UPDATE: PETCO CEO Jim Myers announced that the company will not reopen the Johnson City store where approximately 100 animals died in flooding last month. The company is reportedly looking for another location in the village, but outraged residents don't want a PETCO store anywhere nearby. The district attorney's criminal investigation of PETCO employees' actions and the animals' deaths continues.

The following was originally posted on September 19, 2011:

PETA joined dozens of animal advocates who participated in a protest calling for PETCO to leave Johnson City, New York, after the multibillion-dollar company opted to abandon hundreds of animals—about 100 of whom drowned during massive flooding from Tropical Storm Lee.

Despite highly publicized flood warnings and mandatory evacuation orders, the company had the gall to call the flooding "completely unpredictable" and intentionally left the animals behind, which Johnson City Mayor Dennis Hannon called "absolutely disgusting." Nearly 100 animals, including birds, guinea pigs, ferrets, hamsters, mice, and reptiles, suffered and died as a result. Cars that passed the 70 demonstrators honked and waved in support, showing that Johnson City residents are ready for PETCO to start packing.

PETA and Mayor Hannon called for a criminal investigation last week, and now that investigation is under way. Please join us in thanking Broome County District Attorney Gerald Mollen for taking the case seriously. E-mail him at gmollen@co.broome.ny.us or call his office at 607-778-2423. Please be polite in your correspondence with Mr. Mollen and his office.

Written by Michelle Sherrow

PETA is calling for a criminal investigation and appropriate charges after PETCO left hundreds of caged animals to die in its Johnson City, New York, store in massive flooding caused by Tropical Storm Lee.

Despite highly publicized flood warnings and a mandatory evacuation order from the town's mayor, PETCO's vice president of animal care (a misnomer if we ever heard one), Marcie Whichard, had the nerve to call the flooding "completely unpredictable" and admitted that "the decision was made to keep the animals in the store."  Hundreds of birds, guinea pigs, ferrets, hamsters, mice, reptiles, and other animals were abandoned, forced to try to keep their heads above water as floodwaters rose. Nearly 100 animals died. One can only imagine the terror and suffering that these animals experienced, all because PETCO—a multibillion-dollar company—could not be bothered to make provisions for them.

This is not the first time that animals have suffered and died at PETCO's hands. The company has a history of chronic animal-welfare problems, including buying the animals it sells from massive mills that warehouse animals in filthy, severely crowded conditions; withhold veterinary care from sick, starving, and injured animals; throw live animals into the trash; and much, much more.

Please help obtain justice for the animals PETCO abandoned to drown by politely urging Broome County District Attorney Gerald Mollen to launch a criminal investigation into PETCO's actions. Call his office at 607-778-2423 or e-mail him at gmollen@co.broome.ny.us. And please never buy animals or anything from stores like PETCO that see animals as nothing more than a way to make money.

Written by Lindsay Pollard-Post