TUCSON, Ariz. — About 250 small animals that were moved from California to Arizona may have ended up as reptile food, according to two humane societies.
Tucson television station KVOA investigated the animals’ whereabouts in September, a month after 300 small animals were transferred from the overcrowded San Diego Humane Society to the Southern Arizona Humane Society in Tucson. .
The Arizona Republic reported that the transfer was a collaboration between the two groups and that the animals then went to a man who ran a reptile breeding company that also sold live and frozen animals for reptile feed.
The newspaper said the man ended up returning 62 of the animals to the Tucson-based humane society, leaving about 250 rabbits, guinea pigs, rats and mice with an unknown fate.
“We could not have conceived of something like this happening in relation to our organization,” Humane Society of Southern Arizona board president Robert Garcia said at a news conference Thursday. “I am heartbroken for the animals, I am heartbroken for our community, I am heartbroken for our organization whose mission is to protect and save animals.”
About 250 small animals, including guinea pigs, mice and rabbits, may have been fed reptiles after being transferred between humane societies in San Diego and Tucson, Arizona.Getty Images/iStockphoto
The Humane Society of Southern Arizona fired its executive director last month and also accepted the resignation of its chief operating officer.
The Tucson organization is now considering legal action against the reptile breeding company and a full report of its internal investigation is expected next month.
The San Diego Humane Society’s investigation is ongoing.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn