For Speedy Launch:
March 7, 2024
Contact:
Nicole Perreira 202-483-7382
Newberry, Fla. – After studying that domestically primarily based reptile mill The Connoisseur Rodent—a self-professed nationwide provider to Petco—retains 1000’s of snakes in small, barren plastic tubs with out room to even lengthen their our bodies to full size, PETA fired off a letter as we speak to proprietor Mike Layman calling on him to maneuver the snakes at his compound into enclosures a minimum of so long as they’re and to finish the corporate’s deceptive claims that it’s acceptable to deal with snakes in tanks which are simply a 3rd of the size of their our bodies.
A big, emaciated snake is saved in a small tub at a breeding operation. Credit score: PETA
A big, emaciated snake is saved in a small tub at a breeding operation. Credit score: PETA
Quite a few peer-reviewed research make it clear that to be psychologically and bodily wholesome, snakes held in captivity should be capable of absolutely stretch out their our bodies and that snakes who can’t stretch out really feel careworn and expertise numerous well being issues, together with accidents, joint illness, constipation, and weight problems.
“At this wretched reptile mill, tens of 1000’s of snakes are confined to tiny tubs stacked from flooring to ceiling, unable to stretch out or interact in any pure habits,” says PETA Senior Vice President Daphna Nachminovitch. “The pet commerce peddles in distress, and PETA urges folks by no means to purchase a snake or some other animal from a pet retailer or breeder.”
PETA—whose motto reads, partly, that “animals are usually not ours to abuse in any approach”—factors out that Each Animal Is Somebody and gives free Empathy Kits for individuals who want a lesson in kindness. For extra info, please go to PETA.org or comply with the group on X, Fb, or Instagram.
PETA’s letter to Layman follows.
March 7, 2024
Mike Layman
Proprietor
The Connoisseur Rodent
Pricey Mr. Layman:
I’m writing in regards to the tens of 1000’s of snakes confined to your breeding warehouse. Will you decide to enhancing circumstances for these animals and finish your organization’s false declare that it’s acceptable to maintain snakes in tanks which are simply a 3rd of the animals’ size?
A short video tour of your compound—in addition to quite a few printed pictures—present plastic tubs reaching from the ground to the ceiling in aisle after aisle of snakes. The video exhibits you eradicating three of the snakes crammed into these tiny tubs. All these animals—and people you’ve been photographed dealing with—are clearly for much longer than the tubs to which they’re confined and might’t even lengthen their our bodies to full size. PETA investigations have discovered that snakes used for breeding spend their complete lives in tubs like this, intensively confined like canine at pet mills.
Such fixed confinement causes any animal to endure and has been implicated in irregular habits in addition to greater than 20 ailments present in snakes saved this manner. It’s extensively acknowledged amongst specialists—and has been for years—that habitats that enable snakes to stretch and transfer round are essential to their bodily and behavioral wants. A 2019 research of 65 snakes discovered that lots of them assumed absolutely stretched-out postures inside simply an hour of commentary in the course of the daytime. A 2021 research discovered that “suggestions [of] enclosure sizes shorter than the snakes have been primarily based solely on decades-old ‘rule of thumb’ practices that have been unsupported by scientific proof” and that “[r]ectilinear habits is regular, distinct, and customary throughout snake species, and … elementary to snake well being and welfare.”
Even the care sheet produced by a pet business lobbying group states that snake enclosures “ought to present [the animal] ample area to stretch out and transfer freely.” Why then does your organization’s “care sheet” for ball python snakes advise those who these animals could be crammed into tanks only a third of their size? Nobody would suggest {that a} 3-foot-long German shepherd be saved in a crate simply 12 inches lengthy. But The Connoisseur Rodent approves of and promotes maintaining a 6-foot-long snake in a tank that’s simply 2 ft lengthy.
Stretching out absolutely and transferring in a straight line are important to snakes’ well-being. Accordingly, PETA seems to be ahead to your immediate affirmation that (a) your facility—the most important of its form on the planet—and profitable firm will give this fundamental alternative to the snakes you breed and ship all over the world and that (b) you’ve eliminated the above false and deceptive declare out of your web site and some other supplies. Thanks in your time and consideration.
Sincerely,
Daniel Paden
Vice President of Proof Evaluation
