I wasn't sure where to post this at all, so I am trying here in hopes that something can be done. Kind of a long story so please bear with me. Our daughter who is 19 is in a program and they place them with businesses around town to work. Being that she is majoring in biology they placed her in a local pet store. After a few days she noticed they had beardies, a male and female in the same enclosure. She let them know that this should not be the case. The people said they are a "breeding pair" and pretty much disregarded what she said. The female is maybe 8 months old and the male is much larger. THe other day was the breaking point. She went into work, she went about feeding the animals and went to change the water in the beardies tank, here the male beardie had ahold of the female by the mouth dragging her around the tank. Needless to say our daughter freaked out, she called the guy in and showed him and told him again that they should NOT be housed together. He pretty much blew her off and walked away. Our daughter called home in hysterics! I went to pick her up, I was so angry that she shooed me out the door due to the fact she didn't want me arrested I think. Good call actually. Then she tells me about this water dragon they had that they left out on this fake tree, never feeding it or watering it. It roamed around the shop and "got into something" and was found dead. Now, not a couple days later someone brought an iguana in, they placed it up on this tree and from what she saw no one fed or watered it, no heat, no light. :evil: :x This is a pet shop that when it first opened my husband and I went into and saw the way they were keeping their iguanas and bearded dragon and corrected them on the care. They made efforts and did a pretty good job on making it right. Well, here it is 2 years later and they are back to the same if not worse. What can be done here in cases like this? These people are so neglectful of their reptiles it makes me ill. WE live in Tennessee and need help!!
Calling your local humane society or ASPCA some thing like that is probably your only options i hope some one else can give you more information on who you can contact. Bradon
We tried that last year when the fair was giving away iguanas at pets. They had about 6 in a tank that was not even a 10 gallon, tall not long. We tried every avenue we could think of and still couldn't do anything about it. We get so disgusted with the attitudes people have toward herps here. If it isn't warm and fuzzy or has feathers they don't give a dam*.
How about writing a letter expressing your frustration to your local paper? Send a copy to the Humane Society. Businesses hate negative publicity. If you can get one of the writers at the paper to pick up your letter, I bet they start changing pretty fast.
Call animal control have pictures on hand and a writen statement of your concerns. you may want to give P.E.T.A. www.peta.org a try they may be able to lead you in the right direction and give you some support. they also will request pictures. As long as you notify the pet store that your going to take picture you are legally aloud to. You don't have to tell them what they are for. I would just make up something so they don't try to cover up incase of inspection. good luck, here is another web page for you, tons of info www.animalconcerns.org here is a positive artical about carroll county human socity in Mckinzie Tn. www.animalconcerns.org/resource.html?itemid=200406211039460.357575&catid=5
None of the animal group care much about herps. If its not warm and fuzzy they don't care. Try reporting that the feeder kittens are underfed, that'll get them in there....
I'd tread very carefully when dealing with PETA. They can get rather fanatical. I also believe that their underlying philosophy is that no animals shld be kept as pets. They'd be the first ones to lobby for a ban of herps as pets anywhere.
I've worked with them in the past and they were very helpful. not radical at all just instructed me on what to do and what my chocies were. I don't believe they would try to step into your personal life but would be very helpful in an abusive pet store. They do advicate pet owner ship and try very hard to lead people in the right direction in keeping healthy pets. they may not support the over breeding and importing of many animals but when you think about it who would?
Im going to back Spot on the PETA thing they worry me any group that will resort to near terrorist acts to get there point across is not worth contactiong in my opinion, I would stick to the sane and law abiding organizations. Sending letters to local papers that have a "rant" section and such have worked in the past. Bradon
I am going to try the paper and a local message board we are on. The Humaine Society is a joke here, they also don't care. I am so frustrated. To think that these people can do whatever they want to herps and not be held accountable makes me so angry I don't know what to do.
hey lturbott, if you dont mind me asking, what county do you live in? I live in Sumner and people here keep most animals terribly. im talking about petstores not hobbyists. Anyway contact the police... or charge them with animal cruelty, beacause in a way it is, If they sell them they should know how to keep them
It is Cumberland County. And trust me, I went through all this last year when the fair was giving away iguanas as prizes. I went from the police to the humaine( HA) society to animal control, to wildlife resources. No one gave a crap. I get so frustrated. Then to read that Tennessee is one of the MANY states that has no regulations on pet shops whatsoever. The guy still has the 2 beardies in one enclosure even after we let him know what is going to happen. He keeps saying they are "mates". Then he tried to tell us the BS that they have been together for 3 years. Ok, as I told him, we have went in there for 3 years and the only beardie we ever saw was a large one, which we believe died because there is no way the one he has now is the same as the one when we first went in. If it is, it has shrunk. GRRRRRRRRRRRRR
I don't know how it works in TN, but in Ohio, the USDA oversees pet shops and how they keep their animals. It may be worth a shot if you can't get anywhere with anyone else. And don't hold back details. Be very specific and explain exactly what's happening and specifically mention that they have blatantly refused to make the necessary changes. Also, check for any reptile rescue orgs in TN that maight be able to help.
Both PETA and the HSUS are enemies of herpers, instead of allies as they should be. They are against herps as pets in general, not merely their exploitation, and do everything they can to pass legislation against keeping reptile (HSUS mare so than PETA). Peta :roll: is just a bunch of 'tards who's own short-sightedness stands in the way of true animal conservation efforts. My friend recently called the Department of Agriculture on a local crappy pet store and they promised her a surpise inspection and they post the results to the public upon request. We are awaitng the results now.
Ok we got the results on our crappy pet store and the result was NOTHING!! They totally misread her complaint, overlooking any referances to the reptiles. She said that the reptiles were in filthy cages w/out adequate water or shelter. The so-called "inspector" made no mention of the reptiles in his report whatsoever, and said they she complained of lack of water and filthy cages for the dogs and other fuzzies, which they said were in adequate conditions. If you ask me the fuzzies are only marginally better off then the herps. The "inspector" also said that the overwhelmingly bad odor was "no worse than any other petshop" and was probably due to the two litters of kittens. Kittens don't smell that bad unless something is terribly wrong! I'm going to the petsore again and I'm likely to launch my own complaint. Plus my friend is likely to complain that the inspector did not do his job properly. He sounds as if he just chatted with the owner the whole time and didn't look around for himself. He wrote off the complaint as unfounded and the case closed. What a jerk!!! :evil: :evil: :evil:
thats happened to a local petshop where i live. they kept a bunch of cats some with kittens in a cat condo cage thing that only houses like maybe at tops 3 or 4 cats. we've used them with the rescue i volunteer for, for short periods of time, not all the time. some of the kittens couldnt find the mom so they would suckle on whichever cat was closest. the same pet store had trouble with their reptiles too and many have respiratory problems. granite they are a lil cleaner since theyve moved to a building a lil bit bigger. but they have had people call the workers at the local pound, the only place in the area who follows up on it. but good luck with the petshop near u. some small petshops only care about the money they get. there are some that are decent; we have one in my area.
if your in california you can call the police for animal code violations and the owners can have legal action taken against them. because california does have laws to regulate pet stoe conditions. just check the section on pet shops in the california penal code, heres a link http://www.anapsid.org/pettrade/penalcode.html that could help out anyone in cali that wants something done about a pet shop. the bottom also tells about what to do to get a pet shop owner in trouble for neglecting his animals.
