Pets at Home has responded to demonstrations outside its stores where protestors demanded a ban on the sale of living animals. The protests by a group calling itself Rescue Not Retail coincided with James Bailey starting his role as the retailer’s new CEO.

A statement from Pets at Home read: "We play an important role in ensuring people who wish to welcome pets into a loving home are able to do so from a trustworthy and reliable source, which has animal welfare at its heart.

"From rigorous welfare routines within our petcare centres, to access to 24/7 veterinary care, colleague training and welfare checks at point of purchase, we have robust systems in place to ensure our pets are loved and cared for.

"We’re also acutely aware of the need to care for pets at every stage of their life, no matter what changes may occur to a family’s circumstance.

"That’s why, together with our independent charitable arm – the Pets Foundation – we are proud to be the largest rehomer of small animals in the UK via our in-store adoption centres, and support hundreds of rehoming and rescue charities across the UK via the Foundation’s grant-giving programme. In 2024, more this saw donations of more than £4.6 million."

The protests occurred outside Pets at Home’s stores across the country, including Leicester, Nottingham, Eastleigh, Glasgow and Edinburgh.

On its Facebook page, the campaign group said before the protests: “On March 30th, James Bailey will be joining Pets at Home as their new CEO. This means we have an opportunity to highlight how important it is to stop the sale of animals by making it a problem he has to face from day one! 

“Thank you to everyone who has set a date in their diaries already to get involved; just a couple of hours handing out leaflets at your local Pets at Home is all it takes!”

Some members of the campaign group, including co-founder Polly Foreman, also visited Pets at Home’s head office and attempted to meet with James Bailey.

Afterwards, she said: “Unfortunately, we couldn’t speak to Mr Bailey himself as he was busy in meetings, but we did get to speak with his assistant who assured us that our open letter and our message for him would be passed on. 

“We really hope that Mr Bailey chooses to do the right thing and wind down animal sales in Pets at Home stores.”

Pictures taken from Rescue Not Retail's Facebook page.