I've skimmed most of the posts and thought I'd add my 2 cents.

First...no I don't shop at Petco because it's too far away from my house. however I did shop at a PetCo in San Diego because they had an awesome selection of ferret items(and ferrets are illegal in CA...go figure!) From what I saw at that Petco, the animals were very well taken care of.

That article as well as others are from PETA. PETA is too extreme for my liking so I take everything I hear from them with a grain of salt. BUT...that just MY opinion. I have heard of Petco's that don't treat their animals well. I know people on ferret boards who have rescued ferrets from Petco, boycotted Petco, petitioned to change, and have had successfully made changes in the care that Petco takes of their animals. I believe it depends on the Petco.

As far as not supporting or buying from a store that sells animals...I can respect that. I still do, for the prices, but admire others for taking that stance. While some stores do get their animals from private breeders and not mills..I believe no ethical breeder would sell to a store. An ethical breeder would not sell animals when they would have no control after to see who bought their animals and the kind of care they would receive. An ethical breeder would know every family their animals went to and know that the animal would be loved and well taken care of including a clause that states if for any reason the family cannot care for the animal, the animal goes back to the breeder to care for. An ethical breeder should be aware an accept the fact that if they cannot find good homes or already have homes before breeding that the breeder is prepared to care for these animals they breed for the rest of their lives.....

Besides...there are too many unwanted pets. To breed and to sell to a petstore where you don't know who is buying your animal and with knowing the overpopulation of unwated pets is just, in my opinion, irresponsible. So yes, while sometimes petstores do not buy from mills, the breeders that sell to them are just a lesser evil. I guess the only real exception would be a small mom&pop petstore where the breeder would know who the animals were going to and make sure they know how to care for them.

Anywho...jumping off my soapbox for now.