Sad visit to the mall yesterday

mrsgrooge said:

This pet shop was selling flying squirrels, baby raccoons, Florida alligators and I can't remember the other animals. I was surprised to see them selling "wild" animals. Is that even LEGAL? I live in a fairly metropolitan area.

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Please call and report them to Animal Cortrol. Tell them the wild/exotic animals you saw there. Then call the SPCA are report to them about the dead Gp and any other bad conditions you saw.

All I can say is HORRIBLE.

That is definetily illegal. Please report them.

This is terrible. It reminds me of a petstore where years ago I discovered a dead mouse in an aquarium. Apparently, the poor little guy had been trapped between the heavy food bowl and the glass wall. When I told an employee that there was a dead mouse, she said: "A$$hole!", removed the mouse and tossed it into a bin. To this day I'm not sure whether she insulted me or the dead mouse. Needless to say, I never went to that store again.

I didn't even know you could buy alligators and racoons at petstores in the US.

Technically you can't.

My brother pointed out a dead hamster to the employees of a pet store and they kicked him out of the store!! They told him he should have written a note about it since other customers heard him and it was bad for business. My bro told them they wouldn't have to worry about having ANY business if they kept killing their animals. It's disgusting how these animals are seen as "disposable"

Many types of flying squirrels are also endangered, I believe.
If they are throwing dead animals into the trash, check your local environmental regulations, that could be illegal for businesses to do.

Yes, please document the conditions and report them to AC. Is it a local store? If it's a chain, complain to corporate, but definitely call AC and SPCA if there is one near you.

I once had an experiance similar to this one. What I did when I left the store, is went home grabbed my camera (I had one at the time) went back and took pictures of the place and all of the horendice(sp?) things I saw there. From there I got them developed and took them down to the Ottawa Humane Society and made a formal report.

I found out that this place has been under investigation for 1 year and STILL NOTHING has been done. My next step was emailing my MPP and the head of the Petstore chain (Little Critters Pet Shop).

It has been 2 years since and still the store is operating at below standard (my standards). Some things have improved but not much.

The biggest complaint I had from the Humane Society was there wasn't enough "witnesses" that could testifiy on the conditions of the animals and the store operations.

So my advice to you is get lots of people to go into the store (NOT BUYING, JUST LOOKING) and ask them if they would become a "witness" for the Shelter or Humane Society.

Onyx

Re: alligators

I've lived in south Louisiana my entire life and only recently moved from the state. I've also spent a decent amount of time in the swampy areas because my dad and other family members were always in a boat. So I've had my fair share with LA wildlife, including gators. I can only imagine someone buying a baby gator then turning it loose once it grows larger. It's not like you can put it on a leash, walk it around the neighborhood, and let it sleep on the couch. They grow large, and they grow fast. More importantly, even if you feed it, they can still eat you, a child, a pet, etc. easily since they're not in a natural environment where they have sufficient prey. Additionally, I highly doubt anyone interested in applying for permits to keep such an animal would buy it from a mall pet store. It's a bad situation in general. Hopefully, they're reported soon.

Marlania said:

I've lived in south Louisiana my entire life

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I live in New Orleans and go out to the swamp often. I am friends with one og the alligator keepers at the Audubon Zoo here.

The problem with alligators is their pea sized brains. When you feed an alligator it does not distinguish you as seperate from their food. They believe that this human is shedding body parts and they are eating YOU!

The more you feed an alligator the more it sees you as food.

(minor hijack of thread)
Well, the termites started swarming tonight. They started late this year for some reason. We have turned off all outdoor lights and have stuffed rags in all the chinks in the house. Bet you don't miss that!

In case you do miss them here is an article on them in NOLA complete with pictures of the little monsters close up, swarming around a lightpost in the Quarter and over a baseball field (to see the last picture scroll to the bottom of the article and hit next)

Didn't mean to hijack the tread lol.

I was in LA this weekend, and I'm covered in mosquito bites. THAT'S what I don't miss!

Ugh... I knew I didn't like alligators... I'm glad we only have them in zoos and reptile houses here.

its totally illegal