Advice on what to do....

[crabcat]

Hi guys,

Where to begin....while in a certain pet shop in Springvale yesterday I was shocked at what I saw. I know this has been discussed here before (hence me posting here) I'm guessing a lot of you are familiar with the particular store. I would like to know if anything has been done about this before and how far you got? I'm considering making a complaint but wondering if it will do any good...

What bothered me most about the place was the state of the turtle tank that is out the back. The tank couldn't be more than 8-10ft in length. I counted 25 fairly small turtles and 2 larger ones in this tank, there was probably more than I could see. I don't know much about turtles so I thought I'd ask you guys if these conditions are safe. There was less than a foot of water in the tank, it was filthy and had bits of what I assume is algae floating around, there also was not enough above water rock areas for that many turtles. Am I correct in thinking that this is just plain wrong?

Last time I went to this store was 2 years ago, it was cluttered then but looked a hell of a lot cleaner. We went looking for fish and were pretty shocked at the amount of empty tanks and the limited variety they had. While looking at the jars of water conditioner for fish etc, I noticed several of them were past their used by date, one said 2005!! The dogs they had were very large for puppies...it has me worried about what happens to these dogs if no one adopts them. People don't come to pet stores to buy a fully grown dog (as two of the jack russels right up the back were). I wont go on because I'm sure you all know what its like...

What do I do, I'm fully prepared to take this as far as I can, but would like a little advice on who I should contact and how to go about it. I understand complaints have been made before, but obviously nothing has been done. Should I call the local council or the RSPCA?

Thanks, I just can't ignore what I saw.

 

[hallie]

Try RSCPA and hassle them into doing an inspection??

 

[mcloughlin2]

I doubt the RSPCA will do anything - something like that is too trivial for them to bother with. Maybe one of the DSE or the likes will do something to sort out the reptiles but thats it.

 

[souldoubt]

I would call the rspca first and see what they say. I dont know about victoria but the rspca were really good when I rang them about someone who had a fish in a completely filthy tank, the tank was clean in less than 4 days after I called them. If you dont have any luck with them then maybe contact the animal welfare section of the DPI and they will be able to tell you who to contact.

Andrew

 

[Vincent21]

I reckon the RSPCA will do something if you tell them about everything from the over due water conditioner to the turtles in the tank to the grown dogs.

 

[crabcat]

Thanks guys, I'll give the RSPCA a call tomorrow. I also wasn't impressed about the very small cage that two kittens (if you can call a 6 month old cat a kitten) were sharing. Anyone know when the last complaint about this store was made?

 

[m.punja]

This has been talked about before and nothing still seems to have happened. Apparently photos have been taken before. Prehaps if you could rally up a few photos over a number of months or years and get in touch with today-tonight or ACC might be the best way since nothing seems to be happening. From what I hear the owner is in with the DSE and this is why nothing gets done.

 

[Justdriftnby]

Crabcat, if this is the same shop I believe you are talking about I have reported them to the RSPCA and rang the DSE about 3 weeks ago, I called through the other day and nothing has changed. First time I was in there was 2 years or more ago and as you said its been getting worse. Their snakes were covered in mites 3 weeks ago which is why I reported them. Their kittens are also no so much kittens.
I know a few people that have said they have complained (not sure if its talk or not) and it seems to go unchanged, some people need the same treatment I believe just to wake them up

 

[jase75]

Oh thats really bad, i hope something gets done about it. i had a bad experience with a Shop i visited, i was checking out 1 of their snake displays when i noticed a snake that didnt look very well, if fact it looked like it was dead. When i told 1 of the people working there they just brushed it off and said im sure its ok. i finally convinced them to check on it, when they opened the cage the smell was terrible, they lifted the rock that the snake was under and there was 2 dead snakes under it. I was really disappointed cause i heard so many good things about this place. Not sure how long since they had checked on their snake but by how bad the smell was they had been dead for at least a day or 2. Next time im near them ill go check to see if they have replaced the 2 snakes.