While many pet lovers know the horrors of puppy mills, few consider that other pet animals, such as guinea pigs, hamsters and rabbits, can also endure horrible living conditions before they end up at pet retailer for sale.
A PETA eyewitness working at Holmes Farm, a massive animal mill in Pennsylvania that supplies small animals to hundreds of pet stores, including Petco and PetSmart, allegedly unveiled routine animal abuse at the facility that is shocking to see.
The animal supplier provides hamsters, rabbits, gerbils, chinchillas, ferrets, and other small animals to pet stores across the eastern United States. A PETA employee went undercover for three months and allegedly witnessed thousands of animals confined to plastic storage bins or stacked in shelving units.
Disturbingly, the animals appear to have been crudely gassed in plastic bins or frozen alive in plastic bags when they were no longer wanted. Injured or sick animals also appear to not have been given any veterinarian care and were left to die. Cats also were filmed roaming freely in the warehouse, frightening the rodents and sometimes feeding on them.
PETA said that many of the animals were also often with no water, which lead to dozens of deaths. Based on PETA’s evidence, a team of U.S. Department of Agriculture officials descended on Holmes Farm, which is now under federal investigation.
PetSmart has reached out to the USDA to learn about its findings and plans on taking “swift and appropriate action” should they find that their standards have not been met. Petco has announced it has dropped the supplier, stating that it does not meet Petco’s “animal care standards”.
Warning: the video is graphic and may be disturbing to some viewers.
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