Animals Frozen Alive, Crudely Gassed at Petco, PetSmart Supplier Mill
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A PETA eyewitness documented that thousands of animals were confined to plastic bins stacked in shelving units like filing cabinet drawers at Holmes Farm, a massive animal mill in Pennsylvania that supplies hamsters, rabbits, gerbils, chinchillas, ferrets, and other small animals to hundreds of pet stores across the eastern U.S.
Based on PETA's evidence, a team of U.S. Department of Agriculture officials descended on Holmes Farm, which is now under federal investigation. PETA's observer never saw any animals receive veterinary care at the facility, despite repeatedly alerting the manager to obviously sick and injured individuals. Instead, workers piled dozens of animals—ranging from rats and gerbils to guinea pigs and even a rabbit—at a time into a feces-smeared cooler and crudely gassed them with carbon dioxide. Their screams could be heard across the room.
Live rats were stuffed into plastic zipper bags or tossed onto plastic lids and put in a freezer, slowly freezing to death even as some frantically tried to claw their way out.
During nearly three months at the facility, PETA's observer found hundreds of small animals dead, often in bins in which no water was available.
This case is hardly an anomaly: Holmes Farm is the fifth animal dealer with ties to PetSmart and/or Petco that PETA has exposed. Please, pledge never to buy pet supplies from retailers that sell any animals. Let the big-box stores' leaders know that you'll instead buy supplies from businesses that don't sell any animals, such as Target, Walgreens, or online retailers:
PETA's mission statement is that animals are not ours to experiment on, eat, wear, use for entertainment, or abuse in any other way: peta.org/about-peta
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