Local Pet Shops
Following a visit to my local pet shop recently, I noticed a decisive lack of ‘Pets’ therein. My local pet shop happens to be in Ellesmere Port market, and all the animals are stuffed! They were toys of course, this wasn’t a taxidermist. There are two pet shops in this market, and neither sell animals, however, the larger of the two has several tanks of tropical fish which are sold to selected buyers.
Times have changed, thirty years ago I could go into any market pet shop and expect to find dogs, cats, rabbits, snakes, iguanas, hamsters and many other species available for purchase. But now there are laws governing such practice. Having interviewed the Manager, I discovered there is Council Legislation dictating what he could and could not sell. The laws on hygiene, health and safety are strict, every ten days the premises are inspected by officials. These new laws are global, even in Australia importing/exporting of livestock is illegal.
The manager also explained that the cost of keeping animals in stock far exceeds the retail price of said animals, therefore they are not cost effective.