Breaking: Rescuers and police discover 150 pet shop animals in desperate need of help

At the pet store rescuers found animals, with no access to food, gnawing on their wire enclosures. Meredith Lee/The HSUS
At a pet store located next to a flea market in Burnside, Kentucky, on Wednesday morning, members of our rescue team encountered nightmarish conditions for dozens of animals.
The details of the scene were heartbreaking to hear. The air inside the store was musty and difficult to breathe. A sulcata tortoise repeatedly wandered toward the door, the only source of fresh air. Cages and tanks were stacked from floor to ceiling. Hamsters with no access to food and only filthy, murky water gnawed frantically on the wire siding of their makeshift enclosure. The water in the fish tanks was cloudy, and most of the animals had no apparent access to food or clean water. Guinea pigs and several turtles were forced to share an enclosure that was covered in spider webs. Rabbits sniffed the air as they stood on the edge of their barren cages with wire flooring, seeming curious—and maybe hopeful—about their rescuers.

Rescuers removed the lethargic animals from their cages so that they could get urgent veterinary exams. Meredith Lee/The HSUS
Local authorities served a search and seizure warrant at the store, and the Burnside Police Department arrested the store operator on 19 counts of animal cruelty.
The animals—including rabbits, chinchillas, guinea pigs, hamsters, gerbils, snakes, lizards, turtles and fish—were surrendered to the police. They received initial veterinary exams on the scene, which revealed a number of health problems: many animals were underweight, and some animals suffered from respiratory conditions, infections in their eyes and ears and lethargy. Some animals also showed evidence of old wounds, including in some cases missing digits and tails. One of the veterinarians on the scene remarked that some of the rabbits and guinea pigs were the thinnest she’s ever seen. Thankfully, these animals will continue to get much-needed specialized care from a network of animal care organizations.

Many of the rescued animals were reptiles who are sometimes marketed by the pet industry as low-maintenance. That’s far from the truth for these animals who need specialized care. Meredith Lee/The HSUS
Our rescue team got involved in this rescue at the request of the Burnside Police Department after the city’s code enforcers raised concerns about the welfare of animals on the property. For large-scale cases of alleged severe neglect like this one, it truly takes a village to deliver animals to safety.
Sadly, like dogs in the puppy mill industry, small animals such as rabbits, snakes and turtles are also often mistreated and forced into deplorable conditions when they’re bred for pet stores to sell. Reptiles are often marketed as low-maintenance pets, but the truth is that they need special care and a lot of room to grow. They need the right lighting, temperature and water filtration system.

An estimated nine million reptiles are kept as pets in the U.S. These fascinating animals need advocates who treat them as wildlife, not specimens in cages. Meredith Lee/The HSUS
We’re grateful to the other organizations that stepped up to receive the animals from this case and give them the specialized care they need to survive and thrive. Other people who provided on-site assistance to make this rescue possible include staff from the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources Special Investigation Unit, the Somerset-Pulaski County Humane Society, the Pulaski County Attorney’s Office and Pulaski County Animal Control.
This case also reveals the need for people to become aware of the threats facing reptiles who are kept as pets. With an estimated nine million reptiles kept as pets in the U.S., these fascinating animals need advocates. Like all wildlife, they are happiest in their natural habitat, but—thanks to the hard work of all those on the scene this week—these rescued animals will have the next best thing.
Are any of them up for adoption? My mom and I would adopt that adorable bunny in a HEARTBEAT! So nice to hear some good news. Thank you for the work you all do.
If any of these animals need foster or adoption, my husband and I would like to help. We are both retired, no children, home most all the time, fenced yard, large home, 3 furbabies in the small range. Also I am a retired vet tech, our local vet is less than 2 miles from our home.
That’s really great! I hope they responded. Bunnies make great pets but they are not low maintenance. I kept mine on indoors he was litter box trained. Loved him!❤❤
Let me get that tortoise!!!
People who abuse animals belong in jail!
Sad as it is, your article us not just a report but educational to the public showing there is nothing right about pet stores and “Keeping” exotic pets. Thank you.
Thank you thank you to the mini rescuers from the Humane Society. Without you many many animals would have not survived. The story is only one of the many that your face on a regular basis hopefully someday will be able to get rid of puppy bills and pets stores like this who prey upon these innocent animals. Keep up the good work the animals need you.
great i was in new york and went in a pet store i was floored the puppies where sick dirty i said can i take them home get them better or they will die they replied for 1500 dollars you can
I continue to be outraged and disgusted at the behavior of puppy mill owners and their pet store accomplices who force innocent animals to live in deplorable conditions so that they can make money off of them. They must be shut down permanently and monitored so that they don’t open again under a new name.
These animals DEPEND ON US to be their VOICE. Speak out about the conditions and cruelty they are subjected to. STOP the violence agains these animals
Thank you for saving so many animals
Well please keep up the good work we can never give up we can never retire it is a never ending job animal abuse will never stop the song is there’s humans on the planet sorry to say bad humorous
Thank you!
Where can I volunteer in Santa Monica, Ca.
Thank you for your interest in helping us create a more humane society! Visit humanesociety.org/volunteer to view volunteer opportunities in your area.
Great rescue! Thank you!
Thank you and God bless you for your dedication!!