I’m so upset (evil pet store rant)

[LittlePuffyTail]

I am so beyond fed up  with the pet store chain in my area and I desperately want to take action but don’t know what to do. My friend who owns my horse’s stable (and my favorite barn bunny Henri) went to this evil pet store today to buy Henri a nice, indoor cage so he could move into the heated, barn lounge for the winter (probably mostly to shut me up ). Thank God I didn’t go with her! She said there were about 5 cages full of bunnies and her son was petting a bunny and said he thought there was something wrong with it. There was. It was dead, in a cage full of other baby bunnies. Bunnies don’t just die for no reason, he was obviously sick and the idiot staff either didn’t notice (because they know nothing about rabbits) or the owner didn’t care. Why fix a sick bunny, you don’t make money that way. I’m so disgusted with this pet store. They seem to really be pushing the sale  of rabbits more than ever lately. They have rabbits “on sale” often, as a way to encourage impulse buys.

Obviously, this has left me very upset and frustrated. There must be something people can do. Any ideas on what I could do? This petstore is also marketing puppy mill puppies and has sold many litters of kittens infected with FIP.  I seriously wish I knew people in my area who feel the same because I would SO protest this evil place (not to mention the giant fur store that just opened). Can some of you please move to New Brunswick?

[Beka27]

oh my word! petting a poor dead bunny. wow. that’s just how the petstores operate. they buy baby buns for next to nothing, charge several times what they paid, and get the real cash from selling the too-small (but still expensive) cages, the junky “gourmet” pellets, colored wood toy crap and other useless vitamins and supplements… i was recently upset by my local petstore, they’re selling .99 cent hamsters right now. so you know they’re gonna be snatched up for snake food… but a dead bunny, oh my. can you contact the store and complain? unfortunately i can’t see this issue getting much attention. unless the buns are being kept in absolutely deplorable conditions (by the city’s standards, not ours) then i doubt they’d do much.

[Lion_Lop_Lover]

Pets Unlimited sucks balls. I’m already in New Brunswick, but I have not set foot in our city’s PU for over a year. I refuse to do it. Unfortunately, NB seems to be an obliviously stupid province because a lot of people don’t get it – they don’t know what puppy mills are, they don’t know what proper animal treatment is, they just don’t know or care to understand anything.

I hear the frustrations, LPT.

[LittlePuffyTail]

I’m thinking of sending a letter to the manager with a petition of people who won’t shop there anymore.

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

Puffy if I could I’d grab my jacket and be there in two minutes to picket and do some civil disobedience and other evil things with you!! What a terrible shop!!

Try contacting the local paper and seeing whats invovled to write a guest column, in the opinion section. Then you could write a detailed account about the petstore chain, or that one.
Write the owners, if it’s a franchise, write the head office. Make up flyers detailing how evil it is and put them on peoples windsheilds while they are in there shopping.
Ok those are my thoughts so far, I’ll keep thinking.

[MimzMum]

This is a matter for your local health department too, in my opinion. Not just for the poor animals infected with all sorts of nasty stuff, but for the humans they come in contact with. What’s next? A puppy with rabies that they just happened not to notice?? Wave that flag around and maybe something will get done!

Poor babies. What a cruel world it is.

[LittlePuffyTail]

It’s a franchise. I’m gonna do some sleuthing and find contact info. I have a few good websites on how to write letters like this without harrassing (that will be hard) so the people will actually think instead of throwing it out and saying “what a wacko”.

[LittlePuffyTail]

I found this on a website I used to frequent, Pet Store Cruelty.

1) Visit pet stores. Unless they see filth and extreme overcrowding, many people think these places are just “fine,” yet each store often contains probably 200 or more animals, being taken care of by employees who are not experts in taking care of everything from fish to tree frogs to snakes to birds to rabbits to puppies. Don’t be sucked into the concept that this is OK simply because “people want pets.” If you have any plans to revisit the same store to check the animals later, DON’T let the store owners know you disapprove of what you see, or they will kick you out of the store, and you won’t be able to go back.

2) Learn the laws of your state regarding animal care so that you can report violations at pet stores to local Animal Control (sometimes this is handled by the local SPCA or Humane Society) the same day you see them. Before you even visit the store, find out the phone number for Animal Control for the city or county where a store is located.

3) If you purchased a sick dog from a pet store, complain to the state Consumer Affairs office. Also complain online to http://www.complaints.com, http://www.ripoffreport.com, and http://www.consumeraffairs.com. If you are willing to disclose your name on the site, complain to us at http://www.petstorecruelty.org. You can sue the store, but be prepared for a tough fight.

4) The EASIEST THING POSSIBLE, especially if you are shy–put an anti-puppy-mill bumper sticker or magnet on your car. You can also convert bumper stickers into magnets by sticking them to flat magnetic strips available at craft stores. The advantage of magnets is that you can remove them at times when you might be in “hostile territory,” such as during your pet store visits.

5) Wear an anti-puppy-mill or anti-pet store t-shirt. Carry a card with an anti-puppy-mill website address on it so that when people ask you about your shirt, you can give the card to them.

6) Encourage everyone you know to adopt homeless animals rather than buy them. Let them know what rescue groups are and that not only dogs and cats but a wide variety of other animals are in desperate need of homes and can be adopted from shelters or rescue groups.

7) Email, call, or write to stores that sell puppies and other animals. Explain that you will not shop there until they sell supplies only.

8) Email, call, write, or visit the office of the vet who works for the store–the one who approves their sickly, puppy mill puppies for sale. Explain that you would not go to a vet who supports this cruel industry. Give that vet some puppy mill fliers and videos. He or she may not know about puppy mills.

9) Volunteer for a local animal rights, animal welfare, or animal rescue group and encourage them to make this issue part of their agenda.

10) Focus on a particular local pet store that you suspect is selling puppy mill puppies. Find out the names of its breeders and broker, and write to the USDA for inspection records. Use those records as proof that they do, in fact, obtain puppies from puppy mills, regardless of what they tell the public.

11) Organize a protest or protests outside a pet store. See our “Protesting for Beginners” page for tips.

12) Write a letter to the editor about pet stores and puppy mills when there has been some animal-related story recently in the paper.

13) Ask your local city government to ban stores that sell puppies.

14) When anti-puppy-mill legislation gets to your state government or the U.S. Congress, write to your legislators in support of it.

15) Support efforts to improve enforcement of current laws that supposedly regulate puppy mills.

16) Thank the media for puppy-mill-related stories and encourage them to do more.

17) Complain to advertisers who have accepted ads for a puppy mill or a puppy mill pet store.

18) Mention these issues prominently on your myspace page, blog, or website.

19) Complain to the AKC for providing registration papers for puppy mill dogs.

20) Complain to the mall owner for leasing to puppy mill stores.

21) If you are too busy to donate your time, donate money to a group who is doing something effective that you agree with. If you want to make sure your money isn’t being wasted, donate to a group whose members or officers you have met and trust.

22) If you get the opportunity, visit a puppy mill, which is no mysterious, unusual thing, just another name for breeder who keeps dogs in conditions that you consider cruel.

23) Distribute anti-puppy-mill fliers wherever you can. Get a table at a local event and talk to people and hand out fliers about puppy mills and pet stores. These fliers are available from many groups—pick your favorite one, or make your own.

[MimzMum]

Those are great suggestions, LPT. I’m going to copy those down.

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

Puffy that’s great!!!

[Spacehopper]

Oh my god that’s awful. Don’t know about there and animal cruelty etc. But here, i was so appalled by the state of some animals at a local garden centre/pet shop that i got onto the council and rspca, and they sent out an officer to go and check the place out. They didn’t seem AS concerned as myself, but gave the owners a good talking to. We’ve been back since, and conditions have improved, thank god.

Keep on it though. I’m shocked!! My god i get upset when i see dead fish in tanks at pet places, i have to go and mention it to the staff. I mean good god, it doesn’tmatter if they are “acclimatising”, there’s a dead fish in there, and it’s polluting the water for the rest of them. Aside from it highlighting they clearly don’t make regular checks on their products, whether fish or foul!

[bunnytowne]

I was reading the paper and found that here in Brevard County that the county will be going to pet stores here to see if they measure up.  It mentioned Incredible Pets  which I went into the other day.  The help is rude there and they have lots of snakes and feeder mice and bunnies too. They also have a lot of big birds.

the feeder buns are in an glass type drawer thing with the mice on top.  The buns have no way to stand up  and move around comfortably.  I hope they get caught.  Just cause they are feeder buns which is sick to me anyways  doesn’t mean what life they have should not be comfortable for them.

The rabbit food there is that fiesta junk with all sorts of unhealthy stuff and corn cob litter for them too.  Nothing there good for rabbits at all.  They also sell pet rabbits too.

The help also says not to feed the pet rabbits vegetable cause they get diarrhea.  Those people need educating bad.  A friend of mine knows the owner and he doesn’t care.

I hope just cause that article was in the paper that the people that work there or run the place didn’t see it so they would get caught doing whatever that is cruel and just not right.

Makes me sad to see the rabbits there.  I think maybe I should go rescue a feeder bun. Then I think again I can’t save them all.

[KatnipCrzy]

I think that if someone wants to rescue a feeder bun there are some things to keep in mind (though I have never seen a feeder bun around here- only rats and mice).  Most feeder animals are so overbred and inbred that they have a lot of genetic problems- they never live very long (as is their purpose) and the breeders only want quantity not quality- so selective breeding is never a factor.  We had a client that bought feeder rats as a pet- and they had skin mites so they had to have meds for awhile.  If they are bred to be feeders- health is not a concern and that is so wrong, but it can be a way to get your heart broken by getting an unhealthy bun.  Not that backyard breeders might be any more responsible- but mass inbreeding is never a good thing. 

[LittlePuffyTail]

That is sick that they have specific buns reserved as feeders. I would freak out to see a bunny that’s well, marked for death.

I contacted the person in charge of my province’s Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and guess what? There are NO LAWS regarding the care of animals in a pet store, as long as it’s not considered cruelty to animals they can pretty much do whatever they want. That is not right, because pet stores are all about profit to the big man, not the health and care of the animals.

[MimzMum]

I don’t know whether to be tremendously depressed or outrageously angry at these conditions, or both. >.<

I have to put in a vote for some feeder animals though. Take our goldfish for (a rather piteous) example. We’ve had him no less that 7, maybe even 10 years and he’s still going strong! I don’t know how he doe sit. His tank frequently gets pretty dirty (we can’t use our well water for him, it’s too full of minerals, so I have to buy bottled water for him when I can afford it) and he only eats those crummy fish flakes and has no plants or rocks or anythign else to distract him during the day (we can’t afford to get him more than simple accouterments) and yet with only a filter and a bubbler, he’s done really well all this time. Isn’t it possible a feeder bun/mouse could turn out to have the same lust for life as a simple goldfish. despite heredity?

[Beka27]

^^^absolutely. i guess if you were to do that, rescue a feeder bun, you’d have to accept the fact that poor genetics might be the case. even if the bunny lived for 1 year with you, it’d be a much better existence than they otherwise would have had. if the health problems were too great, you could euthanise humanely if it came to that…

but that being said, once you purchased a feeder bun, it’d be replaced before the week were out. like BT said, you cannot save them all…

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