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reply from trading standards

taylor v 109

Mama Doe
Today i had a phone call from trading standards, about my complaint concerning pets at home letting rabbits breeding in the shop because they carnt be bothered to stop them jumping over the partition. The man that rung was very nice and was concerened about this matter, he said they have many complaints about p at h, but they cannot do much about it ie: take them to court as they never have and hard evidence to back it up. He then said he would be paying them a visit about the complaint i made and recamend that they stop it happining again. He did explain to me that in the future what they need is evidence to back up a claim, this will be hard to get as it invloves i believe trapping them. If u go in and see a rabbit that is not well and has been left untreated for a length of time then buy the rabbit, not on your own u need profe that u got it from there and be able to say its the same rabbit. Then it must be taken to a vet that can verifie that tha rabbit has been ill for some time and not treated. then report it to the local council who should pass it on to trading standards. An idea may be to there and then regester the rabbit with the vet at the shop making sure they know u have just bought it. If u buy an animal from there that turnes out to be pregnant then its the same u need to be able to prove its the same animal u bought from them and get a vet to say that its pregnant, then report it. That is the only way to get evidence to be able to let the trading standards, peopl take them to court.Trading standards believe the main problem with pets at home is one of a high turnover in staff leading to staff that do not have the experience with animals. The manager is supposed to have some knowledge.I asked about taking photos in the shop and was advised it may not be leagle unless u get permision from the manager. But if i did it must be a photo that also makes clear that its in a pets at home store. [ how to do that?] and of course do it when no one is looking or ud gat throw out lol. Thats about it anyway i think its going to take time but knowing how bad the shop is i think an oppertunity may present itself soon. At least i now now how to go about it the next time they slip up, and they will be getting a visit and who knows soon there should be covers on the rabbit pens. val
 
Well done Val but it seems really frustrating that the law is weighed in their favour (as it is in a lot of instances). Short of microchipping, is there any other definitive way of proving that a bun is what you say it is?
 
The only thing that the trading man could suggest was any particular markings, that the staff would know they had such as a black rabbit with a wht spot on the nose, ha ha. I was thinking that if it happened and i was to buy a rabbit from them would be to put the colour or markings on the bill and get them to sign the bill that that was the rabbit i purchases. Its a joke isntit val
 
If you went in with a camera phone, you could easily say to the chap that you're there to buy a bunny and you just need to check with your husband first that he likes the bunny you've picked and then ask if you can take a photo to send to him. The bunny enclosures at my local store have quite distinctive notices up around the run, so if you got one of those in shot there'd be no questioning where the photo was taken. Or get some of their own-branded products on the shelves in the shot. Also, take a friend along so you have a witness.
 
Well done!!! i am glad they want to help in a way.

Whilst i was reading it i sort of had an idea i don't know whether it would work but its worth a try couldn't you say you were buying the rabbit for your child or your sister but you was wondering if you could take a picture of it just to make sure it was the type of rabbit they wanted just say they are unable to get into the store, then get a member of staff to hold it for you whilst you take the picture on a digi camera, and see if it is possible to reserve it, then come back the next day and buy it saying it was the type they wanted? then at least you have a picture of the bun and the member of staff for proof.

I dunno if it worth trying? :roll:
 
Great that you got a response. However, to put a dampener on it. I did exactly this. I bought a poorly piggie as I had been watching him deteriorate in this shop for 3 weeks. As it was a weekend, I took him to visit Tracy so she could verify the state of him, if necessary. I also took photos and called RSPCA, Trading Standards & eventually Environmental Health (as TS referred it to them). He also went to the vets and I got a report from them.
I did get feedback from various people but they had just visited the shop, therefore the animals that were in there looked fine - well they would - I had the poor little sod at my house.
I am waffling but what I am trying to say is that this doesn't always work.
 
Tree said:
Awww, Do you still have him?
No, unfortunately, after making great progress he suddenly went downhill and died.
These are a few pics I took the day we had him, he had several bite marks, swollen joints, a weepy eye, was half the body weight he should be but loved his cuddles and his parsley.
Bite1.jpg

Swelljoint.jpg

Limping.jpg

Skinnyboy.jpg

Sweetie.jpg

Parsleytlc.jpg


With lots of TLC he improved to this
Mallen2.jpg

Mallen.jpg

But, I think, the damage had already been done.[/img]
 
AWWWW poor little thing, he looked adorable. At least he died having being rescued into a loving environment and didnt die in that horrible place with kids poking their fingers at him, and being picked on by other animals. Poor little thing. :cry:
 
Trading standards told you to buy him? That was bad information because Environmental Health need to see sick animals are being sold at the time they visit before they can do anything. So you would have to literally drag an EH officer down to the store the minute you see ill animals. They would then give the store 6 months to improve but the follow up visit may not be a suprise visit (they may tell the manager when they are due) so the store could just hide sick animals on the follow-up and get the all clear.

It is so difficult to prove!

I found out that my vet occasionally does pet store visits for EH in his area. If you could find the vet that does it in your area maybe they would be a more sympathetic ear and could go in as a customer and if they didn't like what they saw too they would have more clout with the EH agency!

Caz
 
Caz said:
Trading standards told you to buy him?

Was that question to me? If so, no, they didn't tell me to buy him. With hindsight, I should not have bought him but contacted RSPCA and Trading Standards whilst he was still in the shop.
 
Hi,

I would have thought that the RSPCA would be the best people to follow this up, I think part of their statutory role is inspection / prosecution of pet shops. I'm suprised that they haven't taken an interest.

Damo
 
Hi, I know TS and EH are the people to go to for immediate action, but has anyone written to their MP about this? I'm just thinking on a longer term basis, this stuff is not going to stop unless people higher up the chain know what is going on and take notice of it and take action.

Also could be worth going to the local press with a story and doing a name and shame article? Have no idea whether they would actually be interested enough to publish it but if you had bought an unwell pet (as in this piggy's case) and had pics, or gone to the store and taken pics, it might be worth a try. I would be willing to help anyone draft text for stuff like this as I do this kind of stuff every day. b-m
 
im going p@h today, will check all bunsters n gps, n if there is a ill lookin one, ill get sum1 2 come bck wit me, rspca inspctr or sum1 lyk dat.
 
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