Petco selling baby bunnies from pet mill

[rabbitsncavyluv]

PETCO Expanding Rabbit Sales

TELL PETCO -STOP SELLING RABBITS

About Us - PETCO STOP SELLING RABBITS!


In December, 2006 PETCO stores began selling rabbits in San Diego County. The Escondido (Valley Parkway) and Carmel Mountain stores currently have rabbits and the Poway is considering adding rabbits to their inventory.

PETCO sponsors the Union Tribune "Adopt a Pet Save a Life" insert, which features dozens of homeless rabbits. How can PETCO, in good conscience, begin to sell animals they know are already languishing in local shelters in huge numbers? With more than 500 rabbits coming into local shelters and humane societies each year, what is PETCO thinking? Certainly not their "supposed" mission of "Think Adoption First."

Secondly, it's been reported that these rabbits are coming from the notorious "puppy mill" breeder, Marshall Farms, which has now gotten into the "rabbit mill" business. Marshall Farms is well known for the thousands of dogs and ferrets it breeds for pet store and laboratory use across the U.S. This is not something we want in San Diego County!

See a letter from San Diego House Rabbit Society to Brian Devine, Chairman of the Board for PETCO Animal Supplies, Inc. SDHRS Letter to PETCO.

TAKE ACTION
Write your own letter to PETCO executives, expressing your concern about their stores selling rabbits in San Diego County.

If you have a PETCO PALS Card, please cut-up your card and include it in your letter. Show PETCO that you will not support a company that sells rabbits when so many are languishing in local shelters. Most of all, show them you will not give your money to a company who supports a horrific "rabbit mill" breeder.

Letters should be addressed to one or all of these individuals:

Brian Devine, Chairman of the Board

Bruce Hall, President & COO

Jim Myers, CEO

Tom Farello, Senior Vice President of Operations

The mailing address is:

PETCO Animal Supplies, Inc.
9125 Rehco Road
San Diego, CA 92121

SAMPLE LETTER

(PETCO Executive Name)
PETCO Animal Supplies, Inc.
9125 Rehco Road
San Diego, CA 92121

Dear (name):

I was dismayed to learn that you have rabbits for sale in San Diego area PETCO stores. As a House Rabbit Society supporter, I know that there are hundreds of rabbits available for adoption at shelters throughout San Diego County.

I understood that PETCO was promoting a "Think Adoption First" program and was working with shelters to facilitate adoptions through their in store Adoption Centers.

With the large numbers of rabbits languishing in local shelters, I am saddened to see that PETCO is now creating more demand from breeders for rabbits. I am hopeful that the corporation will reconsider this giant step backwards and will continue its admirable work with local shelters to promote adoptions of the homeless animals there.

I realize that the PETCO charities have raised millions of dollars to support animal welfare agencies across the country. Your website states “Pet overpopulation is one of the biggest problems facing companion animals and animal welfare organizations nationwide". Why then would your corporation choose to undermine the efforts of those same animal welfare organizations by offering breeder sourced animals for sale in its stores?

Regretfully, as long as your corporation offers rabbits for sale, I will no longer shop at PETCO.

Thank you for your consideration in this matter,

(YOUR NAME)


Help HRS to get PETCO management and stores back onto the path of thinking, "adoption first."

The bunnies thank you!

[thalestral]

I'd just like to add that if you do write a letter of complaint to Petco, to please also protest about their ferret sales. The ferrets are taken from their mothers around 4-6 weeks of age and are also altered and descented at this age :/ These poor ferrets suffer so many health problems that rescues are (in the best scenarios!) left to clean up.

[DaCourt]

Just an FYI...Ferrets are illegal in CA so they are not sold here. Still horrible that some stores carry them though.

[attackofthebear]

Now i'm confused. I thought the bunnys were fixed and at the petco up the street from my house ferrets smell just like ferrets are supposed to.
If they are getting the bunnies from a breeder then fixing them wouldnt that be too much of an expense?
I know my bunny girl costs $200 to get fixed. Bunny boy wasnt quite so expensive.

[rabbitsncavyluv]

The rabbits and ferrets are coming from pet mills/ mass breeders. They are neutered way too early by inexperienced vet techs so there is a high mortality rate.

[crazywiggy]

Good luck with getting Petco to stop selling rabbits. I can't believe they have the cheek to talk about overpopulation and "adoption first" when they sell animals from breeders and mills to impulse buyers who to know nothing about them.

Does anyone know if there is an email address I could use to cantact them? I'm in the UK so writing is out of the question, but I'll still help if I can.

Attackofthebear - I was confused about this, although I think it works like this. When a ferret is highly distessed it can release a strong odour (similar to that of a skunk). It is really overpowering / strong and smells foul. (My friend got squirted and it reeked for hours) This is released from a scent gland - the gland that is removed when ferrets are "descented". The normal ferret smell doesn't just come from that one gland, so they keep the general smell even if they have been descented. Hope that makes sense.

[rabbitsncavyluv]

[FONT=Arial][SIZE=2][FONT=Arial]"If you have concerns about a PETCO store, please email: EmilyA@peta. org, call PETCO's customer hotline at 1-888-824-PALS and/or e-mail PETCO at AnimalsFirst@ PETCO.com. For after-hours complaints, please call PETCO at 858-453-7845, extension 5858. When calling PETCO's hotline, please be sure to obtain an incident number and ask for the name of the person you speak with ."
[/FONT][/SIZE][/FONT]