The animal welfare nonprofit received photos and video from workers at at the Brandon location as well as stores in the Nashville area and Peoria, Arizona. (WARNING: disturbing content.)
The images show signs of neglect and mistreatment of the animals in the store's care.
At the Brandon location, such incidents reportedly included a sick, dehydrated parakeet named Valencia left to starve to death and numerous animals that languished during Hurricane Irma and its aftermath (including, PETA said, some that died or got loose and 30 small mammals left without water).
"This evidence of sick and injured animals being denied critical veterinary care and enduring slow and miserable deaths is why consumers should never buy anything from PetSmart until it stops selling animals and switches to selling only supplies," said Daphna Nachminovitch, PETA's senior vice president of cruelty investigations, in a written statement.
Authorities in the Nashville are acted on the findings Thursday by conducting a raid on the store PETA investigated there. The Nashville Tennesseean reports that they confiscated multiple animals from the store. Nachminovitch said her organization hopes officials in Hillsborough County will follow suit.
"PETA urges Hillsborough County authorities to follow Nashville officials' lead and move swiftly to investigate and hold accountable any PetSmart worker who's neglected animals," she stated.
PETA also pointed out that the chain sources animals from Sun Pet, Ltd., which the Georgia Department of Agriculture put on probation in 2016 after a PETA investigation.
The pet store chain does not appear to view the investigations' findings as indicative of a systemic issue.
Here's what a spokesperson for PetSmart sent in response to CL's request for comment about Thursday's allegations:
"We are always committed to putting the needs of the pets in our care first. We empower our store associates to do what’s right for all pets, which includes instruction to have any sick animal immediately seen by a veterinarian if needed. There is no adverse effect [sic] on a store team that takes every step possible to care for pets. We take these allegations very seriously, and are working closely with the Bellevue [TN] authorities to obtain the relevant facts. Additionally, we are investigating the validity of the video, given some of the footage is several years old."
This article appears in Mar 29 – Apr 5, 2018.