# UGH Petco!!! (warning: disturbing pictures)



## ChiKat (Jun 21, 2010)

There is a Petco near my house that I always used to go to for mealworms, and the animals there always seemed pretty well taken care of.
Well I stopped there today for the first time in years because I needed a light bulb and mealies for my leopard geckos.
I was so disappointed  

They had so many baby leopard geckos and several were extremely emaciated and on the verge of death. At least one was dead- his eye was completely crusted over and he looked fried.

It's the top guy in this picture:






(sorry for the poor quality- taken with my camera phone, with my hands full, through a glass tank )

And this guy is on the verge of death:





They have a special on their Russians right now- $69.99. If I wasn't so against WC animals, and animals being sold in pet stores, I would totally get one. They were in an oddly shaped glass tank the size of my kitchen sink. Four little torts in there, and they were all active and ADORABLE!!





I said something to the cashier about the terrible condition of the leos, and he was like "I know, they just won't eat!"  He said he keeps telling people and no one does anything about it. I told him at least one was dead and he denied that, saying he had just checked on them this morning.

Who can I call to report the deplorable conditions of the leos?
I wanted to offer to take some of the emaciated leos and try to nurse them back to health but I don't think they would just give them to me. 

I was planning on calling the number on the receipt, but the cashier never gave me a receipt 

I couldn't even bring myself to check out the small animals section because I would have brought home every single feeder rat


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## Itort (Jun 21, 2010)

Call your local humane society, health department, and Chicago Herp Society.


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## fhintz (Jun 21, 2010)

PetCo corporate info if you wanna go that route:

Petco Animal Supplies Inc. 

9125 Rehco Rd.
San Diego, California
92121-2270
United States
Tel: (858) 453-7845 
Fax: (858)677-3095

Officers
James M. Myers - Chief Executive Officer
Michael Foss - Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer


or:

Email questions or comments about your local PETCO store, or call us at 888-824-PALS(7257) (Monday - Friday 5AM - 7PM PT, Saturday/Sunday 8AM - 5PM PT).


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## ChiKat (Jun 21, 2010)

Thanks for the info!


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## Laura (Jun 21, 2010)

Go directly to the manager of the store, or call and talk to them.. offer to take the sick ones and nurse them back.. he can say no,, but he might say yes... never know..


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## Angi (Jun 21, 2010)

E-Mail me ypur post and the pics and I will forward it to the head of PR. Her name is Heather if you want to write her a letter that I can forward to her. [email protected]


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## mightyclyde (Jun 21, 2010)

Look how emaciated the poor thing was. What a shame. I'm so glad you are doing something to prevent another occurance. Please include in your correspondence to the company that the reason you won't purchase a tort there was because of the conditions displayed.


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## Missy (Jun 21, 2010)

I bet they would sell one right out of there with the sick and dead one. Yikes I hope not. Let us know if you get anywhere.


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## tortoisenerd (Jun 21, 2010)

They must have just got a shipment of Russians is because I've never seen them look that good at a Petco. Sad. I try to avoid the place.


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## ChiKat (Jun 21, 2010)

tortoisenerd said:


> They must have just got a shipment of Russians is because I've never seen them look that good at a Petco. Sad. I try to avoid the place.



That's what I was thinking. These guys were extremely alert. Two of them noticed me right away and were all wide-eyed and moving around. Too cute.

I will definitely write an email and send it to you to forward, Angi. 
Thanks everyone!

Do you think I should stop by and ask if I can try to nurse the emaciated leos back to health?


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## Seiryu (Jun 22, 2010)

ChiKat said:


> That's what I was thinking. These guys were extremely alert. Two of them noticed me right away and were all wide-eyed and moving around. Too cute.
> 
> I will definitely write an email and send it to you to forward, Angi.
> Thanks everyone!
> ...



I say go for the nursing if they'll let you (very doubtful). T

he bad thing about writing to PetCo higher ups is you can get some bad people and they will just "fix" the problem in the store for the time being. I.e getting rid of the dead ones or brink of death ones. And it'll happen again anyways.

With contacting a humane society, herp society etc. Things are more likely to actually be done and PetCo *might* learn from it, by getting an investigation on them and fines.


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## Isa (Jun 22, 2010)

OMG Sooo sad. I am so glad you will do something about it Katie! Keep us updated please. I really hope they will let you take care of the sick ones.


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## Josh (Jun 22, 2010)

Maybe we should start a collective letter to Petco!


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## Isa (Jun 22, 2010)

Josh said:


> Maybe we should start a collective letter to Petco!



I agree!


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## Angi (Jun 22, 2010)

ChiKat~ I forwarded the whole group of posts to Heather, but have not heard back from her. It is early here. I will let you know if she e-mails me back.


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## RascalDesertTort (Jun 22, 2010)

Too bad you dont have a connection with the music artist Pink. She has, in the past, threatened Petco to clean up their act with the animals or she will ask all her fans to boycott Petco at her concerts....


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## Candy (Jun 22, 2010)

Pink is also involved with PETA. Too bad we can't get them to go after Petco.


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