Authorities Find Sick, Dead Animals Inside PetSmart Supplier Warehouse
In the wake of PETA’s recent investigation of three PetSmart stores across the country—in which an eyewitness found systemic neglect and widespread animal suffering—we sent a letter to the Georgia Department of Agriculture asking it to inspect Sun Pet, Ltd., a supplier of small animals in Atlanta that was put on probation by the Georgia Department of Agriculture following a PETA investigation in 2010.
Authorities sent a state veterinarian to Sun Pet. He found sick animals, including several racks of “unhealthy” hamsters. He also found one guinea pig with an orbital abscess and another who had eye discharge. Three guinea pigs had dermatitis. While employees separated racks of sick animals, the veterinarian also found a dead gerbil.
In PETA’s recent exposé of PetSmart stores, a supervisor instructed employees never to tell customers that PetSmart obtains animals from Sun Pet. The supervisor said that conditions at Sun Pet were “horrendous” but that the chain still buys animals from it because “PetSmart’s cheap.”
Sun Pet shipped very young, underweight guinea pigs to a Nashville, Tennessee, store, including one who arrived dead. The eyewitness found another underweight guinea pig, named Waylon, who died five days after he had arrived from Sun Pet. A PetSmart supervisor said that Sun Pet was “just pushing out guinea pigs … as fast as [PetSmart will] take them.”
Multiple mice from one Sun Pet shipment became bloated, had discharge from their eyes and ears, and struggled to breathe. When one of these mice, named Brain, developed a swollen face and walked with a head tilt, a PetSmart supervisor said that they could “squish” or freeze him to death. The store manager said, “He’s just a mouse. Who cares?”
What You Can Do
Always adopt, and shop for animal supplies only at retailers that don’t sell animals. Every time people buy anything—even supplies—from stores that sell animals, they’re supporting horror factories such as Sun Pet.
Seven eyewitness investigations of animal dealers tied to Petco and/or PetSmart have revealed that animals suffer in filthy, abusive conditions. Let these stores know that you’ll shop elsewhere until they end all animal sales:
