats will be available."

The fact that this event promotes rescue groups and humane societies, who will also be in attendance, yet is including a vendor who sells puppies is quite disconcerting.

Perhaps no one on the Chamber saw the Channel 13 investigative report, "The Puppy Pipeline", which highlighted the activities of Uncle Bill's Pet Center.

We encourage everyone, particularly Indiana residents and any group who will be participating in the event as a vendor, to please write and or call the Fishers Chamber of Commerce and express your outrage over their decision to include Uncle Bill's in the event.

Contact information:
President and CEO of Fishers Chamber of Commerce--Ms Wolf
Her email address: cwolf@fisherschamber.com

Person at the Chamber in charge of signing vendors-- Ms Doehrman
Her email address: cdoehrman@fisherschamber.com
You can also leave a message for her by calling 317-578-0700

Well, I copied what Connie posted so if it does get deleted again, we can just keep on postin'. Great letter, Nancy. Here's mine:

"I am writing to express my outrage over the decision to include Uncle Bill's at the June 21st Pet Day. I find this very disturbing.

My family and I, as well as many friends, were looking forward to bringing our dogs and spending our time and money at the event. We will not do so if Uncle Bill's is going to be included.

Uncle Bill's does not care about animal welfare, in the least; after the much publicized Channel 13 investigation, more and more people are very aware of that fact. The investigation showed where Uncle Bill's obtains their puppies...puppy mills. They are dirty, nasty places and the "good folks" at Uncle Bill's know this. Yet, they continue to sell unhealthy, badly bred puppies from puppy mills.

My husband and I work with a local animal rescue group and have three dogs of our own. It would be a shame if we, and others, would miss out on a great day because we do not want to support a company that does not support animals or their welfare. I do not believe that you wish to support them either.

Please, remove Uncle Bill's from the Pet Day event.

Thank you for your time,"

That was pretty passive, I must say.

Thanks Guys!!!!!

Hum, here's an idea. Maybe the Chamber should give the puppy mill protest people a booth! It could be right next to the Uncle bill's booth

That would put them in more of a "tight spot".

Oh man. Your are both better than mine. I should have waited and copied yours! Here is my email

Hello and good afternoon. I just received some distressing news about pet day at the Farmers' Market. I know the purpose of the day is to educate pet owners about pet care and other pet resources. Why then is Uncle Bills Pet Center going to be there? They do not provide any pet related services(grooming, boarding,etc). They are strictly a store that is selling pets and their supplies. In case you weren't aware of it, they get their puppies from puppy mills. I'm not sure if you are familiar with puppy mills or not but I have two puppy mill survivors as pets. The dogs are kept in crowded and unsanitary conditions. They do not receive proper vet care, food, nor grooming of any sort. The puppies are taken away from their mother's at a crucial time when they are learning what is and isn't appropriate behavior. Here is a link that can tell you more than I can www.stoppuppymills.org

I work with a rescue group in Fortville and we do adoptions out of the Petco in Fishers. We live near Eagle Creek on the NW side of town but were planning to attend Pet Day. We will no longer be attending if Uncle Bills is there. It seems counterproductive to invite rescue groups to participate alongside such an uncaring business such as Uncle Bills. Do you know that they were able to get Pet shop puppies billboards removed because Uncle Bills uses Lamar advertising as well and they spend more money with them? Pet shop puppies has peaceful demonstrations outside Uncle Bills and Safari Pets in Avon as a way to educate people about pet store puppies. Here is a link to their website http://petshoppuppies.org/Indiana1.htm Again, I beg you to re-consider this choice of vendor. It would be disheartening to the rescue groups in attendance to stand alongside a business that is not concerned with animals' welfare. We will choose to take our money elsewhere if Uncle Bills is a vendor at Pet Day. Thanks for your time, Monica North

Yeah, and maybe they could have another booth that shows people how to train pit bulls to dogfight.

Yours is fine. Here is my Letter to the Editor of the Star. I am also going to send it to Channel 13. Wasn't it Kris Kirshner who did the expose?

I am writing to express my outrage over the decision to include Uncle Bill's at the June 21st Pet Day in Fisher's. I find this very disturbing.
I called a respresentativ of the Fisher's Chamber of Commerce to express my frustration with this, and she told me the Chamber was in a "tight spot", since Uncle Bill's is a member of the Fishers' Chamber of Commerce.

Interesting. The dogs that are kept in cramped cages are in a tight spot. The dogs, who are kept in a cage and forced to have litter after litter of puppies so that Uncle Bill's can profit, are in a tight spot. The dogs, who get no veterinarian care and are euthanized when they are done breeding, are in a tight spot. I didn't realize taking a "moral stand" and standing up for what is right is a "tight spot". I'm sorry if I don't have much sympathy for the Fishers' Chamber of Commerce and their plight about how to uninvite a KNOWN puppy mill purchaser.

What I can suggest is that each and every member of the Chamber of Commerce watch the show Oprah did on puppy mills or go online and see the horrors of puppy mills or attend a puppy mill protest. What I can suggest is that everyone, who cares about animals, boycott the festival and refuse to shop in Fishers. What I can do is to tell everyone I know about how the Fishers Chamber of Commerce cares more about its businesses than the welfare of animals.

I urge the public and residents of Fishers to pressure the Chamber of Commerce to uninvite Uncle Bill's to the event. There will be rescue groups at the event, as well. These groups are doing what is right for pets. Uncle Bill's is not. To have Uncle Bill's in attendance is like a slap in the face to them.

I don't think I'm doing a Petlane booth there, but if I am, I'm pulling out. NO, what I will do is honor my contract and take all my puppy mill pamphlets to post at my booth. And I will make sure to hand them out personally to every person who stops. If I am NOT there as a vendor, I will go as an individual and hand them out. It is a public event, we wouldn't be trying to make any money, we would be peaceful as we are at the protests, and the worst that could happen is that we would get asked to leave. Anybody want to join me?????

Monica-your letter is great, especially where you mention that you have two survivors of puppy mills. I wish I would have put the petshoppuppies.org and stoppuppymills.org in mine too.

What a fabulous idea. Unless I'm asked to help ARPO hold leashes, I'd love to engage in some peaceful protesting!!!!

I wondered where that post went!! Here's my email. I thought it would be more beneficial to ask them to terminate UB's membership in the Chamber than to oust them from the event. They may be in a legal bind on that one. While it would be the right thing to do, most places won't put themselves in that position.

I was disappointed to learn Uncle Bill's will be participating in the Pet Festival. I understand they are a pet-related business and a member of the Fishers Chamber of Commerce. Therefore, you probably aren't able to do anything about their participation at this point. It is my hope, in the future, they will be shunned from the business community until they decide to be socially responsible and conduct business in a more ethical fashion.

The reason I say this is 14,470 animals were killed in shelters last year in Indianapolis; mainly because there were no homes for them. Uncle Bill's could agree to stop selling puppies and kittens and allow adoptions to occur from their stores. PetSmart and PetCo both do this. They are still in business, so it is possible. It is socially irresponsible for Uncle Bill's to contribute to the pet overpopulation problem. Channel 13 did a series of reports in November called the Puppy Pipeline. It showed the commercial breeding facilities of Uncle Bill's suppliers. Some dogs live their whole lives in cages just to breed and make puppies. You can find the series of reports at the following link: http://www.wthr.com/Global/SearchResults.asp?vendor=wss&qu=puppy+pipeline

Dogs are living beings, not production units. It is not ethical to treat them as such. Our current laws aren't sufficient to protect animals. They must rely on the compassion and decency of the human race. I ask you to please consider terminating Uncle Bill's membership in the Chamber until they stop selling puppies from puppy mills and open their stores to shelter animals. Thank you for your time and consideration of my comments.

Sincerely,

Stacy Hill

Very nicely written. I think everyone should retool/revise/revamp their letters for a "Letter to the Editor" type letter and send it to the Star. That's what I did, and I sent it to Kris Kirschner at Channel 13, too.

I would love to. It would also be neat if we could have a tv and loop the Oprah show and the Channel 13 piece continuously.

Thank you!! I saved it, so I think I will spend some time later and send it to the Star. Maybe Nuvo would be a good one too! They seem to take on these topics better than the Star.

I'll have to see how things go, but I would love to be there!! These college classes involve a LOT of work!

Why not an "anti puppy mill booth"? And running a loop on Oprah's expose would be wonderful, and with the sound turned up so that all could see AND hear.

Given the locatation, it would be fabulous if we could get chanel 13's premission to run the loop. Not only does it mention Uncle Bill's specifically, but its LOCAL. People really pay attention to local. While Opera did a really good job, a lot of people think that "it couldn't happen here". Since the Puppy Mill protest people are a not for profit, I'd bet they could get a booth at a reduced rate????

There is no booth space left at the pet fest. We'd have to go as individuals at this point.

I'm not familiar with that area, is there space for us to hold a protest? Nothing any different from the previous protests. I'm able to make it the first protest tomorrow but won't be able to make the second as I have to work.

wish i had money for tshirts.

love the handing out card ideas, but im sure we would be removed immediately.

if anyone can figure out how to get some media for this , count me in.
just pm me with more info if yall figure out something

On all of the TV stations' websites, you can usually find the reporters' email addresses. I already emailed Kris Kirschner, but if you know of any other ones that are animal lovers, you could do that. Also, KJ, on WZPL, is a big animal lover, too.

It's obvious UB is trying to repair their image in the public eye. I actually see this as a good sign, because it makes it clear they have lost business since the investigation on puppy mills and all of our protests! Woohoo!

It's great to see everyone writing to the Chamber of Commerce protesting Uncle Bill's participation at the Pet Day Farmer's Market.
Everyone please try and come to the PetShopPuppies peaceful protest tomorrow at noon - Fishers Uncle Bill's.Your participation will inform the Fisher's community about Uncle Bill's involvement with puppymills.

I wrote my letter and forwarded that on to everyone I know. This is a load of crap. I say, we wait and see what they have to say and if they don't pull their booth we should protest. I'll email petshoppuppies. If it's doable I say it would be a perfect opportunity.

decent looking t-shirts can be made at home fairly cheap. There are iron-on transfers that you can print on from a quality color printer and white tee's in bulk aren't that expensive. Or everyone could supply their own tee and chip in maybe $3 to offset the price of the transfers and a replacement toner cartridge.

Of course what I forgot to mention is that I don't have access to a quality color laser printer and am not a graphic designer. Crafty though I am an artist I am not.