Written by PETA
Thanks to a sharp-eyed shopper and the quick work of PETA's Cruelty Investigations Department, baby turtles have been rescued from a store in NYC's Chinatown.
These little guys were small—so small that it's actually illegal to sell them—yet they were being hawked as "pets" to unwitting tourists who often don't have a clue about how to take care of such delicate animals.
And that's where the concern of one compassionate citizen really made a difference. She wasn't an expert on turtle care, but after visiting the store, this young woman knew that these turtles were being inhumanely treated. Not only were they tiny, they were being kept in little plastic containers with very little water and nothing else. They were also living outside the shop in direct sunlight for most of the day.
After hitting a brick wall with local officials, the young lady called PETA. Faster than you can say "salmonella souvenirs" (according to the FDA, there are more than 74,000 "pet" turtle–related cases of human salmonella poisoning every year), a PETA cruelty caseworker got the DOH to respond ASAP. That same day, the agency seized eight of the turtles and issued citations to the seedy store for violating New York State Department of Health codes that make it illegal to sell turtles smaller than 4 inches long.
Now living large at a turtle sanctuary, these eight tiny turtles have been given the opportunity to live out their lives in luxury. But there are still aquatic animals who need our help. Won't you tell Brookstone head honchos to get their heads out of their, er, shells and end the sale of Frog-O-Spheres today?
Written by Amy Elizabeth
This week, we received a tip that Brookstone's district managers and vice presidents were gathering in the Manchester, New Hampshire, area, where their headquarters is based, for corporate meetings and store visits.
While they were going over new store layouts and new bonus packages for selling killing as many frogs as possible, our larger-than-life "frog" was following them wherever they went. Our frog wanted to remind them of the one thing that Brookstone executives have clearly left out of their training manuals: compassion.
We even followed them to the restaurant where they ate dinner!
We're not going to let Brookstone forget about the thousands of frogs who are dying on their store shelves, while shipped across the country, and in the homes of people who do not have the ability to care for them. Until Brookstone ends the sale of Frog-O-Spheres at its stores nationwide, it can consider our "frog" its permanent shadow.
Written by Liz Graffeo
Imagine being sealed inside a clear coffin, bubble-wrapped, packaged in a box and sent through the mail on a terrifying journey to an unknown destination. Jostled around, forced to endure the summer heat while sitting in a delivery truck, and living in your own waste. If you can imagine this, you have some idea of how the little frog in this video feels.
This traumatized or now dead frog is a 'replacement' for another who died in a Brookstone Frog-O-Sphere. Despite public outrage and PETA protests, the body count continues to rise as Brookstone refuses to stop peddling live animals.
Urge Brookstone to send these Frog-O-Spheres packing and immediately implement a policy against selling live animals at all of their stores. If you know anybody who has misguidedly purchased these poor frogs only to watch them helplessly suffer and die, please inform them to request a chargeback on their credit card as Brookstone defers responsibility and costs for deaths and 'replacements' to the breeder.
Thanks for all of your wonderful comments on this Win It Wednesday. The winner of the jellyfish mood lamp is Megan Pearce. Congratulations!
This week's "Win It" Wednesday prize is ThinkGeek.com's fantastic (and fake) "Jellyfish Mood Lamp," a mesmerizing, humane alternative to Brookstone's tiny torture chambers for frogs and snails, aka Frog-O-Spheres.
We've got one to give away. In the comment section below, copy your polite but firm letter to Brookstone explaining why you won't be visiting its stores until it clears its shelves of Frog-O-Spheres. The writer who submits the most compelling defense of frogs and snails will nab the prize.
The contest ends on September 30, 2009, and we'll choose one comment as the winner on October 2, 2009. Be sure to read our privacy policy and terms and conditions, as you're agreeing to both by commenting.
Good luck!
Written by Karin Bennett
Despite complaints from thousands of concerned consumers, undercover photos of frogs living in decrepit conditions, reports of dying frogs, and a run-in with the law in New Jersey—Brookstone still refuses to stop selling its cruel Frog-O-Spheres.
As the death toll mounts, we're turning up the pressure:
Please urge Brookstone to immediately stop selling Frog-O-Spheres and implement a policy against the sale of any live animals at Brookstone stores.
Anyone out there know of a gadget that makes rotten retailers stop selling live frogs and snails in tiny prisons? Anyone?
Didn't think so. That's why we're calling on you to drop whatever you're doing right now and tell gadget magnate Brookstone to stop selling Frog-O-Spheres ASAP!
Despite complaint after complaint, Brookstone—a company that apparently has a heart of stone—is continuing to "package" frogs and snails together in pitiful plastic prisons and sell them to customers who don't have a clue about how to take care of these extremely delicate animals.
A distraught Brookstone employee has sent us undercover photos and horrifying details confirming that frogs and snails are sold with little regard for who will care for them:
"Most parents will exclaim right in front of me that they are not going to help the child to care for these living creatures. Then when I offer to sell them the additional food they will tell me flat out that the frogs won't live that long. It kills me that these frogs that can live to be 15 years old [won't] even last 1 year as a pet in a controlled [environment]."
The whistleblower went on to describe how animals are forced to languish and suffer on Brookstone's shelves without any veterinary care:
"We did have a frog that had a growth on its bottom. We eventually transferred that aquarium to the stock room and the frog died. No vet was called …. There is absolutely no policy or [veterinary] contact in my store for sick frogs. … [W]hen they do die we are told to "flush" them. … The snails die even more frequently. We have a bag full of over 15 snails that have died in the last month."
But, hey, no worries—if Kermit dies before his 30-day warranty is up, Brookstone will replace him for free! So long as you have your receipt, just flush and replace.
Let Brookstone know that these frogs aren't just a drop in the bucket. Please take action now!
Brookstone's "Frog-O-Sphere"—a tiny plastic box containing two African frogs and a snail—is a guaranteed death sentence for these animals, who are slowly poisoned by their own waste in these mini-prisons.
Brookstone store employees—many of whom are straight out of high school, not vet school—are the sole caretakers of these animals while the Frog-O-Spheres are in the stores. According to Brookstone's head honchos, the only time these frogs receive any "care" is when employees briefly peer into the Frog-O-Sphere to check on the animals' condition. After performing these spot checks, employees are instructed merely to write down whether the frogs are "expired," sick/injured, or healthy. Despite any store's claim that it has a veterinarian on file (per the Frog-O-Sphere SOPs), sick or injured frogs never receive medical attention. Instead, these animals—who are sensitive to sound and even minimal changes in temperature—are merely stashed in the back of the store until they either die or recover on their own.
Turns out this is illegal—in the Garden State, at least.
We did some digging and discovered that pet shops in New Jersey are required to provide veterinary care for sick or injured animals and must be licensed with the township in which they're located—both are details that Brookstone seems to have missed.
After we brought this to the attention of NJ authorities, PETA received word from across the state that inspectors were on the case (PETA quickly confirmed that a Princeton-area Brookstone has no license on file, and alerted local health authorities, who immediately issued a cease and desist order to the store.). The state's Office of Animal Welfare has also taken an interest in this matter because Brookstone was informed about the various permits that were needed before its stores even began selling these tiny torture chambers, but the company failed to obtain them.
Click here to tell Brookstone that it's time to stop selling living beings at all its stores.
Written by Jeff Mackey
Since we posted our action alert about Brookstone's boneheaded decision to sell live frogs and snails who are confined to minuscule "Frog-O-Spheres," we've heard from lots of people who've confirmed our worst fears about the likely fate of these animals.
Brookstone has admitted that they aren't screening potential "Frog-O-Sphere" customers, and their woefully inadequate recommendations for care—changing the water twice a year and feeding the frogs twice a week—are leading to snap decisions by unprepared people, as is likely the case with the person who posted this comment on Brookstone's Web site:
"[T]he snail died in about a week (but really, who cares?). And the recommended 2 pellets a week is not enough (the frogs are so hungry they don't move to conserve energy). When I started tripling their recommended meals, they became very active and cool. … Hopefully, they'll last until I can buy a pet snake and feed them to it."
People who are a bit more kindhearted have been flooding PETA with calls and e-mails about frogs and snails getting sick or dying, while callers to Brookstone's customer service department who complain that their frogs appear to need medical attention are merely told to put the frogs in a separate bowl. Those who call about dead frogs and snails have been told that they should throw the corpses in the garbage and that new animals can be shipped or picked up at their nearest location. As a testament to Brookstone's level of care, "replacement" animals are sent through the mail and handed to customers at the stores in plastic sandwich bags.
Other well-meaning folks are asking whether they should release the frogs into the wild, but putting non-native species into area waterways and habitats can wreak havoc on local ecosystems.
The continued sale of Frog-O-Spheres poses a clear threat to these vulnerable animals. Please add your voice to those of people who are demanding that Brookstone stop selling live animals once and for all.
When I was eight years old, I swore off aquariums forever after my dozen or so guppies committed suicide in the middle of the night. Rather than remain in a crowded, dirty tank, they leaped to their slow, suffocating deaths on the carpet.
The guilt that I carry around because of those poor fish has recently been rivaled by my anger and sadness at learning that Brookstone stores are hawking the "Frog-O-Sphere," a tiny aquatic prison that comes stocked with two African frogs and a snail (called "the janitor").
Brookstone tells its customers and employees that these frogs only need to have their water changed twice a year and to be fed twice a week. I can only imagine that those frogs will try to jump out of their cruel confines the first chance they get, so that they don't starve to death or die from poison.
Brookstone is offering a one-year warranty on the lives of the frogs, who can survive for five to 15 years in the wild. I guess that when the snail dies, the customers (and the frogs) are SOL—"the janitor" gets chucked into the garbage. And when customers place a complaint with the company, Brookstone offers up lame reasons why the Frog-O-Sphere is fine for these animals—reasons like "This species of frog will not out-grow the aquarium," and "when in the wild the African Dwarf Frogs generally live in a very small area of a pond or a stream." Then the company sends 'em 10 bucks.
PETA is squaring off with Brookstone, and we need you to write polite letters to the company urging it to join Magic Beans, "Tarjay," and other retailers that have stopped selling similar products prisons.
For anyone who insists on owning a portable, inexpensive, low-maintenance "aquarium," I have two words: "Koi Pond."
If you have a general question for PETA and would like a response, please e-mail Info@peta.org. If you need to report cruelty to an animal, please click here. If you are reporting an animal in imminent danger and know where to find the animal and if the abuse is taking place right now, please call your local police department. If the police are unresponsive, please call PETA immediately at 757-622-7382 and press 2.
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