original post >From: Erin Kydd {{FREAK}} >Subject: Poorly ran petstore This is in response to Erin's post I don't intend to excuse negligent petstores, but to give people a perspective from someone who works at one. Before I worked at the petstore I had always felt critical of the way animals were treated... Seeing animals in cages with price tags made me feel that the store considered them merchandise. I needed a part time job as a student (pre-vet) and thought that working with animals would be fun. After working at the petstore for a couple of days my initial impression changed... All of the people I work with LOVE animals. Ferrets and kittens are taken into the back room and played with by employees on their lunch breaks. I have been there close to a year now and still see this. I acknowledge that customers are not aware of this... we don't want to stress the animals by having crowds drawn over while we have animals out so we do it out of sight. I have heard customers mutter things about the poor animals in the cages but I, as a multiple-pet-owner, am confident that our animals are well treated. To anyone who doubts this, just think to yourself... why would someone who doesn't care about animals work for minimum wage in a petstore? I have heard hurtful things said by the occasional person visiting my store and can see how staff can be defensive when customers complain (and there are always some people who will complain no matter how the animals are kept)... Most of us see the animals we sell as our "temporary pets" and it is frustrating to hear that someone doesn't approve of the way we keep them. As for the puppies that Erin couldn't wake... Every day hundreds of people come into our store, they knock on glass (despite our protests), they call into cages, jingle keys, whistle, squeak toys, kids scream... the animals are very desensitized to this and this is probably the reason that the puppies didn't respond to her. As I said before, I am not excusing truly negligent petstores... I just ask that people give petstores the benefit of a doubt before pointing fingers. I can't imagine that all other shops are so different from the one I work at. Just had to give my 2 cents :) Jen Newton, Dobie, Fig and Mojo Maggie and the fishes. [Posted in FML issue 3253]