# I am in absolute agony



## Ratlettes (Mar 29, 2016)

My boyfriend took me to this shady pet store today hopefully to find a sweet girl (there is literally no breeders anywhere around me) and I'm not good with words right now, I was so horrified to see 5 or 6 medium sized birds in a cage not even suitable for 1 bird and.... One bird was getting pecked to death by the other one, he was wheezing and hissing and had his head down while being picked at. His entire back was featherless. and this adult reptile, I forgot the name of it was in a 20 gallon tank. A fucking twenty gallon tank for such a big creature. There was a cat walking around the place, a parrot was alone in a small cage I'm not even gonna talk about the rats because it was so heartbreaking. I am in so much emotional pain right now but their pain matters so much more than how I feel. I'm in the comfort of my home crying at unfortunate things while they're the ones hurting and this is so disgusting how can anyone own a business like that and sleep at night, proud of themselves for giving life to these animals and then force them to suffer for money. This is disgusting, anyone who doesn't care is disgusting. I should have cussed the piece of shits who work there out but I was on the verge of tears and just wanted to leave. I wanted to take all of them out of there more. This is just what I needed to know never to support these monsters ever again, but now where will I adopt my rats? How can I report this? Will they care enough to have it shut down instead of shrugging it off? My state laws for animal abuse in pet shops is very vague and only says they need clean food and water and nothing about sanitation or health. This is just what I needed to keep me on the road of veganism as well. No excuse for animal abuse


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## Gribouilli (Dec 25, 2015)

Where I live there are a few new pet-free pet stores that openned recently, and they are doing great. People who care about animal suffering in pet mills and pet stores should shop online or at pet stores that don't sell animals but only do adoption events. You did well to get out of that store as any animal you would have bought would have simply being replaced by more, making the situation only worse for more pets. The ONLY two things that can get that place to close is if they stop making profits, or if the situation is bad enough for them to be forced to close forever. Is there someone from a local animal shelter who could help you document the situation? Take videos? Maybe you could put those pics/videos online so people stop shopping there, maybe it can be picked up by your local news agency?


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## Gribouilli (Dec 25, 2015)

as to where to adopt your rats, see if there is a rat rescue within 5-8 hours of where you leave. Rat rescues have often trains going on and you might have to drive less than 1 hour...also craigslist where people will list the babies the female rat they bought from a pet store just had....your local animal shelter might have rats too. Good luck and thank you for being such a nice caring person http://www.thetravelinrat.org/rescue-list--rat-resources.html


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## Ratlettes (Mar 29, 2016)

Checked petfinder and the closest girls are in another state/border of my state!! I was thinking about Craigslist too, man I can't stop thinking about those poor birds. At least the local petsmart has a good amount of space for their birds, anyone with a heart wouldn't shop there but unfortunately they're still selling but I do desperately want them to go out of business seeing as how this is the most disgusting county for animal welfare in North Carolina and if we do contact authorities they wouldn't do anything (we do not even have an animal shelter are you kidding me, the GPS leads you to an out of business animal store). A pet supplies store without animals sounds like heaven, that store was nothing but dying animals and....decorations. it was weird they didn't even sell pet supplies?, just tortured souls and objects??? I am just so shocked they are getting away with the neglect and abuse.


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## Ratlettes (Mar 29, 2016)

Can anyone please help shut this place down with me and report it, I need this place to burn down in **** where it belongs. (animals safely out of course)


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## Squeakfluff (Dec 7, 2015)

I would take pictures and spread them around on social media. Word will get out pretty quickly that way.


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## Ratlettes (Mar 29, 2016)

Day 3 still thinking about it, I'm very lost on what to do still. This place is so anti animal care I don't think anything would work...


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## Gribouilli (Dec 25, 2015)

I'm going to pm you...


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## PopcornsMommy (Nov 13, 2016)

That sounds like a place near me..it's horrible how they treat their animals. I saw one worker pick a ratty up by her tail. Secretly, I was hoping she'd get bit.


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## PopcornsMommy (Nov 13, 2016)

The social media thing is a good idea, if they start to lose customers then maybe they'll be forced to care properly for the animals.


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## Fu-Inle (Jan 22, 2015)

There is one small, dirty petshop in my area that really needs to be put out of business. They have quails and parrots living in a small cage together. And since quails are flightless birds, they live on the poop covered floors where they get pooped on by the parrots above. And the parrots are missing feathers on their chests and have discharge on their nostrils. Then there are the fish tanks, the water is green and looks like they never get cleaned. They also sell rats and mice, they live in small tanks. The rats had scabs on their necks and they reeked to the high heavens. Worse of all, they sell puppies, mind you they also reeked of urine.


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## Gribouilli (Dec 25, 2015)

Whenever you see sick pets or pets kept in dirty cages or inappropriate cages...take some pics and post them along a bad review on review sites such as Yelp, Google map...it won't take you much time and will help people who cares avoid those pet stores. NEVER buy anything at all from a pet store that sells animals.


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## DamselChum (Jun 8, 2016)

Also don't forget your local Animal Control, can and DO investigate alleged animal cruelty and neglect in pet shops.


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