Pet Store Horror... What I Did.

[subjectivereality]

Checked out a local petstore to see if I could find some place other than Petsmart to buy crickets (I prefer to support small business).

First thing I noticed was that the place smelled awful. At first I dismissed it, it might have not been that well ventilated, there were birds close to the front.

The second thing that I noticed, when I went to take a look at the lizards they had was that many of them were not very well taken care of. There were several leos with missing tails (okay that happens, when you have more than one in a tank), however they were also a bit skinny.

Here is where it got REALLY bad. In another tank there was one really thin lizard that was spotted like a leopard gecko, but much longer than the other ones and did not have a fat tail. At first I was wondering what breed it was...then it started to click that it was an extremely malnourished leo. You could see the bones sticking out of the tail, the head was about twice as wide as the body, you could see it's ribs, and it wasn't moving around much.

Here is what I did:

I did not 'rescue' it, that would give the pet store the idea that that it would be acceptable to starve their animals near death. Besides that point this gecko was very likely to be beyond the point of no return.

After leaving I went to the local humane society first, then I was referred to the department of agriculture and market (which regulates pet dealers). At first they said because it is a reptile there aren't really laws in place about the standard, those generally apply to dogs and cats. However after explaining the terribly malnourished nature of the animal in question, they said that it became an animal cruelty issue and will be taking a look at the facility soon.

I also had a friend take pictures as evidence. Just in case they do a 'quick fix' to get by an inspection.

I think I did the right thing. I don't especially like the idea of possibly crippling someone's business in this economy, however I do not take lightly to animal cruelty.

It is my advice that if you see something like this at a pet store the best thing to do is not to 'rescue' the animal, it is to look into the laws in your state and then contact the proper authority.

 

[Pinky81]

This person crippled their own business...Bless your heart and Kudos!!!!

 

[Jellybean]

Yea... I have owned two pet store geckos that have died, it is not worth from a humane standpoint and from a financial standpoint best just to avoid their business. Buying malnourished gecko's will only a) risk infecting the rest of your lizards with disease b) cost a ton of money to bring back to health and c) allow the chain or petstore to continue to stock new ones.

 

[fuzzylogix]

you did the right thing. im sure it pained you to leave that poor guy there, but by purchasing an animal in that shape, you are just putting money in their pockets to buy more. i can't stand when people say they "rescued" a leo from one of the big chain stores by paying 50 bucks for a normal. it just lines their pockets more so they can abuse the next animal. you have my respect for your actions.

 

[im faster]

Yea i have a local place like that maybe i will contact the humane society

 

[lillith]

You SOOO did the right, difficult, thing. Your actions are commendable.

I am very, very glad you had the presence to take photos of the poor thing. I can only hope it doesn't suffer much longer...Let us know if you find out about whatever happens...but don't hurt yourself over it.

 

[subjectivereality]

The Department of Agriculture does have my name and number. They said that they will be talking to the store owner tomorrow...If I hear from them I'll keep you guys updated. However, I personally will not be making any more visits to that store (it kind of ruined my day a bit).

 

[fl_orchidslave]

In Florida, the Dept of Fish and Wildlife manage most of those type of complaints because they issue the permit to display publicly and sell. USDA governs mammal business, even exotics. Both agencies can come into any permit holders' animal facility and inspect at any time, without warning.

It's a fact that the more animal lovers that rescue pet shop horrors, the more they will stock. Out with the old, in with the new. They don't want to give the animal away if they can squeeze at least a few bucks out of it. Even if they did, there is cost involved in rehabbing it between medication and a vet visit and it can get very expensive, then who knows if it will pull thru. Also, unless a person practices strict quarantine and proper hygiene, the rest of their animals are at risk. As Shawn said, buying an overpriced sick gecko at a pet shop is not rescuing, it's purchasing.

I'm glad you were able to file a complaint. Hopefully they will get fined and clean up their act. And learn a thing or two.

 

[PaladinGirl]

Good for you! So far, I've only really seen sickly-looking leos at the chain pet stores. They are often scrawny and lethargic. I saw one the other day that had a bulging eyeball. In general, most chain pet stores offer substandard care to leos and many of their reptiles. Are they subject to the same inspections as a privately owned pet store? I actually got my leo at a chain pet store where they always look surprisingly healthy, and she has been perfectly fine.

I'm pretty happy with the privately owned businesses I've visited in my area, the leos always look healthy and happy, but this post has motivated me to report abusive situations if and when I find them.

 

[M_surinamensis]

most chain pet stores offer substandard care to leos and many of their reptiles.

The big two have over two thousand locations in North America. Thankfully there's someone like you who has visited them all and can give such insightful analysis about what most of them are like. Without your tireless efforts, it'd be almost impossible for anyone to inform the world about the conditions that are prevalent in the majority of such stores. I travel around the country quite a bit and I have only been to maybe two dozen of their locations, so thank you. Thank you for your dedication in checking them all so that you are informed enough to make such statements as the one above.

 

[fl_orchidslave]

Something to consider when attempting to file a complaint with "authorities". These are most times, the same "authorities" who are pushing legislation to take away our reptiles. HSUS. They say things like people shouldn't have those anyway.......... they have a huge audience with pockets full of money and legislators who owe them favors. Every complaint is a strike against the reptile hobby. Sometimes they will even bring in peta, who wants to kill all our reptiles.

As individuals, the best we can do, is not patronize those businesses and give them our money. Occasionally there may be a need to shop there, that doesn't mean we have to look at their reptiles with a magnifying glass. A quick glance will suffice, enough to remind us of why we shouldn't support them.

 

[PaladinGirl]

I can honestly say I've visited all the chain pet stores within a 10 mile radius of my house :-D Now I'm starting to make my rounds through the privately owned ones. I love the little stores that specialize in reptiles, always so many products hard to find in the chain places, not to mention unique animals. My daughter and I like to visit the pet stores, they're kind of like mini zoos, lol!

I actually dug my phone book out last week and started mapping out more in my area to visit.

 

[DiscoDigi786]

Pet stores vary widely. I think the first poster did a great job of following up on a problem. I hope that the Florida authorities take care of this issue. The moral here is to remember that you can have an impact on what pet stores do. If you leave and be quiet, you may not give them money, but the next person coming into the store may not have your knowledge. As responsible consumers, it is our job to help the regulators make sure pet stores are on the up and up. Kudos for doing so!

 

[ChaoticGecko]

Good call man. I'm fortunate enough to live in an area with 2 really knowledgeable local owned pet shop's, one reptile only, the other with a huge variety but the owner, though he doesn't understand the genetics, he understands the care of every animal he sells. My only problem with him is he tends to get in burmese python's and other large or experience only reptiles, and having helped with the local reptile rescue, i know most people in this area only purchase the animals b/c they look cool. but other then that their good guys, we just now got our first local big chain pet store, and the only experience we've had with them is the 8,000 dollars worth of surgery and metal in my dad's dogs leg. needless to say i've given up on the chains after that.

 

[Adinar]

Grats and good call on taking it to the next level since the issue probably wouldn't be fixed by just talking to the worker. I applaude your efforts!

 

[Phate]

Pet stores vary widely. I think the first poster did a great job of following up on a problem. I hope that the Florida authorities take care of this issue. The moral here is to remember that you can have an impact on what pet stores do. If you leave and be quiet, you may not give them money, but the next person coming into the store may not have your knowledge. As responsible consumers, it is our job to help the regulators make sure pet stores are on the up and up. Kudos for doing so!

Well florida won't be doing anything, since the store in question is in central New York, but yeah, it was pretty bad. My roommate stopped by later that day, he was driving by and was curious as to whether or not it could really be as bad as we were saying. He agreed that it was.

Still unsure as to what the outcome of this was, but then again we've only given the slow gears of a state agency a few days to turn. It really is too bad. I'd have greatly preferred to support a local business, but I'm thinking that place should stick to selling fish.

Something to consider when attempting to file a complaint with "authorities". These are most times, the same "authorities" who are pushing legislation to take away our reptiles. HSUS. They say things like people shouldn't have those anyway.......... they have a huge audience with pockets full of money and legislators who owe them favors. Every complaint is a strike against the reptile hobby. Sometimes they will even bring in peta, who wants to kill all our reptiles.

As individuals, the best we can do, is not patronize those businesses and give them our money. Occasionally there may be a need to shop there, that doesn't mean we have to look at their reptiles with a magnifying glass. A quick glance will suffice, enough to remind us of why we shouldn't support them.

I pretty much disagree with everything about this post. Its borderline conspiracy theory nonsense. On most forums I'm on, I'd have far more colorful things to say, but I'll try to keep things fairly civil. The department of agriculture and markets is not trying to ban the ownership of reptiles. They do not have the power to do that. They merely regulate the sales of them, and most bills that have been proposed are a ban on the sale of monitor lizards and boa constrictors. Anything else has been related to invasive species. Small lizards don't seem to be mentioned at all.

Reporting a business for an animal cruelty offence is not going to be "a strike against the reptile hobby". If anything, it will help the reptile hobby, as it shows that people who care about reptiles know what they are doing, and see fit that the state should use their resources to keep animals from being mistreated. The image of a concerned individual with the knowledge and responsibility to recognize when something is wrong and following through by contacting the proper authorities is a good one to have. There's a very large difference between calling them up and saying: "I would like to own seventeen black mambas, why won't you fascists let me import them?" and "I would like to report something that greatly saddened me so those responsible might be discouraged from hurting more animals."

I have a good pet store back home, and anything else I might need I can get from the petsmart that is another ten minutes down the road like I was before. The store is doing nothing at all that leads me to believe they should be selling animals, and as that is their business, perhaps they shouldn't have that either. If you aren't knowledgeable enough to take care of your merchandise, stick to goldfish, although I'd barely trust them on that.

Anything else I missed?