Little Shop of Horror!

Yes this is another report of a horrible "pet" shop.

The loan company I was working for 9mo ago was doing a commercial loan for a pet shop. Simple enough, I go and check it out. Animals seemed to be healthy and well cared for. Then TODAY!! I happen to be closing a loan through another company in that county and stopped by to see the "monkey".
They have a Marmoset "sp" that is not for sale. I also had heard that they had some adult corns for sale. I was appalled at what I saw. The adult corns were in 5g vivs with no hides and totally misslabled, yeah so one was hiding in a corner with no water the other had pieces of it's shed strewn about. I wanted to hold the corns but could not get any help (the cages were locked). As I am wandering around I see some cute little "dungarees" is what they called them. Cross between a gerbil and a chinchilla. As I and the owner are peering in, she is saying how "cute & soft" they are and I should purchase one for $49.99, I notice one is chewed up and bloody on its butt. She says yeah I agree it should be quarantined. She proceeds to remove it and take it to feed the Red Tail Boa which I hadn't noticed (as it was in the "fish room"). Curious and wanting to see how this played out I stuck around. The Boa was in a crude enclosure for its size (approx 5 ft) in a 2x1' ground space by approx 3ft tall. It had a "tub" of yellow water and had a hard time getting it's body down to ground level to feed. I watched this snake for 40 min. try to get to its prey to no avail. The snake "sneezed and shuddered" a few times as the pray was "making friends" and then did a couple of really weird nudges and rolls. In the mean time I was leaning over a fancy goldfish tank as I watched, and I noticed the fish had very little fins left and their "flesh" was falling away (still being advertised at $6.95). What do I do? This county I am speaking of is "hillbilly". Do I go in and say "Hey, gimme ur snakes or I'll report you"? Or leave it up to the officials?
Signed,

Pondering my next step.

P.S. I am also concerned about numerous species of birds.
Did I forget to add they are selling American alligators?

Hmmm.... lovely . Just the other day, I saw pinky guts stuck to the side of the feeder tank. As if the mom had decided to cull one of her babies, but didn't eat the whole thing and it ended up stuck to the glass. It was uke01: to say the least. I hate going into some petstores anymore. Especially now that I know more than I used to about animal care and husbandry. The same pet store was selling tegus. The one they had was asleep, but was being harassed by its dinner. A live mouse was left in its tank and the mouse was running around like it was crazy. I don't know what to tell you about your petstore though. Is there an ASPCA nearby? Maybe they could lend a hand.

Did I forget to add they have puppies, bunnies, and about 30 birds. I forgot when I was there to ask about the African Tortoise they were offering me at a discount price 9mo ago. I was too overwhelmed.

I work at a pet store and if our store was like the ones you people mentioned, we would be shut down!! I understand about the half eaten pinky in the cage. Sometimes our nursing mother mice will eat the "weak" pinkies for iron, but when we see them half eaten, we immediately take them out! The store I work at is very clean and is considered the nicest and well-kept pet store in my city.

That is awful! I also work at a pet store, but our animals are treated like they are our own, they are so spoiled. I would talk to the officials and possibly your local Human Society and just see what they have to say. I hope you can do something for those poor animals. Good luck!

Can I name the "Pet Store"? Or do I have to worry about being sued?
I would like to.

I don't see why you can't name the pet store. Maybe if you name the store, it could possibly bring more needed attention to the fact that they treat their animals like crap!!

Here it goes

"Paws and Claws" Shelton, Washington.

I think you should first bring up some of the living conditions with the store manager and see if they do anything different and if that doesn't work, contact the Humane Society like BabyMowgli said and see if they can do something about it or have any suggestions for you.

OMG! That is so terrible! I recently did a report on animal abuse and animals cruelty, a subject that digs deeply into my heart every time I see it happen. I am very...ooo...I didn't even see the pet store and I'm about to blow up! That is probably the most terrible thing I've ever heard! We had a pet shop here that wasn't very good, all of their puppies always seemed to have parvo and the kittens always had goopy eyes and everything else was lethargic and it pained me to go inside, but now they got new owners and a new location where all of their animals are very friendly and healthy and I was gla to see them build a beautiful reptile display!
I don't know about you guys, but even though I'm 14, if I saw something like that going on, I would write letters and make phone calls like crazy, and if that didn't work, I would go in person. A horrible situation you're describing. Definately, if there is an ASPCA around, even if it's a few hours away, please call, they will most likely come or send someone local to come.
I hope everything gets sorted out. Please let us know if anything happens!

How disgusting. I would contact the local humane society as well. And if that doesn't work, the media always scares people into action. :grin01:

Now I know not all pet stores can be spotless and not all animals are going to look their best. I mean, be honest and tell me how many of you don't clean the doopers out of your snake cages in a timely fashion when you first see it?

But that's just terrible what you said about them. To take a sick animal over to a boa to feed it in front of a 'customer'? Definitely in poor taste. Most reptile feeding of animal prey takes place in the back room after hours for a reason.

If it were me, I'd go in and talk with the owner about what I saw and wasn't impressed. Ask her why things are that way, when 9 months ago things looked so good. Heck, knowing me I'd offer help to get the situation rectified. If she acted offended at you offering suggestions, then move to the next step of getting help.


:-offtopic
Dungaree? Never heard of them. But Gerbils that we all know and love are actually Mongolian, while Chinchillas are from South America. The liklihood of them breeding would seem pretty remote to me. Now a Degu and a Chinchilla, which are related, and from the same area is more likely. Degu's look like big gerbils to most folks.

Also, I don't know why the manager would even tolerate the cruelty to the animals, just because the fact is that if anything happens to the animal then that money is taken out of the store. And most people who work in pet stores (from what I've heard and seen) love animals and wouldn't even tolerate that!!

angle0343 said:

I think you should first bring up some of the living conditions with the store manager and see if they do anything different and if that doesn't work, contact the Humane Society like BabyMowgli said and see if they can do something about it or have any suggestions for you.

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Good advice and that is what I did only not with the manager, the owner. Her response was no response. I will admit I was not overtly as angry with her as I felt. I will be in touch with the county authorities ASAP. I'll start with the Health Department. Please keep me in check, make sure you keep asking that I follow through.

Taceas said:

How disgusting. I would contact the local humane society as well. And if that doesn't work, the media always scares people into action. :grin01:

Now I know not all pet stores can be spotless and not all animals are going to look their best. I mean, be honest and tell me how many of you don't clean the doopers out of your snake cages in a timely fashion when you first see it?

But that's just terrible what you said about them. To take a sick animal over to a boa to feed it in front of a 'customer'? Definitely in poor taste. Most reptile feeding of animal prey takes place in the back room after hours for a reason.

If it were me, I'd go in and talk with the owner about what I saw and wasn't impressed. Ask her why things are that way, when 9 months ago things looked so good. Heck, knowing me I'd offer help to get the situation rectified. If she acted offended at you offering suggestions, then move to the next step of getting help.


:-offtopic
Dungaree? Never heard of them. But Gerbils that we all know and love are actually Mongolian, while Chinchillas are from South America. The liklihood of them breeding would seem pretty remote to me. Now a Degu and a Chinchilla, which are related, and from the same area is more likely. Degu's look like big gerbils to most folks.

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Again, if this is true (which I believe it to be) The pet shop owner is clueless. Yes, it looked like a giant gerbil.

Just one question though................Is this pet store doing ok financially???? B/C like I said in an earlier post, if they lose any animals then the store is out of that money! If they have a high death rate, then they're probably not doing so well. I know with our pet store, we have high animal sales which makes our total sales big since most customers buy the whole set up. As a customer, why would they buy ANYTHING if the animals look so bad?! Maybe they'll go out of business before things get way out of hand?!

Another very good point, I brought the same point to my b/f attention as we left. (He was equally dismayed). Not only did she not know the sex (excusable as far as the corns) but she didn't know the last time the Boa in question ate. What's up with that? I asked her if the snake in question was used to eating live prey, her reply was "Oh yeah". I explained that my snakes eat F/T. She responded by replacing the lock on the snakes cage and saying "Don't want that one popping out". :shrugs:

Well crap!! I just don't know what else to say!!!! Maybe you should just slash the managers tires and leave her a little note about how disgusted you were with her store. Hopefully then, she'll get the message!!
I'm kidding, violence never solves anything! lol!

I just sent an email to the Humane Society and will wait the 24-48hrs for a response. In the mean time I will be checking out who else I can contact. Thanks for your support.

Angela

Omg. This is the point where I wish I lived in the States. I hate to see Animals in pain or suffering. When I read the whole thread (yes i read it all) I nearly cried. These poor animals are being treated like crap and yet nobody does anything sometimes. It's really really appalling. Well I personally hope they go out of business and the ASPCA takes away all their animals. They do not deserve to be treated like that.

angle0343 said:

Well crap!! I just don't know what else to say!!!! Maybe you should just slash the managers tires and leave her a little note about how disgusted you were with her store. Hopefully then, she'll get the message!!
I'm kidding, violence never solves anything! lol!

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It is 1AM now and i have emailed all the agencies I could find. Google Mason county ASPCA and I mailed them all. Oh, wait there were only 2 addresses I could find! I realize how underfunded they are (while we are worried about smoking bans etc.) I also emailed the Health Dept. I can only hope conditions will improve. If I get any calls (yes, I left all of my contact info) I will keep you informed. Perhaps from my jail cell after I do more than T.P. her house and slash her tires. :flames: Violence is never the answer :crazy02: