Eadie and PETCO

From: Michael Dougherty <doughm@primenet.com>
Subject: Roy's New Friend
Date: Tue, 22 Jul 1997 03:17:09 -0700
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. . . Mike and I ran to Petco to get more seed mix for Roy last night, and we checked out the rodent pals just for kicks. In the male rat cage, we saw a little guy that looked just like Roy, so I asked to see 'him' (Roy needed a companion, but I was supposed to wait a few weeks - oops :) The clerk tried to pick the rattie up, and ended up dropping 'him' a few feet onto the lino floor, where it crawled under some storage units. The idiot clerk started to claw and grab at the poor thing (who carefully avoided him) but when I put down my hands and made 'kissy' noises, 'he' hopped right up. Well, 'he' was a 'she' with the wrong label on her cage, so we knew we couldn't take her home as a pal for Roy :( Another couple was also looking at the rats, (denied they were for snake food when I asked) but then said they didn't want one for a pet - so I launched into my 'Rats Make the Best Pets on Earth' speech with the clerk loudly agreeing.

Mike and I left the store, but something seemed funny - so we agreed that 'Eadie' (after the Cab Calloway song :) should really come home with us. When we came back to Petco less than 2 minutes later, Eadie was gone and the clerk was avoiding us. I asked him directly where she was, and he told me she had been sold. I demanded to know who had bought her - and why - and he admitted it was the couple I had just spoken to - for their boa and python. One of the other clerks mumbled that the couple had not left the store, so we rushed to find them. The woman was crying and looked shocked when she saw me run up and ask for Eadie. Her husband took me aside and gently explained that the clerk had already taken Eadie out back and smashed her little skull into a concrete wall to 'stun' her. His wife took the box she was carrying to the counter and opened it. I grabbed Eadie while the clerk blathered that 'snakes have to eat' paid and left. The couple was clearly shaken, and Petco just made my personal black list.

We called the ER right away and explained the problem - they don't think Eadie was seriously hurt because she can now walk and doesn't cry when her head is stroked. We have her in an aquarium next to Roy (vintage 'Symphonia' saucer for food - chartreuse) and she slowly seems to be returning to the lovely little creature that hopped into my hands. I cradled her all the way home (the clerk wanted to know if I needed a box - they had some in the dumpster...) and have tried to make her comfy in her new home. She is very thin (her little back bone shows) but otherwise seems OK. She still has a black furry baby coat, but her front paws have white 'spats', her muzzle is purple/dove grey, and she has a dapper white 'waistcoat'. . .

	Nothing I can write now can compare to the horror and desperation experienced by Eadie on a late Tuesday night in July, as she struggled for her life in a hot parking lot behind our local PETCO. The following text is the e-mail I posted to the 'Rat List' when we brought Eadie home. PETCO corporate headquarters did send a letter of apology for the treatment Eadie received while in their care. From: Michael Dougherty <doughm@primenet.com> Subject: Roy's New Friend Date: Tue, 22 Jul 1997 03:17:09 -0700 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit . . . Mike and I ran to Petco to get more seed mix for Roy last night, and we checked out the rodent pals just for kicks. In the male rat cage, we saw a little guy that looked just like Roy, so I asked to see 'him' (Roy needed a companion, but I was supposed to wait a few weeks - oops :) The clerk tried to pick the rattie up, and ended up dropping 'him' a few feet onto the lino floor, where it crawled under some storage units. The idiot clerk started to claw and grab at the poor thing (who carefully avoided him) but when I put down my hands and made 'kissy' noises, 'he' hopped right up. Well, 'he' was a 'she' with the wrong label on her cage, so we knew we couldn't take her home as a pal for Roy :( Another couple was also looking at the rats, (denied they were for snake food when I asked) but then said they didn't want one for a pet - so I launched into my 'Rats Make the Best Pets on Earth' speech with the clerk loudly agreeing. Mike and I left the store, but something seemed funny - so we agreed that 'Eadie' (after the Cab Calloway song :) should really come home with us. When we came back to Petco less than 2 minutes later, Eadie was gone and the clerk was avoiding us. I asked him directly where she was, and he told me she had been sold. I demanded to know who had bought her - and why - and he admitted it was the couple I had just spoken to - for their boa and python. One of the other clerks mumbled that the couple had not left the store, so we rushed to find them. The woman was crying and looked shocked when she saw me run up and ask for Eadie. Her husband took me aside and gently explained that the clerk had already taken Eadie out back and smashed her little skull into a concrete wall to 'stun' her. His wife took the box she was carrying to the counter and opened it. I grabbed Eadie while the clerk blathered that 'snakes have to eat' paid and left. The couple was clearly shaken, and Petco just made my personal black list. We called the ER right away and explained the problem - they don't think Eadie was seriously hurt because she can now walk and doesn't cry when her head is stroked. We have her in an aquarium next to Roy (vintage 'Symphonia' saucer for food - chartreuse) and she slowly seems to be returning to the lovely little creature that hopped into my hands. I cradled her all the way home (the clerk wanted to know if I needed a box - they had some in the dumpster...) and have tried to make her comfy in her new home. She is very thin (her little back bone shows) but otherwise seems OK. She still has a black furry baby coat, but her front paws have white 'spats', her muzzle is purple/dove grey, and she has a dapper white 'waistcoat'. . .