Pet Store on SPRINGVALE RD, VICTORIA! Urgent! Need your help!

[kimba83]

theres a new reptile shop opend in rosanna called totally reptiles > AWSOME SHOP!


the animals there are healthy and no complaints from me ill be getting my babies from them all the time.

 

[paleoherp]

I have just come back to herp after a considerable break, aquiring my first snake back in 1986. I have worked in various fields of Animal Husbandry and Science and even back then you would here bad reports about this place, often coming from bird breeders, I am catching up on a lot of changes but I see that some things are still the same.

 

[herpheaven]

lots of talk about how bad it is....people claim to want to help......what are you going to do?

Get something organised.......get a protest happening.......if the authorities are unwilling to help what will you do about it.

Again I say it is breeders who sell to pet stores that make this abuse possible......if you are willing to sell to a pet store you must accept that you are encouraging companies such as this! Even if you only sell to the "good" ones......pet stores trade between themselves!

 

[OdessaStud]

Just a quick update I have sent your comments and concerns to the Springvale Shire my girlfriend will get back to me in the next hour or so.These guys have to stop I have refused to sell them rodents and have stopped people I know supplying them with anything that breathes and through the help of the shire hopefully we will be able to close these guys down for good.,from what i can assume from my conversation with her no formal complaints have been made to the shire about this company they have been around for nearly 30 years in the same place, one has to ask why nothing has ever been done even the RSPCA is only about 10 klms away from them.

 

[herpheaven]

RSPCA moved a wombat and several birds out of the place years ago.....they have been back to check on them....people need to understand the regs....the company is operating within them......if people keep on shopping there then they will continue to have poor conditions.......Sdaji you have ben tehre several times, as have many of you.....what formal complaint did you put in...was it a phone call or did you put pen to paper....if not why not?.....a phone call is not a formal complaint.......Good on you OdessaStud for stopping supply....hopefully others will follow suit....

 

[kimba83]

hey we can protest out the front of it and not let people in the store...

who has a spare week

 

[Snow1369]

I spoke to 7news about this a few months back they were going down to investigate but they siad there was nothing much they could do when they called me back.... They have been investigated a few times i'm quite sure the owner has links with DSE so he just gets afine and nothing else happens.... But it's pretty bad!

 

[Sdaji]

I've never made a formal complaint about them. If I made a formal complaint every time I saw animal abuse I'd never have time to do anything else. I spent years expending my efforts influencing the Victorian laws, but after a while I became tired of it, the commercial powers are too strong and it was impossible to fix the situation. Once they get their foot in the door with laws to allow them to sell reptiles in shops it's almost impossible to get a good system in place and in the end I put my time into university studies and other persuits. Many money-hungry people want to legalise shops in NSW, sadly it will probably happen. Nothing seems to be able to stand against the almighty dollar.

 

[OdessaStud]

I just got off the phone from my girlfriend and she has sent the forums comments and my email to their health department whowm has sent it on to regulatory services aka bylaws.
The replied to her straight away that the store "has quite a history"and they will be going to inspect the property today, I believe they are on their way as we speak.My girlfriend has assured me she will not let this one slip through again and will keep me updated as to the progress that is being made.

 

[Miss B]

Look forward to hearing the outcome.

 

[herpheaven]

Kimba83, why a week, why not the busy times....weekends....if people are this upset by it they should do something about it.....otherwise it will continue.......or then again we could just whinge and whine on a forum....and before you ask....yes I have put a written complaint in.....to both DSE and DPI animal welfare.

 

[sxc_celly]

Good work OdessaStud, Cant wait to hear the outcome! The people operating inside this pet store should have been wiped out by evolution! Good Luck!

 

[kimba83]

herp : im willing to protest.. are u ?

i even said id go in and slap whoevas working..

ive put in a complaint to a mate who owns another petstore and she will be ringing the right people and trying to organise a set of inspections with howeva many she can.

 

[Miss B]

If I were local I'd be happy to join in on a protest.

 

[herpheaven]

I have complained to the "right people", I have spoken to the owner, I have been kicked out of the store physically becuase I made a stand for what I felt was right.....HAVE YOU?!?!?! How else do you think I know about the regs for pet stores, the DSE and DPI groups to contact and that RSPCA have visited....I am just sick of hearing complaints on a forum when people are unwilling to back up their words.

 

[alex_c]

Almost all of the pet shops in Melbourne are extremely bad, and some of the worst ones are often praised on the forums (including this one) as being absolutely wonderful. The shop people are talking about in this thread is one of, if not the worst in Victoria, I've been visiting it for years and it has been just as bad the entire time. If animals are allowed to be treated as merchandise on the shelves, this is what you're going to see. I've seen dead animals in various stages of decay in at least half a dozen pet shops in Melbourne, and in total I've seen dozens, maybe hundreds of individual dead reptiles. Of course, for every reptile which is dead you see many more which are on their way to being dead, often beyond the point where they could be saved even with the best of care. Very few shops in Melbourne are free of wild-caught animals, some of them taken legally from NT, most taken illegally from around the country.

By all means report this shop, but don't get your hopes up about seeing quick results. Some of the shops in Melbourne have been prosecuted many times, usually for selling exotics or poaching, rarely for animal abuse (exotics seem to be a bigger concern to the authorities). They know that they're only going to be prosecuted once in a while even if they're breaking laws left right and center all the time, and when they do they get a little fine and carry on with business as usual. When running a pet shop the motives are almost always almost entirely financial, and this is the result. Some of the worse offenders in terms of poaching and dealing in exotics are very good at keeping anything 'bad' (sick or exotic animals etc) off display, but others like this one don't even go that far.

If enough people kick up a fuss about these places, they'll possibly be closed down, or at the very least put in an effort to keep the dodgy stuff out the back and clean up the dead animals a little more frequently than once a month!

I strongly suggest not getting television programmes such as Today Tonight involved as they have their own bad motives (they'll twist the facts to make whatever story will bring in the best ratings), and you could quite possibly end up with a story along the lines of "All reptile keepers are extremely bad, here is an example, we need to ban people from being able to keep them at all". Organisations such as the RSPCA would love to have reptile keeping by private individuals banned entirely, and such a story would give them a lot of ammunition against us.

Remember never, ever to buy a neglected animal to 'save' it, as you'll be funding these people who will then source more animals and neglect them, so you're just making the problem worse for more animals while making these criminals rich.

yeah its always been of a low standard well since ive first went there and that would have to be about 9years ago now. maybe contact some peta looneys about the store and see what happens to their business and reputation

 

[herpheaven]

Isnt this the same type of thread as SAMMCCARTHY had going a few months back....what ever happened there.......what was the result??...does anyone know?.......or did it fade away just like this will in a week or so?

 

[alex_c]

Isnt this the same type of thread as SAMMCCARTHY had going a few months back....what ever happened there.......what was the result??...does anyone know?.......or did it fade away just like this will in a week or so?

yeah i remember that but remember the guy who owns the shop is tied in with dse somehow which would explain the lack of action being taken against him:evil:

 

[mertle]

I hope your friend can get something done Odie, thanks for letting her know!

Ohh and I would be in on the protest if I were local too.

It's a shame for the animals to be treated in this manner, it would only take an hour or two out of each day for them to care for the animals properly and they are prob open 7 days a week!

 

[herptrader]

I hope your friend can get something done Odie, thanks for letting her know!

Ohh and I would be in on the protest if I were local too.

It's a shame for the animals to be treated in this manner, it would only take an hour or two out of each day for them to care for the animals properly and they are prob open 7 days a week!

Actually the whole place pretty much looks like a cluttered brothel. I doubt an hour or two would be sufficient to get the place in order.