Giving Petland a hard time

[IRescue452]

This is what I live for, a chance to drive a bad pet store out of business, or at least get them in trouble. So petland opened near us this weekend. The first store in our area in 2 decades to sell puppies. I scared the owner half out of his wits today. I asked what species his snake neck turtles are. His answer: "I don't know, let me look it up." So how does he look it up, he goes to grab one of the turtle books he sells to look for something that looks close. I ask if he has paper at all for it, no. No papers to tell the species or anything. So I have him call the supplier. Who has to look and call him back. Turns out its a Chelodina SieRenroki (sp?). I think this species might be totally illegal. I have to look it up. I advised him to get papers on each and every individual reptile he gets. SO, now I'm off to find out what kinda permits and papers he needs for this turtle. Maybe I can work him up his first fine. He's so scared that his turtles are illegal or need more permits he was ready to send them back to the supplier regaardless. I told him to wait and find out info on the species. That gives me time to see if I can get him for anything. Fun fun fun

[Husky_mom]

haven´t read it in full but maybe somehting like this

http://www.animallaw.info/cases/causfd143f3d1401.htm

ETA: this has nothing to do but mentions some laws having to be checked
http://www.naturecoastexotics.com/turtles?start=75

I also found this
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7.) Indonesian (a.k.a. North Australian) Snake-neck - Macrochelodina rugosa (previously Chelodina siebenrocki)

Description: Medium-Large highly aquatic side-necked species with a plain dark carapace, yellowish plastron, variably grayish skin & a very long neck. Predominant carnivores who may eat some Romaine lettuce. Infrequent basker but provide the option. Active. Recommend at least a 125 gallon aquarium. Native to New Guinea & Australia. Size: Up to 12".

Pro.s: Neat-looking; resemble sauropod dinosaurs with human-like faces. Can catch fish. Fairly non-aggressive with humans.

Con.s: Need large enclosures but some are aggressive & must be kept alone. Tropical & need warm water (figure ~ 80ºF) - not a hibernator. Will eat your fish. Can kill smaller turtles. Not all accept commercial pelleted foods.

Availability & Cost: Probably the most available snake-neck turtle in the U.S. Hatchlings ~ $50 - 100 apiece. I've seen a pair of adults for $425.

Known Legalities: None known in the U.S.

Helpful Care Resources: ATP Care Sheet, Carrettochelys.com's Natural History Discussion, World Chelonian Trust's Photo Gallery, Empire of the Turtle's Info. Page.

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link to text above click here and scroll (http://www.austinsturtlepage.com/Articles/ATP%20Guide%20to%20Choosing%20an%20Exotic%20Turtle .htm)

[IRescue452]

Fantastic. How do you find this stuff so quickly?

It turns out they are legal assuming they weren't captive caught, which he should provide paperwork to prove. Oh well, gives him a good taste about how to run a pet store. He's in for a big fight if he wants to stay in business here, nobody wants Petland here.

Edit: I had spelt the species wrong and yahoo didn't give me any suggestions :rolleyes: Thanks so much for your quick info.

[wombat2u2004]

HAH !!!!! This guy probably breaks out into cold sweats everytime he sees you walking down the road. :D
Wom

[Kalei]

Ahaha, he ain't gonna like you:P;):D Goes to show that some owners just don't know how to run a business that is perfectly legal or right by law.

[Alysser]

Good for you! :D I have always hated Petland and their stores definately suck. Hope you can teach him a lesson.

[sweetpatata6]

Good for you! :D I have always hated Petland and their stores definately suck. Hope you can teach him a lesson.



I've never heard of "Petland" We have petmarts and petcos tho :confused:

[CagneyDog]

The petland here isn't half bad.

[IRescue452]

Petland has a very bad rep here. This one is new so its still clean. But puppies that look 5 weeks old. Kittens that look 4 weeks old. 15 bunnies in a 4x4 cage. 50 budgies in a 4x4 cage, wing to wing. 10 ferrets in a 4x4 cage. These are all those square plastic "cages" that are raised up and open on top they have in the middle of the store. Groups of hamsters together in those which will probably fight amongst themselves when they are over 2 weeks old, which is about their age. Basically its a recipe for disaster.

[Giselle]

In my book, Petland = puppy mill/kitty mill haven.

I HATE Petland with a fiery passion. Please, do whatever you can to give this guy a hard time. Shame on anybody who endorses pet store puppies and kittens. I hope you can even gather up a rally of animal lovers to shoo him away. Ugh. I hate hate hate petland.

[mugsy]

I would do anything in the world to shut that place down, but, unfortunately, their tentacles reach 'round the world. They are just plain evil. All Petlands buy from puppy mills. They keep sick dogs, sell them, and then tell the owners that if the dog dies there's a guarentee and they will replace it. :mad: :mad: :mad: I know people who have worked there and they tell horror stories about what happens behind the scenes. They make the employees sign waivers and promises not to bad mouth the store (at least they did here). I've been asked to leave 4 times. :D They also drug the animals...I picked up a ferret, who fell over in my hands because he was so drugged. The manager told me they sleep 18 hours a day, so he was just tired. Whatever. I also know that if the pup doesn't sell when they're young enough, they generally just put them down. CagneyDog, check out the premises a little closer, I think you'll find out. They are an international corporation whose bottom line is the almighty dollar...not the good of the animals.

[wombat2u2004]

Most pet stores here can be accused of puppy milling.
Years ago when I had my poodles, the bitch had a few litters, and when we advertised the puppies, the pet shops would try and buy them as a bunch. It never happened, my pups were sold individually, and only to good homes.
Wom

[IRescue452]

Not here. We haven't had a store in our area selling puppies in 20 years. Our stores put on adoption events with local rescues and shelters. This Petland is a giant step backwards. What's worse is there are so many people now who just don't care. They want what they want and they want it now. This new store has already sold over a dozen puppies in 1 week.

[crow_noir]

Wow, that is so sad.

This new store has already sold over a dozen puppies in 1 week.

[wombat2u2004]

This new store has already sold over a dozen puppies in 1 week.

Such a shame !!!! I suspect half of them will probably be abandoned when they start to grow and are not cute puppies still.
Wom

[Marigold2]

This is so sad. There was a pet store here like that as well. My daughter would go in there and find hamsters, bunnies, rats no food or water. Birds no toys or not the proper perch, puppies drugged. The list goes on and on. The birds sitting on the cage floor made her cry :mad: :mad:

She called the news stations, wrote letters to animal groups and governement agencys and many others in power. What she heard back was that this store was already under investagation.

When she or I would go into the store we would gently point out to the dumb, uncaring, stupid and lazy employees that the hamsters had no water and those kids just walked away or said "we just gave them water" Not one ever seemed to care, it was truly strange.

The owner who also owned exotics bears, lions, tigers) would sit in the store and oversee everyone. He looked like Jabba the Hut. Fat ulgy slob that he was.

Anyway my daughter and I would stand outside the store (it was in a mall) and pretend we just came out of the store. Then when a patron would walk up we would pretend we were talking to each other and say loud enough for the patrons to hear things like this

"oh those poor bunnies had no water"
"did you notice the birds had no perches"
"those puppies looked drugged to me"
"did you notice how dirty the cages where"
"what is that smell in there"
"the hamsters looked sick"

We did this over and over, this way the people going in would also notice these things. The public has the POWER to shut these places down by not buying anything there. It takes time on our part. You have to go there and try and video tape if possible, call and complain to the proper agenceys and inform the public most of all. I always felt that the time there was so worth it.

[CagneyDog]

CagneyDog, check out the premises a little closer, I think you'll find

I'm in Canada so it is clearly very different. I worked there for awhile. Sure, the animals aren't from reputable breeders, we all know that, however they are not from puppy mills. The animals are taken care of as well as possible. Of course so many animals should not be packed into one store however, considering they are I think we do a very good job taking care of them. They always have water, always are cleaned up after, and the ones that don't sell remain in the store until they do. We've had 8 months old dogs in our store. They all get vet checked, we do vet runs twice a week. I think our stores are a bit different...

[Giselle]

But it's the ethics that's involved. Can you, with good faith and heart, endorse the selling of pet store puppies?

Puppy millers are large backyard breeders. In my book, there's no difference between PM's and BYBs. The puppies didn't just come from "unreputable" breeders. They came from backyard breeders breeding for the almighty dollar. Canada may not have as bad of an overpopulation problem as we do, but the ethics remain the same. Did you see that video that of the armless Chihuahuas that Sheena's mom posted up in Dog General? That was due to backyard breeding. I despise any and all Petland stores no matter their euphemism for their actions. I believe we had one down here, but it was closed down after vehement action against its selling of puppies.

[Kalei]

Since I'm in a small part of Canada, the petstore we have here is called Pet's Unlimited, as far as I know they seem pretty good. They don't have puppies here but get kittens in every now and then. Does anyone know if Pet's Unlimited is a good petstore?

[CagneyDog]

But it's the ethics that's involved. Can you, with good faith and heart, endorse the selling of pet store puppies?

Puppy millers are large backyard breeders. In my book, there's no difference between PM's and BYBs. The puppies didn't just come from "unreputable" breeders. They came from backyard breeders breeding for the almighty dollar. Canada may not have as bad of an overpopulation problem as we do, but the ethics remain the same. Did you see that video that of the armless Chihuahuas that Sheena's mom posted up in Dog General? That was due to backyard breeding. I despise any and all Petland stores no matter their euphemism for their actions. I believe we had one down here, but it was closed down after vehement action against its selling of puppies.

No, of course pet stores anywhere do not have good ethics, nor do I believe what they are doing is right. What I'm getting at is that you can say that petland has bad ethics without spewing incorrect facts and generalizations. I've never once seen an animal without water at my petland, nor have seen animals just being put down when they get too old. When the odd tiny animal dies we get them cremated and sprinkle their ashes in a field. I think that it's great for people to educate others on petstores but generalizing the facts makes us look just as uneducated as those who buy from them.

[Giselle]

I know I shouldn't generalize as there are exceptions to every rule, but there's just something inherently disturbing about selling puppies in pet stores. I just don't like it. My general belief is that pet stores that do so belong to a same general group of people who do so for money. They don't all withhold water or food or stick aggressive animals in shared cages, but their underlying purpose remains the same - to sell animals and to gain profit from doing so. With animals, money should be a secondary concern, at least, in a perfect world. Then, again, I'm preaching to the choir :p

[crow_noir]

Here's two links for you. I tried to get information for only recent years. These are both from LATE 2006.

http://216.239.51.104/search?q=cache:LVMRid7de3IJ:halifaxlovesdogs.ca/PU_Chronicle_Nov24_06.pdf+Pets+Unlimited+puppymill&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=3&gl=us

http://jowlflapper.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=49


Since I'm in a small part of Canada, the petstore we have here is called Pet's Unlimited, as far as I know they seem pretty good. They don't have puppies here but get kittens in every now and then. Does anyone know if Pet's Unlimited is a good petstore?

[Hellow]

I love petsmart but i utterly dispise pet land. Did you know that petsmart sued petland for animal cruelty? In our two local petsmarts, i see around five hamsters and gerbils to a cage, kept seperate, and then the two sexes are kept seperate. There is about two birds to a cage and they all have food and water. They also have an animal shelter inside both and they do "adoption days" every week. I see petsmart pet care specialists plying with all of the animals every day. All in all i love petsmart.

[SemaviLady]

Over here in California, there is legislation called AB 1634 which endorses and fully exempts commercial breeders (aka puppy mills) and breeders of animals used for research from some new legislation.

The current language of the bill further more mandates that immature dogs be bred before being health tested. I think the supporters are not reading the bill.

There have been opinions voicing support for above bill from some members of this message board. It can be seen here (http://petoftheday.com/talk/showthread.php?postid=1802199#poststop). The point is many people feel that the bill is only going to help save lives of some animals. They are not aware, or must be comfortable with the fine print they are supporting.

There is also what started out as a well meaninged bill in New Jersey, to fight various types of animal abuse, more elements have been added to that bill now, which gives no exemption for some types of care necessary for animals.

Many of the academic forums I'm on have people trying to raise awareness of these problems. But on many social forums with "regular people", if one so much dares as point out 'no fix' and 'broken' problems with various 'feel good' legislation, others assume that the person speaking must be a bad guy.

At least the California Veterinary Medical Association has given up on the bill and withdrawn support for AB 1634.

But celebrities who are busy promoting their images like being seen in the limelight and are very busy sinking money into passing this bill. Some celebs have bought their pets from such places like this (http://teacupandtoypetsboutique.com/Chihuahuas.html).

Check out the prices of a Celebrity Bloodline. :eek: