# Look at the betta I didn't get at Petco (warningn graphic photos)



## sjones (Apr 28, 2010)

June 18 South Portland Maine Petco
Veiltail betta had his fins completely removed and was laying in the top cup of the pyramid of betta cups. mutilated and dead. how awesome is petco?

any advice on what to do> The manager is not nice, I wouldn't talk to her and I couldn't find anywhere on petco's website to email these photos, perhaps i should just stand out side with signs showing how they abuse their animals?


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## metalbetta (May 17, 2010)

Here's a list of the regional contacts to petco, there are only fax numbers though. 
http://www.petco.com/Content/Content.aspx?PC=regionalcontacts&Nav=378

Also, here's a link to the phone number of their corporate headquarters. It should appear under the headline "Media Contacts":
http://www.petco.com/petco_Page_PC_helplist_TopicID_45_Nav_310.aspx

Hope this helps!

EDIT: Found another link that may be much more helpful to you:
http://www.petco.com/content/contactsubtopic.aspx?PC=contactstores&nav=17#top


"4. I have a *concern about my local PETCO*. What should I do?

We encourage you to bring any concern or feedback that you may have regarding your local PETCO store with the store's General Manager. Our store management team will be more than happy to personally assist you with your concerns. If you have already spoken with your local store's management team about your concerns and would like further assistance with your feedback, please call our Customer Relations team at 888-824-7257. We will be more than happy to assist you. "


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## Maryrox247 (Aug 10, 2009)

OMG! I despise that sort of treatment to ANY animal! I definitley encourage you to bring this to people's attention! I know they cant keep every cup perfectly clean since there are so many but they should at least try a little harder! Poor thing R.I.P!


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## Owlets (Oct 24, 2009)

I wonder if some kids thought it was a good idea to put two males together, and thats why it is so.. mutilated.
Poor thing, thats such a horrible thing for a pet shop to just overlook. Ughhh makes me so angry. :C


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## Jakr959 (Jun 15, 2010)

Awww! How dare Petco hurt the most beautiful fresh water fish ever! THEY ARE HURTING OUR BETTA'S! WE NEED TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS!:evil: :redmad:


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## Betta Slave (Dec 8, 2009)

That is just terrible!! I can't believe they would allow something like that!


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## JKfish (Apr 8, 2010)

What I find odd is that the water is crystal clear, and clean compared to some other stores I've seen bettas in, and the other bettas don't look that bad off... I sorta doubt he was super neglected, and as Owlets said, it's possible some kid dumped two bettas together. If the water is super clean, it must mean the employees at least attempt to keep the bettas in good condition, which means they probably clean the betta's cups often. So why would they put a dead betta back in it's cup?


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## WillowTree (May 13, 2010)

JKfish said:


> What I find odd is that the water is crystal clear, and clean compared to some other stores I've seen bettas in, and the other bettas don't look that bad off... I sorta doubt he was super neglected, and as Owlets said, it's possible some kid dumped two bettas together. If the water is super clean, it must mean the employees at least attempt to keep the bettas in good condition, which means they probably clean the betta's cups often. So why would they put a dead betta back in it's cup?



That's what I was thinking. When I was at my local Walmart recently I started approaching the bettas and there was one with yellow water while all the rest where clear. I was hoping I was about to encounter my first betta rescue, but it was too late. The betta was dead and his water reflected that. It just seems odd to have a dead betta with such pristine water.


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## sjones (Apr 28, 2010)

Yes it is odd, also the cup was placed on top of the pyramid of betta cups, someone had placed it there deliberately, the amount of fin damage looks like someone cut of ll the fins, not like it was in a fight and partially finless, and the water was new looking.

Not all the cups at that petco are clean, btw.


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## beta novice (May 9, 2010)

poor guy


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## kuklachica (Dec 23, 2009)

That Petco is HORRIBLE to their bettas! I have complained to the assistant manager, another worker, AND emailed their corporate HQ. Nothing has changed. I spoke to the fish manager at the Petco that I will be starting to work at next week and she said to PLEASE email to their website. Here is the link. The animal care manager from the New England area will be coming in within the next two weeks to inspect the Maine stores. She gets copies of all of the complaints sent in to the website. The manager of my store said that this will come back to bite them in the butt, even if they don't do anything now. So PLEASE email them. I am going to email them again since I did not see any change from my original email. 

There is also a number employees can call and anonymously report store problems regarding animal care. Once I start next week I will be calling regarding this store. 

The fish care there is appalling and the lack of care by the managers is even more appalling.


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## sjones (Apr 28, 2010)

DONE!

If you need copies of the photos let me know. I am thinking of doing a facebook page about it, I'm sure we could get a lot of members on here to sign up and put pressure on them.

Who wants to start the page?


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## kuklachica (Dec 23, 2009)

Careful, I'm not sure about libel laws and such. I'd wait to see what happens over the next three weeks between your contacting them, me sending another email today, their head animal specialist going through, and me calling the hotline.


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## metalbetta (May 17, 2010)

Sjones I'd join if you link me!


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## kuklachica (Dec 23, 2009)

that's the cleanest I've ever seen their cups...

edit: the times i have gone in they have had brown or yellow water, with bloodworms caked on top and in the feeding tube, and all of the HM, SDTs and CTs have had either fin rot or been biting their tails because of the conditions. Others have had green and yellow algae/mold build up on the bottom of the cups. The associate last time told me that the water looked yellow or brown just because of the plastic used for the cups. Ummm yeah. I quickly told him how it was odd that a few of the bettas actually had clear water and that the other Petco 45 mins away NEVER has brown or yellow "plastic". Hmmm. Must not be the plastic's fault?


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## cyndi (Jan 19, 2010)

you should by all means send emails and complain. There are foodchains to the whole coroprate amercia. Start with the DM (or GM) and go from there. if you jump ship above the DM and go straight to corporate, they seem to ignore your complaint or it seems to get lost. There might not be anything done, but there obviously should be. Personally if i had seen the betta in that shape, i would have put him down. There was no need for him to suffer like that.

kuklachica, you gotta be careful calling petcos version of Petsmarts Careline. Don't give out too much info about yourself. Depending upon the information given, it's not hard to pick out who did it because most of the stores have less than 40 employees.


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## kuklachica (Dec 23, 2009)

cyndi,

thank you for the concern. I'm going to be very careful when I make the call, and will get pointers from the fish manager who I'll be working under. I don't want to "burn bridges" so to speak with the other store, but they really need to do something about it.

I'll also talk to the head manager of our store about what to do in this situation. She and I met because I saw bad conditions at my local Petco. I wasn't at all familiar with bettas or pet stores really at the time, so I emailed Petco HQ directly. She received the email and called me the next day to discuss my concerns. She was GREAT, and an employee who came across as crass and not following procedures was apparently fired. Come to find out, something happened in shipping since it was in the middle of the crazy snow storms in the NY area, and that's why many bettas died. I have never seen anything like that since. And she and I get along great and she was happy that I applied and very happy to hire me since I knew my stuff. She's the good type of manager - someone who can take constructive criticism and not be "offended" or defensive - and makes sure things change. So I will talk to her about the correct route (if any) that I as an employee should take regarding this other store. 

Isn't it sad that employees have to be careful when reporting poor care, even at other stores? Why should WE, the "whistle blowers", fear for our jobs when they are clearly not doing theirs?

This is why I want to work at my local petco. I am so impressed with the way they care for their animals and the response to customer concerns. I would NOT be caught dead working at the Petco featured in this thread!


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## FuulieQ (Jan 10, 2010)

It IS very weird, how the water is so clean and the fish is in obvious view. Systematic neglect is not typically like that. 

Nonetheless, someone should be paying attention and taking the sick bettas off the shelves for treatment. We should hardly ever see a dead betta.


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## sjones (Apr 28, 2010)

Wow, great responses from everyone!!!
Thank you for caring.

I think you can't be liable for slander if you speak the truth.
There are some anti-petco pages on facebook currently.
But I was hoping someone else on here might take up the torch or perhaps create a beta advocacy page on facebook..just an idea!
Isn't it funny how people are so afraid of activism,and don't know how they can legally protest things? I say this even including me!



kuklachica said:


> Isn't it sad that employees have to be careful when reporting poor care, even at other stores? Why should WE, the "whistle blowers", fear for our jobs when they are clearly not doing theirs?



And yes it is a symptom of "business" how things are run, like the head of BP saying he didn't know how oil wells are drilled, etc, which is actually true, these businesses are trying to make money and that is the bottom line, they don't care/ or want to know how it's done.

And at the end of the day we are just trying to pay our bills, right?!

So be careful, and be aware of their bottom line.

You know I spent $20 at the petco that day buying supplies, so I condoned there actions with my dollar


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## sjones (Apr 28, 2010)

oh wait Peta has a bunch of links on their website on how to organize demonstrations and pamphleting legally here http://www.peta.org/actioncenter/act.asp


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## kuklachica (Dec 23, 2009)

Update:

I received a response to my email. It looks promising, but I will follow up with a visit there in a couple of weeks. Following is my original email to Petco, and their response.


My email:
_
I sent in a concern about a month ago regarding overfeeding of the bettas and poor water conditions. After pointing this out to the assistant manager, she began to clean the dirtiest cups. Two weeks later I again visited the store. The majority of the bettas' water was either yellow or brown, floating debris, and some covered with mold and algae at the bottom. Almost all of the halfmoon and delta tail bettas had fin rot, as did many of the crown tails. I pointed out these conditions to an associate and he tried to explain to me that the water color was due to the plastic used to make the cups. I explained to him that this was not possible since some of the cups had clear water and other Petcos I frequent have clear and clean cups, he seemed surprised. He then instructed the fish associate to clean the water.

I am shocked that the care of the bettas has not improved, and that the store associates try to rationalize their poor care by blaming the plastic cups.

The bettas were very stressed due to the build up of ammonia in their cups as well as food. This could easily be avoided by more frequent water changes from better informed employees.

As a customer, I cannot condone this type of neglect, nor the disregard for animal care that is evident at this store. I will not be shopping here and will be encouraging others to shop elsewhere until the care for the bettas and response to customer concerns improve. _

Petco's response (original, no corrections):

_We received your concern about the sale of Bettas at PETCO. Thank you for taking your time to write us; we appreciate the opportunity to lay your concerns to rest. I would like to help address your concern regarding the betta containers in our stores.

I completely understand how upsetting it is seeing animals not taken cared the way they deserve to be. It is obvious you have a true passion for animals, and we at PETCO also share that passion. PETCO associates are trained to understand and to stress the importance of proper care and respect all animals deserve. We are committed to only selling healthy fish to our customers. Our standards of care ensure that all animals are checked-on every hour. 

I know this is not your first email about the situation and this store does not seem to meet our high standards for animal care. I am sharing your concern with the District Manager so we can help resolve this. We have every confidence our managers will respond with urgency to make sure an animal has everything it needs and is in good health.
If you feel that the manager does not respond appropriately to a situation, please don’t hesitate to call us, toll free, at 888-824-PALS (7257). Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience this may have caused. Thank you again for contacting PETCO.

Sincerely,

_This looks promising since in previous responses they did not forward my email to the district manager. Will keep on top of this.


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## sjones (Apr 28, 2010)

wow! They mistreat animals so much they have a form letter to respond to complaints!
Sounds like it was written by a publicist/lawyer
Any how good work kiddo! keep me posted


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## sjones (Apr 28, 2010)

*Here is my form letter I recieved*

Thank you for contacting PETCO regarding your concern with our store at 220 MAINE MALL RD. We are sorry to hear about your recent experience.
We received your concern about the sale of Bettas at PETCO. Thank you for taking your time to write us; we appreciate the opportunity to lay your concerns to rest. I would like to help address your concern regarding the betta containers in our stores.
I completely understand how upsetting it is seeing animals not taken cared the way they deserve to be. It is obvious you have a true passion for animals, and we at PETCO also share that passion. PETCO associates are trained to understand and to stress the importance of proper care and respect all animals deserve.We are committed to only selling healthy fish to our customers. Our standards of care ensure that all animals are checked-on every hour. 

If this store indeed does not meet our high standards for animal care, I am sharing your concern with the appropriate upper management so we can help resolve this at store level. We have every confidence our managers will respond with urgency to make sure an animal has everything it needs and is in good health.
If you feel that the manager does not respond appropriately to a situation, please don’t hesitate to call us, toll free, at 888-824-PALS (7257). Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience this may have caused. Thank you again for contacting PETCO.

Sincerely,
(name removed)
Customer Relations Coordinator

At PETCO, Animals Always Come First... Our People Make it Happen!
PETCO values your insights, so please tell us how we are doing on our customer service survey.


----------------------------------Original Message-----------------------------------

Message:June 18 South Portland Maine Petco
Veiltail betta had his fins completely removed and was laying in the top cup of the pyramid of betta cups. mutilated and dead. 



















Betas are often kept in dirty cups uncleaned and sick for weeks at this petco.

Please respond with your action via email, I will not give out my personal number.

I will be sharing these photos until change is made.


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## metalbetta (May 17, 2010)

Welcome to corporate America.


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## sjones (Apr 28, 2010)

yay capitalism!


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## Maryrox247 (Aug 10, 2009)

I hope they keep their word and the bettas do get treated better! Good job!


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## Inga (Jun 8, 2010)

I have just recently decided to get "into fish" and have been spending more time in pet stores looking at fish then I wish to admit. 

I have come to the conclusion that the few fish that make it into good homes that will care for them and keep their appropriately sized tanks clean and in good water conditions are rare. I suspect the chances of that are much like winning the lottery. So many fish die in transport to the stores, or at the stores from stress and abuse. Kids dipping their hands in the tanks trying to catch them, pouring stuff into the tanks. 

There is not enough staff to keep the fish safe. The staff that is there often are not educated in how to properly care for fish and they pass wrong information on like it is free candy. Me being a newbie took their word for some of it, now I am catching on to how wrong it was. 

The Betta's have always made me so sad seeing them in those horrid little cups. That is no life for a living being, IMO. 

I hope you do send those pictures to Petco with your concerns. I hope more people will voice their concerns. It would be nice if they could house them in larger containers and have them behind glass so kids and mean adults cannot mess with them. It is just shameful to see any living being cared for in this manner

. So far, much of the fish experience has been very negative. I am enjoying the few fish I have and dread the idea of going back to any of those types of stores again.


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## sjones (Apr 28, 2010)

well the thing that makes me sad is the likelyhood that they will just hide the abuse. (behind closed doors)
ANd yes, the people who buy bettas often have no knowledge of how to care for them and they die or worse are abused.
I think education is really the key here.
Yes it would be so much more profitable for these pet stores to encourage people to get a proper set up for their betta fish, or even make them more desirable by setting them at a higher price.
But the issue here is really the buying and selling of animals, as long as there is a market for it people will keep supplying and breeding.


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## Feral Nature (Jun 22, 2010)

I live out in a rural area and we have no pet stores. There is a Walmart in a town about 20 miles away that sells fish. The Bettas there are kept in miserable conditions. Females are sold there in little cups too. I am so tempted to buy them up and give them to loving homes but then they will just be replaced. What can I do?


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## metalbetta (May 17, 2010)

I couldn't tell ya, I'm going to have to make a trip to wal-mart tonight, and you and I both know I'm going to stop in the fish section and see a potential rescue. Due to space/sanity limits I probably would be unable to keep another. Rescuing/adopting out is a different story


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## sjones (Apr 28, 2010)

Feral Nature said:


> I live out in a rural area and we have no pet stores. There is a Walmart in a town about 20 miles away that sells fish. The Bettas there are kept in miserable conditions. Females are sold there in little cups too. I am so tempted to buy them up and give them to loving homes but then they will just be replaced. What can I do?


Anyone?
I guess talk to them, write corporate? Anyone else had experience with Walmart? I'm going to PM dramaqueen and ask if we can start a betta advocacy thread...


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## Feral Nature (Jun 22, 2010)

sjones, I will make a trip back to walmart and re-assess conditions. I can then notify the manager an see what kind of results I get. It would be a good idea to have a Betta Advocacy thread.


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## Alienbetta1 (May 9, 2010)

I see dead bettas in Wal-mart alll the time and it almost makes me cry.=.(


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## cyndi (Jan 19, 2010)

i worked at walmart for three years and i'm telling you it's gonna take more than one person in one state/ store to get their attention, as i'm sure you've gathered. Walmart is the devil. They push single people's concerned under the rug and do anything to keep you quiet. If you all decide to go after walmart, it's gonna take a HUGE effort. Now the PetsMarts and Petcos of the universe are a little easier to go after since they haven't reached the mammoth size of walmart. They deal in millions, while walmart is billions. 

I do find it promising (in some sense of the word) that you recieved an email, even though it was mostly a form email. Keep it up and hopefully something good comes from it.


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## sjones (Apr 28, 2010)

thanks cyndi


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## MangoTart (Jun 7, 2010)

That's so sad T_T I actually applied at Petco for a summer job in hopes of maybe being able to take care of their fish better. >> I'm glad that my first three bettas that I rescued from there are happy/healthy now (and rather spoiled). ^^


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