This is Why We Need the Crazy PETA People- SF Bay Area alert

[Slave to the Wheek]

We are not alone, and we need to support others efforts as much as possible:

San Mateo Daily Journal Links to the a San Mateo County Journal article that appears to have just come out today. I wanted to alert the people who care about this stuff. Especially for those of us in the Cavy Spirit backyard.

I'm NOT a PETA member and do not plan to join, but I am going to try to support them wholeheartedly on this.
PETA Media Center > Recent News Releases : PETA CALLS ON SAN CARLOS PROPERTY OWNER TO BLOW THE WHISTLE ON PETSMART CRUELTY here is the press release from PETA

For Immediate Release:
March 1, 2007
Contact:
Daphna Nachminovitch 757-622-7382
San Carlos, Calif. -- This morning, PETA sent an urgent letter to SPI Holdings developer and owner Peter Meier urging him to look out for mistreatment of animals in a new PetSmart store scheduled to open at 1133 Industrial Rd. and to report suspected abuse and neglect to PETA’s Cruelty Casework Division immediately. The request follows PETA’s undercover investigations of PetSmart stores in Scottsdale, Ariz., and Manchester, Conn., where PETA’s investigator documented the unalleviated, preventable suffering and death of scores of small animals who were kept hidden from customers’ sight in dirty, crowded back rooms.
While the investigation was in progress, PETA alerted PetSmart executive Bruce Richardson to the neglect, suffering, and death of more than 100 animals in the Connecticut store, only to be told by Richardson that "[n]o pet that has required a vet has been deprived of that service."
PETA’s investigations revealed that unqualified PetSmart store employees diagnose and "treat" sick and injured animals, despite having no veterinary training or animal husbandry experience. Over a three-day period, three different supervisors in the Manchester store noted on a dying hamster’s chart that the animal was "wobbly," "dehydrated," "very lethargic," "regressing," "dying … can’t swallow," and "dead" yet didn’t seek any veterinary treatment or even have her put out of her misery.
"The suffering and death of animals in PetSmart stores and the pet-trade industry is the rule, not the exception," says PETA Director Daphna Nachminovitch. "We’re asking the mall owner to make sure that cruelty to animals doesn’t occur on his property."
For more information, please visit PETA.org.
PETA’s letter to SPI Holdings developer and owner Peter Meier follows.
March 1, 2007
Peter Meier, Developer and Owner
SPI Holdings
650 California St., Ste. 1288
San Francisco, CA 94108
Dear Mr. Meier:
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is the world’s largest animal rights organization, with more than 1.6 million members and supporters. As you know, a new PetSmart will soon open in your store’s area. We are writing to ask that you help ensure that the animals in the new PetSmart are not treated cruelly. We have found horrendous treatment of small animals in other PetSmart stores.
We have asked PetSmart to stop selling animals because of the inherent cruelty in the breeding, transportation, and sale of these fragile beings. PetSmart claims to provide veterinary treatment for sick and injured animals, but in reality, untrained sales clerks are left to guess at diagnoses and treatment, resulting in prolonged suffering for the guinea pigs, hamsters, gerbils, and other animals who are given no more consideration than widgets on a shelf.
It may interest you to know that the Travelers insurance company ran an ad (copy enclosed) that reads, "A pet store moves in next to your bottling plant. Care to talk liabilities?" The ad includes a picture of a mouse inside a bottle on an assembly line. It’s doubtful that a huge insurance company like Travelers would run such an ad if the presence of a pet store weren’t something to worry about.
We ask that you and your employees keep close watch on the animals in the new PetSmart store. If you are concerned about the treatment of the animals or the conditions in which they are held, please contact us at 757-622-PETA or Info@peta.org with details of the location of the store and your concerns. Making sure that PetSmart accepts corporate responsibility for the treatment of the small, helpless animals it sells may also help ensure that the company is a good neighbor to other businesses in the area.
Thank you for your interest in this matter. Please do not hesitate to contact us if the need arises.
Sincerely,
Daphna Nachminovitch, Director
Domestic Animal and Wildlife Rescue & Information Department

[Slave to the Wheek]

I just received permission to post this article from the author. With special thanks to Michelle Durand here it is:

San Mateo - The Daily Journal:

PETA at odds with PetSmartBy Michelle DurandThe People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is taking its battle with the PetSmart chain beyond the businesses to the owners of the buildings it occupies — and it’s beginning in San Carlos.

PETA sent a letter yesterday to Peter Meier of SPI Holdings which is developing San Carlos Marketplace at 1133 Industrial Road, asking him to watch for animal mistreatment at the planned PetSmart.

“Making Sure that PetSmart accepts corporate responsibility for the treatment of the small, helpless animals it sells may also help ensure that the company is a good neighbor to other businesses in the area,” states the letter to Meier from Daphna Nachminovitch, director of PETA’s domestic animal and wildlife rescue and information department.

The letter to Meier is the first time PETA has approached a developer about a business, Nachminovitch said.

“It is an attempt to insure that animals are helped ahead of time,” she said. “Approaching the owner and developer asks for another set of eyes and ears and you never know what may tug at someone’s heart strings.”

Meier had yet to respond, she said.

He also did respond to a call for comment.

Writing to a developer is a new tactic toward PetSmart, said company spokeswoman Jennifer Pflugfelder who added it isn’t a surprising move.

“They’ve made several attempts in different ways to get us negative attention,” Pflugfelder said.

PETA would prefer PetSmart not move into San Carlos Marketplace at all but Nachminovitch concedes it is an unrealistic expectation.

“We are just trying to reach out and alert people to the facts,” she said, adding that a similar letter to the city of San Carlos was not out of the question.

San Carlos Marketplace is scheduled to open as early as October on the site of the former Breuners Furniture. Of the four anchor tenants, only PetSmart has been confirmed. The store is expected to include a pet hotel boarding area similar to the Mountain View location and could generate between $10,000 and $40,000 annually in sales tax for San Carlos, said Assistant City Manager Brian Moura.

While PetSmart might be a boon for San Carlos, the chain is being investigated in other cities for allowing unqualified store employees to diagnose and treat sick animals and keeping “scores of small animals ... hidden from customers’ sight in dirty, crowded back rooms,” Nachminovitch said.

Nachminovitch did not have any specific complaints regarding PetSmart in San Mateo County but said many concerns hail from California.

Pflugfelder denied PETA’s allegations about PetSmart’s animal care policy and said it has a proven track record of safety and working with both in-house and outside veterinarians.

“They’re publicity campaign is not so much about animal care as it is wanting to impose their agenda on us. They don’t believe animals should be kept as pets,” Pflugfelder said.

PetSmart’s Web site includes a section on PETA’s campaign, including a copy of a written proposal PETA submitted to the company in November 2005.

“PETA vowed to conduct a negative campaign against PetSmart if we refused to quit selling birds and small pets,” the site states.

Michelle Durand can be reached by e-mail: michelle@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: (650) 344-5200 ext. 102. What do you think of this story? Send a letter to the editor: letters@smdailyjournal.com.

[MilwCavyMom]

This is all just further proof that Petsmart and stores like it are bad. However much of this is true, I feel terrible for these animals. I can't believe people who work at a store would take such a careless attitude towards animals to at least seek proper treatment when they show signs of illness.

[Slave to the Wheek]

What I am loving is that PETA inserted themselves into the process by offer a place for everyone to document such abuses.+

"If you are concerned about the treatment of the animals or the conditions in which they are held, please contact us at 757-622-PETA or Info@peta.org with details of the location of the store and your concerns"

This was to the pet store employees..but I'm sure they will appreciate being able to document such cases as they appear anywhere and not just in San Carlos, CA.

[mommyoffive]

I've been reading up about this, if you go on PETA's website they have a video of an undercover girl working there. It is so sad, how that store mistreated their pets.

[VoodooJoint]

I just added that number to my cell phone. I lost my old cell with all my animal emergency numbers and hadn't added PETA's to my new one yet. I'm not certain if it's the same one I had or not but it looks like it will do.