Artvark’s founder, Art Nakagawa, has been in the pet industry for 45 years. Before Art struck out on his own to begin Artvark, he worked for his family’s pet business, which began with one 2500 square foot store in LA and grew to 15 stores with a 100,000 square foot distribution center in the time he worked there.
Mud Bay has been with Artvark since the beginning. As soon as the company was founded in 2005 we began stocking their GoGo Gridlock Pads, GoGo grooming, GoGo Poop ‘n’ Go and GoGo pressed rawhide. As Artvark grew and developed, we looked to them to manufacture some of our own products, including our Beef Strap Chews and Sticks and poop bags.
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Sustainable, Stressless Meat Sourcing
Deer overpopulation is a huge issue on the Hawaiian island Maui. Deer aren’t native to Hawaii; they’re considered an invasive species, and left unchecked, they wreak havoc on island ecosystems. Since they have no natural predators on the islands, it’s up to humans to step in to manage population growth. In 2016, Art was approached by a friend commissioned by the state of Hawaii to find a solution to deer overpopulation. Together, they came up with an elegant solution: stressless meat sourcing.
What is stressless meat? Between Maui’s abundant vegetation and the lack of natural predators, deer (and cattle) on the island live pretty easy lives. They are able to be raised completely free of antibiotics and hormone treatments as they roam free on the hillsides grazing Hawaii’s state-mandated pesticide-free vegetation. This stress-free existence is not only more humane for the animals, it also has been proven to increase the quality of meat. Though Artvark’s stress-free venison and beef can’t yet be labeled organic because the FDA doesn’t have a category for the way it’s harvested, the meat produced is some of the cleanest available in both the human and pet food meat industries.
Giving Back to Local Communities
Artvark currently works with the Leeward Haleakala Watershed Restoration Partnership and the University of Hawaii to help plant trees on Maui. Trees are badly needed to help stop erosion caused by the invasive deer grazing in upper elevations, where constant heavy rains sweep plant and soil debris into the ocean. The debris is killing the coral reef around the island, which puts a strain on the ecosystem around all the islands. The root systems of new trees will help anchor soil and absorb runoff that would otherwise make it to the reef.
Artvark also works with New Horizons, an organization that provides job training and placement, education, counseling, residential services, and social programs for individuals with special needs. So far, Artvark has hired one employee through one of New Horizons’ programs.
Art, the company’s founder, is active in Alliance College-Ready Public Schools, a program that seeks to bring educational equity to the most systemically oppressed communities in Los Angeles. These non-profit charter schools have consistently been recognized as among the best in the nation by the US Department of Education. Alliance College-Ready Public Schools currently operates 26 tuition-free schools in low-income zip codes in Los Angeles.
High-Quality, High-Protein Snacks that also Benefit Dental Health
Made from Artvark’s high-quality beef, Mud Bay’s beef sticks and flat chews also benefit dental health. Though they aren’t as long-lasting as bully sticks, they’re a rewarding treat that does a good job of scraping the teeth while keeping dogs entertained for the five minutes or so they typically last (depending on the dog, of course!).