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A Coalition for Ethics, Competency and Consumer Protection Launches Global Pet Industry Initiative

21 Mar 2022 6:13 PM | Niki Tudge (Administrator)


News Release - March 22, 2022.

Pet Industry Advocacy International (PIAI) has today announced their launch across the globe. Initiative set to Professionalize the Pet Industry Through Ethics, Consumer Protections and Professional Competency. 

“Over the past 10 years we have seen an emergence of new organizations, educational providers and retailers flooding the pet industry marketplace to leverage and benefit from this billion-dollar industry.  However, this industry shift has failed to cohesively provide the much-needed improvements required to meet the welfare needs of our pets and the consumer protection deserved by pet guardians.  PIAI will work to build a coalition of pet industry organizations all committed to professional ethics, consumer protections and professional competencies” said PIAI representative Niki Tudge.

Tudge also states, “In the pet industry there are many other inherent challenges, one being  how pets are legally classified. Additionally, the lack of reporting of animal cruelty and the variability of how animal cruelty laws are enforced means there is insufficient protection for pets and their owners when it comes to holding professionals accountable for their methodology, approach and philosophy and the consequences of a professional’s actions.”  

PIAI states on their website that the pet industry worldwide needs increased regulation, oversight and adherence to policies and procedures and best practices as applied to the concept of professional competency, skills and knowledge of practitioners, the delivery of, and adherence to, professional ethics. Current ethical models used in behavioral sciences and the medial professional are most appropriate and can work with transparent and honest operational policies that protect the end-user and consumer from fraudulent and deceptive operational and marketing practices. 

Debra Millikan a signatory PIAI Board Director added “By bringing together a coalition of organizations supported by like-minded professionals we hope to create power in numbers so PIAI initiatives gain traction and make a difference for pets and their people."

Don Hanson, PIAI Board Director says, “I’ve been a part of this industry since 1995 and the science in that time has led us to a much better understanding of our pets and their needs. It dismays me that the ethics in the industry has not kept up with the science. PIAI intends to change that by developing a coalition of pet professional organizations who also agree to implement and hold pet professionals accountable for our pets welfare by advocating for best practice policies for all professions in the industry, standardizing pet industry ethics, implementing transparent and honest operational policies, developing the "Gold Standard" for professional competencies and providing a model for industry oversight that is ethical and competency based.”

PIAI membership is open to all professional organizations who are committed to supporting the emotional, physical and environmental well-being of our pets and their people. PIAI also provides for organizations who wish to sponsor the coalition and support the mission.


The full news release is available here 

About the coalition

The Pet Industry Advocacy International (PIAI) believes there is a need for a high level of oversight in the pet industry across all professional disciplines. Licensing has been a proposed option, but licensing without a strong underlying ethical code of conduct and a minimum standard for knowledge and skills of service providers does not provide the protection and level of service needed by pet owners and their pets


Contacts

Email: Support@PetAdvocacy.info
Address: 2609 N Forest Ridge Blvd #179Hernando, FL 34442


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