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Pet chain faces cruelty claims
The report says sick rabbits were clubbed to death |
Horrific reports of cruelty against sick animals have prompted a review of welfare standards by the UK's biggest pet store chain.
Former Petsmart staff have told the BBC's Weekend Watchdog programme that sick animals were clubbed to death and thrown into rubbish skips.
The programme says it has unearthed a three-year "catalogue of cruelty" in some Petsmart branches.
The report is featured in Weekend Watchdog with Anne Robinson |
The allegations from former Petsmart staff include reports that sick rabbits were clubbed to death with a spade and hamsters were put in a bag and smashed against a wall.
They told the programme that vets were not always called out for injured animals, while pets were sometimes left in sweltering heat in the summer.
Petsmart employs 2,800 people in the UK. Marketing director Simon Blower said the company had called in the RSPCA to help review its standards and procedures.
Spot inspections
He said: "Our company vet is immediately reviewing every one of our 92 stores to check that all the animals in our care are in good health and are being kept in the right conditions.
"This will be followed by spot inspections by a team of managers who will also check that staff know, understand and are strictly following our animal welfare procedures."
Mr Blower said there were "some very important concerns" which the company were taking "very seriously".
 She physically threw it on the floor and broke its neck and broke its back  |
| Andy Guile |
"We have strict animal welfare procedures and we want to make sure that all our staff know about them and stick to them."
Andy Guile, former manager of the Petsmart store at Kirkcaldy, near Edinburgh, told Weekend Watchdog he was given a bag containing hamsters and asked to smash it against a wall.
He said: "I wouldn't do it. Someone else did and then he threw up.
"A long-standing employee was showing me what to do. She was holding a hamster in her hand, she was stroking it then she kissed it.
"Then she physically threw it on the floor and broke its neck and broke its back."
Weekend Watchdog is on BBC One at 1900 GMT on Friday.
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