Reprinted from The Wheeply, newsletter of The Home for Unwanted & Abandoned Guinea Pigs, Spring 1998 issue: 
Horrors!  PetsMart Selling Guinea Pigs!
Reputable Pet Supply Chain Now Selling Small Mammals
      The Home for Unwanted and Abandoned Guinea Pigs has become aware of a shocking and disappointing fact.  PetsMart, a national chain of warehouse-style pet supply stores, has added live mammals, including guinea pigs, to its inventory.   A PetsMart coupon reads, "$1 off Any Live Small Animal Purchase Up to $9.99 in value/Valid on mammals only." 
      The coupon can be redeemed in many locales. A company representative told us that their FLorda, California, and Arizona stores already sell small mammals.  Contacts of The Home has seen guinea pigs for sale in Virginia and Tennessee PetsMart stores. Although phone calls to all Atlanta-area stores confirmed no animals except birds and fish are sold here, a local PetsMart manager told The Home's Director that soon they will be. 

Reprinted from The Wheeply, newsletter of The Home for Unwanted & Abandoned Guinea Pigs, Spring 1998 issue: 
The Story of Baby Maggs
A PetsMart Tragedy
by guest author Lisa S___ of Tennessee
     I admit, I had no idea of what an emotional impact owning a Guinea Pig could have until Baby Maggs. 
     I had worked as a cashier at a mall PetsMart in Nashville for barely two weeks when a customer brought Baby Maggs to my attention.  This particular Guinea Pig was smaller than the 8-10 others in the cage and was trying to nurse on all of them.  Come to find out it was very young, maybe 3 weeks old if that old.  I didn't know what to do, but I assured the customer that I would bring it to someone's attention. 
      Other employees took the baby out of the cage and placed it by itself in a dark cardboard carrier.  At first someone offered to take it home to try to wean it, but since a roommate was allergic to fur, the plan was changed.  They would send it back to the vendor like an unwanted or broken toy.  That's where I stepped in.  I told them I knew nothing about small animals but would take what I was told was a male to my home, if they would provide the basic necessities to care for "him."
      I was given a small bottle, some canine replacement milk, and a small cage with a wire floor and pine shavings in it.  No water bottle, food, etc. . . I purchased basic things to make the baby comfortable, including a better cage so the feet wouldn't get stuck like they were doing in the smaller cage. 
      I fed the pet every 6 hours, held it, and fell in love.  I knew then that I wanted it to be a permanent member of my family.  I talked it over with my roommate and decided to adopt it.  The next day, I told my manager that I wanted to purchase the Guinea Pig and would pay for it on pay day.  It was agreed.  This was on a Tuesday.  By Thursday morning I knew something was wrong. 
      My manager told me to take the guinea pig to the vet and that they would pay for it.  So I did.  But then the Merchandising Manager told me that she would not authorize payment of the bill and called my vet to refuse treatment, stating that she would come to get the animal later and take it to PetsMart's vet, another clinic.  She told me that if I caused any further trouble that it would be reported that I stole the guinea pig and I would be fired for stealing. 
      I called my mother, who said that she would pay the vet bill, not to worry.  But she called me back 10 minutes later; the vet wouldn't treat the animal because PetsMart said not to.  I confronted the Merchandising Manager who told me that it was "just a guinea pig, and they only cost $5.00," and to "let it go."  She told me that she would pick up the animal at 1:00 and take it to their vet. 
      In the meantime the vet had told me that the guinea pig was female, not male as PetsMart claimed and that she was very young, dehydrated, and malnourished, and had diarrhea and possibly salmonella or scurvy.  The vet said it was a pre-existing condition brought on by the filthy conditions that they travel in, and that they are neglected once in the store. 
      At 1:00 the Merchandising Manager took another Guinea Pig out of the cage to have it checked by a vet too.  She took my directions to the vet and promised me that my Guinea Pig would be taken care of, but added that if it had to be euthanized it was none of my business.  Once again she threw the threat of losing my job at me. 
      She came back 45 minutes later with the other Guinea Pig but not mine.  I asked what happened, and she told me that she could not find my vet and it was too hot for her to be traveling all over town looking for a "damn rat."  She took the other one and tossed it back in the cage.  It was not treated either and had ridden across town in a cardboard box in a car with no air conditioning.  She said she just didn't feel like doing all of it. 
      My roommate Barbara called at 4:30.  She had gone to pick up the Guinea Pig. Barbara told me that the vet said to give the Guinea Pig Pedalyte for the dehydration and that she had mites also, and possibly lice, but that she would be okay until I could pay to have her treated Friday morning.  The vet would not treat her without guarantee of compensation.  I thought that was inhumane of her.  I told my roommate that, having learned that "he" was actually a "she," I was going to name the Guinea Pig Baby Maggs after my grandma who died in February of this year.  I felt a little better. 
      At 6:00 it all came to an end.  My roommate came to pick me up and said that Baby Maggs had died.  I cried my heart out.
      I realized, she died because treatment was refused by PetsMart.  I told my manager what happened.  He was unconcerned, saying, "I didn't know anything about it."
      I couldn't bear it any longer.  I quit.  I just walked out.  I have never done that on a job in my life, but I couldn't bear to witness any more of PetsMart's treatment of their animals.  I feel in my heart that I did the right thing by quittting my job.  There is no way I can work for monsters like these. 
      Even though I had Baby Maggs for only a brief time, I became attached to her, and I came to understand the dangerous conditions that Guinea Pigs and other small creatures are forced to endure in pet stores.  I urge everyone to let PetsMart know what you think about the treatment that Baby Maggs received. 
      In the future I would like to have another Guinea Pig, but will only adopt or rescue, not buy from some place like PetsMart that is just in it for profit only. 
 
 

Reprinted from The Wheeply, newsletter of The Home for Unwanted & Abandoned Guinea Pigs, Summer 1998 issue: 
PetsMart Update

The Home sent this letter to PetsMart: 

Dear PetsMart:
     It was with great dismay that I learned a year ago that PetsMart was selling guinea pigs in other states and would soon begin selling guinea pigs here in Atlanta, Georgia.  I was initially shocked because PetsMart heavily advertises that it doesn t sell cats and dogs since there are too many homeless ones. As the director of The Home for Unwanted and Abandoned Guinea Pigs, I have seen over the past 15 years how true is the same of guinea pigs, so I was surprised and disappointed to see PetsMart have a double standard when it came to these smaller animals. 
     Guinea pig overpopulation and homelessness are very real problems.  My charity receives far more requests for rescue than we can handle; and the Atlanta Humane Society almost always has needy guinea pigs available for adoption.  Also, there are fewer people wanting a guinea pig than wanting a dog or cat, so shelters may have guinea pigs waiting for homes for a long time.
     Selling guinea pigs, instead of leaving their placement to experienced adoption agencies (who use adoption applications and contracts), results in their neglect, abuse, and abandonment.  The animals often get Vitamin C deficiency or have unwanted litters of babies, because the store didn t educate the owners about proper care.  Many people who buy a guinea pig aren t committed and don t keep him long; they soon abandon him at a shelter, or worse. 
     Whether the animals you sell come from a breeder or from  LabPets  in Florida (I was told both of these by employees), these are cruel sources, and shipping is horrific for animals.  I have also heard accounts of animals mistreated and neglected once in the stores. 
     For all these reasons, I am very sorry that PetsMart is selling guinea pigs.  I think it is a real shame that an otherwise fine company stoops to making a few more dollars at the expense of helpless animal lives.  Because of it, I have taken my business elsewhere. This amounts to an average of $50 a week ($2600 over the past year).  I continue to inform my subscribers and contacts of PetsMart s inhumane polices, and these boycotts total many times more money.  I would love to return to shopping there, and I will do so as soon as you cease selling animals.

From Animals' Agenda magazine: 
Animals' Agenda magazine reported in 2000 that the BBC did a documentary on British PetsMart stores. The investigation showed that some managers killed sick animals and then threw them in the trash. "I was given a bag with hamsters in [it] and asked to smash it against a wall, " said a former manager. PetsMart has stores throughout the U.S. and Canada, and they do sell guinea pigs in the U.S.  The Home for Unwanted and Abandoned Guinea Pigs has received many reports of PetsMart's cruelty to guinea pigs since 1998.  Boycott PetsMart until they quit selling animals, and tell them why you are doing so.  HQ:  PetsMart, 19601 N. 27th Ave., Phoenix, AZ 85027, 623-580-6100
 

From People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA): 
PETA's Animal Times published an Investigative Report in Summer 2000 on pet stores.  It reveals atrocities in animal mistrreatment at stores including Petland and Petco. 

Reprinted from a California newspaper: 
by Frank Green, Staff Writer, the UNION-TRIBUNE
December 4, 2002 
     A national animal-rights group, pop singer Pink and the San Francisco city attorney all have their claws bared against Petco, alleging that the pet supply chain engaged in animal cruelty at some of its stores. 
     ... in June...the San Diego-based company was accused...of cruel and illegal treatment of pets at two of the company's Bay Area stores. 
     Among Petco's alleged violations in the pending suit: Sick and dying animals kept in a freezer, toads cooked to death on the heated floors of their enclosures and animals with contagious diseases left untreated. 
     In a quarterly report Petco filed last week with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the company warned that the complaint and any similar actions that might be filed "could cause negative publicity which could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations."
     Petco, which is the nation's second-largest pet supply company after Petsmart, said the complaint and related news reports have caused negative publicity in the San Francisco area.
     The company's troubles might soon go from a growl to a roar. 
     People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, the Virginia-based advocacy group, said yesterday that it is leading a boycott of Petco's 600 or so stores across the country. 
     Last month, PETA   which is a Petco stockholder   filed a complaint with the SEC alleging that the company is omitting crucial information to investors, including specific sales figures for its animal business. 
     PETA said it also plans to step up its anti-Petco campaign next month by conducting demonstrations in front of Petco stores and distributing a color brochure that will detail its gripes against the company. 
     "This is not a localized problem restricted to San Francisco, but an ongoing problem at Petco stores throughout the U.S.," said PETA spokeswoman Colleen O'Brien. "Petco is not addressing animal death rates from disease and overcrowding." 
     O'Brien added that one of dozens of complaints PETA has received from Petco customers concerned a rat that had its hind legs and tale bitten off in an allegedly overcrowded cage at a San Diego County shop. 
     ...Petco said yesterday that it takes seriously any allegations regarding the care of pets for sale and has taken steps to reiterate to all store associates the importance of proper care for animals in all stores. 
     The company said it is responding to the complaint and will defend itself vigorously. 
     "Our commitment to animal care is a top priority," said Petco spokesman Don Cowan, who labelled PETA's actions against the company as a "misinformation campaign."