• Looking to buy a cephalopod? Check out Tomh's Cephs Forum, and this post in particular shares important info about our policies as it relates to responsible ceph-keeping.

My one LFS and how they kept their latest OCTO. Very Touchy subject.

Swimdude776

Blue Ring
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Aug 17, 2007
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42
Hey guys,

well I went to a LFS today to look around. To my shock they had an octo......to my bigger shock they were keeping him in a tiny 8 oz. exo terra plastic thing. he was about 2 inches in body size with tenticles about 8". all he could do is curl up in a lil ball.

Second they had three crabs in with him crawling all over him and pinching him becuase he was missing his right eye. it was really sad.


this is an different LFS from the one that sold me my octo.
 
Yes, this is sad. I hope you complained and made some suggestions about how the octopus could be kept in a better way. Sometimes they'll listen.

Nancy
 
Swimdude776;100699 said:
Hey guys,

well I went to a LFS today to look around. To my shock they had an octo......to my bigger shock they were keeping him in a tiny 8 oz. exo terra plastic thing. he was about 2 inches in body size with tenticles about 8". all he could do is curl up in a lil ball.

Second they had three crabs in with him crawling all over him and pinching him becuase he was missing his right eye. it was really sad.


this is an different LFS from the one that sold me my octo.
You should have told them to give you a fat discount on him. Then he could have had a better home. OCTO ABUSE!! :mad:
 
Why didn't you put them inside some cage at the same proportions to see if they'll like it? And put also inside, some crabs to do the same thing... I'll bet they'll love it! =)
 
Yup. Too many businesses see their living creatures as nothing more than ornamental products. Unfortunately I don't think animal cruelty laws apply to marine animals.
 
Animal Mother;100726 said:
Yup. Too many businesses see their living creatures as nothing more than ornamental products. Unfortunately I don't think animal cruelty laws apply to marine animals.

It probably depends where you are. In NZ Cephalopods are specifically mentioned in the Animal Welfare Act and the penalties for abusing them are high!

Animal—

(a)Means any live member of the animal kingdom that is—
(i)A mammal; or
(ii)A bird; or
(iii)A reptile; or
(iv)An amphibian; or
(v)A fish (bony or cartilaginous); or
(vi)Any octopus, squid, crab, lobster, or crayfish (including freshwater crayfish); or
(vii)Any other member of the animal kingdom which is declared from time to time by the Governor-General, by Order in Council, to be an animal for the purposes of this Act; and

(b)Includes any mammalian foetus, or any avian or reptilian pre-hatched young, that is in the last half of its period of gestation or development; and

(c)Includes any marsupial pouch young; but

(d)Does not include—
(i)A human being; or
(ii)Except as provided in paragraph (b) or paragraph (c) of this definition, any animal in the pre-natal, pre-hatched, larval, or other such developmental stage.

Penalties

A person who commits an offence against section 12 or section 14(1) or section 14(2) or section 21(1) or section 21(2) or section 22(2) or section 23(1) or section 23(2) is liable on summary conviction,—
(a)In the case of an individual, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or to a fine not exceeding $25,000 or to both; or

(b)In the case of a body corporate to a fine not exceeding $125,000.

AND

Wilful ill-treatment of animals
(1)A person commits an offence who wilfully ill-treats an animal in such a way that—

(a)The animal is permanently disabled; or

(b)The animal dies; or

(c)The pain or distress caused to the animal is so great that it is necessary to destroy the animal in order to end its suffering.

(2)A person who commits an offence against this section is liable on conviction on indictment,—

(a)In the case of an individual, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 years or to a fine not exceeding $50,000 or to both; or

(b)In the case of a body corporate, to a fine not exceeding $250,000.

So the penalties are fairly stiff, although the courts don't always (in fact rarely) use the full punishment :cry:

J
 
I think ultimately it depends on the municipal leaders and how far they are willing to take action against such situations. In my experience, in three and a half years of animal control, the people in the mayors office were always afraid of stirring up publicity and rarely enforced any kind of laws, and any animal confiscated was most likely taken and destroyed. I ended up taking home (hence my nickname) 3 Ball Pythons, 3 Boas, a Savannah Monitor, a Tokai Gecko, and I got my 75 gallon tank (full of freshwater feeders at the time) and I raised some baby owls, because otherwise they would have been destroyed for lack of the necessary housing and food for these animals at the shelter, and they city would not spend the money to prepare for a situation like this, they laughed at me. If a rescue group wouldn't come get the animals, they would most likely sit in a box until they died of starvation. I was fired over a situation with a hawk they let starve because it had a broken wing and they wouldn't take it to a vet 20 miles away that offered to treat it for free. I had no car at the time or I would have done it... that's a story in itself. I thought about calling the news, but ultimately it wouldn't have done much good, just gotten myself a reputation for being a whistle-blower.

If this was in my city and I complained I would be laughed at and they would hang up on me or have me escorted out of City Hall and threatened with "disorderly conduct".
 
When I lived in Ft. Worth we found a nighthawk with a broken wing and drove it to a vet who did work for the zoo. He lived way and the heck toward Dallas, I don't remember exactly where, because that was 35 or 36 years ago. The hawk couldn't be saved because it's wing wasn't reparable, and they only eat on the fly, but we tried.
 
sorseress;100764 said:
When I lived in Ft. Worth we found a nighthawk with a broken wing and drove it to a vet who did work for the zoo. He lived way and the heck toward Dallas, I don't remember exactly where, because that was 35 or 36 years ago. The hawk couldn't be saved because it's wing wasn't reparable, and they only eat on the fly, but we tried.

Well, for 5 days this one sat in a cat carrier, on a counter, in the back. None of my superiors had any intention of doing anything with it, saving it or euthanizing it.
 
Swimdude,
Buying a critter to save it because the LFS doesn't know how to house it is a topic discussed in most forums dedicated to a specific species. The most persuasive (but now always followed by those of us that agree) argument is to leave the creature to die because it will likely prevent the purchase of more and purchasing it will only encourage further abuse and death. Easier said than done and often depends on the shopper's ability to successfully effect a rescue. In your case, you will jeapordize your exiting octo as well as the new one as you assumed.
 

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