Insider Video Uncovers Dead, Sick, and Injured Reptiles at PetSmart Supplier

For Immediate Release:
December 2, 2024

Contact:
Moira Colley 202-483-7382

Phoenix –

A whistleblower who worked at an Ohio-based supplier to PetSmart storeshas provided PETA with damning video footage showing that bearded dragons shook and twitched uncontrollably as a result of a suspected virus, suffered with severed limbs and tails, and were denied basic necessities including water—among other severe deprivation.The former employee found69 bearded dragons dead in less than eight weeks. In response, PETA has dispatched a letter to PetSmart’s CEO calling on the notoriously unresponsive company to end its sales of bearded dragons as a first step—and urges the public to consider staying out of the chain’s stores until it stops selling all live animals.

The eyewitness—who worked at Reptiles by Mack in Xenia, Ohio, for nearly a year—told PETA that he “stuck it out” at the facility “to see what I might be able to do to help the animals,” but that he was “at the end of my rope … as every attempt to nurture the dragons is met with stern threats of write-ups for ‘being off task.’”

The whistleblower’s reported findings include the following:

At least 420 bearded dragons—including dozens of babies deemed “slow growers”—were gassed to death with carbon dioxide in less than eight weeks.
Staff were instructed to leave injured reptiles in bins until a veterinarian might examine them on his reported weekly visits. A supervisor left one dragon to suffer from a severely injured arm, claiming that the veterinarian could do nothing for her.
Zip ties were placed around the necks of dragons used for breeding, and the female dragons were left in garbage cans to lay eggs, apparently for up to six days at a time, without food or water.
Many of the bearded dragons shook and twitched violently, which a supervisor attributed to an adenovirus—a contagious and potentially painful virus spread by poor sanitation—which the supervisor said “every single” dragon at the facility had. The facility apparently took no measures to contain the virus and may have shipped sick dragons and/or asymptomatic carriers to pet stores nationwide.
Big-box pet stores’ representatives reportedly gave the facility a week’s notice before visiting, and staff worked late to “deep clean” before PetSmart reps visited the bearded dragon department—one of the chain’s “main focuses,” according to a senior worker. Otherwise, the plastic tubs the bearded dragons were confined to went up to a week without being cleaned at all.
Dehydrated reptiles scrambled to lap up water droplets during infrequent cleanings of the filthy, barren bins they were confined to and drank continuously when the whistleblower misted the enclosures.

An image captured by a whistleblower shows the skeletal remains of a baby bearded dragon at Reptiles by Mack.

“PetSmart’s animal sales are the meal ticket for miserable breeding operations like this one, where a whistleblower reported vulnerable reptiles being left to suffer from injuries in filth without even a drop of water,” says PETA Senior Vice President Daphna Nachminovitch. “The bare minimum PetSmart can do is to stop selling bearded dragons—but it will continue to treat animals as cheap, disposable inventory as long as there is a demand, so PETA is calling on caring consumers to everywhere to steer clear of this animal trafficker’s stores.”

The whistleblower also documented that thousands of additional baby bearded dragons were imported from overseas, packed by the dozen in tiny plastic containers.

A previous PETA investigation into Reptiles by Mack revealed that tens of thousands of frogs, lizards, turtles, and snakes were confined to filthy, cramped plastic tubs and deprived of fresh food, water, heat, UV light, and veterinary care. Hundreds of animals were packed for a PetSmart order without food or water and left in containers more than 24 hours before they were shipped.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow PETA on X, Facebook, or Instagram.