In NYC: Stilt Walking Parakeets At Petco Protest Treatment Of Birds Sold In Stores, Including Exceptionally Intelligent Parrot Breeds, Finches, Others
Stilt-Walking ‘Parakeets’ to Confront Local Petco Over Birds Killed and Maimed in Its Supply Chain
Editor’s note: It does seem, from all of the investigations over the years, that when humans get involved with using animals for profit, there will always be bad actors who will take it to the next level. Dog breeders for decades had their animals in similar conditions – until it was outlawed and then enforced. Having these intelligent, social birds in cages that are designed in such a way as to be un-cleanable, was just wrong. How would their keepers have liked to live in a house that was a bathroom without plumbing, like an outhouse, instead of a living room or kitchen? Just their own poop, and lots of it, everywhere. The smell would be impossible to ignore- or escape – just like these birds are forced to endure. How many other suppliers are just like this? If every one was investigated, which never happens….
On Thursday, two nearly nude PETA supporters body-painted as vibrant parakeets will perch atop tree-like stilts outside the Union Square Petco store to alert passersby and would-be customers to the horrific cruelty exposed in PETA’s undercover investigation into Creekside Birds—a parakeet breeding factory in Petco’s supply chain. Animal advocates will also display giant images from the investigation showing injured and dead birds and demand that Petco stop the suffering by ending its live bird sales, something the company has so far refused to do.
PETA’s three-month investigation revealed workers crushing parakeets’ necks, beheading birds, and leaving sick and injured birds to suffer for weeks without veterinary care. Some 10,000 parakeets were crammed into tiny, filthy cages—and nearly 1,400 birds were found dead in just 27 days.
“Petco is making money from a cruel and deadly pipeline in which neglected birds suffer in filth and die slowly in pain,” says PETA President Tracy Reiman. “PETA is calling on Petco to stop being complicit in this systemic abuse by ending all live animal sales, and reminds everyone to never buy any animal from a pet store or breeder.”
Thursday, August 13, 1:30 p.m.
Outside Petco, 44 Union Square E, New York (at the intersection of Union Square East and E. 17th Street)
Parakeets—often called budgies—are small parrots native to Australia. They live in large flocks, are highly active, fly for miles daily, and enjoy climbing and bathing. They mate for life, show affection by preening one another, and in nature, only breed during the rainy season when food is plentiful to ensure survival.
Credit: PETA
Multiple PETA investigations and whistleblower reports involving facilities that supply birds, reptiles, rabbits, guinea pigs, gerbils, hamsters, and other animals to Petco and other big-box pet store chains have documented widespread cruelty, suffering, and neglect.
Image Credit – PETA
Protest at Petco. Image Credit – PETA
Protest at Petco. Image Credit – PETA
Protest at Petco. Image Credit – PETA
Banner Image: Protest at Petco. Image Credit – PETA
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is the largest animal rights organization in the world, and PETA entities have more than 9 million members and supporters globally. PETA opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview, and focuses its attention on the four areas in which the largest numbers of animals suffer the most intensely for the longest periods of time: in laboratories, in the food industry, in the clothing trade, and in the entertainment business. We also work on a variety of other issues, including the cruel killing of rodents, birds, and other animals who are often considered “pests” as well as cruelty to domesticated animals. PETA works through public education, investigative newsgathering and reporting, research, animal rescue, legislation, special events, celebrity involvement, and protest campaigns.
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