Animal activists aligned with Best Friends Animal Society (Kanab, Utah) in July targeted the Ninth Annual Breeders Educational Conference, organized by The Hunte Corp. (Goodman, Mo.), as part of an online campaign attacking the pet trade and puppy mills.

At press time, the group was asking animal lovers to contact Pfizer Animal Health (New York) to discourage the company from supporting the event and calling for a boycott of Pfizer’s Revolution flea/tick preventive.

In response, Pfizer issued a statement expressing its support for the Hunte conference: “Pfizer Animal Health provides sponsorship to the Hunte breeders conference as it does at many educational venues for veterinarians, students, farmers, producers, technicians, pet owners, shelters and others in the animal health care business. This sponsorship is consistent with Pfizer’s approach to medically educating many of the stakeholders involved with the diverse aspects of animal health.

“Pfizer Animal Health supports and encourages strict adherence to all state and federal laws regulating pet breeders, including effective USDA enforcement of the Animal Welfare Act,” it continued.

According to Hunte, activists have had limited success in their attempts to undermine the conference. However, one speaker, dog trainer Mark German, and two pet food companies, Royal Canin USA (St. Charles, Mo.) and NutriSource Pet Foods (Perham, Minn.), had pulled out of the conference at press time.

In a message posted on its Web site, Hunte stated: “The animal rights campaign against pet ownership and the American pet industry has accelerated over the last few years, with numerous state and local legislative proposals to limit dog breeding and impose unreasonable regulations on retail pet stores. And in the last few months, animal rights activists have undertaken to intimidate and extort pet food companies, breeders and corporate employees as part of their misguided campaign.

“The activists attempt to bury The Hunte Corp. under a barrage of lies,” the message continued “They falsely accuse Hunte of encouraging substandard breeding practices and contributing to pet overpopulation. These are false accusations.”

The conference is scheduled to take place Sept. 26-27 in Joplin, Mo. For more information, visit www.thehuntecorporation.com. [September 2008 PET AGE]