Petland - ARGH!

[spoonyspork]

Out of morbid curiosity, I stopped by Petland at lunch today. Oh my god... there were two adult guinea pigs, housed with two adult HUGE rabbits, in a 1.5' x 4' cage. They had no hay, pellets strewn about the cage instead of in a bowl, and a dirty bowl of water. I picked each of the guineas up, and noted one boy, and one girl... who obviously had babies squirming around in her! The two had similar hair (longish in front and really long in back) that also had that mutation that makes the hair shiney, so I can only assume they were related.

Then I noticed another cage behind that one... with 4 babies (that looked like the two adults as well) and two more rabbits. I couldn't tell the sex of them, but I DID notice every single one of them was coughing (the adults too), and that they had crusty eyes and noses.

I called the only worker in there over, and asked how they were separated, and which were boys, 'cause I needed a buddy for my boy. She just looked at me blanky, glanced at the cage, shrugged and said she *thinks* they're by size, and has no idea how to tell the sex. I then mentioned the crusty eyes and cough and asked if they'd seen a vet for it, and again she just strugged and said 'it's just a cold. animals get colds'.

ARGH! I'm so miffed right now. Can the SPCA be called on them for neglecting the sick pigs a vet? For housing with dagerous animals? Even though the food and water was inadequite, it was still food and water, so I can't call them on that... but I can't stand the thought of doing *nothing*...

[VoodooJoint]

You can call the SPCA to report sick animals not getting vet care. I doubt they will care about the food. As long as there is food present they won't see a problem. Dirty water could get their interes. I don't think they will care about the rabbits being in there. It is a popular myth, even with the SPCA, that rabbits and GPs make good cage mates.

Still, it is a good idea to try.

[zambonigirl]

Does anyone else notice that the SPCA doesn't really like to get involved with pet stores? I mean, they'll go to houses, but you don't see a lot of them checking out pet stores. Is there some sort of government regulation regarding that? Is this a law that we can try and get changed?

Sorry, it's a bit off-topic.

[Coopdog]

Actually, the Humane Society would love to be more aggressive, but their hands are tied. Currently the laws in my state only require that an animal have food, water and shelter. As long as those requirements are met, the HS cannot do anything. I remember one extremely frustrating case near me involving horses. They were never let out of their dark, windowless stalls, their hooves were overgrown, their coats were dull and ratty, they had worms, and were just terribly neglected. When I called the HS about them, they were just as frustrated as I was, but there was nothing they could do legally. The owners of the barn were beside themselves, too, since the horse owners forbid anyone else to care for the horses and owed a ton of money to the barn. Legally, the barn owners couldn't sell them or vet them without the owner taking legal action against them, which would have cost the barn even more money. I believe eventually the horse owners sold them. It was a shame...they were beautiful horses, and one was actually quite valuable.

[spoonyspork]

Coopdog - actually, I'm pretty sure just about every state out there has a 'Lien Law'. For example, the horse I used to have. Before he was mine, he'd been boarded at the stable I worked at, and many years had passed and it was obvious the owner was never coming back. He was QUITE valuable, but he was registered in the owner's name. What we had to do was advertise him for sale for the amount owed, and if he wasn't sold within a certain amount of time, all ownership was signed over. The amount owed was something like $10,000... and though he's really worth about that much even without having been shown, the area is somewhat poor, and we never even got a call on him. He's now registered as owned by the stable's owner (He was given to me and I kept him for a good many years, then had a baby and went WAY down on my luck for a while, so gave him back), and even when the old owner suddenly showed up again and tried to claim him, there was nothing she could do.

Now back from hijacking for a sec. I could also call the Humane Society? And would it need to be in the same county? I don't think there even IS a Humane Society or SPCA in the county this Petland is in... the 'Tampa Bay' SPCA and Humane Society are both outside of Tampa. There is a County Animal Services there, though.

[smartorl]

Try doing a local search for either. I live in FL too, and it is insane that there are so few animal organizations with any power here with all the transient population. Here, we have to start at the local animal control. A good tip is to send in an editorial to the local newspapers or even try to get a reporter to do a story. In FL, you can post sign outside off of their property as well, I find this does wonders! The one thing that you want to be careful of is that people feel bad for them and rush out to by them, that is great for those but sadly, they will be replaced by more.

[spoonyspork]

Hrm, what kind of sign? Just one saying 'SICK ANIMALS WITHIN!' or something?

And sadly, I can see the babies going very quickly. They're *beautiful* long-haired rose/silver colored satin-coated silkies and coronet-silkies. The adults probably won't go as quickly, as, well, they're adults, but momma has another litter on the way, not to mention the fact that the babies aren't separated...

Of course, this is provided they all survive the URI's they all obviously have

I'll call Tampa animal services in the morning.

[Res Judicata]

[quote=Coopdog;252107]The owners of the barn were beside themselves, too, since the horse owners forbid anyone else to care for the horses and owed a ton of money to the barn. Legally, the barn owners couldn't sell them or vet them without the owner taking legal action against them, which would have cost the barn even more money. /quote]

You'd think there would be some breach of contract there, or that the barn owners would have been owed restitution at the very least if there was no contract to board the horses. That whole scenario sounds a lot like a case I read in Contracts where some poor lame horse was shipped off to some boarding stables and the owner didn't pay the stables for the rent of the stall. But I digress.

On a different note, I'd suggest bugging the hell out of any animal services organization I could find. Be a thorn in their side, and maybe they'll do something or tell you how to go about effecting change just to get you out of their hair. Those poor animals deserve so much better. Animal neglect law is so pitifully inadequate it's frustrating. I just flipped through my copy of the Code of Iowa and it's so vague on what constitutes neglect anyone could get off with a slap on the wrist. Plus Iowa's trying to classify puppy mill dogs as livestock to give breeders a tax break. Livestock abuse law is much more lenient than pet abuse law here. I can see some defense lawyer claiming an abused dog bought from a puppy mill is nothing more than livestock, and the owner gets off treating it like garbage simply because it was born livestock and loopholes allow it to continue to be counted as livestock. And don't get me started on so-called livestock....

Sorry! I'm kind of hijacking this thread even more. I'll shut up now.

[krittercrazy]

Here in Virginia supposedly the State Veterinarians office is in charge of monitoring the pet stores. When I called they told me they were understaffed and did not have time to inspect pet stores. They suggested that I call animal control, who grumpily told me that he had no training for inspecting pet stores. He did go by though and the sick animal disappeared to a back room supposedly being diagnosed and treated by the pet store owner and staff. The SPCA has no jurisdiction for inspecting or seizure of animals.

[jdomans]

What about calling your exotics vet and ask what the proper channels (if any) are?

[janetangel]

Yeah, Petland is one of the worst petstores across the country about animals. They have no qualms about pet overpopulation. I do not have one good thought about them. Report them to the ASPA, or any animal welfare you have there. Research for others in your area. There are groups of animal activists everywhere. Alert someone and get the ball rolling.