Petland closed their franchise agreement with its Fairfax location just days after startling footage came out about the store’s alleged mistreatment of rabbits.

Earlier this week, footage was released by the Human Society of the United States which conducted a 5-month investigation showing alleged animal abuse and 14 dead rabbits in the freezer at the Petland store in Fairfax.

Shortly after the video was released, the City of Fairfax launched an investigation seizing all of the dead animals and documents inside the store. Petland launched an investigation of their own and with their findings, they decided to close the store.

Other pet stores say this may be a way to drive people to adopt and not shop for pets anymore. 

“We are all about adopting, I wouldn’t shop for your animal. You don’t know where that animal is coming from, whether it be a puppy mill, or a breeder that’s not licensed, or someone who doesn’t know what they are doing, and ended up with puppies,” said Alice Green, Manager at Pet Valu in Fairfax. 

Fairfax Police are still investigating to see what laws were broken and they are also waiting to see what led to the death of the animals that were found in the store.