Last night I needed some supplies, and we were walking by an independant small pet store, and so I thought, why not just run in and get what we needed for our babies?

There were animals there, and it broke my heart. They had a small cage, with 8 cockateils in it, all of them dirty. One of the tiels was missing most of the feathers on hsi back, either he was being picked on, and no one bothered to seperate him, or he was so stressed he was plucking the feathers out himself (birds do that under extreme stress).

They had lovebirds, 6 in a small cage, no toys at all.

And the budgies (parakeets for you americans) ... They had DOZENS At least 30 all in one cage. There were so many they couldnt even jump from perch to perch easily. 1 food dish, 1 water dish, both filled with feces. All the birds were filthy. It's funny how just yesterday I told Gordon that if I ever found an albino budgie, or a grey yellow-headed budgie, I would want it. They had both there in that awful cage. I did not get them though, I can't have any more pets, Ive reached my limit.

Every single one of their cages were absolutely filthy.

They had bunnies too, 4 cramped in a cage too small for even one. I asked how old they were, 5 months old, and the genders were not seperated. I picked one of the bunnies up, he was covered in urine, just sticky with it. I asked the clerk how often the cage was cleaned, "I dunno, about every other day. When it gets messy" ?????? I am at a loss of words at that!!

I got really upset. Gordon made me leave the store. I may have been getting a little um...loud?

I wish I could write about the store in my magazine, but I can't. Silly slander laws. Pfft! I needed to vent somewhere though! So this is my vent.

If you are ever in Ontario, do NOT shop at Mausch's Pet Store. They are EVIL!!!!!
/rant

Grrrrr!!! I would turn the place in to the ASPCA or Humane Society or wherever it is that handles animal abuse/neglect cases where you live! That is sickening! They should be closed down! Now you've got me totally pissed and I didn't even see it thank God. I know me..I would have caused a big ole scene and demanded to talk to the owner of the place.
Get in touch with whatever organization handles those situations in your area. Do it for all those defenseless little critters. Please?
I think Gordon ought to go back there and kick their *****. And tell him to give 'em an extra smack or 2 for me too!!

i am with u both. i too would have made a scene. my hubby would have had to drag me out too. lol.
it is just so sad to know some places have certain animals and do not even know a thing about them, how to care for them or anything. i have come across a place like that here in san diego. it wasn't a mess or have any messy animals but they didn't have answers to my ?'s... it is just really sad that there are places like that out there and still in business. jerks!!! they need to do their research before opening the darn stores ya know.....

Thjats the problem, they HAVE done their research. They just dont care. Why would they spend all that time, resources and money on taking care of the animals??? It woudl take away from the end profit! And we woudlnt want that would we?

There were canaries there, and finches. Also had a pair of parrotlets, in a canary cage. I dont know how much room those birds need, but I wouldnt keep them in that. Like I said though, I dont know that bird very well, or what accomodations it needs.

They had puppies, in little kennels built into the wall. About 1 metre by 1 metre, and they had 3-4 pups in each, all small mix breed puppies, shih-poo and malti-apso etc etc...

It was so upsetting. I did call the humane society today when I got home from work. It was just ridiculous the conditions. I was sorely tempted to get some of the babies (specially the albino budgie!!!!!) but I dont have the resources to care for any new pets myself

OGM, I agree I would have caused a scene. I hope the humane society does something. Places like that need to be shut down. !!!! Poor little animals.

Make sure you follow up on it. Hey, how about calling your local news station? That would get 'em where it hurts! Then the proper authorities would have to step in. They couldn't just put it off or ignore it.

That sounds so horrible! The poor animals I'm pretty sure it's not considered slander if it's true. Or at least it's not against the law. But anyways, I'm glad you called the humane society, I hope they shut this place down.

contact your local spca or humane society !!!! and contact peta and other animal welfare groups, they deal with it.

also contact: avian welfare coalition, they are american but do have resources in uk and canada, and they have forms to file complaints again pet stores ...

http://www.avianwelfare.org/action/report.htm

http://www.ashlandcreative.com/awc/general/formgeneral.htm

arghhhh!!!!!! this thread made me sick!!!!!! I'm the type of guy that would have started cleaning cages myself!! I'm 6 foot 5inches tall and 235lbs. I doubt they could stop me. Plus if they called the police what are they gonna do, probably help me! Go back often and if conditions do not improve keep calling animal control!!! I got your back!!!!!!LOL

there is a local store by me that has budgies in a wast high bin with no top on it and their wings arent clipped !!!

they fly around, get stepped on, fly into things, get swatted at and fly out the door.

i asked the guy if he was going to catch them or if i could trim them for free for him and he refused both saying clipped birds dont sell LMAO i was like petco seems to do just fine with clipped birds !!!!

anyway so the ones that flew outside he was like oh well they are birds ... iw as like umm they will die within a day they cant find food and dont know how and have no flock to help them with birds of prey and he walked off.

so i went outside and caught 2 and put them in my purse and walked back in to buy a small $10 carrier LMAO

he said you need to pay for the birds ($20 a budgie) i said umm no i just asked and you said you didnt want them, as far as im concerned this a wild bird i caught, and you are welcome to call the police on me !!!

he didnt and i dropped them off at the lady at my vet office that rescues budgies, ive gotten about 16 from there so far hahaha