I hate pet stores!

[naturestee]

AAAARRRRGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I went to go pick up rabbit and cat food, and thankfully I brought myMake Mine Chocolate posters with me. The only store in townthat has Oxbow always has rabbits. Well, they had theirnormal cage of rabbits- overly fuzzy lionheads. But forEaster, they also had a big open-topped rubbermaid bin with a bunch oftiny, scared crossbred baby rabbits! And they hadbaby chickens and ducks! I have never in my life seenthose in a pet store, only in feed stores for livestockpurposes. I have heard about them being sold at Easter, justnever seen it in Wisconsin. And those poor little baby birdswere being sold for $2! Pocket change for a kid!

ullhair:

I gave the employees a bunch of posters, explained the Make Mine Chocolate campaign, got what I had to, and stormed off.

On the plus side, before I went to the pet store I went to the shelterto drop off more bunny toys. The receptionist asked if I wasgood at handling rabbits, and asked me to check out a new rabbit thatwas supposedly very aggressive. She reportedly had beenbiting the children and grunting at them, which is why she was broughtto the shelter (unspayed, of course). So I got to snugglethis cute Nethie mix who did not bite, did not scratch on purpose (shehad wicked sharp nails), didn't mind being picked up, and was quitehappy in my arms. :bunnyheart

I can't blame her for biting kids though. I would too.

 

[JadeIcing]

I am so nervous about going to get litter tomorrow.

 

[naturestee]

Print off posters and bring them with you!

I wish I had posters for those poor chickens and ducks too.

 

[Brandy456]

Whats posters..Liekwhat do they say.

 

[Rosey]

that is sad : (

I don' tknow why people do stuff like that : (

Yeah what posters? I'd like to know too

 

[Michaela]

OMG!! I have never saw baby chickens or ducks in a pet shop here, I hope I never do:tears2:

I was in a teeny teeny pet shop today, they had 4 dutch rabbits in antiny tiny cage:cry3I wanted to rescue them all so bad.

 

[naturestee]

Make Mine Chocolate Campaign:
http://www.makeminechocolate.org/

I handed out these posters at the stores, and gave some to the shelter workers too who were rather excited about them.
http://www.makeminechocolate.org/mmcflyer.pdf
http://www.makeminechocolate.org/adflyer.pdf
http://www.rabbit.org/easter/flyer/childstory.pdf

I didn't hand this one out, but it's very sad.
http://www.rabbit.org/easter/flyer/flyer2.html

 

[Michaela]

That last one has to be one of the saddest things I have ever read....And it happens all the time:cry2:cry2:cry2

 

[missyscove]

Yesterday we walked into the pet store in themall. Sometimes they have some unique supplies, so I like tolook.

There were about 8 bunnies in a glass enclosure with an equal number ofguinea pigs. And two of the bunnies were little black dutch,like what Fiona would have looked like when she was a baby, if we knewher then. To top it off, they were selling them for $50, theexact same price as the rabbits from the shelter, who are altered andmicrochipped. The employees were all in the back with thepuppies they have there aswell - all very overpriced.

I felt like going home and getting my flyer about the super adoption event tomorrow and posting it in their store.

 

[naturestee]

Do it! And make sure it states theprices too. The shelter rabbits here are the same price aspet store rabbits, if not cheaper. They always want to chargemore for something "exotic" like lionheads, but this week the sheltergot two lionheads, a lionlop, and a mini lop/rex mix (someone isintentionally breeding them as pets).

 

[Spring]

When is easter? I can never remember because it changes around so often.

I'm wanting to print some out and see if I can put them up in PetsMartand Petland(Big rabbit seller). Maybe my local library as well. Thelibrary sometimes has little presentations, so I've been wanting to seeif I can print out a bunch of stuff and maybe do a little presentationabout rabbits if they'll let me.

 

[missyscove]

Easter is April 8th this year.

It is always somewhat hard to figure it out. I only know because I'll be in Switzerland.

 

[naturestee]

Mmmm, Swiss chocolates for Easter! :bow

 

[Michaela]

I was in Switzerland at Easter 2 year ago...Chocolate EVERYWHERE!!!!! Lots of chocolate bunnies

:eats:

 

[gentle giants]

Hey Naturestee, did those chicks and ducklingshave heat lamps on them? Because if they didn't, you won't have toworry about what kind of lives they have, they'll be dead before theycan be bought, or quickly after. I was pretty angry about the samething last week. My local farm store, where I get my feed, get anassortment of heavy breed chicks in every year at this time. One of theemployees was filling their waterers while I was in there, and I toldher they were to cold. They were peeping very loudly, and huddlingunder the one heat bulb they had. She went, "Oh, are they?" in thistotally I'm not hearing you voice, and went on talking to one of theother employees.
I was pretty ticked, I have raised chickens for 15years, I think I know what I'm talking about. There were also two inthere that were dying from being to cold, and not getting the rightcare after shipping. It was driving me insane, I knew I could save oneof them, the other was to far gone. And the stupid little twit who wasa good twn years younger than me acted like I was just some idiotcustomer, and couldn't be bothered to get them another lamp!
Sorry, had to vent about that. I get so sick of people sometimes.



Edit to add:
I wonder if they would let me hand out flyers like that in the schoolmy kids go to? Mabye to take home to give to their parents?

 

[Eve]

Thank you for those poster links Naturestee!I've always wanted to go to a few pet shops with something like that,but thought I'd have to make my own and never got around to it.

 

[naturestee]

GG, yes they did have heat lamps. Ibet the school would be okay with letting you pass out fliers, youcould pass out brochures on rabbit care too. Let me know ifyou want any, I can give you a bunch of good choices. Lastyear another breeder here (forgot his name) went to his kid's schoolwith some of his rabbits at Easter and did a presentation on care andhandling, and how they're not disposable pets. I think it's agreat thing to do!

Edit: the farm co-op my dad used to work at would get chicksin, but only for people that ordered them ahead of time. Theyhad a bunch of big heat lamps that they would set up over the differentcrates (so they didn't mix up the different breeds). If I waslucky I'd get to play with them before their owners picked themup. But my dad was always watching and taught me how to holdthem gently. They're cute, but I was never tempted to get oneas a pet. I can understand adult pet chickens, but the babiesare so fragile and pee in your hand!

 

[TinysMom]

Someone who is intentionally doing this - andthen dropping them off at the shelter needs to be .... well....youwouldn't like what I'd have to say.

If you breed...then you take care of them ALL until you find them homeswith RESPONSIBLE ADULTS that you've educated on the care of rabbits.

I tell everyone that if they get tired of a rabbit, I will take it backfrom them. I won't refund their money but I will take it off theirhands. So far - I've done it once - because the rabbit hadallergies that made the eyes gunk up and it was too hard for them todeal with. (However, they kept the other two rabbits they got and Ithink she just took them for neutering last month).

Peg

naturestee wrote:

this week theshelter got two lionheads, a lionlop, and a mini lop/rex mix (someoneis intentionally breeding them as pets).

 

[naturestee]

Peg, these weren't dropped off directly by thebreeder, but by the owners after they probably got sick of cleaning thecages.:rollseyes

If they were breeder dumps I'd probably go on a rampage. Seriously.

There's a lot of rabbit breeders here who don't seem to care who theirrabbits go to as long as they go. For example, the person whobred Fey and Sprite and sold them as toys for somebody's grandkid , whowouldn't even be living where they were being kept (2 for 1 to get ridof Fey). I also suspect that person is one of the mainsuppliers of pet stores in the area. Needless to say theywere sick and nearly feral due to mistreatment, and I think Sprite hasa permanent fear of hands.

There's also a lot of intentional crossbreeding by the breedershere. The lady who dumped the lop/rex was talking about howthey're a "special breed" and the breeder said they're really exotic...No. Velveteen Lops are an exotic breed that is beinglegitimately worked on. Mini lop/rexes (and apparently thefur didn't look very rexy) are not. The lionhead that wasstill at the shelter looked to be a dwarf hotot/lionheadcrossbreed. He looked exactly like Fey, face, body,mottled blue eye color, etc. except he had a super-thin mane, two tinytufts on his butt, and a few extra mismark spots she doesn't have.

 

[gentle giants]

TinysMom wrote:

Someone who is intentionally doing this - and then dropping themoff at the shelter needs to be .... well....you wouldn't like what I'dhave to say.

If you breed...then you take care of them ALL until you find them homeswith RESPONSIBLE ADULTS that you've educated on the care of rabbits.

I tell everyone that if they get tired of a rabbit, I will take it backfrom them. I won't refund their money but I will take it off theirhands. So far - I've done it once - because the rabbit had allergiesthat made the eyes gunk up and it was too hard for them to deal with.(However, they kept the other two rabbits they got and I think she justtook them for neutering last month).

Peg

Unfortunalty, it is probably jsut another rabbit mill, if not a fullblown one then one getting started. It's the same with the pet shopthat is here in town, they buy the rabbit mill bunnies, people buy themon impulse, then about ten months to a year later, either someone likeme ends up with them-or something worse. There are not very many peoplein my area that take in rescue rabbits. I know of three, includingmyself. I am thinking of going in to the pet shop and talking to theowners about the situation, except I am afraid I will come across assome kind of rabid animal rights person and be ignored.

Naturestee, could you email me the links to the posters? My printerisn't working, but I cna forward them to my Hubby and he can print acouple at work for me to copy. I will pm you my email, I don't think itis shown on my info on here?