I would also like to state that I have received hateful and threatening email from a few of you who disagree with me, but are apparently unwilling to divulge their identites. I will not tolerate this any loger, wan WILL report this type of harrassment to you ISP's and to this forum.
I am compelled to post this in order to clarify the issues that took this thread from its original post titled, “Has this ever happened to you?” through a maze of accusations to its current point of the topic of the universal dislike of greedy lawyers and the unundation of California legislature. Mind you, I was never allowed to complete my account of the entire chain of events of the issue involving two San Francisco Petco stores being disallowed from selling animals. The vast majority of the context of this thread has been centered around me and evolved into cruel insinuations of me being the sole culprit of PeTA’s war against Petco, and has eluded to my alleged ‘alignment’ with them and participation in laws being passed.
There have been some excellent points and compelling issues made by many on this thread, many of which I agree completely… and I feel that debates on differences of opinion can be stimulating and educational as long as the issues are not overwhelmed by personal attacks. For some of you, I have been unsuccessful in making my point, and this is most likely due to the defensive posture I was forced to take. I have also participated in infantile name-calling, and for that I am truly apologetic.
I will provide the link to Petco’s written policy on companion animal care and employee training:
http://www.petco.com/animalcare/quality.asp?webt=0&
The California Law regarding animal treatment I have already provided in a previous post. Now, I would like to summarize the FACTS once again:
1.) I personally witnessed horrendous conditions and sick/dying/dead reptiles in a local Petco. I brought it to the attention of the store manager, who could have cared less. I called their 800 number and made a complaint, and had no response whatsoever.
2.) I returned to that store several months later, and observed even worse conditions. Once again, I brought it to the attention of the manager, as well as the employees. I was allowed to assist them and educate them on the proper care of these reptiles.
3.) I took home a total of three Leopard Geckos from that particular store that were infected with Coccidia, only to have them die in spite of veterinary treatment and my efforts to dropper feed them twice daily, sanitize their enclosures daily, and keep them quarantined over a period of nearly two months.
4.) I contacted Petco Corporate management about the issues in that particular store, and spent approximately one year actively corresponding with PetCorp, and accumulating evidence that THEY asked for in order to do anything about it.
5.) I was finally making progress when PetCorp arranged to have me do formal training on the behavior, care, and husbandry of their reptiles, specifically Leopard Geckos since I have the most experience with them. I was elated!
6.) After the training, I was approached by one of the store employees who showed me a dying animal, cried for help, and advised me that the management refused veterinary care and had ordered her to hide many of these fatally sick, emaciated and neglected creatures in their back room. She was threatened with termination if she said anything about it.
7.) I reacted emotionally. I felt that I had spent an incredible amount of time and effort to make a difference in the way Petco keeps their reptiles, and was stunned with what I had just observed. I threatened the managers with calling the police if they refused veterinary care for these animals, quoting the law AND Petco’s own policy.
8.) A few days later, I responded to several posts of KS Leopard Geckos Forum inquiring how the training went. I responded that I felt the training went very well, but what happened after the training was extremely disturbing. I DID NOT post what happened, but did describe the incidents to individuals via email correspondence.
9.) I received an email from PetCorp’s head animal guy scolding me for making ANY kind of negative statement about Petco on a public forum, and telling me how the management felt I had “stabbed them in the back.” I was then ostracized from any further involvement with them or Petco’s training. I DID NOT give up, I was basically ‘fired’ for telling the truth.
10.) I kept in contact with several Petco employees who truly wanted to improve the conditions in their stores, and wanted to utilize me as a resource of information on the care of the store’s reptiles. I continued, (and still do) to offer any assistance and advise I could.
11.) I was provided written documentation from a Petco employee that contained information on the source breeders/suppliers of the ‘sick’ reptiles that Petco purchases and claims to “come in that way”. I contacted BOTH of the breeders/suppliers directly on several occasions, only to have a response from one of them.
11.) I was contacted by a reporter from NBC Dateline News in NYC doing a story on pet stores and the animals they sell, with an emphasis on Petco. She was interested in my opinions on such things as hot rocks, the level of understanding and training of employees on animal care, and asked me if I would ever consider wholesaling geckos to a pet store, and why/why not. I answered her in general terms, and advised her that the best information she could get would be from the employees of Petco themselves. I gave the reporter’s contact information to two Petco employees, and have no idea what became of it.
12.) I was informed that the two employees I was in contact with had been terminated from the two local Petco stores, one was the employee from the original Petco store who had been terminated for allegedly stealing animals, when in reality she was taking sick ones home to care for them after being denied veterinary care. I told her I would support her if she needed me to. The other was terminated for refusing to ‘knowingly sell sick/infected animals.’
13.) I was contacted by a local resident that they had purchased a Leopard Gecko from one of the Petco stores I had dealt with which died of documented Cryptosporidia. I told them I would support them, as well.
14.) Several months later, I was contacted by an attorney’s office who was prosecuting a class-action lawsuit brought against Petco by representing the terminated employees and several others who had been sold crypto infected Leopard Geckos. I cooperated with that attorney, and was subsequently summoned for a deposition in the case. I was deposed for two days, and later received a subpoena to turn over any and all documentation relating to the case. I complied.
15.) The District Attorney’s office later filed suit against Petco on behalf of the City of San Francisco, and it is pending to this date.
So, there you have it in a nutshell. Did I go through the proper channels to correct a deplorable situation in a local Petco store? YES! Did I try to make a difference for the care of the animals and training for the employees on the local store level? YES! Did I call the authorities and turn those stores in? NO! Was I instrumental in making or causing any kind of legislation against owning pets? NO! Did I have anything to do with the passing of the law that care sheets need to be provided? NO! Am I in any way responsible for PeTA’s long-waging activities against Petco? NO! Did I support individual employees that were wrongfully terminated and individuals who were ‘knowingly’ sold sick and infected reptiles from two local Petco stores? YES! Did I contribute to those two stores being denied the ability of selling animals? PROBABLY! Does that make me a PeTA supporter? NO! Am I sorry for any of my actions or beliefs? ABSOLUTELY NOT!
Those two Petco stores deserved to be denied the selling of animals by their own doings, NOT for any actions of mine. ANY business that is conducted so blatantly irresponsible the way those stores did deserve to be made accountable for their own actions! Just read the BOI and you will find literally hundreds of accounts of persons and businesses being held responsible for unethical conduct and mistreatment of animals… and the very people who have jumped on the band-wagon in this thread’s “witch hunt” on me for trying to do what I believed to be right have also acted like a lynch mob against other individuals and businesses for acting like Petco! Those individuals and businesses do not deserve to sell animals until they can do it responsibly.
The longer all of those who pass judgment on people who try to do something about it without making any effort to contribute anything themselves, the longer this kind of treatment of animals will continue. It is THAT behavior that brings negative attention to the pet trade, not one individual who cares enough about the animals to stand up the the management and say something about it.
Rich is absolutely right... we need to get on the horn, write email, send letters to our State Legislators not only to the effect of preserving our rights to keep reptiles as pets, but also letting them know we do not condone the illegal, unethical, irresponsible and deplorable treatment of ANY animal.. whether it's a lizard, snake, puppy or kitten. We need to be on the same page and set exemplary precident on behalf of ourselves the animals we all love and are 'guaridans' for, and avoid the spread dissidence amongst ourselves.
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