Just because a pet shop has been awarded top grades by the Agri-food and Veterinary Authority (AVA), that doesn’t mean that all is fine and dandy behind the scenes for the animals.
A two-month undercover investigation launched by the Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (ACRES) revealed some discrepancies and troubling facts about some pet shops here and how they treat the animals under their charge, TODAY reports.
ACRES had investigated a total of 42 establishments — 30 pet shops and 12 animal farms — to look into their living conditions. 21 pet shops and 10 farms were found to have violated the Pet Shop Licence Conditions.
11 of the 21 pet shops found to have breached the conditions were said to have failed to provide basic living conditions for their animals, which requires adequately spaced compounds. This would mean that the length of the enclosure should be at least twice the length of the animal (measure from its nose to the base of its tail) while the width of the enclosure should be at least one-and-a-half times the length of the animal.
To the disappointment of ACRES, seven of the 11 pet shops that did not provide basic living conditions for the animals achieved AVA’s “A” grade under their Pet Shop Grading Scheme.
The 10 pet shops which did not live up to the Pet Shop Licence Conditions were guilty of failing to display their grading under AVA’s scheme, which is said to be critical for consumers to identify the quality of animal welfare proffered.
Photo: phip_s via Flickr
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