Unfortunately, there are many individuals in this world who regularly subject their pet/s to abuse. Addressing this form of abuse is hard considering the freedom people have to mistreat their pets within the obscurity and privacy of their homes. However, pet store employees are not typically suspected of animal abuse, and it is even rarer for an entire pet store chain to be accused of inhumanely treating the animals they hold in captivity, especially when this pet store chain is as popular as Petco. As it happens, however, this is the exact kind of trouble that is now associated with the Petco brand, as angry consumers and animal rights activists have been signing a petition in protest of the alleged abuse of captive tarantulas kept within Petco stores. In addition to widespread complaints of abuse toward Petco tarantulas, store officials are also being accused of irresponsibly selling dangerous tarantulas that are categorized as “beginner tarantula pets.”
Angry consumers have been signing a petition that is meant to prompt Petco officials into better educating their employees regarding proper tarantula care. The petition is also calling for Petco officials to revise and rewrite their tarantula care procedures in order to improve the living conditions of captive tarantulas within Petco stores. The primary goal of the petition is to convince Petco officials to upgrade their tarantula dwellings, as it has been alleged that the company’s tarantula enclosures cause the arachnids to die earlier than usual.
Petco first came under fire for alleged tarantula abuse three years ago when authorities found that one of Petco’s suppliers kept tarantulas and other animals within deplorable warehouse conditions that resulted in many spider deaths. State authorities in Texas discovered the warehouse conditions after they served the owner of the pet supply company, US Global Exotics, with a search warrant. Authorities who rescued several tarantulas from the warehouse sustained venomous bites in the process, but no serious medical complications resulted. Now, the company is being accused of mistreating tarantulas by keeping specimens within enclosures that deprive the spiders of their basic necessities, which, consequently, results in their premature death.
Have you ever noticed tarantulas being kept within inadequate enclosures in any pet store?
