I shudder to think! I was always horrified at how one of local petshops could sell rats, mice etc as lovely fluffy pets and yet had bags full of frozen ones in their freezer. I am now glad the horrible miserable old bag sold the shop on, as we now have a lovely woman who actually runs a petshop for the love of animals, and not a frozen “pet” in sight.

I worked for over a year in a very small, family owned pet store in my town – been in business 22 years and we were amazing. We gave out truthful advice, sold healthy animals (no cats or dogs as we were against puppy mills!) and we had a very loyal customer base. We were small, the store was about 800 sq ft and we were packed floor to bottom, no joke…but we were amazing.
Sadly, this past June we were forced out of business by a global pet food company who bullied their way into our strip mall and basically kicked us out. With no extra money to find a new store, we were forced out of business.
Not a day goes by that I don’t think of my second home.
Sigh.

Anyway, onto the topic. Obviously our store was an exception – we were no box store giving out sick animals and shoddy advice, but we kept ALL of our small animals until they sold. We had had bunnies that were with us for over one year before being sold. We would never send anything “back” or get “rid” of anything…

I got quite attached to some of the small animals we had for many months. Our animal room was a separate room in the store, with glass windows so people could see in but could not touch or stress the animals. So the critters only saw me and my lovely co worker; they got very attached to us.

I do not believe we could send live animals back, even if we wanted to. But we never did. They were with us until they sold

Man…I miss my store

thats really too bad about your store Lion_Lop… i hate to hear that happening.  i give my business to locally owned stores whenever i can. 

i’ve always wondered the same thing… do these stores dump unsold critters to the humane society?  the petcetera near me has teamed up with the humane society and houses some cats & dogs for them looking for adoptive families.  applications are, of course, sent through the humane society.  seems respectable, yet they sell rabbits, ferrets, hedgehogs, rats, mice, hampsters & guinney pigs, as well as different birds & fish.  i hate the way they keep the buns, ferrets & hedgehogs – usually one or more of these poor critters set out in a display completely surrounded by glass with little or no hidey-holes for them to feel secure in.  boils my blood.  the way this store treats staff it’s very unlikely these animals are well cared for during there stay.

I was also wondering this…I shouldnt’ go in to those places since I always want to take everything home, but I always check on all the animals and report any problems to staff (I would report to authorities if I saw a big problem, but I haven’t)…
Last one i was in had a huge angora rabbit, obviously adult…and I just thought who is going to adopt this thing? and they had four full grown dutchies…I think they keep them until they sell, but what a life! Such small cages!

i read the book Stories Rabbits Tell not long ago… it’s about primarily folklore and popular uses of rabbits, but the last section also gets into non-pet uses of rabbits… it’s not an easy read for someone with a weak stomach… but i’m incredibly glad i did read it.  it also talks about pet store conditions… and i think that MOST pet stores (probably most definitely the BIG ones where the bottom line is the ONLY line) would not be able to, nor would they send rabbits or any pets back.  things just don’t work that way.  if an animal does not sell and grows up and thus becomes "unsellable" they get rid of it.  and not to the humane society (who, i think,  wouldn’t in good conscience take in pet store rejects… not enough room.)  i do see older rabbits in the stores sometimes… but they’re only there for so long.  i like to think that they found a loving home but i know that’s probably not the case.  they most likely went from a "bunny mill" to a petstore [way too young] to a sad end.  do read that book if you can.  it really changes your perspective.  and you are right.  you cannot save them all.

Hmmmm…I think I am going to write to our big name petstores here and ask them….

forum leaders, am I allowed to post their answers (if they answer)?

Yes, it’s very sad to think about. Especially when you see the dozens of bunnies they “stock up” on for Easter. I’m very anti-petstore.

A really great site (although sad), with tons of info, including about rabbits is http://www.petstorecruelty.org. It also details ways you can get involved to help these animals. I strongly recommend this site.

Yeah… be prepared to be outraged and cry.  I’m not a very emotional man but this site even got me tearing up.

First, I really appreciate you asking this question.   For now since the discussion has already started and remained tame, you can just give a general answer (within this thread – so copy and paste the link for future use)  – keep the names of the pet stores out the forum.   

If people want to know the details, they can email you for more information.  Sharing the letters and the names of the petstores within your emails will be up to you.  I, myself will be one that will be interested in the letters, (though I already know some of the sad details about what some pet stores do) but at  this point, I am concerned that our forum is beginning to take on an "activist"  feel.  It may just be temporary phase, but the mission of our forum as a whole is to educate about house rabbit diet, behavior and care (in-home) with some fun light lounge talk on the side, and every once in awhile dabble into some of the animal welfare issues in the lounge.

But now, I am no longer sure if I am willing to start and or allow many animal activist type subjects about what is right and wrong in the world of pet stores, breeders etc. The original goal of the forum was to help the individual who takes on the responsibility of a rabbit companion deal with diet, care and behaviorial issues so that they would be less likely to abandon their bunny.  And of course for us to share in the joys and challenges of having a bunny.  

So depending on how the forum climate continues to progress, new rules regarding this may apply to future postings  – eg. the answers from the pet stores.