This will probably be long so bear with me.
This morning, I stopped by a local petstore that used to be located near my house. I was curious to see if anything changed about them, aside from the location, so I stopped in to snoop. To my horror, I see the following signs (and trust me, this isn't the worst part): $20 rabbits, $39.99 complete set (meaning animal plus whatever cage they send you with) and $15 guinea pigs, $29.99 complete set. So I walked over to the signs and in this cage, maybe the size of a 3x3 C&C cage, are at least over 20 hamsters of various varieties and three guinea pigs. None of these animals are separated. Apparently rabbits were also in this same enclosure, but there were none at the time. I stood there speechless, staring at scared guinea pigs and tons of hamsters crawling over one another. These animals had a few small water bottles, and I can't even imagine what they were feeding them, but obviously no one was getting the right kind of food.
I went straight to the animal shelter after I left there and talked to the shelter manager. We know one another enough to talk about stuff like this, but I didn't know exactly what could be done about this situation, especially since I didnt' know what kind of ties that store had to the shelter. So I asked her (shelter manager) how much involvement they had with the petstore, and she said they (the shelter and staff) don't deal with them, but the ACO, who you actually report stuff like this to, is quite fond of them. Ugh! So I told her what was there, and she went on to tell me a few horror stories. Two come to mind.
1. For those folks buying small animals to feed to snakes, she sells them the hamsters/mice/guinea pigs/rabbits/whatever else is for sale "as pets" right off of the floor. So, although you should never buy from a place like this, say someone who doesn't know better buys a random small animal from there...the next customer might be someone needing to feed a snake and chooses "food" from that same enclosure.
2. Someone surrendered a huge lizard to the shelter, which originally came from this same petstore. Apparently people know that whatever this particular lizard is is quite expensive (900 bucks), so the staff is constantly turning people down because they know that others know what its worth and will turn around and sell it to someone else. Well, the petstore actually wants the shelter to give her the lizard, which she will then sell back to someone else and make another 900 dollars. Meanwhile, what would the shelter get from a "deal" like that? Zip. Fortunately, the manager is ethical, and the lizard is staying put until she knows she has found *the* home for him.
Anyway, back to me trying to report this place...
The ACO apparently has some kind of relationship with this store and won't do anything about the way they keep these animals. Additionally, others on the shelter's board (local business persons) are friends with the owner, AND she has friendsin the newspaper, so she's protected on all sides. This is a small town, where small town politics are obviously prevailing, so I don't know where else to turn other than the state level. I have no idea if this state even has any kind of department to handle this, as I haven't been there very long. So, for now, at least I've managed to alert the shelter manager, who, knowing her, will talk to the ACO despite whatever relationship he has with the store. Meanwhile, the shelter will also be expecting an overflow of small animals, particularly hamsters, since there were so many of the opposite sex together.
08-26-05, 05:03 pm
Today's experience 
