Anyone who runs a rescue is constantly having large iguanas, monitors, pythons, sulcatas etc. dumped on them. Timing is rarely opportune in such situations, and if Tom has nothing else available except a 55 for a 6 ft iguana or alligator, it still may be a better option (at least temporarily) for the animal than being taken to animal control where it will certainly be euthanized. There is a story behind every animal that ends up in a rescue, and there are enough of them out there in limbo that no rescue has to shop for them on Craigs List. Corey, from your report it appears you have only been there a few times or base your report from the videos. Toms facility, like many rescues, is a work in progress and things are constantly in a state of change.
Rescues in general commonly get surrenders that are in poor shape due to prior neglect or improper care, so their presence at Swords or other rescues is unremarkable at best. These don't magically recover overnight. I have had the opportunity to visit the facility numerous times in the last several years because my parents happen to live in his neighborhood. While there were flaws at the beginning, since the building was renovated after the accident, it has improved 100%. Tom has the full support of the local herp community for which his store has become a gathering and meeting/networking place. Many of us regularly provide whatever assistance that we can. After the accident his friends stepped up and fostered animals he did not have room for while the store was being repaired, including the alligator,and assisted with their rehoming. Since then the store was cleaned up and better cages were obtained. The store looks much nicer and the animals have more appropriate enclosures. Animal density has been reduced and their care is better.
Tom may not know every detail of the husbandry of every species he may end up with, and he may not always do everything exactly right, but with a little help from his friends he has been doing okay. Tom's store is licensed and inspected by the West Allis (This is NOT Milwaukee and no permits are required for alligators or anything else) Health Dept. and he follows their sanitation recommendations. Corey's critique is outdated. He should see the store now. Maybe he can post some pics of his own set-up for us to critique, or open his facility to the public every day so it can be inspected and publicly critiqued at every window in time. Maybe he could offer some positive support instead of spewing vitriolic negativity that helps no animals. Corey, Your threat to report Tom to ASPCA indicates AR sympathies. ASPCA = H$U$ = PETA. Are you an AR troll? Maybe this is not the right website for you.
Swords is not a cookie cutter Petco, PetSmart, Pet World, etc, as well as many of the industry shows, which are the ones you should be attacking since they are the source of things like cheap baby iguanas, burmese, sulcatas, that ultimately end up dumped in rescues.
Now that the condition of Swords has improved and most of the problems are corrected,
the store performs a valuable service to the neighborhood in the form of presenting the face of herpetoculture to the general public. Tom's patient one-on-one approach to interacting with the public and educating them about herps is what nearly every other pet store in the area fails to do in their haste to serve the bottom line. Milwaukee County Animal Control is owned and operated by PETA. They are weapon-wielding gestapo thugs that have formally declared war on the exotic pet community in this county through high-profile commando attacks and animal seizures and serve as the militarized face of the HSUS lobbyists that are in our state capitol EVERY DAY lobbying legislators for more restrictive animal legislation designed to eliminate our rights to keep/breed/sell every type of animal. The demystification and subsequent "normalization" of herpetology and herpetoculture to the general public that occurs every day at neighborhood outlets like Swords and other local rescues is a service to the entire Reptile Nation that money can't buy, and helps to defuse all of the media hysteria over reptiles that we have been seeing in recent years.
What Tom and others like him do helps make it possible for all of us to continue with the hobby we love. We need to recognize the value of what they do and also to help them do it better, rather than attacking their efforts.
