The argument that pigs need to be available in pet-stores in order to "keep the prices low" is preposterous.
Pet stores carry "high quality" animals ?
Supposing that if animals are not available in a retail store then there wouldn't be any is leaves me dumb-founded!
The truth is that the only people who support selling pets in stores, are people who breed them and sell them to pet stores,
people who sell them in pet stores, or who have not taken the time to educate themselves on what happens in pet stores, and that's usually young children and adults who are reactionary and want to defend something without first researching it fully.
Quality dog breeders NEVER EVER sell their dogs in pet stores. Why do you think that is? If someone takes great care and spends all their time and energy to bring forth an animal into the world, they want to ensure those animals are going to bring them "prestige". People who sell through pet stores have no concern for "the breed" or even the dog. They are simply trying to breed enough animals to "fill the order"
Don't you think there is a reason that PetNO doesn't sell dogs and cats? Do you really think there is some kind of altruistic motive behind that decision? No, there isn't. It was good business sense. The educated public became aware of the horrors of pet mills. In California, stores that sell animals go out of business all the time.
Why? Because the kind of people who have tons of money to spend on their pets are educated. Educated people do not want to support the practices the pet mills and avoid stores that sell them. As a result, stores that sell dogs and cats are pariah's. I don't know a SINGLE person who would even consider buying a dog in a pet store. In fact, our local humane society can brag that it actually adopts 100% of it's dogs and cats, but NOT it's guinea pigs. In the area I live, we no longer have stores that sell dogs/cats here. In fact, most no longer offer rabbits as the awareness of their overpopulation has become stronger and people know to adopt them. Guinea pigs still aren't on most people's radar, so the stores get away with selling them--for now.
Do you honestly think we have a shortage of dogs? HA! Nope. Instead, people now purchase dogs who can afford to care for them. People adopt animals first, and purchase animals from breeders second. No one even thinks to go to pet stores. I don't know of a single pet store that sold dogs that has stayed in business more than a year or two.
Why do we need a lousy pet store to insert themselves into the process? What need would it fill other than to line the pockets of the store owner?
Like I've said before, it's impossible to care for an animal properly in a retail environment.
Impossible. I've been in management in retail. I know what it takes just to keep basic stock up and keep employees showing up to work and manage customer needs. Where do you think the creatures end up on the list? Do you have any idea how many hours a week a regular retail store manager works..WITHOUT pets? Do you have any idea how hard it is to find people to work for minimum wage, and to keep them? It's hard. VERY hard. Very few people even want to become retail managers because of the hard work and small amount of income to show for it. Even fewer want to work for more than a few months in retail before they tire of it and move on. I got out as soon as I could because I knew I was doing nothing but making someone ELSE's pocket fuller.
Sometimes the reason why everyone is all shouting the same thing is because they are trying to get you to listen to them.
..sure sometimes people all get onto a bandwagon like sheeple and are all reactionary without researching what they are talking about and get the "mob mentality". That is why it's important not to support something until you know the whole story.
One might be wise to ask themselves what the big deal is. Why are so many people in agreement? Why are there so many forums who support rescues?
When I asked myself WHO would start a public internet forum, and then start threads on how horrible other forums are I started on a journey I didn't expect to find. I went out into those other forums before I discovered exactly WHO funds them, and what they have as goals for their websites. When I figured out that they were all breeders who are trying to sell their animals to little kids who come to their site it started to become clear.
Since this site and Guinea Lynx are completely supported by it's members and the people have no financial interest in selling or breeding guinea pigs, who do
not have products they are trying to sell you, who spend their
OWN money to teach others what they know, who put their money where their mouth is and actually rescue unwanted animals, pay vet bills for problems OTHER people created in the process, who take the time and energy to go out into the world and share that knowledge, who drive hundreds of miles to save animals, who rescue pigs from shelters who are getting ready to euthanize them. The list goes on. I know who owns this site, in person. I know she has no ulterior motives behind what she does, unless it's to try to recoup some of the thousands of dollars she's already sunk into this site alone by offering site membership. No one really knows about it though because she doesn't ASK for money.
These are the people who's opinion is far more worthy to me, and who I have come to respect because I dared to question them! I dared to challenge everything everyone says here. I found that everything that T. says about cage sizes is RIGHT! It's not an opinion! It's a FACT! There are other forums filled with dullards and children who are breeding animals and don't even know what "animal husbandry" means.
(yes, I got into a fight at one of those forums because I suggested that a good breeder is educated in animal husbandry..and they almost banned me for it saying that it was mean to suggest that you should have to have an education to breed animals because many of the children on the site were breeders or because the adults couldn't afford to learn about it -- seriously!!!) These people don't support OUR cage sizes because they house their pigs in cage upon cage stacked up in sheds. They want people to think that owning a guinea pig is EASY and it's CHEAP and it's LOW MAINTAINENCE.. they think that's how they can sell them. They are TERRIFIED that they will lose money if people find out exactly how much work it REALLY is to own an animal and PROPERLY care for it.
I found out for MYSELF what the deal was with this pet store discussion. I researched it fully until I figured out what the big deal was. Then I made a decision as to where I stood. In this situation, there is a clear answer. As far as I'm concerned, if one really does some serious research on this, there is only ONE answer.
I do not waste my time trying to show "both sides of the issue". Some things require one to stand up for what is right, and some things can be viewed from both sides. How one could be aware of the things that happen in ALL pet stores and still support selling animals in such an environment in them is unfathomable to me. I do not think any reasonable person could know what I know and still try to "stick-up" for a business practice that is completely impossible to manage and clearly causes a company to LOSE business, rather than bring it in. It is so STUPID for a business to cater to such shoppers. It's foolish!
Why do these people INSIST on offending guinea pig people? They sell NOTHING I need for my guinea pig, and a crapload of stuff that I DON'T need! Coming into my forum and offending me because of my beliefs isn't exactly winning me over either.
After my first and ONLY visit to PetNO (where I spent $$) I have never spent another dollar there. Why? Because I was sold a bill o' goods from the lousy sales clerk who admitted she knew very little about them. She insisted that the tiny cage was "plenty big enough" when I insisted that it wasn't any bigger than a hamster cage and I knew that guinea pigs were at least 10 times larger than a hamster. She told me that they are solitary creatures and cannot be housed together...it goes on and on. The minute I got home and started searching the internet I discovered exactly how much I was lied to. Rather than sell me what I NEEDED, such as a GOOD sized cage, GOOD hay, GOOD pellets, a hay rack, a GOOD pellet bowl etc.. I was sold a bunch of JUNK that was either bad for my animals, or was a waste of money.
I was and
AM so angry at how I was lied to and taken advantage of that I would never go into another one of their stores to spend money. Instead, I've made many visits to many stores to research whether my experience was unusual. I ONLY go to pet SUPPLY stores that do not sell living creatures now. THESE people get it. These stores sell HIGH quality products. They have great accessories for my animals. I have spent several thousand dollars over the last year. PetNO got NONE of it.
I do not care about the cost, and why I have no respect for such stores. They do not deserve my money for those reasons alone. Never mind the whole humane issue with selling animals. They don't CARE what my needs are or the needs of my animals. They do not deserve my money.
Any decent person who knows where your pet store "stock" of guinea pigs come from, and how they get to your store, and how they are cared for IN the store, could never support the practice. Anyone who talks to truly reputable people who are breeders and who would NEVER sell their animals through a pet store knows that there is no way one can support the vast numbers of guinea pigs required to fill the "order" that PetNo requires across it's thousands of stores without having a giant MILL of animals bred without any human contact.
Poor little Petno.. there just isn't anyone here to stand up for them..
Bashing PetNo? You BET! I'll continue to bash them at every opportunity until they stop selling living creatures!
How THAT for Venting?