PETA Used Paid Operative to Infiltrate PetSmart, Lawsuit Says

PetSmart lawyer says it was 'coordinated attack' by PETA and employee to collect secret footage in stores

A paid operative of PETA, a radical organization with aims of eradicating the practice of humans owning pets, paid an operative to get a job at PetSmart and collect damaging information, a Monday lawsuit by the store says.

The lawsuit by PetSmart, filed in Florida on Monday, says an employee failed to state on her job application that she was being paid by PETA and had previously been fired by a zoo in the state a year earlier when it learned she was secretly collecting photos and video for PETA, a fact that would have been a clear red flag for PetSmart. After gaining employment, the employee secretly collected audio and video captured within the store which was then used to put together an "exposé" of the store, postedby PETA earlier this year.

PetSmart's suit targets the employee, Jenna Jordan, demanding both damages and that all materials collected and transmitted to PETA during her employment be returned and all copies deleted.

The store argues Jordan pledged on her initial application for employment she had not withheld any information "that would, if disclosed, affect this application unfavorably," which both her termination from the Florida zoo and association with PETA would have.

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