Animals in pet shops

Should animals be kept in pet shops?
I disagree, as it leads to more animals being abandoned and being bought as unwanted gifts. Also animals such as mice and fish are sold to young children without any adult permission. Also there are normally way too many animals in one cage/tank and they are not generally in great health. I think this applies especially to cats and dogs. Rescue centres, for examle do home-checks, but the pet shops don't care for the whelfare of the animal, just the profit they are making.
However, when i thought about it, if animals weren't available in pet shops then not as many people would keep animals as pets. Then there would be a lesser need for vets, since i want to be a vet more than anything this would be bad in my opinion lol.
I think there should be more strict legislation as to who buys animals and the conditions they are kept in.
What are everyone else's feelings on this? x

Reply 1

technik

im not really a fan of keeping pets at all actually.

Reply 2

Sam2k

I don't really see any problem with selling animals in pet shops. If you want to buy one that's your choice, but all of my pets just show up at my house, so it has always seemed a little stupid to me to buy a pet..

Reply 3

Golden Maverick

It sounds like you want to impose more regulations on owning a pet than having a child! Especially with your idea about legislation on conditions.
Too far in my view. It is fine as it is.

Reply 4

animaluvva

I disagree with allowing pet shops to sell animals although it seems that as time goes on less and less of them are anyway.

Just the other week I saw two girls walk out of a petshop, one of them holding a cardboard box, the other smacking the box! Seriously! They walked past me with the box open and had a hamster inside it which they went on to try and get out in the street! I was sitting in a car so couldn't get out in time to say anything...I have to say it took a minute to register what they were actually doing...but I was really angry and shocked!

Now, I know that these people are in the minority but I do think that pet shops / garden centres have to take some responsibility - like lil_crazyflakes said, rescue homes carry out home checks and often follow-up on the animals that are homed...I don't think it should be so easy for pet shops to sell animals to anyone that walks in!

I also know that this doesn't apply to all pet shops but there should be more surprise and strict inspections if animals are sold in shops and quick action taken if things aren't being done responsibly!

Just my opinion...

Reply 5

jamieuk20

animaluvva

You've just mentioned the exact reason why the situation should stay as it is - because these sorts of idiots are in a minority. Legislation or new laws to control who can/can't own pets is not the answer. Where would it begin? Should you have to have a certain IQ to own a pet? Some less clever (can you even say more stupid these days?) children may be far more loving towards pets than more intelligent children. Should you have to have a clean CRB for 3 years? Virtually all kids, if not all, will have no idea what a CRB is, etc. etc.

Yes, it is bad that pets experience cruelty of this nature but you have to remember that the physical natural world is ordered around cruelty. Humankind didn't advance to the top of the food chain by mollycoddling badgers and parasites.

Reply 6

Howard

lil_crazyflakes

What else would you expect to find in pet shops other than pets? Seems a logical place to keep them to me. :confused:

Reply 7

animaluvva

jamieuk20

I think you misunderstood me..I wasn't suggesting laws controlling who can and can't have pets and what you said afterwards about IQ was ridiculous!

What I was saying was that places offering animals for sale should be prepared to take responsibility for the animals that they home...ie. follow up visits or home visits before if necessary and if the animal isn't being kept in appropriate conditions then action should be taken and responsibilty placed both on the part of the owner and the person who sold the animal!

I don't think that pet shop owners are prepared to do this (obviously some will be but in my experience I'd say they were in the minority) and therefore, they shouldn't be able to sell pets.

Reply 8

animaluvva

Howard

What else would you expect to find in pet shops other than pets? Seems a logical place to keep them to me. :confused:

Pet supplies generally....cages, hutches, sawdust, food etc. etc. In reality, I think animals make up a really small part of any pet shop's trade.

Reply 9

frost105

Most stores in the Uk know only sell small animals eg birds, rabbits, hamsters yet when i was in france the dogs are in the window and it just seemed really sad to me. Maybe I'm just a big softy and love my dogs too much. I'd much rather get a dog from a rescue or one thats from a home.

Reply 10

animaluvva

frost105

Yeah, I totally agree - although I suppose the dogs in the pet shops are in need of homes as well, I'd prefer to go to a shelter.

Over here there are definately few pet shops that sell dogs now - one near me that did closed within the last few years and the dogs that were sold there were unvaccinated and riddled with worms...kind of supports my view that animals shouldn't be kept in them / sold there I think.

Reply 11

Trousers

I don't disagree with pet shops in principle - the animals are generally only housed there for a couple of weeks before being rehomed, and they're generally kept in good condition.

There are already laws in place that prevent people from mistreating animals, and these laws apply to pet shops as well as to owners. If these laws are properly enforced, there's nothing else that can be done. If you see animals being poorly treated, report it.

Someone said that it's ridiculous to have more regulations for pet-owning than we have for child-rearing, but this is a silly comparison to make. It would be impossible (and, some might say, unethical) to regulate who can and cannot reproduce, whereas it is possible to regulate who can and cannot buy animals (to a certain extent) - and if it prevents suffering, why shouldn't we?

Again, we have laws against the mistreatment of animals just as we have laws against the mistreatment of children. I'm sure the RSPCA would take just as much interest in a dog-owner beating his greyhound as the police would in a parent beating his child. In my opinion, this is as it should be.