Beatrice Hatcher

Luke and I went out to eat for a night (this was last night).. afterward in the same shopping mall area we saw a pet store that we thought we’d check out. I think I’m the type of person who doesn’t like to buy animals– buy being the big word of it all. I think the money you might put toward an animal that’s from a shelter isn’t like buying since you are paying for the animal’s shots, neutering/spaying and boarding. While some of that may still apply to pet stores I feel as though pet stores are not necessarily about the welfare of the animal (the owner has to get something too). Anyway, the rest of the story…

So Luke and I are in there.. first we through the fish..  I realize that algae is a part of the fish environment and almost inevitable. So at that point I didn’t notice anything wrong.. until I got the other animals that were being kept.

It was sort of warm in the building. There were like 6-8 cats (two full grown)  in a 3.5x 3ftx 3ft cage.. it was crowded in my opinion. Like the cage didn’t resemble the “open-airedness” of a large production rabbit cage.. there were “floors” for the cats to climb up.. it just didn’t seem right. The kittens had ear mites and some eye soars. This is just the cats.

Then there was a bird that was allowed to get out of his cage and walk around.. problem with that is that there was bird poop all over the floor. Get’s better.. there were little baby mice that had been separated from the mother and put in a container like you’d buy potato salad in sitting between two snake aquariums. There was a tarantula in a “critter catcher” box.. you know the ones you take a hermit crab home in. or something you’d give a kid to put bugs in. THEN there was snake aquarium with no lid (there were a couple of them) that had a sign that read “do not rake hands through sand”– there was a snake in sand!

All the animals seemed “lethargic” (Luke’s word). The kittens weren’t really playing too much. All I know is that I left feeling extremely angry and upset. When I got home I tried to read up on pet shop laws and animal neglect laws for KY and I was so surprised to find that KY has very little to nothing to protect these animals.  I am all for small business and I am all for people trying to learn and care for animals. What bothers me is that there were kittens in there that I feel haven’t been seen by a vet.. It hurts to think they might not get the attention they need and that when not sold who knows what becomes of them. I don’t think people should be allowed to sell cats when there are millions of cats without homes at the humane society (where they usually do care about the animal’s welfare).

I do plan to get some guts up and call the humane society about this place. It makes me so mad!