RESCUE NOT RETAIL WEEK OF ACTION
PROTESTERS gathered outside Edinburgh Pets At Home (Pets At Home Edinburgh Fort Kinnaird) today and called on newly appointed CEO, James Bailey, to stop live animal sales at all of the chain’s stores.
- Live animals are sold in the majority of Pets At Home stores; rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters, rats, gerbils, fishes, insects and reptiles.
- Newly appointed Pets At Home CEO James Bailey, will start work in the new role on March 30th 2026.
- Campaigners representing Rescue Not Retail are calling on James Bailey, the former Waitrose boss, to end the sale of live animals in all Pets At Home stores.
- Protestors wore masks and signs were held outside the front of the shop that said “Animal abuse in shops! James Bailey, make it stop!’ Pets at home abuse them daily! End it now James Bailey!”, “Hamsters are not toys! Just like us!”. “Fishes are not decorations! Just like us!”. “Snakes are not hobbies! Just like us!”.
- The protest was part of a nationwide week of action organised by campaign group Rescue Not Retail. Other protests are happening in Edinburgh, Derby, Dorchester, Huddersfield, Leeds, London, Manchester, Nottingham, Portsmouth, Southampton
- The week of action has followed an open letter written by Rescue Not Retail to Pets at Home asking for an end to animal sales. The letter was endorsed by Chris Packham, Dame Joanna Lumley, Gail Porter, Peter Egan and other notable figures, including 29 veterinary professionals and 25 animal rescues.
- Over the past 6 months, Pets At Home have seen their profits dive, a 25% drop in share price, and their CEO depart with an interim currently in place.
- Rival pet store chain Jollyes removed live animals from all of their stores earlier this year, receiving praise from animal rescues.
- The UK is in a rescue crisis, exacerbated by the fallout of Covid and the rising cost of living, with an estimated 184,000 small animals given up every year.
LOCALS protested for two hours outside Pets At Home (Edinburgh, Fort Kinnaird) calling for new CEO James Bailey to stop selling live animals. With rescue centres across the country at bursting point and facing funding issues, campaigners are addressing the root cause of this crisis.
Many pet store chains have already stopped selling live animals, James Bailey and Pets At Home are simply being asked to follow suit. A growing number of people are boycotting Pets At Home stores completely due to the conditions the animals are kept in there, likely contributing to the recent slump in profits of the business.
Chris Rhodes, an animal advocate from Edinburgh said: “James Bailey, the newly appointed CEO of Pets at Home, must end the abuse of animals in shops by halting animal sales across all stores.
“We’re saying loud and clear: ‘Animal abuse in shops! James Bailey, make it stop! Pets at home abuse them daily! End it now James Bailey!“
Chris Rhodes, an animal advocate from Edinburgh said: “James Bailey, the newly appointed CEO of Pets at Home, must take immediate action to end this abuse by halting animal sales across all stores.
“Pets at Home is acting irresponsibly by encouraging the objectification of animals and enabling impulse purchases. There is a troubling lack of transparency within the pet industry—we do not know exactly where the animals sold at Pets at Home come from. Pet mills operate as factory farms supplying animals for the trade.
“Snakes, fishes, and hamsters are thinking, feeling beings with distinct personalities and complex needs. They are not decorations or toys to be bought on a whim and discarded when they become inconvenient. Pets at Home should instead promote adoption as a way to help address the ongoing rescue crisis..“
Chris Rhodes, animal advocate, from Edinburgh said: “James Bailey, the new CEO of Pets at Home, must end the sale of animals and stop reinforcing the idea that animal exploitation is acceptable.
“Fishes, snakes, and hamsters are sentient beings with the capacity to think and feel. Animals are not objects, decorations, or toys to be purchased for human gratification. Pets at Home should instead champion adoption as a way to help address the ongoing rescue crisis.
“Fishes are not decorations! Hamsters are not toys! Snakes are not ‘hobbies’. Rabbits are not ‘for children’.”
Rescue Not Retail is a campaign group raising awareness of animal suffering in the pet industry.
The organisation’s first aim is getting Pets At Home to stop selling live animals on their shop floors. All animals are complex individuals who have specific care needs that can be very difficult for the average household to meet.
Misinformation during sales leads to many people finding themselves responsible for an animal they cannot properly care for, so the animal ends up either neglected, passed on to a rescue, or abandoned.
In response to the campaign’s recent open letter, naturalist Chris Packham said: “It’s time we stopped treating sentient, feeling animals as products on a shelf. Every small animal sold in a shop is an individual, not a toy or decoration.
Like ourselves, each hamster, rabbit, guinea pig and so on has just one life to live and they deserve not to be commodified. Keeping animals on shop floors encourages people to buy them on a whim, which is fuelling a rescue crisis in the UK.
“If we truly love animals we must end the sale of them in stores.”
