[Editor’s Column]Say No to PetSmart

 

 

On August 11, a four year old Yorkshire Terrier named July faced crisis when her tongue was cut off as she was getting groomed in a PetSmart in Compton, California. PetSmart claimed that the dog happened to stick her tongue out when they were cutting near the mouth area. However, her owner, Cynthia Beezer, mentioned that July’s unique trait is sticking her tongue out, the factor that appealed to her when she first saw the dog. Cynthia stated “now [what] was the groomer doing that she didn’t see a tongue that’s ALWAYS there poor baby, [I] could only image the pain she[’s] in.”

 

Unfortunately, this isn’t the first instance of something like this occurring.  There have been other incidents in other PetSmarts which add up to their image of “poor training and neglect.”

 

In August, a dog named Rufus was taken to a PetSmart in Tucson, Arizona and ended up dying. According to PetSmart, he ate plastic and was taken to a veterinarian. The family took it to social media where they posted “Only 15 minutes later did we receive a call from the emergency vet. She said Rufus has been hit by a car, after the PetSmart associate let him get out of her grasp and he bolted into traffic from her car in the parking lot and was fatally hit. She did not follow protocol because she did not put his collar or leash on him and he was not in a crate. PetSmart has had 6 – now 7 dog deaths in their care in the last 6 months. Please do not take your dogs there” (KGun).

 

Additionally, in December of 2017, Scruffles a healthy Bulldog was taken to a New Jersey PetSmart and in just an hour, he died. The store refused to give out any information about what happened. Another incident occurred in August 2016 when a dog named Demon was picked up from PetSmart in Illinois. His owner noticed that Demon was having a difficult time breathing and took him to the vet. It was stated that his temperature was over 103 degrees and he died within 20 minutes of arrival.

 

With a whole list of incidents at PetSmart, people have many things to say.

 

A junior at Academy of the Canyons, Alexis Tabibian, stated “I had not heard about the incidents at PetSmart until a few days ago. Having heard about it, it surprises me because many people I know have gone to PetSmart to get their dog’s hair cut and they have had positive experiences. Now that these incidents are being reported, I am worried about the animals being harmed that we have not heard about.” She also commented “I am questioning the process of hiring the employees. After hearing about this, I did some research of my own to discover videos of dogs being mistreated and dogs dying at PetSmart. What stood out the most was an article about an employee yanking a dog while grooming him. I believe more thought should be put into who gets hired to take care of our beloved pets.”

 

Susie Song, Grade 11

Academy of the Canyons