So sad! (PetSmart Horror)

[KimberlyAnn]

I had to go into Petsmart for frozen fish food for work. It was either that or I do a round 40 mile trip to a mom and pop fish store. I don't get paid for gas so....

But I hate Petsmart! Particularly the one near my home. They systematically kill their hermit crabs because they don't give them enough water to soak in and on and on and on. That place is a death trap, even with a vet office on site.

I'm so thankful I walked by the birds. Poor little green cheek baby. Just weaned I suspect. He let me scratch his head while he clung to the side of his cage with eyes half open and holding his right wing at a funny angle. Just what was the problem? Why was he injured and why did the white skin around his eyes look so sunken and grey?

HE COULD NOT REACH HIS FOOD AND WATER!

One tall perch with one long rope perch crossing it like a "T" and a foot away was the food and water dishes on the side of the cage...no way to get there with clipped wings and not steady on the perch yet. Just a big leap resulting in a fall to the floor where his only choice is to climb up the tall perch again or stay on the ground.

I talked to the first idiot who told me birds fly...haha. I pointed out the full food dish and NO food on the ground. First idiot passed it on to someone else.

Second idiot moved the rope perch next to the food bowl so...haha...the tall perch is still too far away. Second idiot looked at me like I was an idiot as I explained that they just created the same issue again. She checked the wing and the bird pulled it away from her. "It looks like he's ok!" *smile* She said. She put the bird on the food dish and left without fixing anything. He ate so fast and drank and drank and drank.

I went to the vet office to tell them. The vet tech came with me and saw right away what the problem was. We found out that he (or she) had been there only a week. In that week the bird was forced to eat his tail...he barely had any feathers left. He must have made it over part of the time to eat and drink because he was still alive. We were sure he had fallen and hurt his wing trying to get over there. I left it in the vet tech's hands. She was just as upset as I was. I just hope that they will let the bird live.

I left my number and said that I was not going to spend a cent to pay for the bird, but if they were just going to freezer kill it, I would take it and bring it back to health. I'm not holding my breath though. It was a very hard decision to leave the bird there, but if I had paid...that's giving them money to do this again.

I left without buying the fish food. I told my director that we will get our pet food elsewhere from now on. We will order online if we have to. Just makes me sick.

[Wolf]

Good for you! I wish that there were something that I could do to help. Things like this are part of the reason that I don't particularly care for humans.

[Michael]

Terrible situation but you definitely did the right thing. I don't like people paying stores to abuse animals by "rescuing them" but in essence buying them and positively reinforcing stores to make people feel bad to get suckered into buying.

[KimberlyAnn]

I think I'm going to find out the supplier for this Petsmart. Emmi was a Petco bird, but we got her from my step daughter's friend who didn't tell mom he was bringing her home. I researched her band and it brought me to the supplier who hand fed her and sold her to Petco. I never got to find out the actual breeder, but through it all I got a pretty good idea about how things work.

Thanks to the friendly manager at the Petco Emmi came from, I got the name of the supplier. When I spoke to Emmi's supplier, a real person (Friendly lady) with a heart picked up the phone. They gave me a bunch of dates on when she was weaned and sent to the store a few days later when they called me back. I also had a hand written note from the supplier to Petco saying she was newly weaned and make sure she's eating and drinking. It was on the back of a copy of her health test records...included was a drawing of a skateboard dude care of my step daughter's friend...lol This was given at the time of purchase.

Emmi was at Petco for almost a month before she was bought, a week or two later she came to live with us. Emmi came with healthy feathers with the exception of her cut flights, friendly disposition, and the ability to eat everything. She had a few stress bars, but that's about it. While we were there speaking to the manager, the other Green Cheeks and Suns also had their tails and were friendly and ABLE TO GET TO CLEAN FOOD AND WATER! If animals are to be sold at pet stores, (It will not stop, let's face that reality) then at least our local Petco takes care of the animals they are selling.

There are good Petsmarts and bad ones...good Petcos and bad ones. I don't think it's enough to do boycotts anymore. Our world is too big now and we don't shop at "neighborhood stores" exclusively. It's not 1901. We own cars. We can shop miles away in one day. I still won't give them my money, but that's meaningless. I really want to get into the habit of contacting the supplier as well as write letters to the company...which I've done before...for years.

Some things I've seen and complained about at this Petsmart...

- Hermit crabs need access to deep water dishes (to soak) since they keep water in their shells so they can breathe. Without this...their gills dry up and they die. They also need at least 4 inches of fine substrate like sand, to dig down and shed their exoskeleton. If they don't stay burried, they dry out or the sweet smell of their new soft exoskeleton is irresistible to other crabs who are hungry because of no food in the bowls!

- No nesting materials for clearly nesting pairs of canaries. This sucked because they had a nest of eggs, but were trying to reach into the cage next door in hopes to reach the nesting material for ONE PARAKEET! So close, yet so far away and full of bird poop. 1) Why did that one parakeet have nesting material? 2) Why are they breeding birds in Petsmart? 3) Why put a nest in there at all if you won't give them nesting materials?

- Water so low in the Betta "cups" that the fish was laying on its side. No really...how messed up is that? "Musta been a kid...poured out the cup." You clearly cleaned up the water...but didn't check the fish?! So you can continue to stress it out with its other fishy cup friends.

Over the many years I've lived in the area...this was the very last straw. It's no longer a time/money saver for quick trips occasionally, if I can't leave because they are trying to kill something.

[Pajarita]

Terrible situation but you definitely did the right thing. I don't like people paying stores to abuse animals by "rescuing them" but in essence buying them and positively reinforcing stores to make people feel bad to get suckered into buying.

Michael, I understand your point but, personally, if I walk away from an animal in distress, I could not live with myself.

[Pajarita]

If animals are to be sold at pet stores, (It will not stop, let's face that reality) then at least our local Petco takes care of the animals they are selling.

There are good Petsmarts and bad ones...good Petcos and bad ones. I don't think it's enough to do boycotts anymore. Our world is too big now and we don't shop at "neighborhood stores" exclusively. It's not 1901. We own cars. We can shop miles away in one day.

Well, in my personal opinion, 'reality' is nothing but perception and it has changed throughout the years. It was reality that people owned slaves, that women were their husband's property to do as they wished, that poor children worked 16 and 18 hours a day in terrible conditions, and that animals had no feelings (not only emotional, mind you, they believed they did not suffer physical pain the same way we do) but we don't believe in those realities any longer so, as unpractical as this may sound, I do believe that, one day, the laws will actually protect animals from cruelty and that there will no longer be petstores as we know them today. It's all a matter of making people change... and people are changing. I am not THAT old but I remember when there were no pain killers for animals, for example, and people kept dogs chained to a doghouse all their lives and thought that because they were giving it food and water, they were 'good' owners. Sheesh, they used to chain parrots to a stand!

[GreenWing]

I read this post and it makes me sick how parrots (and other animals) are treated in these shops. It really is shocking and such a disregard to life... to treat these living sentient beings as nothing but a product to be sold. I am so glad you did what you did, KimberlyAnn. I would do the same thing you did.

In Portland we have the local business The Bird Hut, this is where I adopted my rehome and they are awesome and extremely knowledgeable about parrots and offer many services, such as nail trimmings. They sell toys and food.

[KimberlyAnn]

If animals are to be sold at pet stores, (It will not stop, let's face that reality) then at least our local Petco takes care of the animals they are selling.

There are good Petsmarts and bad ones...good Petcos and bad ones. I don't think it's enough to do boycotts anymore. Our world is too big now and we don't shop at "neighborhood stores" exclusively. It's not 1901. We own cars. We can shop miles away in one day.

Well, in my personal opinion, 'reality' is nothing but perception and it has changed throughout the years. It was reality that people owned slaves, that women were their husband's property to do as they wished, that poor children worked 16 and 18 hours a day in terrible conditions, and that animals had no feelings (not only emotional, mind you, they believed they did not suffer physical pain the same way we do) but we don't believe in those realities any longer so, as unpractical as this may sound, I do believe that, one day, the laws will actually protect animals from cruelty and that there will no longer be petstores as we know them today. It's all a matter of making people change... and people are changing. I am not THAT old but I remember when there were no pain killers for animals, for example, and people kept dogs chained to a doghouse all their lives and thought that because they were giving it food and water, they were 'good' owners. Sheesh, they used to chain parrots to a stand!

Actually, I can't argue against this. You are so right.

I have spread the word not to go to this Petsmart. I also wrote to Emmi's supplier. I will call them tomorrow. I hope it's the same supplier because I talked to Petco today and the people who deliver from this supplier, take their jobs seriously and make sure the employees know about each individual bird's weaning situation. Worst case, they give me the name for their competition and hopefully will find the supplier to this Petsmart. OR...Emmi's supplier delivers small rodents now. They do supply this same Petsmart with hamsters. The Petco manager was 100% positive about that. I'm going to bet that Emmi's supplier will say something.

[Weka]

I've long been against the local big box pet shops (and several smaller mis-managed ones, as well) so it was a bit hard when a few well-meaning friends and family members got me Petsmart gift cards for my birthday a couple of weeks ago.

After reading about this particular case, I'll be absolutely certain to explain that from now on that if Skeeter needs anything, to please not go to there again. I'll let them know in particular what the wished-for item is and/or can point them to a gift certificate from my fave bookstore instead. (One can NEVER have too many books....)


--Weka

[marie83]

Unfortunately a lot of pet shops are the same regardless of the size. On the course I did one of our big chains was nicknamed, one of the words in its proper name was swapped for deaths....... that said they no longer sell birds which is a blessing but the smaller animals have as much right to be well taken care of. Whilst I do agree with pajaritas feelings towards the animals, it is right that they will only be replaced by another animal. We would save far more animals in the long run by not "saving" the existing ones- the petshops wouldnt waste their time getting more in and the breeders would end up being forced to breed less because of the reduced impulse buys.

if you really feel the need to do something then report them to whatever organisation deals with animal welfare issues in your own country, complain to management and get as many other people as you can to and try the education approach..... of course none of this is guarenteed to do any good but the more people that speak up the more likely it is to help.