Lessons Learned - Don't Take Fish Back to Walmart

[BettaMomma]

Hi Raven.
I don't think I know you yet...
but I've had MANY *conversations* with managers of walmart stores regarding their fishkeeping. I have called several times, and I will call several more times. I've called stores in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Florida, Wisconsin and Cali. to date.

If you don't mind, please post the city and state where the store is located, and if possible - please let me know what date this happened, AND if you could give me their phone number that would be fab. The specific time of day would be excellent.

WM managers need to hear complaints from people that are disgusted by the way they keep fish. I ALWAYS have had good results from the times I've called managers. They always say they'll go right over to the department, and I've asked that the person who reported an incident to me go back into the store and verify that the conditions have gotten better, and in every case thus far, the conditions have improved.

I recently took one home from my local WM whose tail had been completely severed from his body. The tail was just GONE. I've had him for almost a week now and his tail is actually starting to grow back. I'm still trying to get to the bottom of how it happened, but the fact that it's growing back already means it
was very recently taken off.

WalMart disgusts me. Any chance that I get to phone another store and tell managers to clean up their act is a bonus in my book. They seem to get a bit nervous when I mention PETA and/or the SPCA, which I am not afraid to sick on ANYONE who deserves it.

I commend you for doing what you thought was right.

EVERYONE - hindsight is 20/20.
We've all made mistakes and this person is going to probably be left to think about what happened with this fish for a LONG time. That's probably punishment enough over having all of us do some raking over the coals.

 

[The-Raven]

Hi Raven.
I don't think I know you yet...
but I've had MANY *conversations* with managers of walmart stores regarding their fishkeeping. I have called several times, and I will call several more times. I've called stores in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Florida, Wisconsin and Cali. to date.

If you don't mind, please post the city and state where the store is located, and if possible - please let me know what date this happened, AND if you could give me their phone number that would be fab. The specific time of day would be excellent.

WM managers need to hear complaints from people that are disgusted by the way they keep fish. I ALWAYS have had good results from the times I've called managers. They always say they'll go right over to the department, and I've asked that the person who reported an incident to me go back into the store and verify that the conditions have gotten better, and in every case thus far, the conditions have improved.

I recently took one home from my local WM whose tail had been completely severed from his body. The tail was just GONE. I've had him for almost a week now and his tail is actually starting to grow back. I'm still trying to get to the bottom of how it happened, but the fact that it's growing back already means it
was very recently taken off.

WalMart disgusts me. Any chance that I get to phone another store and tell managers to clean up their act is a bonus in my book. They seem to get a bit nervous when I mention PETA and/or the SPCA, which I am not afraid to sick on ANYONE who deserves it.

I commend you for doing what you thought was right.

EVERYONE - hindsight is 20/20.
We've all made mistakes and this person is going to probably be left to think about what happened with this fish for a LONG time. That's probably punishment enough over having all of us do some raking over the coals.

Laramie, WY
(307) 745-6100

Returned it on 27 March... couldn't say what time really... it was early in the day (for me)... around noon I would say.




Don't get too specific, I am trying to get a job there (I put that I would work in pets actually - so I could clean up the fish section at least)

 

[Javentule]

Someone mentioned that flushing a fish risks it getting out in the world and breeding. That's not true - typically the force of the flush kills it, nevermind all the bacteria, chlorine, etc that's in toiletbowl water. Also, everthing that is flushed ends up in some crazy processor at the end that pulverizes things, as far as I hear.

Aside from that, this story makes me sad that pet stores aren't regulated by some watchdog group - whether it be government run or whatever. At the pet store where I work we accept fish returns and we quarentine the returned fish for at least 3 days before reintroducing them to our tank. We always have the iso tank set up, as well as a sick tank so we can isolate and treat any of our OWN fish that get sick. We also medicate our entire system once a week when we get new fish in. As you can imagine, we have a very low instance of fish disease, etc and our returned fish certainly don't get flushed or mistreated in anyway.

I think there SHOULD be posted somewhere in every store selling live goods, a care number to call. That is, a phone number to call and complain about the level of humane treatment animals are recieving.

 

[webcat5]

I feel your attitude leaves alot to be desired, you seem very up yourself, yet i bet you have made plenty of noob errors and i bet your tanks aren't perfect and i bet your life is BORING!

Thank-you!

 

[Fiddlesticks]

The thing I find interesting about this is that the fish probably lives on in the sewers in a much healthier environment then he ever would in a walmart tank. I know Im probably eggagerating a little bit, but probably not by much. I mean has anyone ever noticed how badly kept walmarts tanks are.

 

[FrAnK3333]

Our walmart tanks are claner then the sewer, but I live next to thew big city where every lake is polluted.

 

[paige]

I feel your attitude leaves alot to be desired, you seem very up yourself, yet i bet you have made plenty of noob errors and i bet your tanks aren't perfect and i bet your life is BORING!

Thank-you!

hey he/she wasnt being nice u no. or r u just being sarcastic (dont no how to spell it i'm a bit dum u c dont pay any attention in any of my lessons )

 

[webcat5]

Thank-you!

hey he/she wasnt being nice u no. or r u just being sarcastic (dont no how to spell it i'm a bit dum u c dont pay any attention in any of my lessons ) [/quote]
Sarcazim

 

[paige]

Thank-you!

hey he/she wasnt being nice u no. or r u just being sarcastic (dont no how to spell it i'm a bit dum u c dont pay any attention in any of my lessons )

Sarcazim [/quote]
thought so guess it was a bit of a stupid question really.

 

[cybergoldfish]

Paige you spelt sarcastic right, but not the stuff in the brackets .

I feel lucky that in the UK (to the best of my knowledge - please correct me if I'm wrong) we don't have large chain stores like Walmart selling fish unethically (the nicest way I can think of describing it).

Maybe the title of this thread should be:

Lessons Learned - Don't Shop at Walmart.

Sorry if that's too forward, I know some people are scared of TFF being shut down by big companies such as Walmart, but I think everyone has a right to know how bad the majority of those stores are.

Actually, as a UK based forum (well the admin's from the UK, so I'll go with that) can it be shut down by an American based company?

Just a thought.

 

[rdd1952]

Maybe the title of this thread should be:

Lessons Learned - Don't Shop at Walmart.

Actually, as a UK based forum (well the admin's from the UK, so I'll go with that) can it be shut down by an American based company?

I don't think there's any worry of WM having TFF shut down but I do agree with the "don't shop at WM" part.

 

[paige]

u no, i no alot of things but sometimes i get confused what is a Walmart i feel a bit dum at the moment ) i guess the feelings normal actually .

 

[eudielynn]

Paige,

Walmart is a large discount department store chain. They carry everything from clothing to gardening supplies, some even have groceries. They also carry pet suppplies and small animals and fish. The nasty fish tanks are horror stories in themselves much less the way they treat the fish.

 

[rdd1952]

u no, i no alot of things but sometimes i get confused what is a Walmart i feel a bit dum at the moment ) i guess the feelings normal actually .

Walmart is like K-mart, Target, etc. It's a giant chain store that sells everything, clothes, hardware, sporting goods, furniture, groceries, dying fish, etc. They are pretty cheap so their clientele for the most part is the lower income crowd. I hope no one takes offense to that. I used to shop there too.

 

[Raechal]

u no, i no alot of things but sometimes i get confused what is a Walmart i feel a bit dum at the moment ) i guess the feelings normal actually .

Walmart is like K-mart, Target, etc. It's a giant chain store that sells everything, clothes, hardware, sporting goods, furniture, groceries, dying fish, etc. They are pretty cheap so their clientele for the most part is the lower income crowd. I hope no one takes offense to that. I used to shop there too.

I shop there for food and some fish supplies I need immediately as it is about 5 minutes or less from my house.