You are here  Gah! My ethics are frayed. X|  Long story short:
My family and I are now in love with a pet store animal. We've
been planning to take on a new guinea pig pretty much from the
moment we woke to find the house unexpectedly silent last
Christmas. I've been spamming my father's inbox with notices of
guinea pigs in the local animal shelter.  Buuut... no. This one
individual from a pet shop. Bugger. I don't know what to
doooo... As they go, this chain is hardly the WORST - they
eschew anything even remotely resembling puppy mills, they don't
'get rid of' animals that don't sell or 'excess' - I've passed
by and seen the same bird there for years on end, just sort of
living there, in good health. Their rodents are of all different
ages - the guinea pig in question is definitely into adulthood,
much older than the babies I've usually seen in pet stores. They
have employees hired more or less with the express purpose of
socialising the animals and making sure customers play nice with
them. But they are a