PetSmart, Petco, and Petland have been warned about their supply chain before. Nine times. They kept selling birds anyway.

A PETA undercover investigator spent three months inside Creekside Birds, a breeding factory in rural Oklahoma that supplies parakeets to some of the biggest pet store chains in the country. What they documented is one of the most disturbing animal cruelty investigations in recent memory.

10,000 parakeets were crammed into tiny wire cages stacked floor to ceiling — cages so small the birds could not spread their wings. The cages were never cleaned. Feces piled inches high. Dead chicks rotted next to living ones. In just 27 days investigators found nearly 1,400 dead birds.

Workers killed unwanted birds by crushing their necks, flinging them against the ground, and ripping their heads off. A co-owner admitted he tears birds' heads off because it is faster. A veterinarian never once visited the facility despite rampant illness and suffering. A bird named Nancy lost an eye after being attacked and suffered for two weeks without care before dying. When asked about getting her help the co-owner said simply: not for something like this.

These birds are sold as merchandise at stores you may have walked into last week.

Sign this petition to demand PetSmart, Petco, and Petland immediately end the sale of all birds and cut ties with suppliers like Creekside Birds.

Photos: PETA