Intro:
Iv’e always been passionate about giving my hamster Mizuri, her best life. Researching, providing her necessities, using proper care, all that. I was aware that I had an exotic animal and I was determined to provide the best care for her. This lead me into doing lots and lots of research not only on hamsters but on other exotic animals as well. Ive learned many things that I never knew before about rodents, reptiles, birds, and more. There was such fascinating information but the one thing that sticked out to me the most was the common issue of their mistreatment. I was in shock hearing about peta discovering the true horrors of pet store chains and the horrible abuse they endure from neglectful homes. I felt helpless not being able to help these poor animals. What could I do stop this? Many individuals who own exotic pets attempt to change the nature of the animal rather than provide their pet’s necessities and doing research. Tactics such as confinement in small, barren enclosures, chaining, beating “into submission,” or even painful mutilations, such as declawing and tooth removal is sadly a common thing. PETA an animal organization who exposes these acts discovered a shocking truth during an investigation in Petco. Birds, reptiles, fish, and other small animals were treated like merchandise. They spent hours and days in transit from cruel suppliers, including breeding and distribution mills, and many animals were wild-caught. These animals ended up trapped in small tanks, cramped cages and were often denied even the basic necessities of life. It’s estimated that 75% of captive reptiles die within the first year in a person’s home. But of course Petco still sells them to customers who buy them on impulse, with no knowledge of their unique needs for space, heat, humidity, lighting, and more. Have you ever gone to the pet store and seen those shelves with multiple fish in these tiny small bottles stacked on top of one another with no space and barley any water? The sad thing is, this it’s viewed as “normal” to some people. We need to inform people on the dangers of buying from these sick companies and educate them on the proper care of exotic animals. They are living/breathing creatures that deserve better.
Source #1: Another Look Inside PetSmart, Inc.: A PETA Eyewitness Exposé, PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) , 29 Mar. 2018, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYLMceh2DbU&t=2s. Accessed 20 Oct. 2022.
Summary: In the past, PETA has investigated many big pet store chains such as Petco and Pet smart. They discovered a wide spread of animal suffering. During 2018, a PETA eyewitness worked undercover in a pet smart in Nashville Tennessee near the companies headquarters and what they found was horrible and upsetting. To save money, pet smart employees repeatedly refused to take obviously sick, injured, dying animals for desperately needed veterinary care. A supervisor told PETA’s eyewitness not to tell customers that pet smart buys from Sun Pet; A warehouse that does unexplainable things to these poor animals. PETA discovered dead guinea pigs being left on the floors and cages, birds covered in feces, hamster’s suffering from wet tail with deadly intestinal diseases and neglected and stressed animals put on the shelves to be sold.
Key quotes:
- “PETA reported that they were taking the older and sick hamsters, putting them in bags and whacking them against the table to k*ll them”
- ” ‘Cause if you take them to the vet, you’re gonna pay an extra $200, $300. There’s no point in me paying that for a $15 animal” -Pet smart employee
- “Small mammals, birds, reptiles, and fish continue to suffer and die agonizing deaths, tucked away in back rooms of pet smart stores and supplier mills hidden from the public view. It’s up to us as consumers to stop this cruelty”
Rhetorical analysis:
PETA’S YouTube videos are very educational and eye opening. As I was watching their videos I couldn’t believe my ears on what was being said about these pet store chains. Their videos made me want to help and take action anyway I can. Im glad that this topic is not being swept under the rug and is being talked about. The video makes its point clear and is very informal. After watching the investigation I’m definitely never ever buying from pet smart or Petco again. PETA does not sugar coat again and I appreciate that because people need to see the true horrors these animal’s face on a daily bases. Many injured animals were shown in the video and pet smart employees saying awful things about the animals. It’s just really sad and we need for this to stop.
Briana, this is a great start! Your summary is very good. If you’d like to make it a bit longer, you could add a second paragraph summarizing a sub-point that you find important. That is, you’ve done a great job of summarizing the main point, but if there’s some smaller point in there that you find important as well, you can make it in another paragraph.
I think we could do a bit more work on the rhetorical analysis, though. It’s okay (good even!) to have a paragraph saying how you feel at the end. I also would like you to look at HOW the video is getting its point across– who is their audience, and how are they trying to win their audience over to their point of view? For example, you say “the video makes its point clear and is very informal,” can you explain how it does that? Can you describe what is clear about it? What makes this video informal? What audience does informality attract?