PETCO pledged in 2005 that it would end the sale of large birds in its stores. Last month, a concerned PETCO customer noticed that a PETCO store in his area had a white-capped pionus, a kind of parrot, for sale. The bird had apparently spent 14 months in a cage at the store, waiting for someone to buy her. PETCO's price tag for the bird was $799, but for some time, there was a "Manager's Special—50% Off" sign on the cage she was in, as if this sensitive bird were an out-of-style shirt to be placed on the clearance rack.

PETA reached out to its contact at PETCO's corporate office and got the complainant in touch with the pet trade giant. For once, PETCO did the right thing and allowed the person who contacted PETA to adopt the bird, since named Tegan, for a donation to the PETCO Foundation, which provides funds for animal welfare organizations and spay-and-neuter efforts, among other things.

Tegan now has the run (fly?) of the house and the company of other birds. The kind man who took her in says that Tegan is a very affectionate bird who enjoys taking showers and who spends at least 4 to 5 hours a day riding around on his shoulder, where she seems happiest. You can find tips on caring for birds on our companion animals webpage.

Two important lessons emerge from this case. One: Never hesitate to speak up when you suspect an animal needs help. And the other? Don't support the pet trade—shop only at pet-supply stores that don't sell live animals.

The new year is already looking a bit brighter for animals: A PETCO store in Dickson City, Pennsylvania, has announced that it will close permanently on January 1—which is great news for the hamsters, gerbils, mice, fish, and other small animals who suffer and die every day in PETCO's stores and suppliers' facilities.

"Life" for the animals PETCO sells often consists of struggling to survive wild capture or captive breeding in horrific conditions, suffering from untreated injuries and illnesses, and fighting for food in feces-strewn, severely crowded cages. At the massive breeding mills that supply live animals to the pet trade, PETA investigations have revealed sick and dying animals placed in freezers to die, live hamsters placed in a plastic bag and bashed against a table in an attempt to kill them, animals deprived of veterinary care and left to cannibalize their cagemates' corpses, and other horrors.

For the sake of small animals, please say "No" to PETCO and other stores that sell animals.

A temporary booth set up in Orlando by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) started to look like a scene from The Jungle Book after the agency gave "amnesty" to people in possession of exotic animals banned under Florida law and agreed to take in the animals and place them in facilities equipped to care for them.

The point of the agency's first Exotic Pet Amnesty Day wasn't to cut illegal animal owners a break—it was to keep owners from simply turning reptiles, turtles, sugar gliders, and other exotic animals loose in the wild, where they would disrupt the local ecosystem and perish slowly and painfully.

Abandonment of exotic animals—who are usually purchased on impulse by unprepared and uninformed consumers—is just one of many serious problems associated with the exotic-pet industry. Many exotic animals are stolen out of their habitats in the wild, torn from their families, and shipped in cramped, filthy containers across the world before being warehoused in massive mills, awaiting their ultimate destination: pet stores, including pet-trade giants PETCO and PetSmart.

A PETA investigation into international animal dealer U.S. Global Exotics revealed that animals were crammed into pillowcases, shipping crates, troughs, and even plastic bottles, sometimes for weeks at a time. Many who were sick or dying were frozen to death in a freezer. Our investigation resulted in the largest animal seizure in history, the closure of the facility, and the issuing of an arrest warrant by the federal government for owner Jasen Shaw. But exotic animals are still suffering at the hands of other dealers like Rainbow World Exotics and Sun Pet Ltd., which supply PETCO and PetSmart stores across the country. Despite evidence of systemic cruelty and neglect at these small-animal factory farms, PETCO and PetSmart refused to sever ties with Rainbow and Sun Pet and continue to buy animals from them.

Good for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission for preventing animals acquired on a whim from suffering uncertain fates in a concrete jungle far from their natural homes. To help do the same, click here to e-mail PETCO and PetSmart and demand that they stop selling animals.

Written by Michelle Sherrow

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

Authorities recently raided Dutch animal dealer and breeding mill Reintjes—a supplier of U.S. Global Exotics (USGE)—and  found animals crammed in cages in a dark warehouse with no working fan to combat stale air and the stench of urine and feces. Many animals had no access to food or water, and many were starving. Authorities seized every animal on the premises—5,900 in all, including mice, rats, hamsters, and birds—from Reintjes' owners, who already had criminal records for cruelty to animals.
 

 
Reintjes was a global supplier of animals to the pet trade. In 2009 alone, it supplied 112,546 animals to USGE, a major supplier of animals to wholesale dealers and pet stores in the U.S.—including PETCO and PetSmart suppliers Rainbow World Exotics and Sun Pet—until it was shut down following a PETA undercover investigation. USGE, which purchased rabbits, hamsters, guinea pigs, chinchillas, chipmunks, tree squirrels, and other animals from Reintjes, shared the Dutch company's view of animals as disposable commodities. Authorities raiding USGE found live animals shoved into soda bottles and tiny food storage containers; animals with severe, untreated injuries; a widespread lack of food, water, and adequate housing; and sick animals left to die. In fact, on the day of the seizure, an unpacked shipment of hundreds of chinchillas and hamsters from Reintjes was among the first things authorities found.

There is no word yet on whether Reintjes will be shut down permanently, but we will release updates as we have them. It is impossible to patronize pet stores like PETCO and PetSmart that sell live animals without supporting abusive animal dealers and breeding mills. Please, purchase your animal supplies at stores that don't sell live animals.
 

Written by Michelle Sherrow

… With a $3,000 suspended fine and two years of probation from the Georgia Department of Agriculture (GDA)! It's the least that Sun Pet deserves, considering that PETA's undercover investigator took video footage of one of the animal dealer's employees—who has since been fired—placing hamsters in a bag and bashing it against a table in an attempt to kill them. The investigator also documented that other animals were being abusively handled and warehoused in conditions that you wouldn't wish on your worst enemy.

None of this appears to matter to PetSmart or PETCO, whose stores continue to sell animals supplied by Sun Pet despite findings by not only the GDA but also the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The GDA's April 22 inspection found rodents running loose, dead animals (including eight guinea pigs) in enclosures with live ones, food thrown into cages and on top of bedding, and rusty cages with sharp, dangerous edges, which Sun Pet was ordered to replace immediately (but didn't). According to the consent order, inspectors also found live rats climbing out of a trash can.

Eighteen days after the GDA inspection, the USDA—prompted by a PETA complaint—inspected Sun Pet and found the same jagged, rusty surfaces on the facility's chinchilla cages as well as severe crowding, inadequate lighting, accumulations of trash and rodent droppings, and deteriorated animal carcasses. The USDA also noted that in a repeat violation of federal law (which Sun Pet had been warned about in February 2009), the company had been buying animals from unlicensed vendors and selling them to pet stores such as PETCO and PetSmart.

PetSmart's execs apparently need a reading lesson, because in PetSmart's official response—sent to PETA before the GDA's investigation was officially closed—they claim that "the Georgia Department of Agriculture … conducted two thorough investigations since [PETA] issued [its] allegations. The first investigation resulted in one citation for a rusty chinchilla cage which was immediately replaced. The second investigation resulted in no violations." ("Immediately replaced"? Really? Then why did the USDA find the same dangerous cages almost three weeks later?) PETCO has not officially responded to PETA, but as of this week, it is still doing business with Sun Pet, according to its vice president of animal care and education, Marcie Whichard.

More on this soon. In the meantime, we can take "disciplinary action" against Sun Pet and other sleazy animal dealers by never buying mice, hamsters, rabbits, fish, birds, or any animal from a pet store or breeder and by steering others who are considering getting an animal away from pet stores and toward animal shelters.

Written by Lindsay Pollard-Post

Phew! PETA's "BOYCOTT PETCO" brick* survived the 5.7-magnitude earthquake that shook San Diego's PETCO Park on Monday—and here's a photo snapped by an activist last night to prove it:

Don't get me wrong—PETA loves the stadium's tasty, animal-friendly eats but hates the massive suffering that PETCO causes by buying animals from shady dealers and selling them to anyone who walks in, intentions be damned. Animals like the poor fellow below who are bred for and shipped to PETCO and other pet stores get their world shaken to pieces every single day by being mishandled, abused, or even thrown into the trash to die. They are crammed en masse into crowded, filthy containers at animal distributors such as U.S. Global Exotics and Sun Pet, and they're often denied basic necessities, including food, water, adequate air, and veterinary care.

Let's shake things up for PETCO (the store—not the stadium!) by telling it to stop selling animals immediately or we'll shop elsewhere for our dog beds, cat trees, toys, and treats.

Written by Lindsay Pollard-Post

*Line up the first letter of each word to find the brick's hidden message!

Our investigator discovered these terrified hamsters at animal mill U.S. Global Exotics.

Validation came this week when PETCO settled a $1.75 million lawsuit filed by four California counties over the company's atrocious animal care record and deceptive consumer practices. The suit alleged that PETCO failed to notice or treat sick animals—and overcharged customers to boot! This lawsuit follows a 2004 case in which PETCO paid more than $850,000 to settle similar charges and was ordered by the court to implement a detailed daily animal care procedure in all its California stores. Guess it forgot.

Is anyone surprised? We've been filing complaints about PETCO's abysmal treatment of animals for years. But the mills that supply the birds, rabbits, guinea pigs, mice, and other small animals to PETCO (and PetSmart) are also responsible for widespread animal suffering. PETA's undercover investigator documented horrific conditions in the enormous warehouses at Sun Pet Ltd., an Atlanta-based wholesale animal dealer that supplies these chains. And who can forget the dead, dying and diseased animals our investigator discovered at animal mill U.S. Global Exotics?

If PETCO is apparently incapable of providing decent care to animals right in its own stores, what hope do animals have at these awful mills that churn out animals as if they were disposable toys? Buyer beware: Go elsewhere!

Written by Jennifer O'Connor

This week, PETA released never-before-seen footage from our three-month investigation of Sun Pet Ltd.—an Atlanta-based supplier of small mammals, birds, reptiles, fish, and other animals to stores nationwide, including PETCO and PetSmart. In the shocking video, a Sun Pet worker is seen slamming hamsters against a table in an attempt to kill them—evidently because they were deemed unsalable. At least one of the hamsters was still alive for several minutes afterward, panting in the sealed plastic bag.

Not surprisingly, Sun Pet has released a video of its own, showing conditions for the animals at its Atlanta small-animal breeding farm. It doesn't look all that great to us.

Thank you, Sun Pet, for helping PETA show the world the sort of hellish warehouses that PETCO and PetSmart's animals come from! We are not quite sure which part is supposed to serve as a response to PETA's allegations. Is it the footage of the animals who were crammed into pitch-black, tomb-like bins and wire cages; the footage of the animals who were being packed up for shipping as if they were inanimate objects; the footage of the chinchilla cages that the Georgia Department of Agriculture last month found to be in violation of the law; the footage of the fecal matter that was all over the small animals' bedding; or the footage of the rabbits who were being kept in tiny, barren wire cages with no bedding to protect their tender feet?

In its written response to PETA's video, Sun Pet says that it has dismissed the employee in the video. That's a start—but it's not enough. The manager who approved of the hamster-bashing is apparently still punching the clock down at Sun Pet. That's the same manager who said that one could throw mice against a wall and suggested that PETA's investigator expose small animals' testicles by poking and prodding away at their abdomens as if they were PlayStation controllers.

Every employee who abused animals at Sun Pet should be fired and prosecuted—something that Sun Pet vice president and general manager Barry Wisebram said in an interview that he would "make sure" happened. PETA sent a letter to Wisebram yesterday asking him to stick to his word. (He's apparently been too busy taking reporters on tours around his spruced-up warehouses, crafting misleading media statements, and making cameos in the video to do what's right for the hundreds of thousands of animals in his care—or even to get back to us.)

Oh, and one more thing: In Sun Pet's written response, the company asks for "suggestions or information that would help us."

We think that's a great idea. Please take a few minutes to contact Wisebram and politely suggest that it's time for the company to get out of the animal business altogether:

Barry Wisebram
Sun Pet Ltd.
3765 Zip Industrial Blvd.
Atlanta, GA 30354

Written by Paula Moore