Not all Petco's are bad, and because of what happened in California (which is what the last post is referring to) there have been a lot of improvements at Petco. I work in a local Petco, so I am well aware of the issues and how the company is handling them. Animal care is of the utmost importance. We frequently take hamsters to the vet, how many pet owners do that? My guess is not that many. Also, many stories are fueled by PETA. And I do not deny that such abuse was present, I have seen the training videos. However, what the general public is unaware of is that PETA members are the the number 1 stock holders in Petco. Negative attention draws people in to be nosey..... and sales increase, increasing profits. All I am saying is please don't write off an entire corporation without knowing all the details or if the problems have been corrected. The Petco I work in is excellent with animal care, especially ferrets. ALL the management there OWNS ferrets. Our babies get out to play twice a day in a Martin's playpen that the one manager purchased out of her own pocket. I am not claiming that all stores are perfect, I am sure there are many out there that are not. But the corporation itself has strict guidelines with extremely high standards to follow for the care of the animals. They cannot control the employees that work in their stores 100% of the time, no company has that ability. That is not an excuse for animal abuse, by any means. But to think that they have the ability to control what happens in their stores all the time is unrealistic. Thank you for your time. [Posted in FML issue 4768]