Firstly, I apologise if this is the wrong forum; as far as I could tell, this forum seemed the most appropriate, but please correct me if this thread is misplaced.
Today I went into a pet shop that I have never been inside before, to buy a replacement for a leaky waterbottle.
They had live animals for sale. However, the conditions the guinea pigs were kept in was truly disgusting.
The enclosure was filthy, and much too small for the number of animals it contained. It contained guinea pigs, rabbits and, most shockingly birds on perches just above them! The ground and fur of the guinea pigs and rabbits were all spattered with bird droppings.
It was revolting.
Of course, I complained to the owner.
He simply told me that the animals were all safe, as the birds were not birds of prey (Budgies don't eat guinea pigs? No kidding!) and "don't bother them." :headache:
Never in my life have I wanted to buy guinea pigs from a pet shop so much.
It was so difficult to walk out of there and leave them, and to be completely honest, I still feel bad about leaving the poor little things.
But if I suppose that if I'd have bought them, the pet shop would have simply replaced them with more unfortunate animals.
I'm afraid I often find it very difficult to see the big picture when it comes to this kind of thing; I see the suffering of the individual animal, and not the overall cause.
I reported the pet shop to the RSPCA when I got home, and they said they would send someone over to check the place out.
How bad does a pet shop have to be before it is closed down?
I know that they can get away with some pretty despicable things before the authorities will take action, is there anything else I can do?
Today I went into a pet shop that I have never been inside before, to buy a replacement for a leaky waterbottle.
They had live animals for sale. However, the conditions the guinea pigs were kept in was truly disgusting.
The enclosure was filthy, and much too small for the number of animals it contained. It contained guinea pigs, rabbits and, most shockingly birds on perches just above them! The ground and fur of the guinea pigs and rabbits were all spattered with bird droppings.
It was revolting.
Of course, I complained to the owner.
He simply told me that the animals were all safe, as the birds were not birds of prey (Budgies don't eat guinea pigs? No kidding!) and "don't bother them." :headache:
Never in my life have I wanted to buy guinea pigs from a pet shop so much.
It was so difficult to walk out of there and leave them, and to be completely honest, I still feel bad about leaving the poor little things.
But if I suppose that if I'd have bought them, the pet shop would have simply replaced them with more unfortunate animals.
I'm afraid I often find it very difficult to see the big picture when it comes to this kind of thing; I see the suffering of the individual animal, and not the overall cause.
I reported the pet shop to the RSPCA when I got home, and they said they would send someone over to check the place out.
How bad does a pet shop have to be before it is closed down?
I know that they can get away with some pretty despicable things before the authorities will take action, is there anything else I can do?