Where would I report a pet store..?

I've recently gotten a job at a pet store that I usually get my feeders from. My reasoning for getting a job was specifically because I had suspicions of huge amounts of neglect, and I was right. The problem is, I can't get pictures because we can't have our phones in the store period. The animals in the storefront for the most part look great. Behind the closed doors though, it's awful. I'm talking in their breeding building next to the store, insanely dirty cages and tubs, in some there's literally as many as 20-25 adult rats in cages the size of a 30 gallon tank. Rabbits, Guinea Pigs, Mice, you name it and it's most likely there and crammed in a cage for breeding. On my first day their yesterday, their one guy who deals with the reptiles showed me how he cleans tubs on the rack, then literally left me there by myself in the reptile room. Here's the bad part about that: I've been in the reptile room as a customer countless times and the cages are always dirty. I cleaned a double sided rack with a total of around 60 tubs in an hour and a half, that includes completely scrubbing the tubs, and changing bedding and water, and soaking a few that had stuck shed. After telling the owner that there was plenty left to be cleaned, he told me not to worry about it and that he had more important things for me to do. The important thing?? Taking the trash out, and breaking down boxes of all things. It's ridiculous. Another thing that bothers me is, they breed birds, rodents, etc. which kind of doesn't surprise me but I at least expect decent housing for the animals. The Sulcata tortoises they have, is sickening. There's 8 of them I think, and roughly a 10x6 wire cage, flies and gnats all over them. I literally most likely won't be going into work today, specifically because I don't think I can stomach some of the stuff again for 7-8 hours. My main question is, who would I report all this to outside of the store? I know for a fact that animal control has been there, but they haven't done anything about it.

Get your local chapter of the SPCA involved. Yes, I know they ultimately want no animal owned as a pet, but I say use them to your advantage when you can. Politics will always make strange bed fellows. They can't really take any enforcement action, but they can cause all kinds of ass pain for the owner.

And, if you don't plan on working there for long, sneak in a phone and take pictures.

I don't plan on working there long at all. I'm mainly just trying to find out as much as I can about the place. Before I started working there, me and my brother went in and got some pictures of the snake cages out front that were literally awful. We just acted like we were taking pictures for a friend. I'm thinking about having my brother go in today or tomorrow while I'm working to 'look' at some snakes, and 'find' the right size feeders which are in the breeding building. It wouldn't be unusual for someone to want to pick their own feeder from the bins. I don't like the SPCA period, but you do have a good point.

WoW.
I am refraining from what I really want to post.
Instead of wasting everyones time here and there maybe you should do some research in your city and make some phone calls?

That sounds awful, but if you got the job specifically to infiltrate them I think you can probably break the no cell phone rule to gather evidence. Also, Google might actually be a better resource for determining who to call about this but the members of the form would be able to give you much better advice if we know where you are located – different areas have different authorities for such things. Finally you may need to just get as much video as you can and post it on YouTube because, as sad as it is, it's entirely possible that they are not actually breaking any laws and so it is only by consumer vigilance that they will be forced to put a stop to their practices. Good luck and thank you for fighting the good fight.

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Originally Posted by dkatz4

Finally you may need to just get as much video as you can and post it on YouTube because, as sad as it is, it's entirely possible that they are not actually breaking any laws and so it is only by consumer vigilance that they will be forced to put a stop to their practices. Good luck and thank you for fighting the good fight.

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Go for this one. LoL
Might want to read an employee handbook. You took a job and agreed to their stipulations so there is a lot of LEGAL ramifications they may now hold over you.

Whatever you do please be smart about it. You're representing the reptile hobby when you go on a venture like this.

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Originally Posted by PitOnTheProwl

Go for this one. LoL
Might want to read an employee handbook. You took a job and agreed to their stipulations so there is a lot of LEGAL ramifications they may now hold over you.

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Off topic- but just to let you know, LoL is an acronym for League of Legends, WoW is for World of Warcraft. The lowercase 'o' is what drives it. I see it often and think it's quite funny ;)

Where to report depends on where you live. In my county reporting abuse/neglect of anything except dogs or livestock to animal control gets a non-response due to lack of resources. For reptiles I've been called because they just don't have the proper enclosures and staff versed in how to care for them.

Some states also regulate pet stores, you can see if yours requires permits or licensing with husbandry standards in place, and which agency is responsible for enforcing them.

I work at a pet store where I live a customer came in and surrendered his vanilla BP so I told my manager I would take him.He has mites so my manager said we'll keep him at the store and treat the mites so my chocolate BP doesn't get them and also she'll take him to the herp.vet here in town on the companies dime to make sure nothing else is wrong.

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Originally Posted by LanceM

I work at a pet store where I live a customer came in and surrendered his vanilla BP so I told my manager I would take him.He has mites so my manager said we'll keep him at the store and treat the mites so my chocolate BP doesn't get them and also she'll take him to the herp.vet here in town on the companies dime to make sure nothing else is wrong.

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What a stand up gal :gj:

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Originally Posted by PitOnTheProwl

WoW.
I am refraining from what I really want to post.
Instead of wasting everyones time here and there maybe you should do some research in your city and make some phone calls?

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If you saw what goes on in my city when it comes to animal control, you wouldn't be telling me to make phone calls. Honestly, I could bring them video proof of dog fighting, animals being beaten, etc. and nothing would most likely be done about it. As I said, animal control has been there before multiple times and nothing has been done. Go ahead and post what you're thinking, I'm not going to get upset about it. You're probably going to use a few insults, and basically say I should do the obvious thing and call animal control, which would just be a waste of time. Also, there are no legal ramifications as far as I'm concerned. I never signed any documents saying I wouldn't record, photograph, or anything else. Never signed anything about not having a phone on me either. Would be kind of stupid to get fired 3-4 days in before I can even get any evidence really. On top of that, I'm almost 100% sure what happens is, animal control comes in and says "Oh, the cages here are clean, no problem here." and leaves without checking behind the scenes at all.

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Originally Posted by Slim

And, if you don't plan on working there for long, sneak in a phone and take pictures.

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This part. Take pics and video and contact your local law enforcement agency.

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Originally Posted by Terrified of snakes

Also, there are no legal ramifications as far as I'm concerned. I never signed any documents saying I wouldn't record, photograph, or anything else. Never signed anything about not having a phone on me either.

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You don't have to sign anything. You agreed to company policy and punching the clock or taking your first check enters you into contract.
If you REALLY wanted to do more then you would not be wasting you time just working for them.
You would be on the phone with your local animal control and/or figuring out why they are not doing anything with the store.
You come here asking for help in YOUR city and then don't like being told to figure out who to call.
Its not really that hard to figure out if you tried doing it the correct way.
More power to you though.

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Originally Posted by StephenT

Whatever you do please be smart about it. You're representing the reptile hobby when you go on a venture like this.

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This. Yes, please by all means help those animals. But please dont contact the media, PETA, or anybody like that or itll become a big ole mess. And also like someone else said, do whats right, but be careful doing it....you could end up getting sued by these people. Maybe you could get some video and photos, then threaten the owner with them? Sometimes all it takes is a threat to involve the local authorities for someone to clean up their act. Id also contact your local USDA. They might be able to help.

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Originally Posted by 4theSNAKElady

Sometimes all it takes is a threat to involve the local authorities for someone to clean up their act. Id also contact your local USDA. They might be able to help.

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Or hey since you don't care about the job and really just care about the animals why don't you try to educate the owner and ask if you can get the pets up to your standards and then ask that he please try to keep it this way? Or something along those lines.

Have an open discussion with the owner and try to change to root of the problem, obviously your local animal authorities don't believe the conditions are so appalling to order a shut down so why not try to change the outlook of the owner and you can use your time to help the animals.

Pit is right though you did take a job and you are being paid to do that job so if the owner tells you to do something you must do it. Try to use the job to your advantage instead of trying to report the owner to little or no avail, try to educate and help the animals while getting paid!

Two negatives don't make a positive but a positive can change a negative.