Anyone work for Pets at Home

[Needmorelego]

This is a really random question about Pets at Home.
I was reading on the news about the fire in Northampton that was at a branch of Dunelm and spread to the Pets at Home next door.
It's reported that all the animals were thankfully evacuated/rescued.
I just want to know out of curiosity - how do you evacuate bunnies, guinea pigs and hamsters? Do you put them in boxes and carry them out? Hamsters in your pockets?
(If you are either Dunelm or Pets at Home staff from those stores I hope you are ok 💐)

My sister actually works there.. I've asked her for you! I'm curious myself now. Though we're both animal lovers and I can definitely see her stuffing hamsters in her pockets to save them, sod the codes! (Sadly they will value profit over animal welfare at times, such is the nature of pet shops.)

@ShiningStar3 thanks.
I have a vision of an evacuation apron with a large pocket that you pop all the hammys in.
I am going to assume it's not actually like that.

Im now quite invested in this. I imagine Bunnies and GP’s are easy to put into a carrier, those Pets at home staff are very good at scooping them up, in a way that gives you false confidence that that are easy to handle (suspect that it’s because they scoop from above). So probs all put into a big carrier and taken to another store.

however the miniature Hamsters? Rats?

they are all separated by sex, will their be a baby boom?

Also the crickets? Are there snakes?

I”m hopeful for the fish.

@Liondoesntsleepatnight the various news reports weren't clear whether the fish were rescued 🙁

I am assuming that given it is a pet shop, that they sell pet carriers.
So head to shelf full of carriers.
Put small furries in according to the cage they are in. (one cage one box)
Stack boxes in a shopping trolley and head on out.

@steppemum I was reading the news reports and apparently the fish tanks are on wheels so they can be rolled straight out the back to be evacuated.
It seems they have well organised procedures and the animals were out before the fire spread.

The fire started in Dunelm, next door, (kids set fire to the beds and more) so Pets at Home had quite a lot of time to get the pets out before it reached that store, thank goodness.
The animals in the vets took priority and were moved to another surgery (or two). The small animals were in tanks, as were the fish. I’ve not heard how they got the rabbits out but I presume they have a practised method.

nice to hear that they rescued the fish.
I did wonder if they treat the fish as expendable (no-one cries over fish in comparison to little furries)

I just went on to the rather hysterical Nextdoor page to read updates, 😳 and it seems maybe that all the fish did not get rescued 😢

@PlatinumBrunette It's awful how the fire started 🙁

Yeah, 3 ‘well known’ kids, one an allegedly practised arsonist.
Another post I just read said the staff we told to leave the animals that were for sale, but I doubt they did. The staff all had pet boxes with them.

That’s weird. Our town’s dunelm had a massive fire within the last 12 months. Maybe they need to assess their procedures and get the electrics checked.

oh just seen this was arson. Ours was electrical fault. I really miss mooching round the store.

@PlatinumBrunette news reports are saying all the animals/fish got out but the Facebook gossip - is well - a lot of gossip. It's hard to know what is 100% true.
It sounds like the staff did an excellent job 🙂

This was clear arson. The boys were seen, and since arrested.

I just edited when I saw the update.

I agree. I always feel I need a shower after venturing into the nextdoor group, full of incredibly racist idiots. There’s an occasional voice of calm, but finding the truth is hard.

This has made me curious... my DDs school has lots of animals since they teach Animal care. From fish and insects, through reptiles and amphibians all the way up to chickens and selfish mammals. Do they evacuate the animals...

This is my local town. We were stuck in town when it happened. However, my friends daughter works at Pets at Home and we drove past so I can confirm animals were taken out really quickly, mainly in cardboard carriers and boxes!

@FlowersandElephants I hope your friends daughter is ok. It must have been very scary.

She wasn’t actually working on Saturday, she’s posted on Facebook though to reassure people.