I put the word in quotation marks because the animals that go for human consumption, as well as those that are rendered for pet food, produce more than enough palatable, nutritious food to feed the reptiles in the pet trade. Breeding and feeding live animals to pet reptiles is inhumane and only serves man's tendency to cruelty, a tendency that we ought not to leave in any legal or moral grey zone. There is no "cycle of life" about it, as I have to repeatedly clarify for people who think it's just fine and dandy for pet cats to kill wild birds, or any such vain indulgences we have for our pets being still part of the ecology. They are not. We are responsible for them. Therefore they are part of our moral sphere. (If you fail to recognize this, you are part of the problem.)
18,000 rats were neglected, drowned, dehydrated, thrown, beaten, shot, suffocated - and the lizards fared no better. Left for dead, and not even disposed of. The video shows it all. Watch it, weep, and do something about it.
When I look at the rats in the video, there is no way I can be cynical about this. They are just like every rat I've ever known - a conscious individual born into the body of a rat with the same hazard that you and I were born into the human race. 18,000 rats at the end of an investigation. 600 reptiles. How many multiples, hundreds of thousands, suffered like so?
I know that almost none of you that read this will go out and take action in your community - identifying the companies that do such things and confronting them about their level of accountability, demanding that they be investigated, insisting that your legal authorities demonstrate that they are doing more than "monitoring the situation" (pretending to take notice until complaints have concrete grounds for conviction, already prepared by volunteer citizens).
So make a donation. Yes, to PETA. Or to any organization brave enough to do the dirty work, the legal work, or both. The people who investigate and end this suffering need support - they need to eat, they need to live with dignity, they need some kind of proof other than social media statements like "I'm sad and outraged" that other people care, because this work is bona fide traumatic, and it shows how much humans suck. Every animal from this Hell was euthanized because their state showed that life was just not worth living - and the cost of bringing whatever few would be able to make it into homes far outstripped funds available.
Make sure you and the people you know do not buy pets from pet stores. Stores are supplied by commercial suppliers and breeders looking for extra cash. These places — like Mirdot, in Quebec (a cursory search shows they no longer exist, but due to their unsavoury nature, digging might prove useful), whose owner with his wife and children passed by one of Small Victories' fundraisers and did not contribute one red cent — would not be profitable if they treated animals properly.
Do not go to pet shows - I have documentation from the Exotic Pet Show in Montreal that they swept shelters under the rug:
On 26-Mar-07, at 7:34 PM, Expo Exotique wrote:
I am sorry that you feel an ethical dilemma about that. Since this our first year for the Expo congrès we decided that we did not want to give mixed signals to the visitors: On one hand we tell them how amazing exotic animal companions, and on the other we tell them that there is a need for refuges.
Adopt a needy animal, and actively seek them out. All documentation you get from the pet trade tells you to pick the friendliest, brightest-eyed, healthiest looking pet and reject all others. But everyone knows that the bond you form with those who need you most is the one that does you the most good.
If you have pets, then do what people did with their children after last Friday's tragic shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Go home and hug them, spend time with them, because you are fortunate to have them and to share a life worth living.
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