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 … Read more »
Here’s a beautiful—and lifesaving!—sight for the millions of animals who suffered at the hands of owners and employees of the international animal dealer warehouse formerly known as U.S. Global Exotics, Inc. (USGE): © Don Feare Yep, that’s right—just months after the PETA Files first gave readers a tiny glimpse into PETA’s investigation … Read more »
It’s déjà vu all over again, and it’ll probably have you wondering: What is PETCO thinking? Other than, “Hey, we can make some money!” A PETA undercover investigator worked for more than three months at Sun Pet Ltd., an animal dealer in Atlanta that sells hamsters, mice, gerbils, birds, fish, and other small animals directly … Read more »
jeremydeades / CC by 2.0 Spring is here—and with rising temperatures come the all-too-familiar stories about dogs who are left in cars where they suffer and die from heatstroke. One such case has prompted PETA to support cruelty charges against two women—a mother and daughter team—who are accused of leaving nine dogs unattended in … Read more »
Earlier this month, the Detroit Zoo—a progressive facility with a compassionate history—welcomed more than 1,100 of the nearly 27,000 animals who were seized from the hellish exotic-animal warehouse of U.S. Global Exotics (USGE) by Arlington, Texas, officials. But that wasn’t all the zoo did! Its staff came to the animals’ rescue within days of the … Read more »
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 … Read more »
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 … Read more »
We’ve just received word that Arlington (Texas) Municipal Judge Michael Smith has divested Jasen and Vanessa Shaw—owners and operators of animal warehouse U.S. Global Exotics, Inc. (USGE)—of the more than 26,000 mammals, reptiles, amphibians, and arachnids who were seized from USGE on December 15. U.S. Global Exotics, Inc., is a major player in the pet … Read more »
usatoday / CC Former “Hollywood Madam” Heidi Fleiss knows what it’s like to be behind bars—and ever since she inherited dozens of exotic birds from an acquaintance who passed away, she’s learned firsthand that humans aren’t the only ones whose needs aren’t met in captivity. Heidi was fortunate enough to be able to turn part … Read more »
Killer birds from PetSmart. It sounds like a reimagined version of Hitchcock’s The Birds or maybe Troma’s follow-up film to Poultrygeist, but it’s a true, tragic story. A bird-loving family from Corpus Christi, Texas, reportedly lost their beloved father—and the daughter almost lost her life—after they both contracted psittacosis from a cockatiel whom they had … Read more »
If you’re one of those upstanding animal lovers who’s been digging in and taking your pet-related business elsewhere until the PetSmart people stop selling live animals, here’s an opportunity to take some credit for it. If you still have that old PetSmart Pet Perks card, you can finally dust it off and do something useful … Read more »
After lengthy discussions with PETA, PETCO has announced that it will reduce the number of animals for sale in its stores nationwide by 30% and revamp its live-animal vendor certification standards to improve conditions at all of its pet suppliers, starting with Rainbow World Exotics (RWE) in Hamilton, Texas. At RWE—a hellish facility that breeds … Read more »
Here’s what PetSmart spokesman Bruce Richardson had to say when he was asked about the shocking video footage revealed by our recent investigation into a PetSmart supplier in Texas: “I don’t know what those images say. … Just because you see a dead pet, does that mean there was abuse? No. Pets die, particularly when … Read more »
Update: You can watch the Today Show segment about this investigation here. As you may have noticed from the front page of our site, PETA released the details today of a major investigation into a PetSmart supplier in Texas. The whole thing is pretty disturbing, but the footage depicting the treatment of a baby Goffin’s … Read more »
It’s too bad that it required an outbreak of a disease that’s contagious to humans for PetSmart to make this decision, but this is something we’ve been asking the pet store chain to do for a long time now. According to The Huntsville Times PetSmart has stopped selling birds in all of its stores for … Read more »
