I typed this e-mail for PeTA reguarding a recent animal abuse crime at petsmart and a horrible experince that has happened to me and one of my friends! Here it is:
Hi! This is Lauren!
As I was reading and typing a complaint about the whole Petsmart thing, I was reminded of a horrible experince that I thought you might find intresting.
A couple of years ago...when I was either 12, 13, or 14 years of age, my mom took me to Petco to buy a parakeet for me (if I remember correctly...I think it was because I earned a reward for doing something good...and I wanted a parakeet as a reward). Now...at the time, I was (sadly) unaware of animals being mistreated by humans and didn't think that it wasn't good to buy any animal at a pet shop. Anywho...I walked into the store with my mom and went straight to the parakeet tank. When I got there, I couldn't help but stare at them-THEY WERE SOOO CUTE!! But at the same time, I noticed that they had some white things on the tips of their feathers; like mites or something; and most of them were on the bottom of the tank all fluffed up and looked like they were about to vomit or something! In other words...most of them acted quite sickly (...ewww). A few of the other parakeets were on the swirly rope perch like thing seeming ok. As I was looking through them...I finally picked one! It was a cute black and yellow parakeet, I'm guessing about a year old or so. It did look like it was upset, I thought it was lonely, so I decided that that's the one I wanted and took it home with me and named it Pichu.
When we got home, I put Pichu into the cage with the food, water and everything that a parakeet needed to maintain a healthy life span of 3-5 years (that's how long they can live up to, right?). Then I went to do something else...like color or something I guess. A few hours later I came back to see Pichu, it was sitting in the back corner of the cage all fluffed up and sad like. So I took Pichu and put him or her on the perch.
The next day when I got home from school, Pichu was back in the corner! But worse than the day before!! Pichu looked like he or she had saliva on his or her beak! I was nervous, and decided I would gently wash it off. When I took him or her into the bathroom to wash off the saliva, I noticed that when I held him or her, he or she lacked the proper weight for a parakeet to maintain! I was scared-but didn't really think much of it, I just thought that Pichu didn't eat much that day.
The next day Pichu was still in bad shape. Still in the back corner of his or her cage and fluffed up. I was very nervous for him or her, but I had to go to school. When I got home from school, Pichu was still in the corner and fluffed up! I swear! I didn't know why Pichu was doing this!! That night, I kissed Pichu, put her back on his or her perch, told her that I love him or her and went to bed.
When I woke up the next morning-PICHU WAS DEAD!!! I was heart-broken by this! That was one of the worst days in my intire life! And I only had that parakeet FOR 3 DAYS!!! I have NEVER gotten a pet from Petco before this and I will NEVER go there to buy ANYTHING, weither it's pet food, toys or an animal AGAIN!!!! I DON'T TRUST THEM!!! THEY MAKE ME MAD NOW! I'M STARTING TO THINK THAT THEY HAD DONE SOMETHING TO POOR LITTLE PICHU!!
I was talking to my friend about Pichu in school a couple of months ago and she to has had an experince like the one I went through! She told me that she got a frog from Petco. She said that it was perfectly fine and that the tank was perfect for it. The next day when she woke up from sleeping, she found it daed in the tank! I understand that this story is "hear say" but she is my friend and I believe her!
Another thing I noticed when I went to the same Petco that I got Pichu from was the parakeet tank-I noticed that it seemed like the tank was air tight or perhaps there was not enough oxygen for the parakeets to breathe! I complained to the store's manager about the parakeet's tank. I said to them that they should put them in a cage were they can get MORE air to breathe. Then all I got was "Oh, sorry miss, we can't do that. We're not a family owned store; we do what the company tells us to do with the animals". I was angered by this response! I couldn't just stand for it! Then the manager gave me the companie's phone number to complain about the parakeets. Then I went up to the tank and vowed to help them! But that was about 2 years ago or so...and they won't listen to just one person about a bunch of birds-heck, they probably don't even care weither I complained or not!
I'm e-mailing you guys this because I have grown suspicous about the way Petco treats those animals. I, as one person, a 16 year-old no less, don't have the power to do what you guys can do to figure out about a crime against animals. Maybe you guys can possibly take this into consideration and check it out for the animals? Please? Then again this request is just a suggestion on my part. You don't have to if you don't want to, of course.
Anyhow, thanks for reading my e-mail! I really appreciate it LOADS! And you know what, I bet Pichu and my friend's frog do too. BTW, these stories ARE true!
Thanks for listening! Lauren, 16, Long Island New York
Kadeinko Community Member 
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