Thousands of exotic animals found overcrowded, underfed in Arlington

[natas]

by JASON WHITELY / WFAA-TV
Posted on December 16, 2009 at 12:01 AM
Updated today at 5:57 AM
Related:
Thousands of exotic animals seized in Arlington
ARLINGTON - The SPCA of Texas, city of Arlington and the Humane Society of North Texas will work through midnight Wednesday gathering animals in what's believed to be the largest exotic animal seizure in the country.
As of 9 p.m. Tuesday, investigators have collected 22,000 exotic animals like lizards, snakes, chinchillas and turtles from U.S. Global Exotics. In the end, rescuers estimate they will seize 25,000 to 30,000 animals, said James Bias, president of the SPCA of Texas.
The animals were underfed and overcrowded. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of carcasses were found, too.
Bias said he has already reached out to zoos across the country to see if any would be interested in acquiring the animals providing a judge grants permanent custody to the SPCA of Texas or other rescue groups.
Arlington wouldn't reveal what led investigators to the location in a business park off Highway 360 near Avenue J. They served a civil warrant for cruelty to animals on the owners at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday.
U.S. Global Exotics buys and sells exotic animals around the world.
Only six to eight workers are employed to take care of the thousands of animals, said Chris Castoe, who identified himself as an employee who has been working at the business over the last eight months.
Rescuers said some even cannibalized each other.
Neighboring business said some animals, including snakes, escaped and slithered next door over the three years the facility was open.
Hundreds of dead turtles were found, along with 200 to 400 dead iguanas that were boxed up but never shipped, Bias said.
Friday afternoon at 2 p.m., the city will ask a judge to give permanent custody of the animals to the SPCA and the Humane Society.
The city has up to two years to decide if it wants to prosecute the owners criminally.
E-mail jwhitely@wfaa.com
Original Link:
Thousands of exotic animals found overcrowded, underfed in Arlington | wfaa.com | Business News

[Jenny06]

OMG, i feel so sorry for those animals.

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[THORATIO]

Wow, that's just horrible. Makes me sick to my stomach.

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[telefrag]

I hope they shut them down permanently.
Granted no wholesaler/importer is an immaculate eat off the floor shop, its just the nature of dealing in so many animals, but some are worse than others...

this is one of those.

I wouldn't be so concerned with it being a "blight" on the reptile hobby, reptiles were only a small fraction of his business.

this is more a ding on wholesale animal trade.
which in its core is very ugly, and most of us fortunately get spared the sight of it, yet we have all contributed to it in some way.

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[Hypoboa1234]

sad,thats just bad business

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[dragonlady]

It's so sad and the courts are now debating whether or not to put the animals into rescues or return them to the company. If they return them maybe I'll have to drive the 3 hours with some picket signs outside the court house.

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[telefrag]

what this may do, legally is put more attention on the import/export trade, and while it probably needs some attention, it could mean many shut down.
On a positive note, it could force import/export businesses to maintain higher standards, but that could come at a high cost to the customers.

just have to take it for what it is...

Its not the first time USGE has had some drama though.

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[Icicle]

Only if I lived on the east coast, I would fill my pockets with snakes.
It is sad that some places are not inspected more.

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[Byron]

Originally Posted by Icicle

Only if I lived on the east coast, I would fill my pockets with snakes.
It is sad that some places are not inspected more.

you would be better off living in Arlington TX where the raid took place and not Arlington VA.

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[Icicle]

Originally Posted by grnxnam

you would be better off living in Arlington TX where the raid took place and not Arlington VA.

Oops, Me bad.
Never even thought to look at what state it was from, just the name of the town.

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[Put-Putbutt312]

...i think i just puked a little in my mouth... (*.*)

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[Sakara]

wow. that's ridiculous. I wish I could help take in some of them I'm only 2 hours away

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[blueangel817]

that makes me sick also i cant believe someone could do that too poor animals makes me want to cry.....im rescuing 3 parakeets tomorrow if they make it through the nite i would love to go get them now but i have no way husbands at work so im hoping they make it outside through the nite they are not tame so we will be using a net to catch them and put them in my cage to take them home where i will clip there wings and try and work on getting them tame and happy

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[kenyabloodstone]

Good luck Blueangel on rescuing them. I hope they are still fine in the morning.

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[blueangel817]

thanks....and i hope so too

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[morti]

Hi!

I am going to post in Every Thread today to make sure everyone knows that we have an e-mail that EVERYONE needs to send As Soon As Possible. Preferably today, no later than tomorrow!

Read here for details:
http://www.redtailboa.net/forums/rep...-required.html

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[EricRoscoe]

I made a suggestion to Andrew Wyatt of USARK today that they as an organization could offer their assistance in this case by having members offering to take in, rehabilitate, adopt, and/or rehome seized animals. By doing this we could demonstrate to the public the presence of the responsible sector of the reptile industry.
If USARK and the reptile industry offered to cooperate and work with the agencies involved with this and other such cruelty cases instead of simply sitting on the sidelines, then this would also demonstrate that substandard conditions and husbandry are not tolerated within the hobby and industry, and disprove the claims by the HSUS and animal rights groups that no one who keeps reptiles is responsible and that the reptile industry as a whole contributes to animal neglect/suffering. Actions would speak louder than words.

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[Mike Schultz]

It's unfortunate that many wholesalers keep their animals in such squalid conditions. It sucks that the term "wholesaler" has pretty much become a bad connotation in the animal industry even though there are many who do uphold quality care standards.

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[dangerprone69]

Eric that's a great suggestion. Anything come of it?

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[spoonersgirl]

That's awful !!!! They need to be permanently shut down...

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