Page 33 - Pet Stores News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

Given dirty water, and covered in feces. these animals never see the light of day, and they have virtually no human contact in their lives except for when their puppies are taken away from them. and while it's difficult to tell which pet stores buy from puppy mills and which don't, why would anyone buy one of these dogs when so many adoptable ones are waiting in shelters? it's hard to say. but like anything else, animals are subject to trends. when a breed becomes popular, everybody wants one of those dogs. >> yo quiero taco bell. >> think of chihuahuas, dalmatians, bull terriers, and not so l...

>> looking to see if criminal charges are going to be appropriate or if this is a medical issue. at this time we don't know. it's early in the investigation, but we want to get to the bottom of it to determine which is the correct way to go about it. >> one of the rescuers tells reporters two of the children in the back of the van were screaming, "our mommy's trying to kill us" seconds before they were pulled to safety. pet stores in chicago are being told no more animals from puppy mills. lawmakers there giving overwhelming approval to a measure banning the public sale of dogs cats and othe...

>> you know, i think it's a close call, actually. we want our corporations to not sell us sick animal, infected animals, not sell us bad goods. and so i think on the corporation's end, yes, they do have that responsibility. but as the corporation is pointing out, well, parents, you have responsibility, too, to make sure that if there is a bite or if there is an issue that you get the proper care and you were notified. but, again, i mean, you know, we know that pet stores are regulated, but do they have to check -- do they have to, you know, vaccinate pets? do they have to check rats -- >> rats...

The supplier? >> absolutely. they have vendor agreements and a whole harmless agreement with the supplier. and the supplier has to assume full responsibility. and if ifault. if i'm petco, i'm going to go back and say you didn't adequately give a vaccine to the rat. if i'm a family i'm going to say you're the face of the transaction, you have to assume responsibility. >> very quickly, dr. siegel, this rat bite fever as it's being called, you're saying it's not normally deadly. parents out there -- rats are becoming more and more popular pets. parents don't need to panic, antibiotics can treat i...

Have on exhibit in our asia quest region of the zoo. you know, large snakes like this are not common, are not common pets. and we need to -- whoever has an animal like this needs to be very careful. we have very strict protocols ourselves in terms of when we go in and work with an animal of this size because even though it's a pet, if someone owns one, it's a pet, it's still a wild animal and still can be unpredictable. you can't become complacent. >> in addition to the unpredictable animals, the snakes at this man's house, he also had turtles, frozen mice, tarantulas. i have to imagine there ...