Human Cruelty - How SA pet shops kill reptiles

[wildheart]

On the 30th of March I went to Snakes n More to pick up rats, I usually just go in and get what I want and get out without looking inside the cages. However on this particular day it was very busy and I had to wait for service which prompted me to look at the cages directly next to me. Stuck in tiny cages were a red iguana and above it was a green iguana without proper heat, no humidity and no UVB light. There was another cage above them so I stood on my toes and looked in. There laid a bearded dragon in sand, head almost buried in it and covered with crickets. When I looked closer I saw that this bearded dragon was just skin and bone and had no UVB light and a very week household globe. I asked the employees; "What is going on here?" Nobody answered. So I got loud and angry, something they could not afford with a shop full of customers. The guy then said: "Oh, we are waiting for him to die", said with absolutely no emotion as if he spoke about an object. "WHAT?!? Customers heard that loud and clear although it was not my intention, I was so shocked, still am. "What do you mean you are waiting for him to die?" Him: "We had him at Dr. Shabeer the best vet in SA and HE said that the beardie is too far gone so we must just leave him to die". Then I blew up! "Dont bloody lie to me man, Shabeer will NEVER say that! He would have euthanized him!" The guy just started stepping around, everybody looking and I am blowing fire. Then he said to me: "We give him calcium." Me: "What the hell is he suppose to do with calcium without a UVB light *****???" I told him that I am taking the bearded dragon home, you cant just leave an animal to die! All of a sudden all the employees cared, "He is not for sale". "I dont want to buy him I want save his life!" I said. "No but you MUST pay for him because we fed him". OH MY SOUL! "You are SUPPOSE to feed him *****!" I had to pay a R150.00 which I did.

The new trend is that the lizards do not get UVB nor proper heating to safe on costs, if they are not bought while babies then they just leave them to waste away.

I took the bearded dragon to Dr. Shabeer and told him that the employees said that he said that they must leave him to die. Dr. Shabeer was of course upset about this and went to the shop and took the 2 iguanas and told them to fix the gecko cages - what a hero!

Unfortunately it was too late for this bearded dragon, due to incorrect heat his body stated wasting away, he couldn't digest any food. There was nothing else wrong with him, no parasites or any disease the cause of his ultimate organ failure was because Snakes n More chose to safe money.

Here you can see in what shape this bearded dragon was and everything he went through before he finally died on the 28th of April due to cruelty!

http://youtu.be/Bxg-HGfbVs0

 

[wildheart]

I forgot to mention something very important:

I brought the bearded dragon home to die with dignity. I am shaming the pet shop in our local news papers and all SA forums, I also reported them to our SPCA who are working together with my vet to prosecute them. I do not fall for pet shop neglect to sell animals nor do I stand back and let it happen again. It is my mission to close them down, I will NEVER turn a blind eye and will fight till the end to rescue the rest of the reptiles in the store. I do not support paying for the bearded dragon but it was either that or they were going to phone the police and have me locked up because I was not leaving without him.

Originally Posted by Slayer
You just condemed another beardie to death and rewarded the petshop for their horrible standards. Good job.

By turning a blind eye you support this behavior, you condemn another reptile to the same death, rather fight the battle legally and close them down. At least I am man enough to do it.

 

[Momomo]

this is incredibly sad I couldn't watch the whole video, had to scroll through it. thank you for taking good care of Sunny during his last days. I can't believe people can be so ignorant ((

 

[athenacp]

I am crying. ..thank you for what you are doing!!! The song, I wish i knew the name of it it is perfect

 

[blue11]

BLESS YOU!!!!!!
BLESS SUNNY!!!!!
thank you for bringing awareness to this kind of abuse.
i smiled and i cried during the video ... you allowed Sunny to taste good food, to feel such love, to see and feel the sun, to be free and safe for the remainder of his life.
The two you of you came into each others lives for a reason, and i know you will never forget him, and he will never forget you.
youre a beautiful person, and Sunny, a beautiful dragon, a beautiful soul
thank you,
you and Sunny put life into perspective for me today. Im goint to go and hug my dragons right now, and say a prayer for all the dragons and every other animal scaly or furry, that is abused and neglected, like my rescue beardie Lexi was. You and Sunny looked like a great team
seriously, THANK YOU.
~Em

 

[kankri]

Thank you for the video, and thank you for giving that beardie all the love you could give while he was still alive.

I hope that shop gets closed down.

 

[Bwalter]

That is so sad and sick that the pet shops treat beardies like that. I hate going into them because I always look to see how the beardies are cared for. I walk out shaking my head at them. Glad he had a few good days and loved by you.

 

[Oki05]

I commented on your video but I couldn't put everything I wanted in it so here:

I'm not going to lie but watching him try to catch his bugs really made me cry. Ok Ok I actually cried through the whole video it was really emotionally I'm proud to be a guy who is so emotionally attached to these creatures and having adopted my baby from her previous owner who was looking for a good home for her.


Thank you for taking Sunny knowing that there wasn't a great chance for survival but that there is always hope miracles always happen in mysterious ways. I truly am sad that Pets stores can be so *bleep* ignorant. It makes me mad to know that these type of animals are always treated like this. No animal should suffer either because its to expensive to care for or because people just don't care. "oh its a lizard or a reptile it has no feelings" Please if it didn't have feeling then why is it alive? If it didn't have feelings then it would be dead because it couldn't feel you touching it, light rays shining on it, or you wouldn't see their face of sadness when they are dying. If you don't care about their well being go get a *bleep* pet rock. Geez at least that way you can have something without killing it purposefully. I am truly blessed to read Sunny's story of survival through everything he went through even though his battle ended the war is never over. One day you and him will be reunited an you can spend eternity together in each others arms. Please do everything in your power to shut these *bleep* down and out of business. I am truly happy that you did everything you could for him, and am so happy he at least had a moment to know what true love is. Thank you so much for your generosity and hospitality. You are a true hero and thank god for people like you!

 

[sweetiepie9]

You are a saint to be doing what you're doing. I hope that shop gets shut down and quick. Glad you got to the vet and he took the other reptiles, the owners and the employees should all be ashamed of themselves. Bless you for giving Sunny some true love before he passed. I cried watching that video, too.

 

[Oki05]

I cried watching that video, too.

I think you would either have to be cold-hearted or just not a human at all to not cry at that video.

 

[CountofCasualty]

I have no words...Sunny was a fighter-I saw that much...and you tried everything you could. You gave Sunny an ending that was millions and millions times better then the pet store would have. Thank you for that. It makes me...feel hope for people again. I see and hear about so many pets(not even reptiles, but cats and dogs and small animals as well) and it really makes my heart sink and makes me feel sick.

People like you make it better. I hope the store gets shut down and any attempts at opening a new store is blasted in the face. I would go as far to getting media involved, but that is the type of person I am.

 

[Oki05]

I see and hear about so many pets(not even reptiles, but cats and dogs and small animals as well)

Yeah it hurts me to know any animal suffers from human cruelty. Bu it just makes me mad also to know more people are charged with animal abuse more with dogs and cats than with reptiles or birds even though most pets are cats and dogs no animal shouldn't suffer even if it is exotic

 

[mazais]

Oh my god!!!!!!! I'm gonna cry... I'm crying. They are doing the damn same at my local petco, but I'm a kid, so I can't really do anything about that. But those ppl are so ignorant! Those aren't even PEOPLE!!!!!! Their, I can't even describe how horrible these 'people' are.

 

[Dravena]

You are such an amazing person for taking him home and looking after him the best you could! If only all people were like you, the wold would be a better place .People like that shouldn't be allowed pet shops ! :'(

 

[Zeusmybeardie]

just found this and this actually mad me tear up im so glad for what you did it ...me right off when people do this ... and makes me want to punch them in the face to be honest I don't know how you didn't I guess sense you could go to jail for that but im 14 so I wouldn't think that way but if Inapproriate wording removed. This language is not acceptable on this site, so please don't use it. Added by moderator
Sunny and you are Heros to me for what he went through and still tried coming back at the end is crazy and I could see by the end of that video that he was packing on the pounds Tyvm for doing this
-mike