Petsmart Animal Cruelty ***WARNING*** maybe be disturbing

[reatrocity]

Ah Sal, that breaks my heart. When I went to Petsmart and saw the Russian tortoise there, they looked so sad. Just sleeping, not moving... With pellets for food. I don't even have a tortoise yet and I know it's not good for them. I did have trouble choosing to get a tortoise, because I eat a plant-based diet and am very strict on animal welfare. However, I think having animals is good for the animals and good for us. It's a mutual relationship. I would never buy a dog at a petstore, but for something like a tortoise, in my area, they don't really adopt those out. Which is good, hopefully that means they are loved.

Thankfully with sites like these making the right decision is much easier, the important thing to do is to support a place where the animal is bred and taken care of with love, and doing the same once it's in your home as well. So heartbreaking to see that video.

 

[Puckles🐢]

I couldn't disagree more, petsmart has not if at all gotten any better. Not that long ago corporate decided to stop soaking geckos, and lizards. When lizards don't get soaked their skin doesn't soften, and eventually the skin can cut off circulation in the toes. Also, remember the too perfectly alright iguanas found in petco'a dumpster. Just because one petsmart is better than the other does not mean the pet world is getting healthier! Reptiles don't show pain like mammals, but that doesn't mean they don't feel it.

 

[wellington]

See pet stores in general can be a good or bad thing, I have seen both. I want a pet store, not your common run of the mill let's order animals in bulk sell them and not care. I want a place where animal lovers can go, get advice learn about the animals they care about. I would NOT sell pups but would adopt them out from the local shelter, or for rescue pups. I would take in animals who needed new homes and rehome them however most of my items would not be animals but supplies. I would also hold classes and have experts come in to teach classes on animal husbandry and care. That has been my dream forever, a place where if you did get an animal, you would know flat out what it would take to care for that animal, and a contract would state he/she would be returned. Guess sort of a rescue

Keep reaching for that dream until you get it. Then, open one up in every state, city, possible. Put the others that don't care out of business. I would love to visit and support your kind of pet store

 

[ILoveTortoises2]

People can say this doesn't happen anymore but it is hard to believe it doesn't. I bought a bird from there about a year ago and it ended up dieing not even a week later. This video may be from years down the road and PetSmart could of made changes BUT I don't think they made a lot of changes. I seen that POOR rabbit STILL up while the guy is doing surgery on him THEN wipes him down the a Clorox wipe... OMG that is just HORRIBLE. This is WRONG in SOOOOOO many ways. How heartbreakin to see these evil people doing this to these animals.
Now this isn't showing people not to buy tortoises. This is to show everyone not to buy ANY ANIMALS from them at all. Even with a private breeder they can be mis treated. You just have to do your research before you go buying the animal you want. Make sure they have a GREAT reference to back them up too... I am just sicken by watching that video. Even though I seen this years ago it feels like I just watched it for the first time again. It is so sad.

 

[Puckles🐢]

People can say this doesn't happen anymore but it is hard to believe it doesn't. I bought a bird from there about a year ago and it ended up dieing not even a week later. This video may be from years down the road and PetSmart could of made changes BUT I don't think they made a lot of changes. I seen that POOR rabbit STILL up while the guy is doing surgery on him THEN wipes him down the a Clorox wipe... OMG that is just HORRIBLE. This is WRONG in SOOOOOO many ways. How heartbreakin to see these evil people doing this to these animals.
Now this isn't showing people not to buy tortoises. This is to show everyone not to buy ANY ANIMALS from them at all. Even with a private breeder they can be mis treated. You just have to do your research before you go buying the animal you want. Make sure they have a GREAT reference to back them up too... I am just sicken by watching that video. Even though I seen this years ago it feels like I just watched it for the first time again. It is so sad.

I 100% agree! And even petsmart gets animals from private breeders that can still get WC animals instead of a CB.

 

[oliviaTORTOISE]

OH NO! I purchased my baby from Petsmart!!!!! She was kept in a very small glass tank with another tortoise...... BUT she is doing fine and nothing is wrong with her!!! [TURTLE][TURTLE][TURTLE][TURTLE]

 

[Sulcata_Sandy]

OH NO! I purchased my baby from Petsmart!!!!! She was kept in a very small glass tank with another tortoise...... BUT she is doing fine and nothing is wrong with her!!! [TURTLE][TURTLE][TURTLE][TURTLE]

What species did you get?

 

[Puckles🐢]

OH NO! I purchased my baby from Petsmart!!!!! She was kept in a very small glass tank with another tortoise...... BUT she is doing fine and nothing is wrong with her!!! [TURTLE][TURTLE][TURTLE][TURTLE]

If your tortoise looks fine, and acts fine...it probably is fine, for now atleast because tortoises can be very sneaky with their illnesses so it is suggested to give her yearly checkups with a "Reptile" vet if you have one. This topic is about "Abuse" and lack of knowledge that is in a lot of petsmart and petco associates (not all of them) but most tortoises from those kinds of places are "Wild" so they may not be as healthy as a captive tortoise, there's nothing wrong with wild caught tortoises ( well maybe a little bit) but they can be more harder to tame and may carry worms or parasites (This goes for all animals!) but like I said give your tortoise a exam sometime in the next year or two for parasites, a quick checkup with a vet shouldn't be too costly but unless they find something expect to pay a price nice to meet you.

 

[tjarksd]

I'm always mixed on stuff like this. I grew up in rural Iowa and anywhere you have large numbers of animals you have loss. Whether it's a farm environment or a breeding facility.

There are definite cases of cruelty in that video...stepping on the hamster, neglect, and a lack of veterinary care.

But as far as the rabbits being raised on 1/2" x 1" wire...it's perfectly standard. Attend any state or American Rabbit Breeders Association (ARBA) sanctioned show or convention... At home we usually threw in chunks of boards or drywall, for additional footing, and to give the rabbits something to chew on.

As far as discarding or the sick or dead animals...once again it's in context. If someone is breeding rabbits, guinea pigs, mice, or rats for snake food...what do you think they do with sick or possibly diseased livestock? They're not going to leave it in with the rest of their stock to possibly infect it, they're not going to feed it to their healthy snake or monitor, and I'm guessing they're not going to take a food item to a vet for care. Hopefully it will be dispatched as humanely as possible, frozen, and discarded on trash day.

The rabbit being neutered...uhmmm...I'm not a vet, but I've heard many rabbit squeal in pain over the years. That rabbit wasn't "screaming"...and you'd know it if it was. I'd fault them for the dull blade, but I'd go with the leg kicking being just a reflex action of the muscle.

I don't like large wholesale environments and breeding facilities for pets. I don't condone animal cruelty in any form. But...I have a hard time judging someone else from an obviously slanted view that already has their own set agenda.

 

[tjarksd]

The two Russians I adopted originally came from a local Petsmart. I found them through a Help! ad on craigslist... Both are doing well. That being said...I probably wouldn't buy a tortoise from Petsmart either. The bad part of being located in the midwest though...we have VERY few true local breeders. Whether I would buy from PetSmart, from the local mom and pop store, or a show vendor they're probably coming inot Iowa from the same wholesaler.

I had to run in and buy some supplies the other day and they had "Testudo" tortoises for sale. $119/ea regular price. $89/ea with PetPerks. I know it's the Latin genus...but it just struck me as funny that they weren't listed by species instead.

Ok so I bought my Russian tortoise from petsmart, the women who was telling me about the tortoise didn't know much about him... I wouldn't buy from them

 

[Yvonne G]

Well, what can I say...it's PETA.

 

[katiehuggins]

Then, do you get tortoises from breeders? Or online? Thats where I get my goldfish

 

[Sulcata_Sandy]

My 2¢....

If you want a tortoise, search craigslist for a week. You'll have five.

[GRINNING FACE WITH SMILING EYES]

 

[lichjen]

I can concur with petstore cruelty. The petstore where I get my feeder rats from a few weeks ago the reptile cages were full of ants, dead snakes, no water, rotten food in the tortoise cage, the rodent cages were full of fecal matter that looked that that had been there for 2-3 weeks.

there were dead fish in all tanks

I called corporate. I went back the other night - 90% of staff was fired, and everything was cleared up. I get my feeder rats elsewhere now - but I went to "check" to see if I needed anything else for my tortoises (ie check on the animals)

 

[Artemis the Tortoise]

I am disgusted and will NEVER look at petco or petsmart the same again

 

[bouaboua]

How sad.

I thought this can only happen in third world countries.

 

[kmarkovich]

Those videos are really old and PetSmart doesn't use Rainbow as a vendor, haven't In a few years actually.


0.1.0 Dachshund
0.0.1 Redfoot
1.0.0 Greek

When I worked there in 2007 they still used Rainbow.

 

[Instinct]

I'm a currently employee at PetSmart and ever since I started there (in 2012) they already stopped using Rainbow as a vendor. I can't speak for Petco as I do not know who their supplier is.

I do know that our reptiles come from "Reptiles by Mack". They always look to be in pretty decent shape, even during the colder months.

 

[MrFrost]

Surely as other people have said in this thread, your pet store chains there in US no longer use Rainbow, but I can imagine that here where I live, although it's tonnes easier to smuggle the animals from Africa, there is no doubt there are also private companies breeding animals, especially budgies using methods much more cruel than the ones in the video. Seriously, you visit a store here and none of them will have below 50 budgies for sale at prices of about $10 a piece. There are so many budgies here in the UAE you could make an entire colony of budgies here.

 

[Saleama]

OH NO! I purchased my baby from Petsmart!!!!! She was kept in a very small glass tank with another tortoise...... BUT she is doing fine and nothing is wrong with her!!! [TURTLE][TURTLE][TURTLE][TURTLE]