A WARRINGTON animal shelter has condemned a pet shop selling live animals after four bunnies purchased from the store were neglected and left for dead.
Warrington Animal Welfare left the name of the store anonymous but stated it was a ‘major retail park pet shop’ in its shocking statement on social media last night, Tuesday.
The animal shelter stated it had been a ‘heart-breaking’ week for its volunteers as they witnessed the ‘tragic outcomes when innocent animals fall into the wrong hands’.
A spokesperson for WAW stated that just before the weekend a member of the team responded to a call from a ‘concerned neighbour’.
“We found a resident with complex needs housing multiple animals – dogs, cats, and rabbits – in small, filthy conditions.
“The resident was breeding and selling rabbits, originally purchased from the retailer to anyone with money on social media.”
The charity described the horror of finding four 15-week-old bunnies living in a ‘tiny, dirty hutch’ with their mother’s body reported to have been ‘discarded in a wheelie bin’ the previous week.
“We convinced the owner to surrender the surviving baby bunnies,” the post stated. “Tragically, when we returned a couple of days later to collect them after securing emergency space, they had all died.
“Our vet’s postmortem revealed no obvious cause of death, leaving it unexplained.”
Other purchases of animals had been made by the unnamed resident, according to WAW, including two 11-week-old guinea pigs from the same retailer.
But following the volunteers visit to the property, in another sad outcome, the charity stated that since its visit the guinea pigs have ‘gone missing’.
In a final statement, a spokesperson for Warrington Animal Welfare said: “Despite these tragedies, we remain dedicated to the welfare of the animals and continue to help with the other pets, including neutering all the cats.
“The sale of live animals by this retailer must stop.
“The retailer claims to comply with all regulations and provide the best care possible, but they show little regard for the fate of these animals once they leave their premises.”
Promoting a charity that campaigns against the breeding and selling of rabbits in the UK, the charity urged people to support Babba Campaign.
