A small boy lived by the ocean. He loved the creatures of the sea, especially the starfish, and spent much of his time exploring the seashore. One day he learned there would be a minus tide that would leave the starfish stranded on the sand. The day of the tide he went down to the beach and began picking up stranded starfish and tossing them back into the sea. An elderly man who lived next door came down to the beach to see what he was doing. "I'm saving the starfish," the boy proudly declared. When the neighbor saw all the stranded starfish, he shook his head and said, "I'm sorry to disappoint you young man, but if you look down the beach one way, there are stranded starfish as far as the eye can see. And if you look down the beach the other way, it's the same. One little boy like you isn't going to make much of a difference." The boy thought about this for a moment. Then he reached his small hand down to the sand, picked up a starfish, tossed it out into the ocean and said, "I sure made a difference for that one." Mr. DJ88Nascar2 writes: >If you really think that you can stop the sale of small animals in a >nation wide chain of stores...you should find something better to do >with your time, And in the words of Margaret Mead (famous anthropologist): "Never doubt that a small group of concerned citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." Personally, I can't think of anything better to do with my time than to stop the "nation wide chain of stores" from contributing to the excess animal population. Mrs. DJ88Nascar1 writes: >That website has misinformation about PETCO and the treatment of their >animals...How do I know you are asking? I am a PETCO employee and there >is NO animals whatsoever being harmed...There are a few in our area and >I know for a fact that none of them harm animals or anything of the >sorts..." As Mr. DJ88Nascar2 states, Petco is a national chain and unless you have personally visited each store, couldn't it be possible that YOUR store along with a few others might be the exception rather than the rule? And since I'm expressing my opinion, I might as well go all the way and say - As long as there are thousands of unwanted animals being killed in animal shelters each year, nobody has any business breeding or selling them. That includes Marshall Farms AND Petco. I applaud anyone who has the fortitude to stand up and fight rather than just look on and do nothing. [Posted in FML issue 4393]