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OK, so a bit of good news for bunnies. For years, PETA has been pushing PETCO to end the sale of animals in its stores. This week, the company finally announced that it will no longer sell rabbits in it stores. The phase-out begins immediately. By early 2009, the only rabbits at PETCO will come from animal shelters or rescue organizations. Mad props to the House Rabbit Society, whose efforts helped make this happen!
This is an important step in the right direction, because dogs and cats aren’t the only animals left homeless in mass numbers by breeder- and “pet” industry–driven overpopulation. Rabbits are often bought on the spur of the moment—especially at Easter—by people who are unprepared for the huge responsibility of caring for them. By working with shelters and rescue societies to adopt rabbits instead of selling them, PETCO has joined a number of other companies that have already made the responsible decision not to add to the bunny overpopulation crisis.
But still …
PETCO, like PetSmart, continues to sell countless other animals who are bred, born, and warehoused in cruel animal mills such as Rainbow World Exotics (RWE). We met with PETCO last January before breaking our RWE investigation to show its representatives footage of the horrific conditions we found during our investigation at RWE. Though PETCO pledged to make some improvements, it continues to buy small animals from RWE.
RWE and other suppliers are so awful, and animal shelters and rescues are bursting at the seams with animals of all shapes and sizes. We hope that PETCO will continue to move in the right direction and soon stop selling all animals in its stores—and that PetSmart, Petland, and others will follow in PETCO’s footsteps.
Written by Jeff Mackey
