It is ashame, birds in many pet stores are not well taken care of, not kept as clean as they should or feed well and looked and checked by a vet before being sold, thay is why I prefer I buy from a breeder, especially my birds, or a local pet store, family owned where you can get to know the people and visit often and see how the birds are treated, what they eat how often the cups and cages are cleaned and with what they are cleaned with…you should always get to know who you are buying a bird from and find out where they came from..etc most of the people that take care of these birds in pet stores, do not know what they are doing, how to spot a sick bird, and they have to many in a cage…same with thier other animals too..

Extreme cases like this are caused by a failure of physicians to properly diagnose the disease, which is sometimes found in this type of bird. The treatment drug is Streptomycin, as I recall, which would have resulted in a rapid recovery of both patients, with no ill affects.

Pet stores watch for birds that exhibit symptoms and will quarantine them, but often they do not show symptoms prior to being sold.

Birds are only one source of disease from commonly purchased animals and reptiles.

Not to parrot what others will say, but these kinds of stories are for the birds. All bad parody and humor aside, this IS a tragedy. Pet stores ARE irresponsible AS ARE customers. Most people are ill-equipped to house exotic animals and this is an extreme example of the problems caused by such actions. Stores are usually even more ill-equipped; hence the puppy mills and dead fish floating at numerous establishments.

Unfortunately, most people don’t do ANY research before purchasing a pet, nor do they take new pets to a qualified veterinarian for a thorough physical. Had this family done either (preferably both) they would have been aware of the risks associated with pet birds (the same goes for other exotic pets). Birds can carry some pretty nasty diseases, but when I bought my parrot (at PetSmart) I had done previous research and knew this. I took him to an avian vet and he got a clean bill of health. In addition, I received a handout from PetSmart about the species I purchased, which clearly stated that animals can be vectors for disease and proper hand-washing and sanitation were a must. They also recommened taking him to a vet for a check up, and any necessary testing.

Bottom line: Reasearch before purchasing – know what you are getting, how to care for it/use it, as well as any potential risks. If you are uncomfortable with those risks, DON’T PURCHASE IT!! And don’t blame others if the golf club you bought gets you struck by lightning – you were the one who went golfing in a storm!

Psittacosis is a rather common disease found in Parrot type birds. My father was badly sickened by it several years ago after he had undergone lung surgery. I had brought home a new lovebird from the pet store and a few days later it was under the weather. My father held it and blew warm air on it to comfort it. He was still recovering from his surgery so his immune system was not in top shape. A week later my father was fighting for his life in the hospital and almost died. What saved his life was my remembering the sick burd and telling his pulmonologist. This disease is treatable in birds and humans and somewhat preventable. I believe at the very least Pet Stores should make people aware of this disease and its potential so that if a person gets sick after getting a pet bird they can be sure to tell their doctor that it is a possibility.

How many got sick or died while the bird was at the pet store? If the answer is 0 I smell a rat.

I think it’s a shame that this happened, but at the same time birds need vet care just like any other animal. If the owners in 2 years had vetted the bird properly the problem would have been found, treated in the bird … and would have in turn been something the owners would have mentioned to the doctors treating their personal ailments. Yes the store was negligent, but so were the owners. The bird just got stuck in the middle of this process.

I bought a baby Sun Conure from PETCO in December of 2005. He tested positive for PBFD Psittacine Beak And Feather Disease. It’s a Circo virus (it doesn’t die, no matter what you do!). The virus spores are shed by the bird all over your house. I ended up having to move, because the virus was in my carpeting and my 2 birds kept testing positive for the virus environmentally. I had to bleach every single thing I own, several times before it came into the new house. That means every single thing including myself! I have spent 3 and half years in hell. I’m not finished yet either. The bird is one of very few new world species capable of fighting off the virus, and he is alive, virus free now, and healthy. African parrot species all die horrible deaths from it. PETCO did not quarantine their existing birds. They didn’t decontaminate the store after being notified by me the day I received the test results. I personally went in there 3 days in a row to see, and it was business as usual. They said it would be too much of a financial burden for them. My Vet is their Vet! He refuses to see or treat their animals anymore, because of the level of sheer negligence and disinterest he saw them extend to me and to other patients of his. He says 4 out of 10 parakeets from PETCO test positive for Psittacosis. PETCO reimbursed me 400.00 and then stopped cooperating in 2006, so I had to file a lawsuit against them for all of my loss which is substantial. Unlike this story, I could not get the newspaper, or TV news to cover my story as a public notice. I thought people should know, but nobody cared. I have had no life for 3 1/2 years thanks to pet store negligence, so I want to tell EVERYONE. DO NOT GO INTO STORES THAT SELL BIRDS! Viruses from birds spread around the stores like blowing baby powder into the air. Psittacosis (which many outside birds are infected with as well, so beware outside of bird feces!) blows around as bird feces dries and aerosolizes. You take it home in your hair, on your clothes and shoes, and can infect your own pets and your family. In relation to this story, if you DON’T have a pet bird, you wouldn’t even know what you have. You would think it was the flu with a very high fever, and end up dead, because the Doctors don’t know what they are looking for. STAY OUT OF STORES THAT SELL BIRDS! Take it from me, and buy your pet food and toys from catalogs and stores that don’t sell animals. Otherwise, you can bring home disease! I didn’t think it would happen to me, and it did. “PETCO is NOTORIOUS”, per their former Veterinarian, and me, their victim.

Trust me not all that appears well is well.
Just as there are puppy mills, there are bird mills as well.
The quarantine at the Mexico American border is in place for the very desire to catch and stop infected birds-usually the larger hookbilled amazons from bringing psittacosis and Newcastle disease (which will wipe out an entire chicken/egg farm lickety split as well as have dead birds falling out of the sky and NOT eating insects like they usually help us by doing)

I seriously doubt there is a system in place by these chain animal flesh peddlers to know what is REALLY going on where their birds and other ’stock” come from.
Especially for the fact that this tragic incident was in Corpus ( I live in San Antonio) I don’t doubt that the “breeder” of the birds also had smuggled parrots on the property.They are easy to obtain here for much less than a USDA banded parrot that has been proven disease free or coming from a disease free facility.

Here is South Texas the breeding season for anything is almost all year long for all sorts of life- there are ethical people who do breed ofr the love and joy of it and yes they sell their babies but nobody is getting rich off it. Unfortunatley, there are far more unethical people . Anyone who raises animals and sells them to a pet store is in it for the money, therefore the quality, and the safety and the health concerns go out the window.

I used to breed Great Danes and I know where every one of my puppies went and how they did and how they would be treated.Contracts spay/neuter/ everything an ethical person should do.

I never gave my pups to strangers that I head never seen or met or decided they were suitable.

I could never imagine just handing them over to a PET STORE where the goal is overpriced puppy peddling.

Birds not be as “personable” but if I was rasiing them from pairing up to hatching and cracking seed I could never just hand them over to a store in a box in exchange for a check.

OFCOURSE you shouldnt buy any animal from a petstore chain company like Petsmart or Petco, their are many others too. Wonder how they get their animals super fast? By power breeding and inbreeding!!! You may see a healthy looking animal, but most prey animals will appear normal but really they are sick. It when you notice them fall ill or pass away is when its often too late! Power breeding animals often takes place in a Factory like setting – sorta like the Factory Farm chickens and pigs, etc, they are power bred, right after anothr, forced to mate (like when a rabbit goes into esterus they hodl her while the male rabbit rape her(not the males fault, they’re just animals, they arent being kept or bit away like they would if the male wasnt accept.. so its the peopel who force it upon the animals).

Chain Pet stores and many none chain like family own will have their animals shipped in. Often times they’re not locally, and even if locally, we can never monitor the place they are bred and check on them..

This is why buying at any petstore is horrible.

Checking out a reputable breeder is a better idea. And better than that is ADOPTING!!! Give an animal a second chance, adopt a pet!

We bought 2 hamsters from PetSmart and they died in 2 days. When we went back for replacements, the employee was very rude and didn’t think they had to replace them. Don’t they have some kind of gurantee on pets? I think so.

I am sorry for your lose.

Please do your research before you report. The bird in question could not have caused the girl to go into a coma, s/s of the disease are flu-like then over time get worse. No one goes right into a coma, get it right before you report. I have been a fan of fox, for a long time, I watch daily, I am very dissapointed in this reporter, get all the facts , first, what happened to ” fair and balanced ” ?

I’m not going against them, but when you buy a bird you should check it out with the vet first AND keep it away from other birds until the results come back.

Pet Smart needs to STOP selling animals. Kaytee Preferred Birds collects all of Pet Smart birds, they pick them up in a truck from breeders, they take them to a community warehouse, then distribute them to Pet Smarts.

Kaytee needs to be made responsible for the death of this person also.

Bird diseases are contagious and some are “air born”. Birds can’t be quarantined properly if they are in a community truck or warehouse together.

Pet Smart and Kaytee only care about the money and not the welfare of the animal.

Wow Ok people look. Suing petsmart itsn’t going to solve anything. I buy most of my animals from there whether its a hamster, dog or even cat and nothings gone wrong yet. Have you ever thought that the family didn’t take good care of the bird and it happened because of that? Now I’m not saying that the familiys are animal abusers or anything it’s just that they may be taking this a little to far.

This shows that there has to be regulation in the breeding community. The fact that someone died is horrendous but to make light of it is even more so. Breeders are not all bad but those who are just are there to make money, no matter the cost to life of animal or human. The people at PetSmart and Petco have to be held accountable for their lack of education of employees and the same of prospective buyers of all pets.

I have never heard about the disease before. But is it seems to such a dangerous diseases. Do we have a vaccine for that? I think we should do something to make people more aware about the disease that are transmitted from their pets.

I work at a family pet store and this story is bunk. Sure maybe the bird got sick but this poor family was mis-diagnosed from the start and that’s the real story. There’s no way it should have been fatal. We do not sell dogs or cats, but we do sell fish, small birds, reptiles, small animals. Many of our customers do not care to ever spend one dime on vet care, even though vets will give you a free wellness check up on your first visit. We’ve taken back dozens of ferrets over the years and I can’t recall a single one ever coming back with shot records. We preach and preach about vet care and have had to institute tough return policies because of it. People threaten to turn their pets loose if we don’t take them back. We get our livestock from wholesalers and local breeders and we quarrantine them in our store for 7 days before selling them. People come in and want to buy a pet but trust a 20 year old part time employee to be the encyclopedia of knowledge about the pet. Most of them do very little research and are surprised that you have to spend so much money to set up a new pet properly. People have the “I wants” with little regard to consequences. The answer is not to stop PetsMart or any other store from selling animals. The answer is for people to get a brain and think about it first.

First of all the De La Garza family just wants PetSmart to stop selling birds and also inform the public of their unfortunate loss. They want to ensure that no one else has to go through what their family did. Amanda has to live with the fact that a bird she bought from PetSmart killed her father.

This innocent family cannot be blamed when a multibillion dollar corporation knew this disease was being transmitted throughout their stores and could have prevented it. Joe De La Garza would be alive today if it weren’t for the negligence of this arrogant profit driven industry. This is disgusting and just another reason why I refuse to shop at PetSmart, Petco, Petland….the list goes on who support mill style breeding. There are enough homeless animals in the world where this sort of mass breeding just isn’t necessary.