Fish Abuse by Walmart

The Goldfish Sanctuary is currently running a campaign against Walmart stores for their atrocious treatment of all kinds of fishes. Please do not buy fish or supplies from them - in fact, we strongly suggest that you boycott the store altogether. What follows is more information on this campaign.

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ATROCITY against FISHES: Walmart Stores

GFS members from across the US have told horror stories about the terrible treatment fish receive at Walmart. Fish are forced to live in filthy water, dead fish and diseased fish abound in the tanks, and fish are overcrowded. Often, fish are kept with other incompatible species, and goldfish are indiscriminantly mixed with tropicals. My local Rochester, New York Walmart's pet department is dark, ill-lit, and not supervised. To obtain help, one must seek an employee out. Seeing the fish literally die before my eyes, suffering in these terrible conditions, is revolting. No animal should ever be treated this way, allowed to suffer endlessly until its inevitable death.

According to Mr. Greg Bickal, Chapter Head of the Iowa Goldfish Sanctuary:

"I would like to complain about Walmart. Dirty fish tanks with diseased fish. I recently bought 2 red-capped orandas and a calico fantail from them. Or should I call it RESCUED. If I would have left them there, they surely would have died within a week."

D. Catham, head of our Texas chapter has this to say:

"Another very bad fish abuser and seller, at least in this area, is Walmart. In this area, Walmart is far worse [than Petsmart], if that is possible. I frequent the fish department every time I go to that store, find absolute carnage, and then I find someone in the department, and COMPLAIN LOUD AND LONG! Walmart SHOULD NOT BE IN THE LIVE FISH BUSINESS. If their conscience is not bothered by the gross cruelty of keeping fish long enough to kill them there or send them home with a poor, unaware customer to die and/or spread disease to that customer's home tanks(not one tank is disease free)..."

Walmart, the nationwide discount department store, is known to mistreat their fish, an active party to their suffering. Walmart should simply NOT BE SELLING LIVE FISH.

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Letter Writing Campaign: Walmart Stores

Goldfish Sanctuary Members, we need your support! Each of us pledged to make the world a better place for goldfish, and YOU can do that right now by joining our Walmart letter-writing campaign. Our goal: to convince Walmart to

1) clean up their act or
2) stop selling live fish.

We need your help! Walmart will not change their ways unless someone acts, and members, that means us! Here's what to do:

1: If you have a Walmart near to you, or even several Walmarts, make a point to visit them as soon as possible. Take notes! See how the fish are kept at your store first hand. Find out who is in charge of the fish department and ask some basic questions, like: what can you tell me about keeping goldfish? I have a fishbowl at home. How many goldfish do you think I can keep in it? I think I have some tropical fish food at home - I think I'll just feed them that. How do I care for goldfish?

You, the knowledgable hobbyist, will spot a fraud immediately. But try to be polite... after all, the person watching the fish department might have been given the responsibility by management, not by choice. In fact, you may even consider asking how the attendant came to work in the fish department. By choice? At random? Or hired specifically for it? Does he keep fish at home?

If your local Walmart is acceptable in its care of fish, please write to complain about the following location instead (more locations will follow in future newsletters) :

1200 Marketplace Dr Henrietta, NY 14467

2: When you have gathered as much information as possible about your local store(s) you will begin preparing your letter. What will you say? Introduce yourself and explain that you are writing on behalf of fish for the Goldfish Sanctuary who is dedicated to the humane treatment of fish everywhere. List your findings (or draw from the above article). Offer details of why these conditions are bad for fish/goldfish (sound experienced!). Explain that this treatment is unacceptable and unethical. Explain your feelings about it.

Further, explain that you are not going to buy any of your fishkeeping products or fish from them. Even better - explain that you want to boycott their entire store because of this offense. Explain that you do not intend to patronize them unless they clean up their act. Explain that you will be encouraging every fish owner you meet to boycott their fish department as well. If you know of a good fish store in your area, explain that you intend to buy from them instead. This helps to drive the point home.

Tell them that they should discontinue their sale of live fish or that they should act to correct the problems with their fish departments. You may even offer advise on how they can do this. Or refer them to our homepage as a good place to begin for learning the proper care of goldfish. The following books are also worth suggesting: "Goldfish: A Complete Pet Owner's Manual" (by Barron's Educational Series, Inc.) or "An Owner's Guide to The Goldfish" (by Carlo DeVito & Gregory Skomal). You may have your own suggested reading.

Finally, explain that you want them to tell you what they intend to do about the suffering of fish at their stores. Explain that you want a response to your letter.

Thank Mr. Glass for his time, and end your letter.

3: Tips for editing: When your letter is done, you will want to make sure that your spelling and grammar are correct. You may want to leave your letter to sit for one day, review it, and see if you want to make any changes. Friends can offer good suggestions, too.

4: When your letter has been completed, send it to the President of Walmart:

Mr. David Glass
c/o Walmart Stores Home Office
702 SW 8th Street
PO BOX 116

5: We would REALLY appreciate it if you dropped us a copy of your letter (and any response). This will serve us in refining and forwarding our Walmart letter-writing campaign. We will also honor your efforts in our newsletter.

6: Save a copy of your letter for your own records. If you participate in a future letter-writing campain, having this one as a reference will provide very helpful!

Thank you one and all for your support. Let them know that you will not stand by as these fish suffer. Make a difference!

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My Trip to WAL*MART
By: Tony Lenzo

Realizing that the GFS Walmart letter-writing campaign was about to break, I decided to head down to my local Walmart in Rochester, NY and record some specifics as to the care of the fish. Of course I was shocked. Of the 11 tanks in operation, 6 were cloudy. Of those 6, 3 were filthy. Of those 3, 2 were so filthy that I could barely see the fish inside.

I counted 6 dead fish and another 5 dying or diseased fish. There were a total of 3 fish sucked onto the filter intakes. One still lived, gasping, but the fish department seemed to have no regular attendant. (I was able to get to the power strip and switch off the filter long enough for the poor fish to escape). The filter itself was a cannister - way too strong for the 20 gallon tank of small fish it serviced.

A betta was ragged with fin-rot, mollies rolled on the bottom of their tanks gasping for air. Other fish swam about oblivious, or even eating their tankmates.

Two tanks had snails.

A young man named Sean came by to help me. "Do you own fish?" I asked him. "No," he said, "But I can net them for you." Posing as a novice, I asked him how to take care of fish. His answers were relevant, but it was obvious that his was a beginner's knowledge. He suggested that I keep tropicals at room temperature and that goldfish bowls were ok "to put on a desk." To his credit, he did explain that the tank was better, and that it had to be cleaned with a siphon once a month.

I waited around to finish my inspection of the tanks. A family wandered by and I suggested that another store nearby was cheaper with a better selection, but they seemed uninterested. Soon, another man named Eric walked over, explaining to them about fish. "Do you have any goldfish?" asked the woman. "Uh..." he looked around. "These are gold. Oh, here they are." (He pointed to a few orange tropicals which I could not identify - perhaps a kind of molly, but definitely NOT goldfish). "I have just a small tank," she said, motioning with her hands - she showed the approximate size of a 2 1/2 gallon tank. "Yeah, yeah, that's fine," he said, "but you can probably only keep one or two fish in it."

I had seen enough. You can't keep fish in a tank that size, certainly not tropicals, and certainly not goldfish. Proper filtration and heating are not even sold for those tanks. I was convinced that this man knew next to nothing about proper fish maintainance, or didn't care, or was pressured to sell. Whatever the reason, those fish would not live long.

He turned to me and asked if he could get any fish for me.

"No, just looking," I said, and left.

(true story - March 19, 1998)

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Dear Tony,

I have had experience with both Pet Smart amd Wal*Mart. As you said earlier, Wal*mart is horrid. But the Petsmart in my area is quite nice. They have large, clean tanks with healthy looking fish in them. Each tank has plecos and snails in it and their filterrs are changed often. Wal Mart on the other hand has dead fish everywhere in it and when you talk to the employees they just don't care. I like the Pet Smart but Walmart is rather dumpy.

Sincrely yours,
Bert Ray
(California chapter)

GFSHQ: Bert, thank you for the information! We'll be working here on the East Coast to get those letters to Walmart! Good luck there on the West Coast!