Discovered two more terrible pet stores

I was downtown today and checked out two petstores. The first sold mostly dog and cat food and had a very small section for fish supplies and all the stuff looked dirty and probably expired. They had no fish and had a few sad looking puppies who were covered in urine and feces from lying in their own filth. >

Disgusted, I went up the street to the second one... It had advertised a "shark feeding frenzy" every Tues or something so I expected it to be a big store like Big Al's (which has a very large shark tank with two 6 foot long sharks).
It was a small, dirty, overcrowded, dingy looking place owned by a chinese woman. : The products were mostly asian brands I didn't recognize and old expired stock. I'd NEVER use anything made in China on my babies! She had a few fish tanks with ENORMOUS fish in them. She had no small baby fish like Petsmart carries. I saw full grown cories about 4-5 inches long (I had no idea they even get that big! ) and other catfish over a foot long. Then, I saw them... the tiny Betta bowls. I walked over cautiously knowing I would be angry and sad at what I saw. There were 5 tiny bowls holding about 3 ounces of water each. The Bettas were all halfmoons (never seen those in a pet store before) and one of them actually had TWO full grown zebra danios IN THE SAME 3 OUNCE BOWL with him!!! The fish were all bumping against each other and all were stressed! Two of the five Bettas were dead in their bowls and covered with fungus! I pointed this out to the woman and she pretended to be puzzled and took them to the bathroom and flushed them saying "I wonder what happened?"
Then I noticed two other Bettas in the larger tanks with the other fish. One was in a cold Goldfish tank, about 15 gallons, with at least 10 VERY large 6+ inch size fantail goldfish! The other was in a 15 gallon tank with 5 of the biggest Angelfish I've ever seen! These Angels were the size of dinner plates and VERY aggressive, fighting like crazy with each other. No doubt they were stressed from being crowded... the Betta was terrified and hiding in the weeds floating at the top. How long before one or more of the Angels tears him apart I wonder? :'(
I would have LOVED to rescue all the remaining Bettas but it simply is not possible. I have ten Bettas already and there is just no room or money for more. It makes me so sad to have had to leave them there!
I plan on contacting the Humane Society on both these pet stores to report them for cruelty and neglect. How I would love to get them shut down! It makes Petsmart seem like Betta heaven compared to this nightmare!

Oh, and the "shark feeding frenzy" she had going on was her 3 huge Bala Sharks, each over a foot long, crowded into a 15 gallon tank... Hardly competes with Big Al's REAL sharks not to mention their very clean, well kept tanks.
All the fish in this store were suffering, not just the Bettas. It was terrible!

 

That's awful, I realise that not all people are animal/fishy orientated but what gets me is their complete lack of common sense over their welfare and you would think if they are trying to make money out of these poor little things that they'd keep them in good health and conditions seeings as presentation is vital in sales. But then I am forgetting that we are talking about thick, brainless pillocks here!!

 

Oh man! That's awful. It just breaks my heart to see things like that. Yes please, do contact the humane society.

 

those are some pretty bad stores for sure.

 

That is horrible.
With the second pet shop, it's partially a cultural thing. Most cultures are built upon religious beliefs, and very few religions have much about protection of animals built into them. In fact, some cultures (don't know about Chinese, but I know the Hmong are like this) have a belief that animals are on the planet for no reason other than to serve us.
Further, (and I'm going to try to step lightly here) it's probably an education thing. The more people know, science-wise, about how animals work, both physiologically and mentally, the harder it is for them to mistreat the animals. (This is where things become tricky) There are many of the older immigrants, not just Asian, but Caucasians, who have not had access to the types of education that we take for granted here.
Combine the two things, and you've got people who have never been given any reason to feel that animals should be treated with anything but the most cursory of care, and if their discomfort can provide us with amusement, that would be fine.

I would like to say that I have no ill will toward anybody in this situation. Rather, I try to educate them as I can. Unfortunately, it's one American vs a lifetime of training, so there's little that can be done, other than not purchase from them. I just continue on with my life and try really hard to not let it bother me too much.

 

And people don't like to be told what to do and be made to feel ignorant, so it's totally understandable that they'd react defensively if we tried a very direct 'telling-off' approach. It's a delicate subject for sure.

 

That is horrible.
With the second pet shop, it's partially a cultural thing. Most cultures are built upon religious beliefs, and very few religions have much about protection of animals built into them. In fact, some cultures (don't know about Chinese, but I know the Hmong are like this) have a belief that animals are on the planet for no reason other than to serve us.
Further, (and I'm going to try to step lightly here) it's probably an education thing. The more people know, science-wise, about how animals work, both physiologically and mentally, the harder it is for them to mistreat the animals. (This is where things become tricky) There are many of the older immigrants, not just Asian, but Caucasians, who have not had access to the types of education that we take for granted here.
Combine the two things, and you've got people who have never been given any reason to feel that animals should be treated with anything but the most cursory of care, and if their discomfort can provide us with amusement, that would be fine.

I would like to say that I have no ill will toward anybody in this situation. Rather, I try to educate them as I can. Unfortunately, it's one American vs a lifetime of training, so there's little that can be done, other than not purchase from them. I just continue on with my life and try really hard to not let it bother me too much.

I accept that this is a culture difference problem. It is hard however to ignore the sufferings of innocent creatures, no matter what race or culture.

 

I accept that this is a culture difference problem. It is hard however to ignore the sufferings of innocent creatures, no matter what race or culture.

The difference comes in that many cultures (a large number of Christians included) do not attribute the ability to experience suffering (or any feeling) to animals, therefore it becomes a convenient non-issue to them.

 

well, for the culture of our house - suffering on innocent animals isn't something we can ignore. betta fighting is still acceptable in some societies, yet there are people there who hate it.. I guess it's like everything else - I think it comes down to each individual how to respond to animal cruelty.

 

That is so horrible to hear of people treating fish so badly. I honestly can't understand people who don't care for the welfare of their animals.

That said please try not to make stereotypes about other cultures. I know plenty of Chinese people who take excellent care of their fish...and plenty of Americans who certainly do not.

 

yea, every grouping of people seems to have all kinds in it. it'd be a better world if everyone could respect life enough to be kind to animals and other people.

 

This is why I try to step carefully. I never said that no Chinese care about the welfare of animals. However, it is not built into some cultures to care about it. As I said, I know next to nothing of Chinese culture. I do know something about Hmong culture, and I know that, as a whole, the culture is unconcerned with the suffering of animals. This doesn't mean individuals don't care, there are always those who are more empathic/sympathetic than others of a culture. Similarly, there are groups of Christians who believe that only beings with souls may suffer, and since animals don't have souls, we don't have to worry about how to treat them. An average person from this Christian sub-culture is more likely to, say, leave their dog tied to a tree outside 365 days a year than someone whose religion/cultural background supports the well-treatment of animals.

I will again say that there are always going to be people who can't be lumped in with their group. This is only a partial explanation.
But, to me, it's an important part of the explanation, because it makes a big difference to me what a person was taught from the beginning of their life.