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A PETA Undercover Investigation

Behind the Scenes in the Pet Trade

For seven months, a PETA investigator went undercover at U.S. Global Exotics (USGE), a massive international exotic-animal wholesale facility in Arlington, Texas. At the time, USGE was one of the nation’s largest sellers of exotic animals to distributors and pet stores around the world. In the U.S., USGE shipped mammals, reptiles, amphibians, arachnids, and other animals to pet stores, breeders, and other wholesale distributors, including suppliers to PETCO and PetSmart. One such supplier was Rainbow World Exotics, at which similarly horrific conditions were found by another undercover PETA investigator. PETA’s investigation of USGE and courtroom testimony also revealed that the company directly supplied animals to national chain Petland.

USGE confined tens of thousands of animals to its facility and employed a staff of three or four people to care for them. PETA’s investigation revealed that hamsters, gerbils, hedgehogs, chinchillas, ferrets, snakes, lizards, turtles, tortoises, frogs, wallabies, sloths, anteaters, kinkajous, and other exotic animals suffered terribly as a result of continuous, cruel confinement to severely crowded and filthy enclosures. Animals at USGE were denied not only a natural habitat but also the most basic necessities, including food, water, adequate air and space, humidity, heat, veterinary care, and even a painless end to their misery.

Primates and other sophisticated mammals at USGE were locked inside barren bins and cages as well as dark, dungeon-like metal troughs, sometimes for months. Animals who were subjected to this type of cruel confinement were driven to desperate behaviors such as incessant pacing, “back flips,” and other repetitive movements; frantic clawing at cage openings in an attempt to escape; fighting for space and food; and refusing to eat. Hundreds of injured and dying squirrels, lizards, and snakes were frozen to death in USGE’s chest freezer, in which some animals remained alive for hours before finally dying.

Snakes

Snakes perished daily at the facility. Many were wild-caught and shipped to the facility from all over the world to be stored in shoebox-size containers or extremely crowded troughs. They were starved and deprived of a proper heat source, adequate space, and even water, and many languished, suffered seizures, and died over the course of weeks and months. Hundreds of snakes were put into a freezer to die, slowly and painfully. Snakes routinely got loose—a threat to their own as well as other animals’ safety. Many others died as a result of untreated illnesses, infections, and/or injuries.

In order to save money, the company’s owners often refused to order the food needed to sustain life for many of the snakes. The company vice president deemed a veterinarian’s recommended course of treatment for hundreds of sick snakes “f***ing ludicrous” and “ridiculous” because of the effort and expense it would have required, which were minimal. On the day of the seizure, reptile experts found hundreds of suffering snakes deprived of the basics that they needed to survive, including heat, humidity, adequate space, UV lighting, and more.

May 6, 2009: Crowded inside a trough are an indeterminate number of snakes.
May 8, 2009: Ball pythons in sacks
May 8, 2009: Newly arrived snakes
May 11, 2009: A variety of dead snakes
May 12, 2009: Two emaciated red-tail boas
May 19, 2009: Dead garter snakes
May 20, 2009: Dead garter snakes
May 20, 2009: Dead water snake
May 26, 2009: Sixty-five dead garter snakes
May 29, 2009: An emaciated Guyana red-tail boa near death
June 4, 2009: Found with his or her skin torn off, this Suriname red-tail boa was placed in a freezer to die.
June 5, 2009: Dead Guyana red-tail boa
June 11, 2009: Two dead snakes—one ball python and one false anaconda
June 15, 2009: A dead emerald tree boa with a large build-up of a caseous material in his or her oral cavity
June 16, 2009: The freezer in which countless snakes and other animals were slowly and cruelly frozen to death
June 19, 2009: In need of moisture, a yellow rat snake has no choice but to squeeze him- or herself into a small container of water.
June 29, 2009: A dead Cook's tree boa
June 29, 2009: Suffering from a severe virus, this ball python was denied veterinary care—so, too, were hundreds of other ball pythons who were frozen to death or allowed to suffer and slowly die.
July 6, 2009: Eighteen dead Indonesian garter snakes
July 6, 2009: A dead ball python who was allowed to suffer and die from a virus
July 9, 2009: A ball python suffering from a severe virus denied veterinary care
July 10, 2009: A dead emerald tree boa and a live frog in the Dumpster
July 14, 2009: These and dozens of other snakes were delivered to the Dallas Fort Worth Airport on a Saturday in July. Despite the fact that the snakes were crated in temperatures that surpassed 100 degrees, the company did not get around to picking them up until three days later.
July 24, 2009: Unhealthy reticulated python
August 7, 2009: One of many Cook's tree boas who died
August 14, 2009: In these bins are 100 corn snakes.
August 18, 2009: Emaciated radiated rat snakes
August 18, 2009: An emaciated radiated rat snake
August 27, 2009: This desert king snake is one of many who were cruelly confined to bins that were too small.
September 17, 2009: Though severely injured, this Brazilian rainbow boa was denied veterinary care. The company president laughed and joked about the snake’s plight and offered to sell him or her to PETA's investigator for $35, saying that it was “a good deal.”
September 17, 2009: Severely injured in a fight, this Brazilian rainbow boa was denied veterinary care. The company president laughed and joked about the snake's plight and offered to sell him or her to PETA's investigator for $35, saying that it was “a good deal.”
October 8, 2009: In just one trough were 75 large ball pythons, who piled on top of each other at each end.
October 20, 2009: Emaciated Suriname red-tail boa
October 20, 2009: Emaciated Suriname red-tail boa

Frogs and Toads

Tiny frogs were packed inside 2-liter plastic soda bottles piled into a cardboard box. Denied food, water, heat, humidity, and air, the frogs remained inside the bottles sometimes for weeks, until they were sold or they died—whichever came first. When it was time for shipping, the bottles were violently shaken, and the fragile frogs were yanked out by their legs and stuffed into “shipping cups.” Larger frogs and toads went hungry inside metal troughs, imprisoned amid their own waste and the rotting remains of other frogs.

On the day of the seizure, PETA’s team of experts found land frogs confined to the same dry troughs as aquatic frogs; emaciated, dehydrated, discolored, dying and dead frogs and toads; toads with prolapsed rectums; and toads whose faces were rubbed raw and bloody as a result of their repeated attempts to escape the crowded enclosures that they were being kept in. One of PETA’s experts opined, “Many frogs requiring high humidity levels, such as tree frogs, were housed in cages with one potted plant and newspaper on the cage bottom. … [T]he conditions were so insufficient that many of the plants were wilting and dying. Frogs found in these cages were commonly all crowded in the potting soil as this is the only location where they had access to hiding places under dead [leaves].”

May 26, 2009: Hundreds of frogs—many of them malnourished—are kept in severely crowded, filthy conditions, crammed into a metal trough and deprived of enough clean water to prevent bacterial and fungal skin conditions.
June 19, 2009: Countless frogs, snakes, lizards, and other animals are subjected to cruel capture and confinement in preparation for and during shipping in and out of the U.S. These frogs died during shipping and/or shortly after arriving at USGE from Tunisia.
June 19, 2009: Countless frogs of all shapes and sizes suffer and die during and shortly after shipment to and from the U.S. to be sold as “pets.”
July 3, 2009: These frogs and lizards perished en route to the facility during shipping from Indonesia. The animals' remains are displayed and photographed so that USGE can seek a credit for the monetary value of the animals whose deaths are part of the pet trade industry's daily toll.
August 19, 2009: Frogs who are considered “B grade” and cannot be sold are used to feed other animals. This frog suffered a severe eye injury and other non-fatal wounds when confined to a tiny plastic box with a snake. The frog was eventually killed and eaten by another snake.
August 24, 2009: Neglected frogs like these were kept in 2-liter soda bottles for weeks on end without food or water. These frogs were deemed “B grade,” having become sick—likely as a result of their unsanitary, toxic environment—and were fed to snakes at the facility.
October 6, 2009: These tiny, nearly airless containers hold the remains of red-eyed tree frogs who did not survive the grueling shipping process typical of the pet trade industry.
October 6, 2009: Here is a glimpse into one of the dozens of tiny, barren containers holding the remains of emaciated red-eyed tree frogs who did not survive shipment to the facility.
October 8, 2009: These haphazardly placed 2-liter soda bottles contain 800 frogs; 50 frogs are confined to each bottle. Denied food and water, the frogs remain in the bottles until they are sold or die, whichever comes first.

'Pocket Pets'

Hedgehogs, ferrets, sugar gliders, chinchillas, various squirrels, and prairie dogs—commonly referred to as “pocket pets”—were fatally neglected by USGE. One young hedgehog, mauled by another and found with his front leg barely attached (just by the skin), was denied care or even euthanasia by the facility. Injured and/or sick animals—including a spotted squirrel whose neck was so badly wounded that muscle was exposed and a chinchilla with a prolapsed rectum—were intentionally put in a freezer to die.

On the day of the seizure, authorities found more than 60 dead sugar gliders bagged in one of the facility’s chest freezers as well as hundreds of hedgehogs crammed by the dozen into metal troughs, including starving and dying newborns whose mothers were too stressed to nurse them and who were being crushed to death by adult hedgehogs fighting for space, food, water, and places to hide.

May 29, 2009: A crowded prairie dog trough
June 16, 2009: Dead hedgehogs
June 18, 2009: A crowded prairie dog trough
July 29, 2009: An injured hedgehog
September 5, 2009: Chinchillas in a feces-filled bin
September 8, 2009: Dead squirrels
September 9, 2009: Flying squirrel remains
September 18, 2009: A dead hedgehog
September 21, 2009: Half of a rat in a food bowl
September 24, 2009: A dead and mutilated hedgehog
September 28, 2009: A deceased ground squirrel
September 28, 2009: Chinese chipmunk remains
September 28, 2009: A dead and mutilated ground squirrel
September 28, 2009: “Today's dead”
September 29, 2009: A severely injured rock squirrel
September 30, 2009: A severely injured rock squirrel
October 1, 2009: A rock squirrel who was denied veterinary care
October 1, 2009: This spotted squirrel with half of his or her neck chewed off was placed in a freezer to die.
October 1, 2009: This severely injured and suffering spotted squirrel was placed in a freezer to die.
October 2, 2009: An injured rock squirrel and bloody water bowl
October 2, 2009: Two chinchillas who nearly drowned because of a faulty watering-system nozzle
October 5, 2009: A mutilated chipmunk
October 6, 2009: A sugar glider who was allowed to go blind
October 8, 2009: A dead hedgehog
October 10, 2009: A dead, bloodied rock squirrel
October 21, 2009: A crowded hedgehog enclosure

Hamsters and Gerbils

Thousands of hamsters—whose ultimate destinations were major pet store chains around the nation, including PETCO and PetSmart location—were cruelly confined to dark, barren, extremely crowded litter pans, which resulted in severe psychological distress, terrible fighting, cannibalization, wounds, infections, and daily deaths. Faulty watering-system nozzles routinely flooded bins and often left hamsters and gerbils to fight for hours to keep their heads above water or drown.

On the day of the seizure, authorities found hundreds of frantic hamsters crammed—without access to food or water—into shipping crates that had arrived from the Netherlands the previous day and were left unpacked. USGE was known to receive such massive shipments from the Netherlands at least once a week.

Dozens of bins (which are essentially just large litter pans) containing small mammals line the mammal room wall at USGE. The bins contain thousands of hamsters, gerbils, chinchillas, rats, squirrels, and other animals sold as exotic “pets.”
Dozens of bins (which are essentially just large litter pans) containing small mammals line the mammal room wall at USGE. The bins contain thousands of hamsters, gerbils, chinchillas, rats, squirrels, and other animals sold as exotic “pets.”
September 3, 2009: These are just 27 of the dozens of hamsters who perish daily at this facility. Those who survive are shipped to distributors all over the U.S., which supply them to PETCO and PetSmart stores nationwide.
September 4, 2009: These are just 23 of the dozens of hamsters who die daily at this facility. Those who survive are shipped to distributors all over the U.S., which supply them to PETCO and PetSmart stores nationwide.
September 5, 2009: A faulty watering system leads to routine flooding of bins containing live animals at USGE. Animals who survive near-drowning often get sick with pneumonia and perish over the course of a few days.
September 5, 2009: A faulty watering system leads to routine flooding of bins containing live animals at USGE. Animals who survive near-drowning often come down with pneumonia and are left to languish, untreated, over the course of a few days, then finally die.
September 8, 2009: This shipping crate crammed full of hamsters is headed to APET, Inc., a large animal distributor that supplies hamsters and other animals to PETCO, Petland, and others.
September 8, 2009: This shipping crate crammed full of hamsters is headed to APET, Inc., a large animal distributor that supplies hamsters and other animals to PETCO, Petland, and others.
September 8, 2009: Severe crowding is par for the course at USGE. Here, live and dead hamsters are crammed together inside one of the dozens of litter pans that the facility uses to house small mammals.
September 9, 2009: These dead hamsters were pulled out of a bin full of sick hamsters. The deaths and illness were brought to the attention of USGE's vice president, who took no action to alleviate their suffering.
September 10, 2009: Here is one of USGE's tiniest victims—a dead gerbil.
September 10, 2009: These are the mutilated remains of one of countless hamsters who died at USGE as a result of extreme crowding and cruel confinement.
September 15, 2009: Animals shipped for sale in the pet trade suffer terrible crowding while in transit. Here, gerbils are tightly packed inside a crate that recently arrived at USGE.
September 17, 2009: Hamsters, who are solitary animals, are crammed together into small, waste-filled bins and deprived of all that is natural and important to them, leading to terrible, deadly fights and cannibalization.
September 19, 2009: These are some of the “day's dead.”
September 21, 2009: Roughly 100 teddy bear hamsters were packed into this shipping crate, headed for sale at Tropi-Quatics in Lombard, Illinois.
September 21, 2009: Roughly 100 teddy bear hamsters were packed into this shipping crate, headed for sale at Tropi-Quatics in Lombard, Illinois.
September 23, 2009: These are the mutilated remains of one of countless hamsters who died at USGE as a result of extreme crowding and cruel confinement.
September 30, 2009: This little hamster was found in a terribly crowded bin, hunched over, breathing heavily, with one of his eyes almost sealed shut and the other bulging out of his head. He died shortly after this photo was taken.
September 28, 2009: This is one of countless hamsters who suffered and died at USGE. Animal victims like this one are listed on a “dead log” and considered part of the industry's daily death toll.
September 30, 2009: These are the mutilated remains of one of countless hamsters who died at USGE as a result of severe crowding and cruel confinement.
October 10, 2009: Soaking wet, terrified hamsters huddle together after a faulty watering-system nozzle floods the bin to which they are confined.
October 10, 2009: Soaking wet, terrified hamsters huddle together in a food bowl after a faulty watering-system nozzle floods the bin to which they are confined.
October 10, 2009: This traumatized, cold, wet hamster survived one of the floods common to USGE's faulty watering system.
October 27, 2009: This gerbil, who was shipped from Reintjes Import and Export in the Netherlands to USGE in Texas, spent much, if not all, of his trip trapped with his teeth caught on the shipping-crate wire.
October 27, 2009: This gerbil, who had chewed his way out of and escaped an enclosure, was found to have drowned in the facility's sump-pump well.
October 30, 2009: Hamsters struggle to escape a water-filled bin that had flooded as a result of a faulty water nozzle—a routine occurrence at USGE.
October 30, 2009: The mutilated bodies of these hamsters were pulled out of severely crowded bins in USGE's mammal room.
October 26, 2009: A wet gerbil attempts to escape the water by sitting in a food bowl inside the flooded bin to which he and other gerbils are confined.
October 28, 2009: A live hamster stands next to the dead, mutilated body of a fellow hamster.
November 2, 2009: This is one of dozens of dead hamsters pulled out of bins on a Monday.

Lizards

Lizards and salamanders died by the thousands en route to USGE as well as at the facility itself. Extreme crowding, starvation, dehydration, and untreated disease left iguanas, tegus, anoles, geckos, salamanders, and other lizards to waste away for days and weeks. Many were never unpacked upon arrival at USGE; they perished inside mesh bags and “shipping cups,” then were photographed and claimed as “deads” so that the facility owner could ask his suppliers for refunds.

On the day of the seizure, the decomposing, liquefying remains of more than 200 iguanas were extracted from bags containing almost as many live iguanas, all of whom had been bagged and crammed into crates and left without food or water for nearly two weeks in preparation for a shipment to Egypt.

May 14, 2009: A live uromastyx lizard is found in the freezer.
May 26, 2009: Dead lizards
May 26, 2009: A bowl of dead lizards
June 16, 2009: A pile of dead lizards
June 19, 2009: Lizards and frogs are dead on arrival.
June 26, 2009: Forty dead tiger salamanders
July 31, 2009: Geckos
September 4, 2009: Hermit crabs and a lizard in the Dumpster
September 14, 2009: Nine dead chameleons
September 14, 2009: Three dead iguanas
September 22, 2009: Three severely emaciated dead geckos
September 24, 2009: Seven dead collared lizards
September 24, 2009: Dead lizards
September 24, 2009: A fly sitting on a deceased lizard
September 29, 2009: Denied veterinary care, a black-and-white tegu lizard is found dead.
October 2, 2009: Emaciated collared lizards
An emaciated collared lizard is found dead.
October 2, 2009: Various reptiles who were dead on arrival
October 15, 2009: Dead uromastyx lizards
October 16, 2009: Nine dead collared lizards
October 19, 2009: Nine dead collared lizards
October 21, 2009: Dead uromastyx lizard

Turtles and Tortoises

Thousands of turtles were confined, along with other turtles’ remains, to horribly crowded enclosures filled with stagnant, filthy water that left the animals, according to the company president, smelling like “morning toilet.” One worker was directed to place 6,000 yellow-bellied turtles into one enclosure. Turtles had to push and fight their way through layers of other turtles just to surface for air. Tortoises were confined to crowded troughs and underfed. Turtles were left packed in shipping containers and pillowcases, as a matter of course, for days and weeks.

One shipment containing dozens of turtles in knotted pillowcases was left to sit out for a week, leaving many of the turtles dead when it was finally unpacked. At least 12,000 turtles sat boxed up for weeks in the facility’s warehouse, deprived of food, water, and adequate space and ventilation. In just one day, 657 were recorded on the facility’s dead list. Roughly 10,000 turtles and tortoises were found on the day of the seizure languishing in grossly unsanitary and severely crowded conditions. Thousands of tiny turtles were found stored in cardboard boxes at the facility, deprived of the heat, air, space, food, water, and humidity that they desperately needed to survive. Many of them had suffered too much for too long to survive this horrific ordeal.

July 2, 2009: Found inside a box were the remains of 14 turtles.
August 17, 2009: Thousands of turtles were cruelly confined to severely crowded enclosures. In order to surface for air, they often had to push and fight their way through layers of turtles.
September 5, 2009: For days and even weeks at a time, turtles were cruelly confined to bags, boxes, and crates without food or water.
September 8, 2009: Turtles remained unpacked and deprived of food and water for days and even weeks at a time.
September 28, 2009: Deceased box turtles
October 6, 2009: Neglected turtles languish inside a filthy, stagnant enclosure.
October 6, 2009: Dead and living turtles inside a filthy, stagnant enclosure
October 9, 2009: Deceased turtles
October 9, 2009: Overturned bucket of dead yellow-bellied turtles
October 14, 2009: In the trash are dead frogs, turtles, and lizards.
October 22, 2009: On October 8, 7,000 baby water turtles were received at the facility. On October 22, the baby water turtles still remained in their shipping boxes on shelves in the facility’s warehouse.
October 22, 2009: On October 8, 7,000 baby water turtles were received at the facility. On October 22, the baby water turtles still remained in their shipping boxes on shelves in the facility’s warehouse.

Exotic Mammals

Wallabies, coatis, ring-tailed lemurs, agoutis, kinkajous, tayras, anteaters, and sloths are just some of the exotic mammals neglected, abused, and sold by USGE. Sloths were wild-caught and shipped to the facility, where they languished before being sold and shipped out again. A shipment of 30 wallabies received from New Zealand in nearly airless, filthy wooden boxes contained the remains of at least two animals, one of them a newborn. The survivors were confined to a barren room that lacked climate control. Within days, at least two wallabies had died of suspected starvation and dehydration. One kinkajou, who was deemed unsalable because of a terrible injury sustained during a fight that left him virtually without a nose, was confined to a barren cage indefinitely, as were two ring-tailed lemurs—named Bella and Edward by PETA’s investigator—said to have been at the facility in a tiny barren cage for five years, during which time three babies were stolen from them to be sold into the pet trade.

On the day of the seizure, the exotic mammals at the facility were found huddling with no food or clean water, frightened, depressed, and cold. Two juvenile coatis were confined to a birdcage whose sharp wire left their paws lacerated and bloody. Some of the kinkajous had to walk in and out of piles of bloody vomit to get into their hiding boxes. The floor of the room in which the wallabies were kept was covered with feces and swarming with flies, and the only food source the wallabies had was a pile of moldy carrots.

September 5, 2009: Imprisoned inside the small, barren cage to which they have been confined for at least five years, two frightened ring-tailed lemurs hold onto each other.
September 9, 2009: A ring -tailed lemur peers out of the cage to which she has been confined for at least five years.
May 29, 2009: Far from his remote natural habitat in South America, one of several two-toed sloths recently shipped to the facility buries his head in the corner of a cage in the company parking lot.
July 24, 2009: Despite severe swelling and injuries to the nose as well as a nasal discharge caused by infection, this sloth was packed into a shipping crate along with others and shipped to a pet store in Germany. Whether or not the sloth survived the journey is unknown.
June 12, 2009: A frightened tayra—native to Central America—hides and peeks out from inside the metal dungeon-like trough to which he or she is constantly confined.
September 28, 2009: Packed inside a crate and flown from New Zealand to Texas, this baby wallaby never stood a chance and was dead on arrival.
September 28, 2009: Packed inside a crate with adult wallabies and shipped from New Zealand to Texas, this joey (baby wallaby) never stood a chance and was dead on arrival.
September 29, 2009: These are two of 30 wallabies who were shipped from New Zealand to the facility for sale in the pet trade. One was dead on arrival at the facility; the other was denied veterinary care despite being too weak and ill to stand or even lift her head.
September 29, 2009: One of several wallabies who did not survive the terrible stress of capture, shipment, and inadequate care typical of facilities like USGE. This wallaby perished within less than 24 hours of arrival at the facility.
September 29, 2009: Wallabies and other animals who die at the facility are thrown into the facility’s Dumpster.
September 29, 2009: A dead wallaby who had been bleeding from the nose can be seen lying beside this small filthy wooden shipping crate, in which numerous wallabies had been shipped from New Zealand to Texas.
September 30, 2009: This is one of the tiny, waste-ridden wooden crates in which the wild-caught wallabies—who weigh between 25 and 35 pounds—spent the long grueling journey from New Zealand to Texas. It measures just 13 inches by 15 inches by 14 inches.
September 30, 2009: This is one of at least five wallabies who died after being wild-caught in New Zealand and shipped to Texas to be sold in the international pet trade.
September 30, 2009: Readied for shipment to Germany, a wallaby awaits transport in this small dark wooden box, measuring a mere 13 inches by 15 inches by 14 inches, with nothing but a carrot for sustenance.
October 1, 2009: This wallaby was allowed to suffer and die without veterinary care.
October 1, 2009: This wallaby was allowed to suffer and die without veterinary care.
September 11, 2009: Even though it was well known that this kinkajou often got beaten up by the other kinkajous, management didn’t separate them until this kinkajou’s nose was torn off by cagemates.
October 7, 2009: A kinkajou looks out from inside the cage to which he or she is confined.
June 4, 2009: Dungeon-like metal troughs confine various animals at the facility. Here, two frightened labbas—native to South America—cower in a barren enclosure.
September 7, 2009: Several labbas are confined to a dungeon-like metal trough, unable to escape their own waste.

USGE—which, thanks to PETA’s investigation, is now out of business—was owned and operated by Jasen and Vanessa Shaw. The couple acted as USGE’s president and vice president. Over the course of PETA’s investigation, the Shaws shrugged off, altogether ignored, or just plain forgot about dozens of requests for food and basic care for animals—some of whom were gravely ill and dying. When an outbreak of vesicular disease started killing snakes daily, USGE Vice President Vanessa Shaw said that a veterinarian’s recommended treatment for the animals was “f***ing ludicrous” because of the time and medicine that the treatment would have required, which was minimal. The Shaws routinely ordered that live animals—including a squirrel whose neck had been so badly wounded that muscle was exposed and a chinchilla who was bleeding from a prolapsed rectum—be frozen to death.

USGE bought and sold wild-caught and captive-bred animals across America and around the world. Animals who survived grueling journeys into the Dallas–Fort Worth International Airport were subjected to deplorable conditions and systemic neglect at USGE, sometimes being kept for days or weeks in pillowcases, shipping boxes, or even 2-liter soda bottles with no food, water, or other basic necessities. Those who survived the stress, illness, and injuries that are business as usual in the pet trade were sold to stores, breeders, and dealers internationally.

What You Can Do

If you purchased your family’s animal companion from a pet store—even Fortune 500 companies PetSmart or PETCO, both of which target unsuspecting, compassionate people like you when they highlight their refusal to sell dogs and cats from breeding mills—you likely lined the pockets of USGE or other wholesalers and distributors of animals.

While the animals you’ve read about here have been rescued and are no longer in danger, there are millions of others suffering the same hell at a pet store near you. Call on PetSmart and PETCO today to end the sale of animals at their stores. These national pet store chains need to hear that you will not shop at their stores again unless they stick with the sale of supplies only.

And please remember that you, your friends, and your family can help make a lifesaving difference for animal victims of the pet trade by always adopting—never buying—animals from pet stores and by buying your animal companion’s supplies only at stores that refuse to sell live animals of any kind.

Take Action Now!