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Contact: Cassie King, (510) 507-8075, cassie@directactioneverywhere.com

VIDEO: Activists Protest Petco to Demand End of Live Animals Sales, Following Exposé of Cruelty at Parakeet Breeding Mill

With Bay Area cities moving to ban retail sale of animals, advocates rallied in San Francisco to bring attention to cruelty of the exotic pet trade

Photos & Videos
(Credit: Direct Action Everywhere)

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September 5, 2026, San Francisco, CA - Animal rights activists with Direct Action Everywhere (DxE) protested Petco’s San Francisco location on 16th Street today, urging Petco to switch its animal sales to an adoption-only model. The protest was a part of a broader campaign to expand California’s ban on the retail sale of dogs, cats and rabbits in pet stores to include all species. Petco already hosts adoption events for dogs, cats, and rabbits.

Protesters entered the store with signs reading “Someone Not Something” and “Stop Selling Animals,” as well as trash cans overflowing with plush parakeets, rubber snakes, and rubber mice to represent how Petco treats animals like trash, based on images from multiple recent investigations of breeders that sell to Petco. A World Animal Protection investigation found a trash can overflowing with dead parakeets at an Oklahoma breeder that sells animals to Petco. A recent PETA investigation at another Oklahoma breeder called Creekside Birds found nearly 1,400 dead birds in just 27 days, sometimes 100 or more in a single day.

Liz Cabrera Holtz, attorney and Senior Campaigns Manager at World Animal Protection, delivered a moving speech at the protest. Holtz is responsible for overseeing World Animal Protection’s campaign to end the exploitation of wild animals in the pet trade. 

Other participating activists held large banners and photos of animals at Petco-supplying breeding mills. Other signs showed images of animals with words proclaiming they are not merchandise. Protesters chanted, gave speakouts about the dire situation at Petco, and distributed informative leaflets.

Petco is a leading pet supply company and in 2025 generated a revenue of $6 billion. Most of the animals sold at its stores are poached from their native habitat or are sourced from industrial breeding factories, some of which, including Creekside Birds, have been cited by the USDA for federal Animal Welfare Act violations. According to Petco employees across multiple Bay Area locations, many animals bred and shipped to the stores die before reaching store shelves. Survivors often arrive emaciated or sick with infectious diseases, yet corporate policy blocks them from receiving adequate veterinary care. Shipments of sick and emaciated animals have continued even after USDA issued citations against Petco’s bird and reptile suppliers, employees say. 

April Montano, a current Petco employee, told us, “It always upsets me to see these animals, especially the small ones, being forced to live in such terrible enclosures. Petco does not care about educating customers as they'd rather make a quick buck and let the animal suffer and die without knowing what a happy life should really look like. It's such a sad existence to me.”

Recently, DxE members investigated Petco locations throughout the Bay Area and found sick animals, enclosures with no enrichment, and a hamster repeatedly pacing back and forth, indicating mental distress. Investigations of the San Francisco and San Mateo Petco locations found overly crowded fish tanks with deceased fish and filthy reptile enclosures. Many animals are being sold at a 50% discount, a tactic to get rid of unsold animals that have been at the store for more than 5 months, according to an employee. Petco sells animals to customers without any formal background check or vetting process. 

In May, Albany City Council unanimously voted to draft an ordinance banning the retail sale of live animals, becoming the first city in the Bay Area to do so. The SF Commission of Animal Control and Welfare, an advisory body that focuses on local animal issues, unanimously voted in May to support a retail animal sale ban within the city proper. The vast majority of San Francisco pet supply stores (29 stores out of 37) already do not sell animals. The Commission sent their recommendation to the Board of Supervisors and Mayor Daniel Lurie. 

More recently, meetings have taken place with council members in several other Bay Area cities. 

Direct Action Everywhere (DxE) investigates farms, slaughterhouses, and other facilities to document abuses and rescue sick and injured animals. DxE’s investigatory work has been featured in The New York Times, WIRED, and Vox. In 2022, DxE activists won the first-ever acquittal in an open rescue case. Visit DxE on Instagram, Facebook, X, Bluesky, and at directactioneverywhere.com.

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