The U.S. Department of Agriculture has been investigating Pennsylvanian small-animal dealer Holmes Chinchilla Ranch and Other Small Animals Inc for substandard conditions of facilities for rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters, and other species. This prompted major pet company Petco to cut its ties with this supplier.
NBC reported that Petco said Tuesday that Holmes "did not meet our animal care standards." USDA's federal investigation on the pet supplier started when an animal-rights group captured a video that shows how animals in Holmes' Barto facility houses small animals in poor conditions. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) associate director of evidence analysis Dan Paden said, "You have roughly 20,000 animals in severely crowded bins, competing for food, competing for water."
In its official website, PETA gave a graphic description of how thousands of animals were confined to small crowded cages and bins in Holmes windowless facilities. According to the animal-rights organisation, the warehouses reeked of feces and urine. PETA's eyewitness said animals were deprived with clean drinking water. Animals were also gassed to death or froze to death in some of the facilities.
Meanwhile, Fox News wrote that Holmes didn't answer questions about the conditions of its facilities. The animal supplier said that it is cooperating with USDA and is working to "satisfactorily resolve any concerns that they have now or arise in the future."
The eyewitness sent a PETA employee to work undercover in Holmes and collect evidences of the facilities' operations. USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service Tanya Espinosa confirmed that they are investigating Holmes. The video that was captured even showed that cats roam free in the facilities and preyed on the smaller animals. There were also images of dead guinea pigs, live rats inside plastic bags placed in freezers. The animals were drinking in fouled water, and when the undercover PETA employee gave them water, they drank in frenzy.
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