Boycott petco!!!

[sir_dudeguy]

Not to stir the pot but there are Petcos that actually do care about the fish and have knowledgable fellow reefers working there. The one at Stapley and Baseline which is their Aquatic Supercenter comes to mind. I was quite surprised at how good it looked. The livestock looked well cared for.

Roy (rljlll) and myself are the aquatics people there, along w/some other new lady thats actually kinda messin stuff up..cant really do anything though since she's got a higher position than us and we have to do what she says now

 

[frontosa_man80]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10700136#post10700136 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by aykfc
I agree with you, but she saw it and wanted to rescue it. She thought it would at least be able to survive more then 3 days. Can you honestly blame her for trying to help the bird out?

no i wont blame her for trying save the bird, but can you honestly say that with out a doubt that that bird came in healthy and not stressed out. that Petco received it healthy and it just declined from there. most likey not. so to place all the blame on them(this store) is uncalled for. there are other factors to take into account.

BTW if you want to do something about it call ths CDC and tell them. mention "bird flu" and maybe something will happen then. or form a picket line in front of the store.but nothing is going to happen by posting it here, except what is happening now.

$0.02

-jesse

 

[pupfish]

sir_dudeguy said:

again, half the time i'd agree with you, but there's always gonna be those few stores that actually DO know what they're talkin about and DO care for the animals as best they can. However, there are company policies that prevent a lot of stuff that would normally be done by any reefer or anyone who knows what they're talkin about... Such as acclimating fish or number/type of fish in one tank, yada yada yada. In those cases where there actually are knowledgeable people in the aquatics department, its the company policy that messes stuff up, not the employees.

Totally agree, that's why I specified the stores. The Pavillions PetCo actually had a guy working there that could tell a fanged blenny from a mimic. No, seriously, the guy was enthusiastic about SW, didn't "I dunno" the customers and the tanks looked good.

I heard he wasn't there long.

But I've heard exactly what you're talking about regarding corp policies vs. ethical employees. Usually it just involves a worker saying to me "Look I work here, but I don't buy my fish from here." Which takes a bit of guts, 'cuz I'm pretty sure that's the sort of thing one gets fired over. So I'm not slamming employees, per se, but specific individual store's management and these corporations as a whole. Some stores are lucky to get great managers, who hire knowledgable people, etc. Others are not. Regarding the latter, the livestock suffers, the employees daily fork over bits of their humanity, the consumer is crying over a dead pet and to be cold about it - since cold, hard cash is the bottom line - they sometimes knowingly sell defective product, oops, I mean animals, and offer no means for consumer recourse. Which also places THESE PARTICULAR STORES under the category of "consumer fraud". No QT of diseased tanks, no guarantees or refunds, no corp mandates to ensure quality product, just buy the cheapest fish from indo-pacific fish farms (with no oversight) - yep, easy $$ for the shareholders.

Not a slam against your store - haven't been there yet. I doubt the people in aquatics at the stores I've mentioned are on RC or any aquatics forum, for that matter.

 

[Pyrrhus]

"Rescuing" any animal from a retail outlet is the absolute worst thing that you can do, you have rewarded the retailer for substandard care by purchasing a less than healthy animal, and paid for potential loss on your dime. This means that they will order another
animal to abuse and eventually sell to some other poor sucker who wants to "rescue" it.

Far better for the animals, hobbyists, and the pet industry in general to let the animal die on their dollar, not yours. If the animals do not generate profits, they will stop selling them, problem solved.

If it weren't for all the "rescuers" and uninformed hobbyists, places that treat their livestock poorly would go out of business very quickly.

 

[tin can sailor]

Cruel, but true!

 

[Pyrrhus]

Another thing I find funny...

"I would never buy an animal from store x, because they have crappy livestock. They do have great drygoods pricing though so that is where I buy all my drygoods."

If one cares that much about the livestock, why would one support the operation in any way. Find a different brand of dog food, buy it someplace else, but please do not cry about "rescuing" the animals while you are providing financial support to the abusers.

 

[racecaraz]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10703573#post10703573 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Pyrrhus
Another thing I find funny...



If one cares that much about the livestock, why would one support the operation in any way. Find a different brand of dog food, buy it someplace else, but please do not cry about "rescuing" the animals while you are providing financial support to the abusers.

Well put. I think that about says it all.

 

[aykfc]

Hence the point of the thread which is to not shop at petco! I never supported the purchase of this bird but she did it. I am telling you my experience. If you want to support a store that does not take care of animals properly then that is your perogative. I for one am not giving them another dime after this experience.

 

[Doglover_50]

To pick up on a few points from above:

1) If we are going to "not shop at petco", we are assuming all petcos are bad. And there is an assumption above that all LFSs are good. This is just plain false. Comments from Phil and sirdude inform this issue. As some have noted, SOME Petco stores are good, others stink. You don't have to go too far to find DISGUSTING LFSs that deserve to be shut down for animal cruelty. So in a general sense I support the creator of this thread, but NOT the last post (Don't shop at petco). For FW fish, I happen to LOVE my local petsmart--the employees keep it in great shape. No way I'll stop shopping there. I've seen other petsmart stores with tanks that were pitiful. I'm just saying--go after the particular store if that store was the apparent perp here, if you feel the need.

2) Off topic, but per skip's comment on rewarding stores, I hope everyone knows NOT to buy purebred puppies from petstores, as THAT does perpetuate puppy mills. On this topic (off topic for the thread, I know) kudos to petco AND petsmart for NOT selling puppy mill puppies, unlike the typical mall petstore that does.

Further, while I'm sorry about the bird here, a rant or boycott of petco simply makes no sense given how very generous they are toward prevention of cruelty towards animals, etc... I happen to know a bit on this topic because the head of their charities happens to be someone I know (Sue verycomplicatedlastnameicannotremember). Our large state animal care organizations (maricopa county animal care and control and the like) are able to rely on generous contributions from this mega company.

Again, sorry to hear about the bird.

 

[LowerUnit]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10704007#post10704007 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by aykfc
Hence the point of the thread which is to not shop at petco! I never supported the purchase of this bird but she did it. I am telling you my experience. If you want to support a store that does not take care of animals properly then that is your perogative. I for one am not giving them another dime after this experience.

CAVEAT EMPTOR = let the buyer beware, as in the buyer is responsible for due dilligence and proper decisions when making a purchase.

aykfc / pupfish - While you are entitled to your opinions, you are making some pretty strong public allegations (fraud, cruelty, etc...) without any substantial proof and one should be careful about this. Assumptions and opinions are not proof.

"Wal-Marts" of the pet world? - nice stereotype, almost like saying "aykfc" and "pupfish" drama queens of animal kingdom.

"woefully ignorant employees" - it is most likely that YOU yourself have made at least one or more mistakes and possibly even used some bad judgement a time or two while amassing all your knowledge and infinite wisdom and skills of how to care for birds, fish, or any other living animal. Do a little introspection (be honest) and no doubt there is most likely at least one little fishy, birdy, or critter that died under your care and supervision due to your lack of knowledge or understanding no matter how well intentioned.

 

[aykfc]

Your right, but when that happens I go and research. I do not focus on selling animals... I try to make them healthy. Petco does not care about gathering knowledge to better care for the animals. Mistakes do happen, but the difference is I fix them. I do not let them continue.

 

[sir_dudeguy]

Petco does not care about gathering knowledge to better care for the animals.

So you're saying that I never try to find ways to fix the tanks up or change something in the system to make it a better system???

But then again, apparently you're better than everyone else that works in a pet shop :rolleye1:

 

[Pyrrhus]

Didn't read the occupation of aykfc before.

aykfc, Do you work for a competitor of Petco?

 

[sir_dudeguy]

Didn't read the occupation of aykfc before.

aykfc, Do you work for a competitor of Petco?

I believe they said petsmart

 

[tin can sailor]

I didn't read were he stated that he worked for Petsmart, but I did read "my Petsmart" in one post. Does this refer to you working for Petsmart or that it is the store you frequent?

 

[sir_dudeguy]

I didn't read were he stated that he worked for Petsmart, but I did read "my Petsmart" in one post. Does this refer to you working for Petsmart or that it is the store you frequent?

I am avian certified at petsmart, and can tell you just about anything from the genus of conures too what part birds use to vocalize

I take that as he is the birds specialist at the petsmart??

 

[tin can sailor]

Oops, guess I didn't read all the posts well enough. Sorry.

 

[aykfc]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10707145#post10707145 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by sir_dudeguy
So you're saying that I never try to find ways to fix the tanks up or change something in the system to make it a better system???

But then again, apparently you're better than everyone else that works in a pet shop :rolleye1:

Hardley. I said that store does not gather knowledge obviously. Where in there did I say you didnt do that. I said petco doesn't. I went in there yesterday to ask about the bird. One employee there was helpful. The two managers blew me off completely saying after 4 hours, they could not do a necropsy. I do work at petsmart and actually I hate it. I could care less about stupid rivalry Once in awhile, I have seen something good at petco but this is just aweful. My point is, I have been to this petco and have been completely disgusted. I don't really care if you dont support it. I am informing you of what happened. I have told this store the proper ways, as have many other people. They are not changing AT all. That is why I do not support them. Why are you all jumping on me for trying to defend these animals at this store? So much for a "friendly" community. Go to this store and you can see what I saw for myself. If you guys find a petsmart not taking care of the animals, then let me know. I will personally make sure it gets taken care off. I am not saying I am better, I am saying that these animals can be taken care of better. None of you have proved how petco is taking care of the animals at this store. All of you are just accusing me of things.

 

[LowerUnit]

You spent four hours there trying to gain the managers interests to do a necropsy? Why?
I'd be trying to "blow you off" if not "blow you away" and probably call the cops and have you removed from the store, but that's just me and it seems they were quite a bit more patient with you.

If the conditions are that deplorable contact PETA or Animal Control and the Health Dept or television media "3 on your side" and get something done about it.

Why do you work at Petsmart if you hate it?

Why do you feel you need to fix the Petco store? And if you do want to truly make a this bad situation better for the animals, quit Petsmart and get a job at that Petco store so you can make a positive contribution.

And on the subject of "positive contributions" - the reason I don't support your position on the matter is that this seems to have become quite a dramatic issue for you and in my opinion only, it seems with quite strong judgement on your behalf.

Taking "personalities" away from it all, I believe the "principle" reason I have a hard time with your banter is that there are two sides to everything and I'm sure that the Petco store's side will be much different than you've portrayed.

Is their really anything positive you're accomplishing by voicing your concern here?

I didn't start this thread so forgive me if I suggest a moderator close it and I do apologize if anyone finds my response post offensive.

aykfc - I'm sorry and feel for you dearly as well as your friend and the bird in question, but I believe you are taking this way to far and going about it in the wrong way for all the right reasons.

 

[Doglover_50]

If your thread started with this post, I suspect people would not be objecting to the same degree. But it did not. The title of your thread is "Boycott Petco." NOT some particular store, but PETCO. It seems to me that posters here are sympathetic to the deceased bird, but to the circumstances and the boycott conclusion==not so much.

If you want to defend animals, I don't think anyone has an issue with that. But your posts really have not come across as protecting animals at "this store" for reasons everyone seems to follow.

And I don't think just because people disagree with you--Jessie or Skip or others--does not equate to their jumping on you or accusing. I think you started a thread in which you hit the extreme response button (boycott), and based on your description, some people took issue with how things went about with that bird leading to your boycott sentiment. I really don't see any jeering or insults or humor at your expense or the like--just looks like some disagreement to me.

And again--I'm very sorry to hear about the bird.