From what I know (I spoke to a person who was there during the seizure), here's what happened.

Two days before the SPCA seized the animals, a DEC officer came and inspected Pets Plus on reports that illegal animals were being kept (which was true - out-of-season bullfrogs and some restricted snakes and monitors were there, without permits). Some knowledgable local herp people were asked to accompany the DEC officer to assess conditions as well. What they found (ignore the sensationalism of the lizard skeleton) was that there were quite a few animals in poor condition. Aside from the rack units (which the SPCA knows are widely used, but the news focused on them), there were piles and piles of single shoebox totes, stacked in a way that would make it difficult, if not impossible, to routinely clean, feed, and check the animals within.

What turned my stomach was seeing the video with multiple clutches of snake eggs that were left to hatch, die, and rot without any kind of care. That's not imported animals, that's plain neglect of captive bred creatures.

In any case, back to what occurred - the DEC officer and herp people saw the conditions, informed the SPCA. When the DEC officer left the store, no animals were taken, and the owners were NOTIFIED that an SPCA inspection would occur in 2 days. They did nothing to improve any conditions, and when the SPCA inspected (when the video was shot), they took the animals that were in the worst condition. They left thousands of animals that were in ok condition, they just took the very worst, life threatening cases. Some frogs and chameleons were so dehydrated that they were euthanized or didn't make it very long.

Who knows what caused this situation, but the SPCA did not just jump in willy-nilly. The people who helped make the decision to take the animals are aware of reptile distributor setups, and that rack caging may look cruel to those who aren't familiar with them. Most of the animals in racks were not taken. They consulted reptile experts (a zoo reptile vet was present to assess animal conditions) before deciding that hundreds of animals present needed to be removed from their surroundings, and scheduled another inspection to allow the store to clean things up.

To me, the fact that the owners of Pets Plus have been around reptiles a long time should mean that they wouldn't allow their animals to come to such a condition. I've heard the conditions blamed on crappy workers, but the owners are responsible, and come on, they were given a couple of days notice that they'd be inspected.

This is in my neck of the woods, so I have a keen interest, and have bought animals from this store before. I'm very disappointed at what happened and will probably not do business with them again.

[ Show Entire Thread ]