Reptiles from chain pet stores, such as Petco and Petsmart are most often from reptile mills, which is shown not just by peta and similar terrible vegan organisations but by numerous members of the public. Reptile mills, such as Reptiles by Mack, keep reptiles in horrendous condition, killing many of them. The reptiles that do survive are bred with little to no research into genetics before babies are sold and dangerously shipped to pet stores to be sold.
Now, to go through the steps of what the 'rescuer' sees/goes through when rescuing a reptile from a pet store.
- The rescuer drives to their local chain pet store (Petsmart, Petco, etc) with the intention of rescuing a reptile. They will likely have researched and are ready for the species they want to rescue.
- The rescuer looks around and makes their decision. They will choose the reptile they want to rescue and seek the assistance of an employeer in making the purchase. This animal has been rescued.
- The rescuer takes the animal home and nurses him/her back to health. They love and care for the animal and the animal seems to become comfortable with a new home and someone who looks after them.
The thing is, these rescuers are usually missing the last two steps
- Drive to store
- Pick animal
- Nurse animal back to health
- Records of the purchase are taken down, allowing the store to see how many of each reptile species was sold on any given day, including your purchase.
- The most popular, or best-selling, reptiles are ordered as high-priority items, as they are purchased most frequently, thus earning more money. The ordered reptiles are jammed into badly-packaged containers/boxes and shipped to the store, with some dying in transit or soon after arrival.
This is a huge issue. By buying an animal, instead of rescuing it from bad conditions, you are condemning more animals to suffering and death in a never-ending cycle of animal abuse ending with the chain pet store making more money and killing more animals. Sure, it would be practically impossible to make everyone stop buying from chain pet stores, meaning some animals will still be sold, but if enough people do stop buying reptiles from chain pet stores, drop in the sales of certain live reptiles would be noticed.
Another issue with rescuing these animals is that reptile mills are full of bacteria, disease and injury, so the animal you rescue may not even survive, or have to live with debilitating illness or disability. This can be very hard for the rescuer, who tried there best to help an animal, only to see the animal suffer further and die after being taken home. I've seen this multiple times, even on this subreddit, including one post of a Beardie bought from Petsmart. The owner was posting for desperate help as the baby was lethargic and 'stargazing' - staring straight up at the ceiling. The beardie was diagnosed with Atadenovirus (ADV) and later died.
This problem also extends outwards, with some other, slightly less cruel chain pet stores, beginning to subject their animals to cruelty purely for the purpose of attracting 'rescuers' and thus, making sales.
To conclude, this post isn't meant to attack rescuers, I know many of these rescuers are simply unaware of how they are supporting the system, or think there is no other way to stop the problem other then to rescue them. This post is made to be informative and share my own opinion on the matter. If you wish to share your opinion or tell your own story, perhaps of your own rescue reptile or pet store story, feel free to comment below.
If you wish to see more information, feel free to check out the following videos below, which I found very informative alongside other research:
- 'Calling 84 PetSmarts - Where do they actually get their reptiles?' - youtube.com/watch?v=VO8TT_JJslU
- 'Never Buy Animals from Petco or PetSmart - Animal Mills' - youtube.com/watch?v=CPeN643dBu4
Thanks for reading, and please keep it civil in the comments.
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