Pet Store Scandal

As if being stocked and sold like toys to strangers with ready cash weren’t bad enough, animals in pet stores can be neglected, abused and killed behind the scenes. PETA investig Squalor

ators have compiled evidence showing that many pet stores across the U.S., and probably around the world, crowd birds and small mammals into filthy cages, fail to seek veterinary care for ill animals and worse.

Some back-room conditions are so awful that courageous store workers have risked their jobs to report their employers to PETA. One heartbroken Texas employee of Petland, a national chain of pet stores, told us of her horror upon seeing tiny puppies having convulsions. She told us that instead of calling a veterinarian, the pups were left without care, and several were dead within 24 hours.

Another Petland employee reported that her manager knowingly ordered puppies who were only 5 weeks old—too young to be sold legally or even to be away from their mothers. They arrived in boxes, caked with their own feces and urine, frightened, hungry and barely weaned. For two weeks, they were kept crowded in cat carriers—not even in decent pens—where they could not escape their own waste. At first, their cries filled the back room, but eventually, when no one came to soothe or hold them, their whines turned to whimpers, and then they finally gave up hoping for a kind touch.

Small animals and birds are especially vulnerable because they are inexpensive; their deaths don’t represent much of a profit loss to pet stores. At Seashore Tropical Fish and Birds in Virginia Beach, Virginia, fish tanks with algae-laden water contained nearly as many dead fish as live ones. Birds with fractured wings and broken beaks were shoved into tiny cages and left without veterinary care. Two inches of feces covered the bottom of the birdcages. Store employees kept small mammals caged in the bathroom. When these appalling conditions were reported to PETA last year, we lodged an immediate complaint, and the store owner was fined for failing to provide adequate care.

Employees of Petco, a national chain, have contacted us with complaints from stores across the country. In Oshkosh, Wisconsin, a Petco worker saw employees kill fragile, ill parakeets by twisting their necks until they snapped. Ailing or injured animals were stuck in the freezer, where they slowly froze to death. The employee reports, “If we sent in a bill [to headquarters] for veterinary care for a hamster that cost the store 80 cents, someone would be reprimanded or fired.” Petco

The manager of a Newark, Delaware, Petco reportedly dealt with sick animals by warehousing them in the back room without food and water to die of their untreated illnesses or of thirst and starvation.

Visitors to pet stores who happen to see back rooms (sometimes because they ask to use the rest room) also call PETA. A woman shopping in a Pennsylvania store this year was shocked to find a half-starved rhesus monkey in a tiny cage. The monkey had spent years locked out of sight, neglected and alone. His ribs clearly showed through his dull coat, and his teeth were chipped and worn from frantically biting at the bars of his prison. PETA alerted humane authorities, who seized the monkey.

PETA has demanded that Petco, Petland and other stores provide proper care, but as long as pet stores profit from selling animals, the birds, puppies, kittens, other small mammals, fish and reptiles are at risk. Your support is urgently needed to help us clean up pet store back rooms.

You can help • Never buy from stores that sell animals. Adopt from shelters, and patronize stores that sell supplies only.

• Write to Mr. Ed Kunzelman, President, Petland, Inc., 195 W. Hickory St., Chillicothe, OH 45601; fax: 740-775-2575, and Mr. Brian Devine, CEO, Petco, 9125 Recho Rd., San Diego, CA 92121. Ask them to sell only supplies, not animals.

• Report signs of abuse—whining or crying, a strong odor, ill or crowded animals on display (there may even be worse out of sight), etc.—to local humane officials.

• Tell everyone you know to stay away from pet stores.

• Contact local mall owners and urge them not to lease space to pet stores. Ask them to offer unleased storefronts to animal shelters for adoptions, instead.

• For more information, visit www.HelpPuppies.com.

So, You Think You Wanna Iguana? Think Again!

Hundreds of malnourished iguanas are on the loose in Los Angeles, and they’re even turning up in PETA’s own backyard. USA Today reported: “Green iguanas are the most frequently thrown-away pet of the ’90s.”

Once those cute “little lizards” grow up to be 6 feet long or start showing off their sharp claws and surging hormonal cycles or their ability to outrun their owners or are found to carry the salmonella bacteria (90% of reptiles do), many people toss them out. Our caseworkers rescued an iguana kept in a dark closet with no food or water. We found another in a field, emaciated and with lacerations on his body and half his tail missing.

An estimated 90% of iguanas die within a year of acquisition. All reptiles have special needs, which often are not met or even understood by their caretakers. PETA caseworker Cem Akin offers these tips:

• Iguanas must have daily access to direct sunlight—not through a glass window—or they develop a debilitating calcium deficiency. Calcium supplements alone aren’t enough.

• Keep heat lamps outside terrariums; if placed inside, the iguanas can burn themselves.

• Iguanas easily become dehydrated and must have water at all times. Iguanas need a daily misting with water.

• Finally, never keep an iguana caged up all day. Like all animals, iguanas need social interaction, so play with them!