Chun-Ming Chew
Robin, Please be assured that I understand exactly where you’re coming from and did not take anything personally. You had some obvious good points: namely the mass distribution and retailing of wild-caught animals and the deplorable conditions that they are sometimes kept in. But your anti-pet store stance drew my attention and amused me simply because it’s so politically correct nowadays to bash pet stores, and everybody’s jumping on the bandwagon. So I had to say something!;D I’ve seen my share of bad ones too, but I believe that good business sense will prevail in the end and the stores that do not do good by their animals and fail in educating their customers will fail in the end leaving quality establishments that we could all be proud to patronize. That is, if the large chains don’t run them out of business first, which is what happened to ours… The type you mentioned in your post should be reported to Animal Control, the SPCA and all other animal rights lobbyists. These type should never be allowed to stay in business. There’s something about reptiles that conjures up visions of dollar signs; people think they can make a quick buck off them, especially the high end ones. While many in the fish, cats & dogs, and small animal trade do it for the love of the animals, it seems a significant number of reptile people are drawn to it for the all the wrong reasons, like you mentioned. I enjoyed my days in the pet industry and learned a lot. I don’t think I would ever go back to it though, unless I could do it myself and open up a type of mini-zoo/store where the animals are housed in natural exhibits and allowed to thrive. -Chun