Oh, God, I'm just sick!!! Petco!!

[Jodi]

As I type this I'm waiting for a call back from the local police department.

Although I've managed to pretty much change my shopping habits to honor my pledge to boycott Petco until they stop selling live animals, I just stopped in there a little while ago to buy a chunk of aquarium tubing. There is an exposed speaker wire near where my boys have their playtime each evening out of the cage, and a couple of them have started chewing the wire, so I wanted aquarium tubing to cover it with.

I made the mistake of wandering over to look at the small animals. In the top rat tank, the "large" rats, there was a PEW boy up on top of one of those ball things with the holes in it. He was hunched over with his head and hands hanging down in the hole, and he was in obvious respiratory distress.  In a nutshell, I spent what must have been 20 minutes talking to at least 3 employees and both the store managers, and they wouldn't DO ANYTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh, God, I've got to get hold of myself and stop breaking down like this!

...okay, I just heard back from the city police officer. He said that the State Agriculture Department, who referred me to the local police, were incorrect regarding him being able to act under ORS 167.330, the animal cruelty statute, because "rats are not recognized by that statute."


.....

Is anyone else feeling sick to their stomachs right now, or is it just me?


Back to my story. I tried reasoning with them. I wasn't abusive or loud or anything (at least, it didn't start out that way). I'm sure I seemed frantic, because the little guy NEEDED to be taken to a vet IMMEDIATELY for oxygen, etc., etc., and they wouldn't do it!

They kept giving me this condescending crap about, "Oh, we take EXCELLENT care of our animals!" and "But I AM treating him... there are antibiotics in the water!" and "We have a very good vet who cares for our animals here." To which I replied, after they kept saying it, "Then WHERE IS HE?!?!? WHY AREN'T YOU GETTING THIS LITTLE GUY IN TO SEE HIM NOW?!?!?!?

I asked at least 3 times if they would PLEASE sell me the rat so I could get him to the vet myself. They refused, citing (get this!) their policy NOT TO SELL SICK ANIMALS! Okay, so it's okay for them to sell them as snake food, but they REFUSE to sell one sick animal to someone who wants to SAVE HIS LIFE?!??!??!

...deep breaths, Jodi....

The Humane Society empathized with me (obviously sincerely), but couldn't do anything. I called the State Department of Agriculture number they gave me, long distance, and spoke to 2 of their top folks, and I'm going to follow up with a complaint letter. They also advised me to call the local police and throw the statute number at them and ask them to act under it immediately, but the officer I talked to... well, I guess I covered that already. He's going to go talk to them, but he said there's really nothing more he can do because rats aren't .... oh, God, I can't even handle this anymore.

All three rat tanks were, once again, horrendously overcrowded. While I was at first waiting for the first employee I'd talked to to come back and get the rat out of the tank and get him to the vet (stupid me, I actually thought that's what was happening, when I pointed out to him that the rat was in distress and needed immediate medical care, and he promptly walked off!!!), I observed that at least 2 of the females in the middle tank, probably 4 to 5 weeks old, were in heat, and that they were being hotly pursued by several look-alike males. I saw at least 3 other ratties who, although sleeping, didn't look like they were doing very well. As usual, they had probably 30 or 40 rats per tank, 1 tiny water bottle in each, and almost empty bowls of the cheapo crap they call rat food in those places.

Oh, God, I can't stand this anymore!

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, folks, PLEASE will you sign the petition?! PLEASE both boycott and contact Petco AND call your local Humane Society offices AND whomever else we need to contact in order to STOP THIS NEGLECT AND ABUSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I need to go throw up right now. I'll check back later after I've calmed down a bit.

Kiss your precious, precious babies for me.

Jodi

[EaglesEye Rattery]

Oh gosh.......  and even worse I scroll down to see that it is close to home.

Who the hell do I need to call??  I do not have long distance but WILL send a letter- just tell me where.

I'm sending you an e-mail right now...

[EaglesEye Rattery]

Nevermind I can't e-mail you unless you have your e-mail on your webpage....  please contact me and I will do WHATEVER possible to help.

Could you ask if they would be willing to allow a rescue to take him??  This makes me so sick and I want this BS to stop.  If stores are going to 'supply' animals they need to be humane.

[Teresa]

I live in the Bay Area and feel the same way about the Petco near me.  What petition are you refering to?

Teresa

[Joe]

   You're best bet is to contact the higher people of PetCo and complain. Like I've said before. Boycotting a store and signing petitions don't work, because, in most cases, the stores do in fact keep their small animals in what they consider acceptable conditions though, like this one, there are acceptions.
  Don't get me wrong on this. It pisses me off to hear about stores like that...
  But as I've said before, when the people at the top get "we're gonna shut you down!" petitions, they put them in the trash, because it's not gonna happen. But if you maturely point out that one particular store isn't even up to their standards, they will do something about it.

[Raven Paw]

...okay, I just heard back from the city police officer. He said that the State Agriculture Department, who referred me to the local police, were incorrect regarding him being able to act under ORS 167.330, the animal cruelty statute, because "rats are not recognized by that statute."

OH MY GOD!  That is the most awful thing I've ever heard.  How can people think that some animals deserve protection and others don't?!?!  Isn't there anything we can do about it?

[gabrielle1976]

 :puppydog:
That is so very sad and what is worse is that horibble farm bill passed and rats birds and mice are now permaently banned from protection under the animal welfare act.

[MalignStar]

THAT BILL DID PASS?!?! NOW I'M MAD!  

[SADCAT]

:puppydog:
That is so very sad and what is worse is that horibble farm bill passed and rats birds and mice are now permaently banned from protection under the animal welfare act.

It did pass??? How is that even possible? SO MANY people were against it!! Just that one crack-pot woman was backing it up. GRRRRR...  

[gabrielle1976]

 
It makes me want to scream but yes i heard that it did pass. why would someone want to do that in the first place and to make it a permant thing he really must have something up his @#% ( jesse helms) I hope i never meet that man in person i dont think i could stop my self from beating him to a pulp.

[SADCAT]

Oh, was it a man? I thought it was a woman. Either way, GRRRR, hate 'em. They even claimed to love animals. *kick punch scream claw* Hrrumph.

[WeeRaffins]

Yick! How gross! *Sigh* How could that bill get passed? And how could people treat animals so cruelly? It makes me so sad!  

[Maggie's Mom]

You know, perhaps instead of chenging petco, we could change the animal cruelty laws to apply to ALL animals, including rats.  I think if we all sighned the petition, then got everyone we knew to sighn it (even against their will), we could really help make a change here.  So, instead of just complaining about it, let's act. :puppydog: :sad:

[SADCAT]

You know, perhaps instead of chenging petco, we could change the animal cruelty laws to apply to ALL animals, including rats.

I agree. But will they vote on the same thing again and again? I'm also curious, does anybody know if Canada's animal cruelty laws have been changed? I was watching a proceeding and they were going to change fines to be around something in the thousands of dollars range, change maximum jail time to up to five years, and best of all, never allow animal abusers to own animals again. Does anybody know if that went through?

[EllisRattery]

What pigs! how could they do that to those rats?!?!?!

We don't have a PetCo around here, but if there was I'd be right on top of them if they treated their animals like that!

That makes me very mad and upset

PetsMart and Petcetera take great care of their animals, but if they ever changed......

Anyway, I hope you can do something Jodi!

[Jodi]

Morning, Dears.

Thanks for your followups and concern. I've calmed down a bit, but I'm no more happy than I was before.

The police officer did finally call me back. He informed me that he spoke to them, and that yes, "the little fellow DID look pretty sick" (he was in advanced respiratory distress, bordering on what was probably imminent failure when I saw him) and that the manager had agreed to "take him to their vet to be humanely euthanized." He said that they also told him they would "watch the other rats carefully over the next couple of DAYS" to see if any of the others would start showing any symptoms of illness. "Okay, Ma'am? So it's taken care of."

...I'm getting that queasy feeling in the pit of my stomach again....

When I quietly informed him that, had they acted quickly, the little guy could have been saved with proper medical care, he reminded me that within the limits of the law, they were doing everything that was required. Case closed. I then, again quietly, mumbled that they didn't care about truly doing what SHOULD be done to ensure the health of the rest of the ratties because, as the manager had blurted out when I was in there, "most of the rats will be sold within the next few days anyway..." so what does it matter to them if they were exposed to SDA or Sendai or whatever and were now doomed not only to needless suffering and possible death within the next few weeks but also to exposing any other susceptible animal they may come in contact, either direct or indirect, with in the near future.... The officer repeated his "everything that needs to be done according to the law is being done" crap and said his goodbye.

Joe, Buddy, you know how much I admire and respect you... but as I mentioned in my followup to one of your other posts about the petition: This particular petition is not geared toward threatening to shut the stores down. It's stating the the signers will be boycotting the Petco stores unless and until they stop selling live animals. I'm absolutely in favor of them continuing to sell supplies. But if even one of their stores (and we all know it's far more than just one by now) are neglecting and/or even abusing the animals in their care, and Corporate isn't immediately coming in and fixing the problems as soon as they are notified (which I HAVE done, by the way, and I never hear anything back from them. Besides, shouldn't they be policing their own stores anyway?), then yes, something needs to be done. And if enough people pledge to stop shopping in their stores and at their website until they stop selling animals, because we're tired of seeing even some of their individual stores get away with neglecting animals, then maybe they will open their eyes and AT LEAST start policing each and every one of their stores more effectively.

HERE'S THE LINK TO THE PETITION AGAIN:
http://think.100acrewood.net/petition.html

PLEASE everyone read it and consider signing it! If it does nothing more than open their eyes and get at least some of the Corporate mucky-mucks to take the problems and our complaints more seriously, then isn't it worth it?

For problems with your local stores, start by contacting your Humane Society/SPCA. Even if they can't legally step in and do anything, they can probably refer you to someone who can.

In Oregon, write a letter outlining your specific complaints. Give details on dates, what was happening, what was said, done, etc... and/or describe what the specifics are about the care being given... cedar bedding being used (and why it's bad), empty water bottles, sexes not separated... whatever the problems are, detail them in your letter. Send them to:

State of Oregon, Department of Agriculture
Attn: Andrew
635 Capitol St. N.E.
Salem, OR  97301

In case you need to talk directly to them first, the telephone number for reaching Andrew is: (503) 986-4680

The Oregon Revised Statute that covers animal cruelty is: ORS 167.330

I was told that in order to change the statute to include ratties and other animals not currently under its protection, the process is to write a petition and gather signatures and try to get it on the next ballot. I'm not savvy enough with the way this stuff works to know the details, but in the fairly near future, I'll be looking into it. Bear in mind, I'm having a hysterectomy 4 days from now, so unfortunately this isn't something I'm going to be able to do much more about for awhile yet.

One final note: At the risk of making a fool of myself, I want to tell you all that I really love you guys. I've always been an animal person, NOT a people person. I've quite frankly always gotten along MUCH better with critters than I have with most of the people I've met. I can't tell you how cathartic and refreshing it's been to my heart and soul to have found all of you here. It's truly a blessing to finally find people who care about animals as much as I care.

Yes, there are endless numbers of causes in this old world that need to be taken up and addressed. But as far as I'm concerned, animals don't have a voice. They don't have politicians and religious leaders to speak for them. They don't have a vote or a say-so in matters of law, morality, etc. They only have people like us.

I'm not going to run off and join PETA or start breaking into labs in the middle of the night... but I want to do whatever I can do to help promote the fight to make this world a better place for the other living beings, who have every bit as much right to live a good life on this planet as we.

Hugs,
Jodi
Bend, Oregon

[JulesDoug]

I know its not much I have signed the petition..although I am a UK resident...Thankyou Jodi on behalf of ratties everywhere!

[Maggie's Mom]

Just sighned the petition and sent it to like 50 people who I got their addresses cause they're taking an AP test, hehe.  Unfortunatly, I used my real name.  I TOLD them to mark it anonymously, butit didn't so now everyone unfortunatly knows EXACTLY who sent the e-mail telling them to sighn a petition for petco.  UGGGHHH!  Please say they don't know me!  Course, half em do cause I'm in classes with em.  uggh.  Hope my teacher wasn't one of those e-mail addresses...ugh.

[NatalieJ]

Strangely enough, I have never been in a PetCo store...or a PetsMart store.  I know we have a PetCo near our house.  I am going to buzz there Sunday (tomorrow, 5/12) and see what it's like.  

The only store I frequent around my area is PetLand.  I know that it's a franchise, and that sometimes franchise stores are crap, since they are maintained by an individual owner, but I can honestly say this one is different, and the owner and the manager have the animals best interests in mind.  I used to work there, albeit 10 years ago, and can say that they take above average care of their animals - all of them, even the "rodents".  

When I did work there, they did sell "feeder" rats, but I do not think they do now.  The last few times I have been there, they have had pet rats.  When I was there and bought Smokey, my blue boy,  there was a sign on the rat cage that said "PET rats" (emphasis theirs).  The rats were kept in a wire cage with a flat solid bottom, with good food and toys, and were out in the center of the store so that everyone could see them and they could interact with people.  An associate even took Smokey right out for me, by grasping him correctly, NOT by the tail.  I was impressed.  The best part is, if I have any concerns or suggestions, they hear me and LISTEN, instead of hearing me and waiting for me to leave.

[BabyBlue]

Natalie,
WOW I thought it was only a myth! That kind of petshop DO exist!!!!

I personally haven't seen one like that yet. You're lucky to be near one.

[radzer0]

the petco here has mostly ferrits .. and 3 people taht work there just maintain the animals.. so i find this one a good one .. the rats are 2 per tank (15gallon i think) and they seemed pretty healty.. as did the ferrits and chinchilas i saw (dont know about other petco's though.. one here just happens to be maintained by bored people who like to play with the animals and take care of them)

[Tracy]

Well, there's a Yahoo group all about stopping the sale of live animals at Petco (one battle at a time).  They are trying to collect cases about neglect at Petco.  So, if you post your story there, it may help.  I want petsores to stop their neglect, not pull out all the animals.  The evidence being collected may make the petstores wake up and change their ways, (I can dream, can't I)
FYI, contacting the higher authorities at Petco doesn't do much other than you receiving an automated letter about how they do their best to keep their animals healthy.  

[Jodi]

Well, I'm headed in for my surgery tomorrow morning, but I wanted to renew this thread first. The petition is up to over 1400 signatures right now. I have this dream that by the time I get home from the hospital, there will be thousands more that have been added to it. I'd sure love to see that happen....

Here's the main page of the site, which I hope you will all check out and pass around. Think I'll post a link to it from my website as well.

Petco boycott/petition

I'll be connecting with the Yahoo group once I'm home and "on my feet" again, and I'll be writing another letter to Petco, only this time I'll regular-mail it directly to Brian Devine.

I never used to think of myself as any sort of political activist... but after the things I've seen in the local Petco store -- particularly the most recent event with the poor little PEW boy -- I'm absolutely hell-bent on doing whatever I can to get them to STOP selling animals for good.

Give all your precious babies extra smoochies and Yoggies from Aunt Jodi!  

[BabyBlue]

My girls appreciate the extra smoochies and Yogies from Aunt Jodi, and send their rattie kisses for you! (Motivated by yogies, but not BECAUSE of it. I swear! )

Best withes and good luck with your surgery!