Suffering, Death at PetSmart Animal Supplier Revealed in PETA Sting

Authorities Descend on Massive Georgia Animal Warehouse That Supplies Stores Nationwide

For Immediate Release:
April 22, 2010

Contact:
Daphna Nachminovitch 757-622-7382 

Phoenix -- This morning, law-enforcement officials entered the Atlanta warehouse of Sun Pet Ltd., a company that supplies small mammals, birds, reptiles, fish, and other animals to stores nationwide, including Phoenix-based PetSmart. Today's action was prompted by evidence gathered during a three-month PETA investigation, which documented that animals at Sun Pet were cruelly killed, abusively handled, and forced to live in severely crowded, filthy conditions. The following incidents were among the findings of PETA's investigation:

* A worker put hamsters in a plastic bag and bashed the animals against a table.
* Unsalable animals were routinely gassed in a filthy, waste-encrusted glass tank or poisoned at bait stations that were placed around the facility's warehouse. 
* PetSmart stores shipped sick and injured animals back to Sun Pet without providing veterinary care or food and water for the long journey, causing many animals to suffer and die.
* Sun Pet bought thousands of animals from unlicensed vendors despite previous warnings from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to desist.
* Sun Pet sold hamsters who were purchased from U.S. Global Exotics (USGE), a company from which more than 26,000 cruelly treated animals were recently seized by authorities following a PETA investigation.

PETA's investigator, who worked at Sun Pet for more than three months, never saw anyone from PetSmart's corporate offices inspecting Sun Pet's facility. This is PETA's third investigation revealing the abusive and filthy conditions endured by animals who are eventually sold at PetSmart stores. In addition to PETA's investigations of Sun Pet and USGE, the group has investigated Rainbow World Exotics, which continues to be a major source of small animals and birds for PetSmart stores nationwide. PETA's investigations of PetSmart stores also revealed that small animals routinely suffered and died, hidden away in the stores' backrooms.

"PETA's investigation shows that for PetSmart, it is business as usual to keep buying animals from companies that have a record of abuse and failure to provide veterinary care to sick and injured animals," says PETA Vice President Daphna Nachminovitch. "At these facilities, animals are treated like disposable objects, and no thought is given to the fact that they are living beings."

PETA has turned evidence over to local, state, and federal law-enforcement agencies for investigation, and the group is calling on Petsmart to end the sale of animals in its stores.

For more information and to view the video footage, please visit PETA.org.