The company's trade in live birds supports a mass-breeding industry just as cruel as—and less regulated than—the puppy mill industry; results in abysmal treatment of tiny, vulnerable beings; and ultimately leads to their overpopulation, homelessness, neglect, and suffering.

PetSmart sells birds and other animals to people who often buy them on impulse and don't have a clue about how to care for them properly. Just as there are puppy mills, there are enormous bird factories and massive animal "suppliers," where breeders warehouse thousands of "breeding stock," whose babies are taken away and sold. Regulation of such massive facilities is often lax or non-existent, leaving the monitoring of breeders to the company itself—and leaving the animals to suffer the consequences.