20,000 exotic animals seized in Texas raid [View All]

[wordpix]

Source: MSNBC

Official: Pets were ‘not fed properly, overcrowded and attacking each other’

ARLINGTON, Texas - Starving snakes, dead rodents and hundreds of reptiles packed in shipping crates were discovered Tuesday when animal welfare groups in Texas raided an exotic animal delivery company, officials said.

Dozens of people with the city of Arlington, SPCA of Texas and the Humane Society of North Texas took inventory of the animals — estimated at 20,000 — and removed them from U.S. Global Exotics. The Arlington-based company, which advertises that it delivers exotic animals worldwide, did not respond to a phone message seeking comment, and its Web site was taken down Tuesday afternoon. snip

A hearing will be held within 10 days to determine if the animals will be returned to the company or stay in the care of the animal welfare groups, Sabatucci said. The city is considering filing criminal charges against the owner, he said.

The city was tipped off recently by federal officials who had executed a warrant for another violation and reported concerns about the animals' conditions, Sabatucci said.

Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34442754/ns/us_news-life/

---

How idiotic that the city would even consider returning what live animals remain to this criminal company. If I were in charge, they could get the dead ones back, rotting and smelling, to remind them why they're NOT getting the live ones.

This type of enterprise should be illegal, anyway. :puke: