Evolution of Pets/Koi Pet Store, Edmonton, Alberta

Sedated · Member Joined: Sep 30, 2006 Posts: 31

A friend and I were at this pet store on Stony Plain road yesterday, and we were really disgusted with what we saw. We took pictures, as there were no signs up saying we couldn't, and none of the staff told us to stop. I'm not sure of the rules on posting pictures, but If I'm allowed, I'll post them.

This is basically what we saw, and what we have pictures of:

-A 4'x2' (approx) enclosure with a Green Iguana, an Australian Water Dragon, a Colombian Tegu, and a Bearded Dragon. No UV, small hot Rock, very high heat lamp. Most of the bottom was covered in potting soil (containing chunks of vermiculite) and and large lava rocks. The Tegu's eyes were swollen and stuck shut. The Iguana was missing her tail and the stump was growing back badly, I have never seen one like that...She didn't move even when the bearded dragon scrambled up her face. The tegu was in the same place he had been on the 14th.

-3 emaciated boas in a small cage, with 1/2 inch of filthy water. One boa had a kinked neck and all had skin folds. The only heat source was a tiny little hot rock. That they were all piled onto.

-2 Bearded Dragons housed with a Blue Tongued Skink with no real UVB (only high flourescent tube) and no heat source. They had lettuce and shredded carrot. They were all thin, and the substrate had vermiculite in it, it was just potting soil.

-1 Deformed Veiled Chameleon (no uvb) with a large Golden Gecko

-2 Deformed Veiled Chameleons in a reptarium

-4 EXTREMELY emaciated boas, with tons of wrinkles and folds, in a 2x2 (approx) enclosure. One of them was sickening, a spine with skin...they were all different sizes, the smallest probably 2 feet and the largest almost six.

-2 Green Iguanas, one quite large and one quite young, in a chicken wire enclosure. The bottom of the enclosure was bent and distorted and looked as if they had been rubbing and pushing against it. They had only a coiled pl ant bulb for UVB. One of them had a few large injurys that were scarring over, I wouldn't be surprised if it was caused by the chicken wire.

-2 Savanah monitors in a barren (no substrate, a few chunks of wood, a glitter lamp... and a water dish) enclosure with a hot rock. We couldn't tell if one ofthe savs, which was emaciated, was alive or not.

-A thin, scarred juvi black throated monitor with only a flourescent tube and a hot rock, potting soil, no hide.

-Day geckos with no uvb, no heat source, in a critter keeper.
-Snakes (corns) with no heat

-Rabbits in extremely small enclosures, and a prairie dog on a horrible diet, that 2 years ago screamed and paced, and now just sleeps. Her cage is small and has no enrichment.

- A full grown Argentine Black and White Tegu in a small hexagonal aquarium with no light or heat on (mid day...wasn't on mid day on the 14th, either)...it was about 5 feet across.

I also have a video clip of some of the enclosures.

We were unable to get pictures of conditions of the birds, but there was a pigeon with a broken wing that has been there for atleast ayear, in a rabbit cage, and many birds in small cages.

Sedated · Member Joined: Sep 30, 2006 Posts: 31

Well I apologize, if I am unable to post pictures and please do remove them if they are not allowed, but here they are for inquiring minds that would like to see:

This iguana has an injury on its' leg. The cage had no heat lamp, and only a coiled bulb for UVB. There were two iguanas in the enclosure, and they had this tiny water dish....

This picture is a screenshot from a video clip showing a very small enclosure containing four animals requiring completely different habitats; An australian water dragon, a bearded dragon, a colombian tegu, and a green iguana. They're lucky that iguana has no tail or they wouldn't be able to fit her in there.

Another screenshot. Notice the hot rock that they're all trying to pile onto. There's a heatlamp waaaay up above them, no UVB.

Iguana and colombian Tegu

Colombian Tegu

Close up of the tegus swollen eyes, which were stuck shut.

This cage has three red tailed boas on a tiny hot rock, with a water dish that had about half an inch of dirty old water. The snakes were emaciated with obvious folds of skin.[/quote]

An emaciated, scarred up black throated monitor with a hot rock, vermiculite, and a hide he can't fit into.

This tiny cage has 2 bearded dragons and a blue tongued skink.

There were four different sized boas in this enclosure, all very skinny. The top one in the water dish was just skin and bones.

These were the only lights they had, none of them were actually UVB.

Savannah Monitors...and I'm pretty sure the one underneath was dead.

And with this one (3snakes in same enclosure) I tried to get a pic of the snake on top, but my camera focused on the glass instead...his neck was kinked and he had some sever neck folds, it almost looked as if his face was falling off.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=aCMwtFh45aA
This is a compilation of the video clips.

The majority of the pictures are courtesy of my friend.

blair0228 · Valued Member Joined: Mar 01, 2006 Posts: 148

the bearie/australian water dragon/columbian tegu/green iggy combination makes me sick to my stomach!

Sedated · Member Joined: Sep 30, 2006 Posts: 31

me too, that was the first thing I saw when walking in, I welled up and wanted to cry.

Sedated · Member Joined: Sep 30, 2006 Posts: 31

Reptiles are not thing onlny animals being neglected in this place...here's some quotes from people that came with us on our picture taking mission:

My friend, who was talking to the woman working in the store about birds, was taken into the back office to see a macaw...this is a quote of what she saw:

YorkOC · Valued Member Joined: Oct 09, 2005 Posts: 101

I recently interened at a humane society and spca and I would say you NEED TO CONTACT YOUR LOCAL SPCA IMMEDIATELY. They will send someone ot and investigate. It is a shame to see this. So mean. Hopefully they will be shut down. I would say even offer to get their officers emails and send them your pictures stressing how bad it is.

*Here this is who you want to contact http://www.albertaspca.org/

Sedated · Member Joined: Sep 30, 2006 Posts: 31

Well the major issue is reptiles are not protected under the same rules that apply to dogs and cats. The SPCA and Humane Society have been contacted about this place before and they have been investigated. They state that as long as they have shelter, food and water their needs are being met. We need to provide "expert opinions" on the conditions of the animals stating that they are inadequate. My friend is in the process of contacted people to help provide her with these opinions to send along with our photographic and video evidence on the conditions of this store. Our goal is to finally get this place shut down instead of them just being fined and getting a slap on the wrist. To do this we need to provide all the information that we can and that is required. The SPCA and Humane Societies main focus is mammals and although they are also being neglected it's not enough to have them shut down.

Rick · Posted: Mon Nov 20, 2006 8:35 am Post subject:

Contact your local state official and ask who is in charge of inspecting the codes at the local petshops. Each petshop must follow any government or state requirements for the proper care of these animals. For example, here in Maine there is a little know list of cage sizes required for each species, etc.

If that doesn't work perhaps talk to the owner. Explain what is wrong and what requires modification. Offer to help with advice and initially perhaps your time, if this gets you no where, check and see what you local laws are regarding a boycott of sorts, you and some concerned parties can stand out front (not blocking the front entrance and without harassing potential customers) and hand out a flier with those pictures and explaining what wrong and the type of pain these animals are going through. Explain if they buy from this store that they they could ask to have the issues remedied. If it's brought to enough peoples attention, the owner will need to fix the issue or potentially loose customers.

Rick
_________________
Sisco Reptiles - Proud Breeder of the Tamest & Most Social Tegus. See www.SiscoReptiles.com

Sedated · Member Joined: Sep 30, 2006 Posts: 31

Here's a link to the laws up here :

http://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$department/deptdocs.nsf/all/acts2998

The local SPCA and Humane Society know about the conditions of this store and they have told many people on several ocassions:
"We are very aware of the concerns at this store; however under current legislation we are very limited as to what can be done with in this
situation. The animal protection act as it stands is very vague in its
requirements and does not state any specifics with regards to exotic
species.

Therefore, as long as the animal is provided with potable water daily
(nothing in the legislation states it should be 24/7) and is adequately fed,
sheltered and provided veterinary care when required the owner is within
legislation."

We need people to write our local MLA, explain the situation and request to have the law concerning the care of exotics and minimum specific requirments be added to the current legislation for the City of Edmonton.

Unfortunatly contacting the owner and explaining the situation, does not work and hasn't worked for many years now. My friend is working on getting professional opinions (vets, breeders, other rescue angencies) stating what is wrong with the care, what the minimim rewuirments for care are and what needs to be changed. This information will be submitted along with our photos to the SPCA, Humane Society, media and local Government.

We feel the best place to get started with having things changed is by getting the word out about the conditions of the store and hoping people make wise decisions about putchasing there.

Mochasr4me · Posted: Mon Nov 20, 2006 2:50 pm Post subject:

That brought tears to my eyes

..... those are some of the worst conditions I have ever seen in a store!

Was the iguana even alive?

Another option you might try is getting this out to the "public". Contact local tv stations, etc. and see what they might do. You know how they sometimes have news sections who watch for underhanded business and that sort of thing. Be prepared with caresheets and websites, etc on the proper care of each animal compared to what was happening. Provide info on what the store could easily do to change and rectify, explain the issues with the regulations and restrictions, provide your conversations with The local SPCA and Humane Society and their response, and the history of the store and any contact you've had with them,etc. Generate public awareness as legally as you can. Post flyers (if allowed) around the area, place on cars, anywhere you can. Many times people will be offended (as they should be) with anyone who is mistreating animals, even if they don't care for or like the animal themselves. They are living creatures who still deserve a basic "quality" of life.

I hope for all of the critters sake, you are able to generate some attention to this place.

ps... I am posting a link to this on other sites I go too in the hopes that others may have ideas and suggestions for you!!
_________________
~~ Christina ~~

0.0.1 Argentine B/W Tegu
0.0.1 tailess Green Iquana
1.2 Bearded Dragons
2.2.3 AZ. Banded Geckos
1.0 Dumerills Monitor
1.0 Brazilian Rainbow Boa
0.0.7 AZ Bark Scorpions
1.0 Desert Hairy Scorpion

DaremoAlpha · Posted: Mon Nov 20, 2006 4:54 pm Post subject:

This has been run all over the place and TARAS is also aware of it and I believe people were trying to contact ERAS as well about it and I have personally been trying to get the spca on the phone to challange them about the lack of supported vet care for the animals who really need it too.

Lots of people looking at ways to solve this problem but those in power don't seem to care.

Sedated · Member Joined: Sep 30, 2006 Posts: 31

Mochasr4me · Posted: Tue Nov 21, 2006 12:20 am Post subject:

tupinambis · Posted: Tue Nov 21, 2006 5:19 am Post subject:

Reading this post really choked me up as it has some deeply personal connections. I used to work this pet shop about 15 years ago, although thankfully it was under different ownership then and run with much better protocols. Back then we were reputed to be one of the best pet shops in Edmonton and had some highly esteemed customers (John Acorn the Nature Nut and Rick Hansen to name the more famous), how far it has fallen.

What saddens me the most is some of those animals I know personally and were never in those conditions while under my care. The macaw you speak of is named Frodo, and he's unfortunately had a rough life. When he came to us as a hand-raised fledgeling in 1992 (I think) from a breeder, he had hepatitis. We had to give him multiple daily shots which he hated, and although we cured him, it wound up causing some psychological damage. He wound up being scared of everyone in the shop except for me, as I refused to give him his shots on the grounds that as a sick fledgeling he needed to trust someone and not be completely neurotic. Unfortunately, it had the effect that he sort of imprinted on me and when I left the shop, he lost a lot of weight and was never in the same shape. I had went back to visit that shop about 2 years ago and was thoroughly disgusted with what I saw. Frodo was in deplorable shape, had become a feather picker and was clearly intimidated by people. It brought tears to my eyes that he still remembered me, and what the store owner told me then shocked me. She had claimed that the shape he was in was only due to the fact that she'd been trying to breed "her".
A pair of the boas are also from around when I was there, I had raised them from hatchlings in the store. It sickened me to leave a lot of those animals at the store, but when you're only earning $5/hr, it doesn't leave one much room to purchase animals the shop was selling for thousands.

There are a lot of problems with the shop, and it will be hard to bring about a meaningful, humane change. First and most importantly is the current owner. She's one of those people that "has a reputation" and knows more than anyone else about caring properly for animals because she's been doing it all her life. She doesn't care to listen to anyone else's input, and believes in her heart that she is actually caring for them better than anyone else could. I tried bringing up the histories of some of the animals and what she should do to improve things and she simply thought I had no insight to offer. I've since checked in with some of the people we used to do business with about their business transactions with her and found that essentially she's not upkeeping her bills either. I gather several businesses have had to sue her to get money they were due. Hopefully this is a sign she won't be in business long (although who knows what her actual personal financial situation is).

There is also the question of whether a suitable vet could/would step in and pass a proper judgement on the conditions in there. Edmonton has a number of vets that claim to be herpetologically experienced, but which are clearly woefully ignorant. There was one that had (at that time) the contract to work with the SPCA animals, and had performed surgery on a pair of tokay geckos in order to remove their venom glands, an operation that is both unnecessary (as tokays do not have venom glands) and is considered illegal in the province of Alberta (Alberta passed certain laws that considered such surgeries as mutilation not only to protect the animals but also to prevent people simply from owning devenomed animals). Another vet with whom the shop at that time had a contract with handed out care pamphlets he had written up himself on the proper nutrition of iguanas: he claimed that a healthy diet should consist of half vegetation and half animal protein, and that a tablespoon of cat food per week was sufficient (cat food?!?!? did that also mean iguanas only needed to eat 2 tablespoons of food per week?!?!?). There are a lot of vets that claim to be experienced and knowledgeable, the truth is another matter.

Lastly is also the political environment in Alberta. Over the past 3 decades Alberta has seen reversal after reversal of regulations concerning pets. For a while, only certain things were banned, then they passed regulations in 1988-89 that basically banned nearly everything, although allowed current keepers to maintain their charges under a grandfather clause. Alberta Fish & Wildlife soon learned that there were far more exotics in the province than they had the manpower to deal with in simply registering them and issuing permits. Didn't take that long before the regulations were completely sacked, opening the door for anybody to own anything, and sure enough, there quickly was people taking advantage of the loss of regulations and getting things like tigers and bears. This caused yet another swing in opinion and another clamp down on pets ensued. Not that I don't totally agree that this pet shop needs to be shut down, but be careful of what action you do take, you may find it detrimental to your own interests in the end. The other aspect of the political climate that is hard to get around is the fact that Alberta is highly influenced by opinions governing agriculture. Any regulations passed in regards to animals in general is going to affect this highly important sector of the economy, and there is a LOT of resistence from farmers and ranchers against laws that make their jobs more difficult. As has already been stated, the laws considering exotics, particularly herps and fish are quite vague. I'm no longer familiar with the provincial statutes, but herps and fish used to fall under the same regulations as plants.

I urge caution in what manner of action you choose to take. Whereas I want to see this shop shut down ASAP and the abuse of these animals stopped, calling on the mayor to do something more likely than not will create a situation you do NOT want. Municipalities across Canada are falling to the influence of idealists and outright banning all exotics. Definitely bring pressure upon the SPCA as much as you can (although their reluctance to do anything is disheartening, I remember they used to get in an uproar over pet shops selling puppies with worms). Contact all pet hobbyist clubs in the area to make people more aware (don't stop at ERAS and TARAS, take it to the Edmonton Aquarium Club, the Canadian Kennel Club, all others, they may not understand the situation with respect to herps and opening their eyes may bring around a more general boycott). Another route you may wish to check in with is their business partners. I know many have stopped doing business with her, but writing letters to Rolph C. Hagen and other more commercial pet supply wholesalers and objecting to them over doing business with someone so obviously detrimental to the industry may bring about more surgical influence. Lodge a complaint with the owners of the strip mall where she conducts her business. If they hear enough complaints maybe they'd be willing to terminate her lease. Maybe appealing to someone more public might also bare better results. Although John Acorn doesn't shop there anymore, he's very public, has a show, and may be interested in the animals' plight there to bring about a change. He's a sessional instructor at the University of Alberta and shouldn't be that hard to get ahold of.

I feel so sorry for Frodo and all the others.....

Daggit_Columbian · Honored Member Joined: Oct 10, 2006 Posts: 251

this reminds me of our petstore (the situation is now rectified there since a highschool girl i know started working there) dead anoles, half dead anoles, a shnider skink with MANY crooks in his tail obviously MBD.

a leo with maybe fifty crix in her tank.... there were likw 10 skinks of different speicies piled up SMALL sized heat rock. when i inquired about anther rock for them the lady replied " they shouldn't be on there too long anyways or they will burn themselves" AHHHH! and a BEATUFUL monkey tailed skink in a cage WAY up in the air all the way at the top of the housing unit. probably 30 or more poops in the tank and i think that they may have been feeding it egg or something judging on the mess in there it was FILTHY! They said it was the store pet and that it was 15 years old. Now this WAS a nice pet shop, but the owner is getting old and minus the one bearded dragon girl, the staff is NASTY. grumpy 50 year old women who could give a %$#@ less.

Not to mention the reptile cages are b.ocked with hermit crab supplies, a whole shelving unit of them that must be moved into the eisle in order to look at the reps.

Seriously looking at that little tegu made me cry. i imagine my boy who just got new 66'' x 24'' tank and there that one is sharing a tank with a HUGE iggy. someone should get a warm cotton ball and soak her eyes or SOMETHING! how much do they want for it?? Looks like mouth rot too.... i wouldn't be surprised if it's dead already. For it's sake, i never thought i would have to say this... i hope it IS already dead, put it to peace.

It's real sad, if ya'll need help back here from the states.... just say so, i want that tegu BAD she is ADORABLE....