The national protest is in response to claims of mistreatment of pets while in the care of PetSmart's Grooming Service.

A Nationwide Petsmart protest and boycott started by Justice for Scruffles is gaining traction and has been joined by PETA and organized animal advocate groups to create awareness to all the dangers of PetSmart grooming. Their Facebook page says the protest is in no way against PetSmart employees, but against PetSmart corporate and their practices.

The protest and boycott is the brainchild of Danielle DiNapoli of Lambertville who took her her healthy 8-year-old bulldog, Scruffles, to a grooming appointment at 9:45 am on December 29, 2017, at the Flemington N.J. PetSmart. Patch.com reports DiNapoli got a phone call at 10:35 a.m. informing her that Scruffles was at Flemington Veterinary Hospital. She raced there to find her dog dead. The veterinarian told DiNapoli Scruffles was dead upon arrival. They attempted CPR without success.

Scruffles Photo courtesy of Danielle DiNapoli
Scruffles Photo courtesy of Danielle DiNapoli
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The protest is May 5 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at PetSmart locations nationwide, is aimed to send a message to the corporation about their practices, says Danielle DiNapoli. For more information click the button below.

We reached out to Kimberly Strong from Justice for Lainey and this is what she has to say:

Since this is not the first incident of a death occurring obviously PetSmart has work to do training its staff to properly groom the dogs safely. There is obviously a lack of oversight on their grooming staff or a lack of proper procedures in place to assure pet safety. This is a corporate issue and needs to be resolved before customers trust their animals to this company ... I would not leave my animal unsupervised in their care. If one chooses to utilize this companies groomers stay with your pet .. or be smart and choose a local groomer you trust, where there is accountability for the quality of treatment your animal receives.

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