The SPCA is investigating complaints about an exotic pet show in Dunedin after allegations of poor animal welfare standards, but the organiser claims she's the victim of an online “bullying campaign”.
The Exotic Pet Expo — which ran at Forrester Park Hall over the weekend — promised a showcase of reptiles, aquatics, amphibians, birds, mice, rats, chinchillas, rabbits, cats, and guinea pigs.
However, comments on social media platforms from people saying they were attendees and stallholders said the event was “poorly organised” and that animals were kept in freezing conditions.
An audio recording of a customer asking for a refund because of the “devastating” conditions was provided to 1News.
“What I saw was people poking cats through cages, mother cats with kittens that looked really disturbed, I saw kids prodding and fondling reptiles,” the customer can be heard saying to organiser Amelia Seales.
Seales responded by saying: “I’m pretty sure you are the b**** that was making posts about me on Facebook.”
Another voice can be heard telling the customer to “f*** off”.
The SPCA has confirmed it has received multiple complaints about the event and inquiries were underway.
Arts and crafts stallholder Olivia Trainor said she and other stallholders decided not to return on the second day after witnessing the conditions the animals were being kept in.
On arrival at the venue on Saturday morning, she said nothing had been set up and that the building was “extremely cold”.
“I thought they were just behind in setting up, but it didn’t get better.”
Trainor said the animals were all “clearly very stressed”, left unsupervised and children were handling them “very roughly”.
She also said she saw overcrowded axolotl tanks, lizards left in open-top enclosures with minimal heating, rabbits in a pen without food or water.
“The whole thing was just uncomfortable and weird,” she said, adding that she cried when she got home and later laid a complaint with the SPCA.
Organiser Seales said she was glad people contacted the SPCA.
“That's what you're meant to do if you have animal welfare concerns, not run to the news or social media and start an online bullying campaign.”
Seales also claimed multiple stalls pulled out of Sunday's event after they saw online reviews, fearing damage to their businesses and reputations.
Many of these reviews, subsequently deleted from the event's Facebook page, concerned animal welfare while others suggested the entry fee to the expo was not worth it.
Seales said “pretty much all” the complaints were “very ridiculous” and “far from true”, suggesting people made them to participate in a “witch hunt”.
She defended her decision to deny a customer a refund, accusing them of “swearing and abusing one of my younger volunteers”.
She said the recording received by 1News was cropped and edited to “make me look like a total ass”.
