“Gideon”: one of 26,000 who suffered at the hands of U.S. Global Exotics

By Ingrid E. Newkirk

PETA’s lifesaving campaigns are helping animals of all shapes and sizes — from magnificent elephants to tiny dwarf hamsters. Adorable Gideon is one of the latter. He is one of 26,000 animals who was rescued in December when Texas authorities, acting on evidence gathered during a seven-month PETA undercover investigation, raided U.S. Global Exotics (USGE), a huge international exotic-animal dealer.

While working at USGE, PETA’s investigator documented unimaginable suffering. Obviously ill and injured animals were denied veterinary care, and many animals were confined to bags, boxes, shipping crates, or 2-liter soda bottles for days or even weeks without access to food or water. Hundreds of animals died every day. The hamsters were kept in extremely crowded dungeon-like bins, with as many as 50 of them fighting for survival in each container. Hamsters are solitary animals and are very territorial. They may even resort to cannibalism if they’re caged together, as PETA’s investigator often documented at USGE. At USGE’s facility, the watering system sometimes malfunctioned and flooded the bins, resulting in illness and prolonged, terrifying deaths.

Housing 26,000 animals while arrangements could be made to transfer them to permanent homes and sanctuaries was an enormous undertaking that took the combined resources of PETA, local humane societies, and experts from around the world—including from the progressive Detroit Zoo. Gideon is one of several dozen hamsters who were temporarily housed at PETA’s headquarters in Norfolk, Va., before being transferred to specialized placement groups. (Or, as in Gideon’s case, before being adopted by a smitten PETA staffer!)

Gideon is one of the lucky ones. If not for PETA’s investigation, he might have wound up on the shelves of a pet store—if he had survived USGE’s neglect long enough. If he had happened to fall ill or suffer injuries before being sold, he probably would have been “returned” to USGE like a piece of defective merchandise. A PETA investigator at another massive animal warehouse, Atlanta-based Sun Pet Ltd., recently documented that a worker put “unsalable” hamsters into a plastic bag and bashed them against a table in order to kill them. PETA’s investigation of yet another PETCO and PetSmart supplier—Rainbow World Exotics of Hamilton, Texas—revealed that staff members had thrown sick and injured animals in the trash.

But thanks to your support, the people responsible for these atrocities are being brought to justice. USGE has been shut down, and a federal arrest warrant has been issued for owner Jasen Shaw. The Sun Pet worker who was videotaped bashing hamsters against a table has reportedly been fired, and PETA is calling on the local district attorney to file charges in connection with the incident. We’re also calling on PETCO, PetSmart, Petland, and Pet Supplies “Plus”—all of which have purchased animals from USGE and/or Sun Pet—to stop the sale of all animals so that these miserable animal warehouses will be forced to go out of business.