Maybe you would be interested in this:

A report has been published on an in-depth investigation of animal
welfare problems in Scottish pet shops (which includes garden centres).

Advocates for Animals, Scotland's leading animal protection
organisation based in Edinburgh, commissioned this report to me in
2003. The main conclusions of the study are that the majority of the
Scottish pet shops:

* Kept animals that displayed abnormal behaviour (which suggests
animal welfare problems)
* Kept animals in enclosures/cages that were either too small or
overcrowded
* Gave inappropriate advice to customers
* Seem to have breached the pet shop regulations

Over 100 pet shops (more than a third of the pet shops in Scotland)
were visited. As a result of the study, Advocates for Animals is
launching the campaign LIVES OVER-THE-COUNTER, aimed at highlighting
the plight of animals in pet shops, as well as lobbying for a radical
reform of the relevant legislation.

You can find information about the campaign, and the CAGED TO SELL
report, at Advocates for Animals website
(http://www.advocatesforanimals.org/petshops)

Thanks

Jordi Casamitjana
Independent Animal Welfare Consultant & Investigator
UK

On 9 Dec 2003 01:36:24 -0800, (Jordi
Casamitjana) wrote:

Maybe you would be interested in this:

A report has been published on an in-depth investigation of animal
welfare problems in Scottish pet shops (which includes garden centres).

Advocates for Animals, Scotland's leading animal protection
organisation based in Edinburgh, commissioned this report to me in
2003. The main conclusions of the study are that the majority of the
Scottish pet shops:

* Kept animals that displayed abnormal behaviour (which suggests
animal welfare problems)

Dogs that begged, parrots that used four letter words?


--
Martin

The message
from martin contains these words:

On 9 Dec 2003 01:36:24 -0800, (Jordi
Casamitjana) wrote:

Maybe you would be interested in this:

A report has been published on an in-depth investigation of animal
welfare problems in Scottish pet shops (which includes garden centres).

Advocates for Animals, Scotland's leading animal protection
organisation based in Edinburgh, commissioned this report to me in
2003. The main conclusions of the study are that the majority of the
Scottish pet shops:

* Kept animals that displayed abnormal behaviour (which suggests
animal welfare problems)

Dogs that begged, parrots that used four letter words?


--
Martin

Cats not trying to eat every fluffy thing in there? Lizards trying to
get out of the tank? Fish eating flaked food?

The list is ruddy endless. I think the word is PET not wild animal.

On Tue, 9 Dec 2003 12:59:47 GMT, Christopher Norton
wrote:

The message
from martin contains these words:

On 9 Dec 2003 01:36:24 -0800, (Jordi
Casamitjana) wrote:

Maybe you would be interested in this:

A report has been published on an in-depth investigation of animal
welfare problems in Scottish pet shops (which includes garden centres).

Advocates for Animals, Scotland's leading animal protection
organisation based in Edinburgh, commissioned this report to me in
2003. The main conclusions of the study are that the majority of the
Scottish pet shops:

* Kept animals that displayed abnormal behaviour (which suggests
animal welfare problems)

Dogs that begged, parrots that used four letter words?


--
Martin

Cats not trying to eat every fluffy thing in there? Lizards trying to
get out of the tank? Fish eating flaked food?

The list is ruddy endless. I think the word is PET not wild animal.

Cats sleeping on top of the heated glass tank that is the home of our
three legged tortoise, snails having midnight feasts of the cats's
food
I must stop I hear the RSPCA breaking the front door down.
--
Martin

I'm so glad you seem to think it's funny!

Stereotypical behaviour in animals is something everyone complains about at circus and zoo level, yet in pet shops it seems perfectly okay.

I'm not some animal rights nut, but I loathe the pet shop trade that is below standard.

On Tue, 09 Dec 2003 19:58:20 GMT, Hazell B
wrote:

I'm so glad you seem to think it's funny!

Funny? It's the guy, who wrote the report that's funny, it is
blindingly obvious that a pet does not behave in the same way as an
animal in the wild. Whose money did he waste?


Stereotypical behaviour in animals is something everyone complains
about at circus and zoo level, yet in pet shops it seems perfectly
okay.

Pets don't spend the whole of their lives in pet shops, we have never
used violence on any of our pets, nor taken a shovel to unwelcome
visitors to our garden.


I'm not some animal rights nut, but I loathe the pet shop trade that is
below standard.

I'll go along with that.
--
Martin

The message m
from Hazell B contains these words:

I'm so glad you seem to think it's funny!

Stereotypical behaviour in animals is something everyone complains
about at circus and zoo level, yet in pet shops it seems perfectly
okay.

I'm not some animal rights nut, but I loathe the pet shop trade that is
below standard.
--
Hazell B
I'm thinking of starting a lawn laying business and calling it Sodding
Perfection
------------------------------------------------------------------------
posted via www.GardenBanter.co.uk

Hazel, there are plenty of scum pet shop owners who treat their animals
with such disdain that they should be hung, drawn and quartered. This is
cruelty at it`s very worst because its for profit.

However, its sometimes difficult to see what behaviour changes there are
because the animals are domesticated versions of the wild things. You`d
never get to see a guinea pig let alone pet it in the wild unless it`s
domesticated. Just have to accept whats domesticated behaviour and whats
problematic behaviour. Thats not easy.

Christopher Norton wrote in message ...
The message m
from Hazell B contains these words:

I'm so glad you seem to think it's funny!

Stereotypical behaviour in animals is something everyone complains
about at circus and zoo level, yet in pet shops it seems perfectly
okay.

I'm not some animal rights nut, but I loathe the pet shop trade that is
below standard.
--
Hazell B
I'm thinking of starting a lawn laying business and calling it Sodding
Perfection
------------------------------------------------------------------------
posted via www.GardenBanter.co.uk

Hazel, there are plenty of scum pet shop owners who treat their animals
with such disdain that they should be hung, drawn and quartered. This is
cruelty at it`s very worst because its for profit.

However, its sometimes difficult to see what behaviour changes there are
because the animals are domesticated versions of the wild things. You`d
never get to see a guinea pig let alone pet it in the wild unless it`s
domesticated. Just have to accept whats domesticated behaviour and whats
problematic behaviour. Thats not easy.


The 'abnormal behaviour' refered in the message is in fact behaviour
that indicates animal welfare problems, as opose to behaviour you do
not see in the wild. The most common example is stereotypic behaviour,
like pacing up and down for ages, continuously twisting the neck in
unusula ways, head bobbing, overgrooming untill the animal looses all
its fur/feathers, and this sort of behaviour.

In fact, it is relatively easy to tell this behaviour apart for what
is 'normal', even for a domesticated animal, because it tends to gets
worse overtime untill the animal cannot do anything else.

Jordi

On 11 Dec 2003 02:20:46 -0800,
(Jordi Casamitjana) wrote:

The most common example is stereotypic behaviour,
like pacing up and down for ages, continuously twisting the neck in
unusual ways, head bobbing, overgrooming untill the animal looses all
its fur/feathers,

hair?

and this sort of behaviour.

I had a boss like that.


In fact, it is relatively easy to tell this behaviour apart for what
is 'normal', even for a domesticated animal, because it tends to gets
worse overtime untill the animal cannot do anything else.

Say no more.
--
Martin

On 11 Dec 2003 02:20:46 -0800,
(Jordi Casamitjana) wrote:

The most common example is stereotypic behaviour,
like pacing up and down for ages, continuously twisting the neck in
unusual ways, head bobbing, overgrooming untill the animal looses all
its fur/feathers,

hair?

and this sort of behaviour.

I had a boss like that.


In fact, it is relatively easy to tell this behaviour apart for what
is 'normal', even for a domesticated animal, because it tends to gets
worse overtime untill the animal cannot do anything else.

Say no more.
--
Martin