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Originally Posted by kinderkritters  I just want to give a huge kudos to out local Petsmart in my hometown. Many area animal shelters who cater to all kinds of animals are encouraged to have adoption days at this center, educate the public, and hold fundraisers. PetSmart does in no way take any money for this service nor do they demand anything in return except for us cleaning up after ourselves.  All adoptors are screened thoroughly. Although we have the animals there no one takes one home with them because we review the application and make a home visit before they go to their forever home. PetSmart has nothing to do with that. As far as them making money off pet food...well what else would they do, give it away? PetSmart is a business and they have a legal obligation to increase stock value for their shareholders. It is the same way at Walmart, Kroger, Petco, Dolar general or anywhere else a person chooses to buy their supplies and food. There are too many adoptable animals without homes right now and I would hate to think that instead of being adopted out at well known facilities they had to be euthanized in the backroom of a struggling shelter. |
What you are not getting is that PetStupid
DOES SELL ANIMALS. People do not acknowledge that rabbits, guinea pigs, birds or reptiles ARE even considered PETS, let alone should have equal respect when it comes to care and housing..but to those of us who have chewed on this subject awhile have figured out that by supporting corporate entities who discount the value of
OUR pets, but somehow gets "respect" for "allowing adoptions" in their stores for the lives of dogs and cats is so ridiculous that it's unfathomable that anyone could walk in and CLAIM that they value the lives animals, let alone participate in "rescuing" them.
I didn't know what I didn't know. Now I know and I find it disgusting. I didn't know that guinea pigs die daily in these places do to the lack of APPROPRIATE care provided by these RETAIL stores. I didn't know that there are thousands of guinea pigs being housed across my state alone in vast rescue operations because these stores continue to pump out animals. In the last year alone, I've read at LEAST 60 posts from owners who have said that they purchased guinea pigs who were sick or that died within days of getting them..only to be replaced quite easily by the corporation. They make a living with animals that are sick or injured. It never occurred to me that most people considered them disposable. I had assumed they were an "exotic" animal and were few and far between. I had assumed that the empty cages for guinea pigs in the pet stores meant they were hard to come by..not that they were empty because 90% of their stock died from simple causes. That the pigs in those cages were moved to the "back room" to die from long and painful illness.
To me...I see it as akin to rescuing only the people in your city that YOU consider valuable. Like sitting in a welfare office and offering help to only the people who match the race/creed/color/religion of your
chosen population for example, while ignoring the people LITERALLY sitting in the chairs next to you who are equally in need, but because they don't match your club's criteria, you ignore them..while they sit next to you in cages dying from poor medical care, bad living conditions and dying from simple upper respiratory infections.
The fact these stores NEED the shelter/rescue "support" in order to be accepted by the public makes it all the more sickening. The power that the dog/cat lobby has is immense. If they simply refused to put their shelter animals into these stores who sell animals...they would stop selling animals.
It's that simple. Period.
You see, the ONLY reason the DON'T sell cats/dogs is because of RESCUE people who got the word out about puppy mills and overpopulation. The public no longer supports stores that sell dogs/cats..but they "accept" the selling of caged critters because they assume that the stores are being "humane" in their treatment..UNTIL they find out the truth.
There is some idiot corporate pet store chick over on the petfinders message board to claims that the "guinea pig rescuers" refused to "stock" their store with animals, so it's the RESUERS fault that they "HAVE" to sell animals. So...according to that philosophy..the ONLY reason they don't sell dogs/cats is because the RESCUE people CAVED in and starting "SUPPLYING" the pet store with it's "STOCK".
The sad part is..IF they STOPPED supporting the "I wanna pony NOW MOMMY" crowd, and started selling HIGH END guinea pig products and TRIED to bring in the adult owners who spend LOTS of money on their guinea pigs and rabbits that is where the money is. Instead, they have this tiny section filled with stupid products. Bad Marketing? Yep.
I gottta stop..I'll type on this all day...