Your Help is Needed - Stop Parrot Cruelty

[Diashi]

Yesterday I went to my local PetCo to pick up some food and supplies. What I saw was horrifying.

There were two Sun Conures, a Green Cheek, and a Cockatiel for sale, all of which were showing signs of sickness and distress, and all of which had inadequate living conditions.

There was very little food, incredibly dirty water, only one old (like it had been used by 10 different birds) chewed-up toy per conure habitat. The cockatiel didn't have any toys. There was some old, dirty spray millet in the cockatiel's cage, but no other food.

The saddest was the cinnamon green cheek conure. This poor bird was in abysmal condition. She has labored breathing, her feathers were a mess, and looked scared to death. I literally broke into tears at the store.

After writing to PetCo Corporate, and receiving a very vague, corporate response, I decided to see if there were any petitions going to stop the sale of live exotic birds at Pet Stores. There is, but it needs A LOT more signatures. Please, if you agree, help us by signing and sharing on social media. !


MoveOn Petitions - Stop selling exotic birds at Petsmart, Petco and Pet Supplies "Plus"

 

[veimar]

Signed and shared. It probably varies from store to store though - we have very nice conures and tiels in our Petco, and they have plenty of toys and food. The water of one of the conures was pretty dirty one day I visited, so I asked the manager to change it which she did right away. I hate the glass though! It's ridiculous that they're kept behind the glass like reptiles!
Could you report this Petco to the local animal control?

 

[Dopey]

The Petco's and the PetSmart's around here are pretty good. They aren't perfect but then again neither am I.

 

[weco]

If you viewed deplorable conditions of any pet at a pet store, petitions like the one you referenced, actually are really not that effective...that one's been around a year and seems not to be very effective and in all honesty, it was not written very well.....

The treatment afforded in a particular store is directly attributable to that store's manager and his/her district/zone manager...and...rather than signing a national petition that apparently has garnered little interest, getting a local TV station interested in the story would go much further to correcting the problem and since many of us have readily available cameras with us almost around the clock, like the saying goes.....pictures are worth a thousand words and make these types of allegations very difficult to refute.....even though it's been a couple of days, maybe go back and take some good pictures of the conditions these birds are in.....

 

[Diashi]

Trust me, I did take photos and I am handling this incidence to the best of my ability, on a local level. This has been reported to several watchful eyes in the community.

I believe every effort, even a small grassroots petition that was written by a real person and from the heart, has merit in bringing awareness to this issue.

My experience at PetCo was unusual. I have been shopping at PetCo for close to 10 years and have never seen anything like this. I certainly did not form the opinion that exotic birds and reptile sales should be banned from large profit chains, based on this one experience.

Short and sweet as this petition is, it is dead on and simple to understand. These parrots are being sold BY the uneducated, TO the uneducated. This combination can only result in parrots being re-homed, abandoned, set loose, and surrendered to shelters. I just took in a parrotlet...A PARROTLET...that had already been re-homed three times. No parrot owner with their eyes open can deny that there is a nation-wide problem.

I think that PetCo needs to treat intelligent avian species with the same respect that they do puppies and kittens. And that is to stop fueling oversees imports and unethical bird mills which are contributing to a nation-wide homeless parrot epidemic.

My thought on sharing it here, in the parrot community, is that knowledgeable parrot owners could search their hearts and see how they can aid this cause in whatever way they can - even if it's just signing a small petition, which in time, may be a large force to be reckoned with.

Thanks for reading!

 

[Giggleagain]

Signed 2 minutes ago.

 

[Christinenc2000]

Signed and shared. It probably varies from store to store though - we have very nice conures and tiels in our Petco, and they have plenty of toys and food. The water of one of the conures was pretty dirty one day I visited, so I asked the manager to change it which she did right away. I hate the glass though! It's ridiculous that they're kept behind the glass like reptiles!
Could you report this Petco to the local animal control?

I was told the glass is for the birds protection. Keeps stupid people from poking stuff in the cage. The manager told me once that a customer put chewing gum in a cage and it stuck to the birds feathers.

 

[4dugnlee]

Oh that's so sad! What I don't understand is if these stores are trying to sell these poor birds, who do they think is going to purchase them if they look like that and their environment is bad? It would benefit the store to take care of the animals and keep them healthy so they can be sold. I live out in the boonies and have no Petco/Petsmart stores anywhere near me...just one local pet store and the birds/animals are very well taken care of (it is family owned and not a chain store). I would have cried seeing what you did too, but I probably would have caused a scene...:54:

 

[Minimaker]

I honestly doubt you'll get anywhere with the petition-these things have been going on forever and I honestly feel like they always will. The problem needs addressed at the store level. Take photos of what you see, post them online in your area-like facebook for instance. Bring it to the attention of the local public and more people will speak up and demand better treatment of the birds. If you see a problem, always take photos first. Then speak to the manager about the conditions. If you get nowhere, take it online. Public outcry works wonders in many situations.

 

[Hawk]

Hi everyone,

Signed and Shared, Yes true everyone, the petition has been around but that's because it's not getting to the proper places.

There are newly enacted laws for animal abuse nationwide, and many states are taking these very seriously now. In fact many states now have an animal abuse registry, much like those sex offender registries, and post all over the net abuse to any animal. It's become very effective.

I have seen some horrific conditions at pets mart and pet supply plus. They haven't a clue how to deal with birds. Many of the employees that work for them only care about a pay-check, they don't give a flying hoot about the animals there.

Get state law makers involved. Write to your attorney generals office, they're the ones to get the ball moving, trust me, I have shut down 3 businesses with their help, provided you have solid evidence to present, it will work in your favor.