Bad pet store

[gmcclurelssu]

i know a lot of people have seen their fair of crappy pet stores. well, here in Sault Ste Marie, we only have one store. that store just happens to be the worst run, dirtiest, smelliest store i have had the miss-fortune of doing business with. its a small place that tries to specialize in reptiles, but seem to have no idea how to take care of the animals. today, i dropped in to buy feeder mice, only to discover the 10ft albino burm had at least 6 piles of old feces and urates in the cage. the young Red tail boa in the store suffers through similar conditions. the floor of its cage is always soaking wet due to a water bowl that is easily tipped over, and one time there was a pile of feces with MOLD growing on it. these are not just one time occurrences, but consistent patterns of neglect that every animal in the store faces. As I've told my friends, if i had the money and space, i would love to buy these animals just to get them out of that store. Is there any thing i can do legaly to help these animals, or is talking to the owners and hoping for the best the only way to get these problems fixed?

[mainbutter]

contact your local aspca or humane society, they'll know local laws the best.

Feel free to talk to the owners, they'll probably only get defensive and pissy(people who treat animals as such are prone to getting pissy) but it could be worth a shot.

[anendeloflorien]

Buying those animals will not improve conditions at that store, the only thing that would accomplish would be to put more money in the pockets of the owners to allow them to purchase more animals and put them in the same terrible inhumane conditions! It sucks but you really can't save them all.

I really don't know what to tell you. I'd say try talking to the owners, or the manger but don't expect anything to really happen. They obviously do not care for the health of the animals and are probably hoping that someone will come along like you with a heart to help the animals thinking that they are "saving" them because they are in such horrible conditions just so they can put more reptiles into those same cages and start the cycle all over again. I'm not saying your intentions are wrong, you obviously do care for the animals and want to see whats best for them but with people like that there's really not much you can do.

Going to the SPCA or a similar entity would only serve to bring more bad press to a hobby and industry that already has way more than it can deal with. Just look at the legislation right now to ban trade in boas and pythons, not to mention the way the media sensationalizes any story that has to do with snakes or reptiles when someone does something STUPID and gets hurt or somebody finds a 4 foot "baby-eating" ball python that someone let go because they didn't feel like dealing with it anymore.

I think your best bet may be to go to the owners and ask them, hell get angry with them, and tell them that they NEED to fix the conditions that their animals are kept in or they are going to lose you as a customer. Then if, after a week or two, conditions haven't changed (and I don't expect they will) go back in and start making threats to go to the media, the SPCA etc..... Even though hopefully you'd never do it it might scare them enough to actually do something.

Good luck! Sorry for the long-winded post lol.

[gmcclurelssu]

hey, i don't disagree with you, i think it just bugs me because its the only store we have here. everyone i know that is forced to go there for supplies agrees with me that if we had another nice pet store, we could put this place out of business by refusing to buy from them. and your right, we definantly don't need the bad press or giving into the thousand dollars they want for the snake.

[MDB]

I say have a meeting with everybody that feels this way, have them sign a paper proposing that if they do not change the environments that their reptiles are living in that they will lose each and everyone of you as a customer. Or you could do the same by having each one of you customers confront the owner about this. If having his reptiles laying in their own fecies is not enough to make him change his ways. His future lack of funds may be.