Family Sues PetSmart, Claims Father Died From Contact With Diseased Bird

[prettypenguin]

OMG the human milk thing is really nasty- are we women going to start having lactation issues besides feeding babies in public now- yuck- boob cheese!

[alwaysontimneh]

OMG!!! My hubby was telling me about PETA trying to get Ben and Jerrie's to do this with their ice cream! As some of you may know that particular company is as liberal as it gets(not trying to get into politics just saying) and honestly there could be a chance that they actually do this! EWWWWWWWWWWWW! Good thing I stopped eating their ice cream a long time ago. Growing up we were not allowed to have their ice cream because they supported things that my very conservative father is against.

[xafsmom]

And yet, all I can think of right now is how much money I could make off my sister who's breast feeding. She could power that boob milk industry right up!

[papayamama]

i breast fed my daughter 4 years ago so im not so sure but couldn't the human breast milk contain a potential disease that the mother may have? i dont know, this is just gross...it's a bodily fluid!!! yuck!

[alwaysontimneh]

That is wrong on so many levels! LOL

[Copper]

Originally Posted by prettypenguin

OMG the human milk thing is really nasty- are we women going to start having lactation issues besides feeding babies in public now- yuck- boob cheese!

ROFLOL!!!!!!!!!!!

[Halo]

Boob milk what?!?! OMG I missed something there. I think I'd stop eating dairy all together if they went to breast milk... gross!

PETA is rediculous and while I do agree that wearing furs is kind of silly, it's everyone's right to do so, and that should be the end of it. I also hate that animals are slaughtered for food but ya know what... it's a necessary evil. My husband even works for a feed lot and they pay our bills and allow us to spoil our birds so it can't be all bad! There are some things out there that might need some help but the problem with PETA is they always go OVERBOARD and can't just make a simple resolution to any issue they face.

As for Petco/PetsMart... I ended up with a cockatiel from them earlier this year (I believe it was April - June here) when there was that outbreak of psitticosis in our area and PetsMart took all of their birds off the market; PetCo in our area kept selling theirs. I asked the manager about the outbreak and he stated that all the birds were treated for it and had been tested again and were negative. We had him for 15 days before he passed on. I called the PetCo very angry and they did offer to replace or refund our money even though it was after the 14 days and we had to wait another week before we could go up there since they are two hours away. They promised me again that there was no psitticosis and that it couldn't have been the cause of the birds death. I told him he was full of it and left. At least though they did somthing that they didn't have to do to make up for their mistake. To my knowledge, that PetCo never did stop selling their birds even though PetsMart kept theirs for almost three months to assure they were healthy.

But I also agree that every store is different; they aren't all bad but some bad ones give the others a bad name.

It's kind of like the story about the lemons in tea. A reporter went to two Chili's and two Applebee's in New Jersey and I don't remember which one it was (I think it was Chili's) both stores had tested positive for human fecal matter on the lemons while the other store had none. Imagine what that did for their reputation and logically, although probably not true, they could have been the ONLY Chili's around that tested positive for the fecal matter on their lemons. Still to be safe, I've learned to say "no lemon" when I order iced tea.

[NaniOokami]

I can't forsee human breast milk being too safe to use, with diseases found in the bodily fluids. Sure, they might test it - but there's always that chance of error. All it would take is a bad batch and a cut in the mouth to contract diseases like HIV. Frankly, I don't want that risk in any of my food.

Let's say we lived in a perfect world with no diseases, though. Think about it: Cow's milk is made for Cows, Goats milk is made for goats - and well, human milk is made for humans. It does make a little bit of logical sense in that respect where health is concerned.

But even if they did try to implement this, (and I have a funny feeling the FDA would have a few things to say about it, for the disease factor.) it makes no economic sense. For as little as can be pumped at one time, you'd have to find an awful lot of women willing to do it. Finding that many women who both can and would provide would be near impossible. It's just not feasible to do.

As far as the fur coats stand, etc - there are times where it's acceptable, and times where it's not. So long as the animal slaughtered isn't only being taken for a fur coat, it's fine. Fur can be very warm and very good insulation, and in that sense, where it actually serves a purpose, there's nothing wrong. Fur merely for the sake of fashion, on the other hand, isn't okay - but if you try drawing fuzzy lines like that in laws, you're going to end up with a whole mess. All in all, the benefits outweigh the bimbos, and PETA doesn't see a difference. As far as food for slaughter, we're not herbivores. We have evolved omnivores, eating both meat and vegetation. If they want to push things that far, they might as well hassle the veggie farmers, too - because after all, plants live and breathe as animals do.

I certainly agree that PETA goes much too far overboard.

Again, though, OTOH:

My husband even works for a feed lot and they pay our bills and allow us to spoil our birds so it can't be all bad!

Just because you work at a job and get paid to make your bills and spoil the birds doesn't mean it's not bad. A drug dealer could technically say the same thing, but whereas yours is a harmless part of life, theirs is corrupting and destroying the lives of many people, kwim? :)

I still feel the same about PetSmart/PetCo. Take the stores on an individual basis, but buying a bird there is still not recommended. Tested for disease or not, the birds are bred in such a large facility where they are treated like merchandise and not socialized. Many, if not all, are gavage-fed, and never wean properly. There isn't any thought given to selecting breeder birds, as birds deemed unsellable because of defects will often be kept and bred. It's just not a good practice for breeding, and even if a store takes great care of their birds, the damage has already been done.

[odhinn]

Originally Posted by amanda143

Oh no, I know they don't care for their animals. I would never buy fish, birds, dogs/cats from them, only pet products. My fiance wanted to buy a budgie there and I absolutely refused to. Just the other day, they had about 4 sun conures and they all looked so pitiful. The locals shelters hold adoptions through petco and petsmart so I would be more apt to adopt from a shelter than from the chains. I feel really sorry for the animals there though.

Busted Talking bad about me again I see. I felt sorry for him, he was crouched in the corner staring at the wall. Reminded me of me at work.

All I know is that in all the years I have had pets or been around animals I have never seen a place that cares for their animals properly. Even the mom and pop shops care about one thing only and that is low overhead with high profit. That's why I have, except that poor little budgie, visited breeders (to make sure they are good to their animals), animal shelters, or inherited/rehomed from people that got in to deep. I remember this and at the time I hoped that the family hammered Petsmart to the wall. Now I only read part of the post mainly because when scrolling up a few I saw human milk mentioned and decided I would just leave it at that.

[RedFeather Hawk]

I like our Petsmart. I'm glad to say it's one of the good ones. They are clean with their birds (and the other animals I've seen there), and I've never seen one that looked sick there. One time some kid had tossed a lollipop into one of the birds' cages and they promptly took it out when I mentioned it to them.

I don't think you can judge all of the stores involved with a particular chain, based off of some of the bad places. Some places are horrible, I won't deny that. But within a chain, it seems like they have their crappy, bad stores, and their decent ones.