suegreen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote
>
>However, the multiples like Petsmart get round this law by only getting
>stock from "approved" suppliers. I was once approached by one of these
>companies and asked if I would supply gerbils. However, they were only
>interested in people who could supply 100+ animals per month. As I only
>have one or two breeding pair of gerbils at a time, this was totally out of
>the question. What they did was had a scheduled collection day once a
>month. A van would come and collect your 100+ animals and animals from
>other breeders in your area and take them to a holding depot. From here
>they were sent out to stores all over the UK as and when they were needed.
>Sounds like a recipe for disaster as it encourages breeders to breed for
>quantity, not quality. Also the mass gathering of stock, already
>traumatized by being moved, is likely to lead to the spread of disease.
>Sue
Often these Petsmart contracts are made with an individual who offers to
supply 100 gerbils, 200 hamsters, 200 rats a month etc.
Petsmart say they do these contracts because they need a guaranteed
supply which they cannot get locally. As Sue says, this encourages
breeding for quantity by people who do not care for the animals. it also
means that the avoid penalties the person has to produce the relevant
number of animals. This means that they will often ring round other
breeders looking for the 20 or so gerbils they are short of that month.
We have had them contact us in the past and have always sent them away
empty handed.
--
Julian
************************************************************************
* Jackie and Julian *
* [EMAIL PROTECTED] *
* National Gerbil Society *
* http://www.gerbils.co.uk/ *
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