Remember PETA's 2007 undercover investigation of Rainbow World Exotics (RWE), a hellhole in Hamilton, Texas, that supplies PETCO and PetSmart stores with little hamsters, gerbils, and other critters? Before going public with that investigation, we sat down with three PETCO corporate representatives (one of whom was a vet) and showed them heartbreaking footage of a worker who was castrating rabbits and bleaching their wounds, a manager who was stomping hamsters to death, live animals who were being tossed in the trash, a cockatoo who was starving and dying, and more. We were sure that PETCO would want nothing to do with RWE after seeing the footage of all this misery. Boy, were we wrong. PETCO (as well as PetSmart) stood by RWE, refused to sever ties, and insisted that things there were not so bad. We are quite sure that the animals would disagree. Up until now, we thought that we knew how low this massive pet-store giant was capable of stooping.

It turns out that we were wrong.

On Tuesday, PETCO put out a news release saying that it had "stepped up" and was "calling all small animal lovers" to "adopt" "more than 2,000 recently rescued animals" who are being held in the company's Dallas-area stores—animals who were among the 26,000 critters who were confiscated from yet another hellhole supplier, U.S. Global Exotics (USGE), after a PETA investigation uncovered horrific conditions there. USGE was a supplier to RWE. Many of the animals seized from USGE were ultimately bound for PETCO stores.

In the news release, a PETCO rep actually proclaimed, "We were appalled by the tragedy at U.S. Global Exotics …." That's rich! But not as rich as PETCO—the company made more than $2.5 billion in 2008 by selling animals from massive mills like RWE and USGE. And according the release, it looks like the company was poised to make a pretty profit off this "adoption" deal. All the money to be made from the adoptions and the application fees for the animals was set to go to the PETCO Foundation, while all of the money from the pet supplies a new parent needs to properly care for an animal would have lined the pockets of PETCO's CEOs. The money would not have gone to the thousands of animals from USGE who need homes. No, that responsibility falls on the shoulders of PETA and other nonprofit organizations that have been working around the clock to get these animals out of harm's way and to provide them with the basic necessities of which they have been deprived.

Veterinarians and humane agents found thousands of distressed animals confined at USGE, including hamsters and chinchillas who were packed into crowded crates without food or water. Such shipments arrived weekly, usually from the Netherlands, containing animals who would eventually end up for sale at pet stores such as PETCO and PetSmart.

This chinchilla was confined with no room to move in one of the dozens of shipping crates found on the day of the seizure at USGE. Part of a massive weekly shipment of mammals from the Netherlands, these animals had been trapped in shipping containers for at least two days without food or water.

Housing containers at USGE were not much different from shipping crates. USGE crammed dozens of hamsters into one litter pan, leaving them to fight and compete for space and other basic needs such as food and water—of which the animals were routinely deprived.

PETA's investigator took this photo in USGE's mammal room just five days before the surviving animals were finally rescued. Cannibalism, dehydration, starvation, and death were daily occurrences at USGE—an unavoidable consequence of the pet trade that is perpetuated by companies such as PETCO and PetSmart.

After PETA made a few phone calls, we were able to get the animals—including anoles, geckos, toads, snakes, iguanas, hermit crabs, long-tailed grass lizards, mice, hamsters, and frogs—removed from PETCO's clutches. We were promised that they would be placed with reputable groups. PETCO told local media that it was "extremely disappointed" after this absurd plan was halted (we bet!).

These animals are now safe, but PETCO's exploitation of animals will continue as long as the corporate giant continues to buy and sell animals. So what can you do? Tell everyone you know to chime in and demand that PETCO cease all live animal sales immediately!

Written by Daphna Nachminovitch, Vice President of Cruelty Investigations

In what is an outstanding victory for animals and a crippling blow to the exotic pet trade, Tarrant County Court Judge Jennifer Rymell yesterday affirmed Municipal Judge Michael Smith's outstanding January 5 ruling: U.S. Global Exotics will not regain custody of the more than 26,000 animals confiscated by Arlington officials in a massive civil seizure last month.

After reviewing hours of testimony, video, and photos taken on the day of the seizure and gathered during PETA's seven-month undercover investigation of USGE, Judge Rymell affirmed Judge Smith's ruling that Jasen and Vanessa Shaw, the owners and operators of USGE, had cruelly treated all the animals seized from their business on December 15. Thousands of reptiles, amphibians, small mammals, arachnids, and many other animals—including sloths, wallabies, and ring-tailed lemurs—were cruelly confined to hideously cramped, filthy litter pans, dungeon-like cattle-feeding troughs, boxes, bags, and even soda bottles. They were denied desperately needed food, water, veterinary care, and other basic care. PETA's undercover investigator documented that animals were starved and dehydrated, had resorted to eating each other out of stress and hunger, had wounds that were so deep that muscle and bone were exposed and legs were chewed off, were thrown away like trash, were intentionally frozen to death in the facility's freezers, and more.

The animals seized have been held and cared for at a facility set up by experts brought in by PETA to ensure their welfare and safety and were cared for daily by staff of the SPCA of Texas, the wonderful Detroit Zoo, the Humane Society of North Texas, and other groups. Food and supplies for these thousands of animals have been subsidized by PETA—and costs run several thousand dollars a week. The great news is that we have been able to secure permanent homes for many of the animals with the Detroit Zoo—where they will have top-notch care—and prescreened groups are lined up to take in many others!

Since the December 15 raid, USGE has effectively been dead—it has not bought or sold a single animal! This means that PETA's investigation and efforts have saved far more than 26,000 animals—the organization has spared tens of thousands of animals the misery of being captured and taken from their native homes; shipped in cramped crates, pillowcases, and containers; and kept in deplorable, hellish conditions at USGE's nasty warehouse. The animals rescued from USGE will never have to suffer at the hands of the cruel pet trade ever again.

This is a huge victory that has saved countless lives, but until the PETCOs and PetSmarts of the world stop selling animals—all of whom come from hellholes like USGE, where profit is the only thing that counts and where the lives and welfare of these animals mean nothing—the misery will continue. Many of the animals pulled out of USGE in the nick of time were headed to PetSmart and PETCO distributors nationwide. Please don't shop at PETCO or PetSmart, and tell your friends not to shop there either and never to support any pet store that sells live animals.

Written by Shawna Flavell

In his historic decision earlier this week, Arlington municipal judge Michael Smith noted that the evidence that our undercover investigator collected during months as an employee of the exotic animal warehouse U.S. Global Exotics (USGE)—including a picture of a hedgehog whose leg had been chewed off and video footage of dying snakes and a wallaby who had been left to perish in a filthy, windowless room—depicted conditions that are not unique and that even reflect the entire industry's standards:

Think about that for a minute or two. USGE was a model animal dealer for the pet trade and, as Fort Worth Zoo employee Mike Doss testified, a facility by which others could be judged.

PETA's evidence was vital to Judge Smith's ruling to divest Jasen and Vanessa Shaw—owners and operators of USGE, which supplies pet stores and pet store chains all over the world, including suppliers of PETCO and PetSmart—of the more than 26,000 animals who were seized from USGE on December 15. Since the ruling, the media has remained abuzz with outrage over the widespread, "standard" abuse of animals in the pet trade industry.

This isn't the first time we have gone undercover behind the tightly shut doors of the pet trade. Our investigation of Rainbow World Exotics revealed similar conditions. Unfortunately, that investigation didn't make an ounce of difference to the multimillion dollar pet-supply companies, which both refused to sever ties with Rainbow and continue to buy animals there to this day. It just goes to show that the only "standards" the industry has are the ones that have to do with profit, not animal welfare.

We're urging PetSmart shareholders to support our resolution to ban the purchase of animals from all distributors that are under investigation for violations of the law. Not much to ask, is it? Until everyone shuns pet stores and tells everyone they know to do the same, hellholes like USGE will continue to operate.

Written by Logan Scherer