PetSmart has been known for inhumanely keeping (and even disposing of) living animals, giving them poor enclosures, little enrichment, etc.

A good example of this is their birds, put into small glass cages limiting natural climbing instincts with either a few toys that are bad for them or no toys at all, smooth perches that will damage their feet. 10 - 20 birds, especially budgies, are often crammed into a very small enclosure, so small that they often squish together on one single perch. This is also noticeable in other small animals like guinea pigs and hamsters, giving them tiny enclosures with low-quality, mass-produced supplies.

Their fish are also kept in very small, empty containers as well. The fish often appear to be dead, just laying or floating around with no movement or even any space to do so.

Another issue is what they are selling. Their bird "starter kits" are horrible, selling you small cages with cheap plastic toys, bad supplies, etc. This also applies to many other supplies meant for other pets, especially small animals that are often cheap and impulse-bought.

The employees often are more clueless than the buyer, recommending whatever's on the shelf without any knowledge of the matter. This is very harmful because many people, including those close to me, believe the falsehoods of pet store employees who don't actually know much. This doesn't apply to all pet store employees, but it does to the vast majority. Sometimes, the pet store employees aren't just unhelpful, sometimes they can make the situation even worse. PetSmart has provided incorrect and sometimes even harmful information to their customers (not enough bedding, recommending wrong supplies, small enclosure, unhealthy food, etc.), just to get you to buy from them.

One quick Google search will reveal hundreds of thousands of posts, articles and videos about abused animals (some even thrown into dumpsters!) found at PetSmart, how chain pet stores like these are inhumane and money-greedy, how they are neglecting their pets and how they should be treating their animals better instead of just cutting corners and costs to profit off inhumanely-treated, impulse-bought, living, breathing animals.

More people need to be speaking up against these kinds of inhumane pet stores. There has been lots of backlash but little to no change. Animal cruelty has been a very controversial subject (puppy mills, backyard breeders and pet stores like these), but it is still very apparent, and that should change.

Very sadly, the image attached is one of the better enclosures. In many pet stores, there are twice the amount of birds in an enclosure of the same size. In the photo, you can see that there is nothing to do in this enclosure, no good enrichment, cheap plastic supplies and limited space.