People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), says a national pet care center headquartered in Westport is linked to an animal blood bank they say is a factory for cats and dogs that bleed to death.
Video from PETA shows dogs and cats being held captive and repeatedly bleeding at a facility in Indiana.
“PETA had an investigator working undercover for seven months at an operation called the Veterinarians Blood Bank, which was in Indiana,” said Daniel Paden, PETA vice president of Evidence Analysis.
PETA says the animals are kept in captivity for their entire lives for the sole purpose of extracting their blood and selling it to veterinary clinics.
“They pay $200 per animal to their workers to pick up kittens off the street. They draw blood from animals that are obviously sick, with bone cancer one time,” Paden said.
There are about 360 dogs and about 500 cats at the two Veterinarians Blood Bank facilities in Indiana.
“They don’t even have a bed or a blanket to lay on so they’re on the hard floor for 10, 12 years. They get pressure sores,” Paden said.
PETA said the Veterinarians Blood Bank sells blood to clinics, such as those operated by Pet Vet Care Centers, headquartered in Westport.
The organization says animal blood is drawn from dogs and cats in Indiana every three weeks, which is extremely dangerous.
PetVet Care Centers operates 350 locations nationwide and reported annual revenue of $1.1 billion by 2021.
News 12 Connecticut reached out to the company for comment but did not hear back. PETA said it also wrote a letter to PetVet Care Centers a month ago and has not heard back.
The Indiana State Board of Animal Health regulates that blood bank and is investigating. An Indiana sheriff’s office has assigned a detective to investigate the criminal neglect of two blood bank cats.
