Petco, the San Diego-based animal goods and services brand, announced this week it will shift from selling rabbits to putting them up for adoption. Petco was not selling rabbits on a wide scale, but it had launched a pilot in which it put “fewer than 50 rabbits” up for sale at certain of its stores across the U.

“Petco’s decision to sell rabbits is hypocritical and shows blatant disregard for their past commitments,” Paige K Parsons, President of the Rabbit.org Foundation, said in the statement. Days after the brutal accusations, Petco finally agreed to cease all sales only allowing rabbit adoptions.

Earlier this month, Rabbit.org called out Petco, citing the company's "blatant betrayal of its promises" in 1994 and 2008 to stop all rabbit sales.

Animal welfare groups criticize the sale of rabbits because it leads to regretful owners who don’t understand the cost and time it takes to care for the animals.