Woman Begs People To 'Save' $900 Parakeet Who Is Still Waiting On His Forever Home At PetSmart
How can he find his forever family when he is priced so outrageously?
MarcusPhotobank | Shutterstock A woman is demanding justice for a year-old parakeet named Sunshine, who she spotted while shopping at PetSmart.
The woman learned that the lonely bird had been waiting for his forever home since last year, and she believed that the price of the animal was to blame.
The woman called out PetSmart for selling a parakeet for $900.
While shopping for her current pet parakeets at the store, Jasmyne (@jasmyne_leeah) came across a parakeet named Sunshine, who was for sale.
According to the bird’s information card, he hatched in April 2023 and had been at PetSmart since October 2023. The card also revealed that the bird cost a whopping $900.
Jasmyne believed that the price was outrageous and slammed PetSmart for harming his chances of finding a forever family due to how expensive he was.
“PetSmart makes me so mad … Why price a bird that high?" she questioned. "Almost $1k on a bird, and it’s been sitting there for a little under a year…it’s not fair!!”
“Every time I go into the PetSmart to get a new parakeet I see him and it makes me so sad," she continued. "I wish I could take him home with me but the price is just outrageous!!”
While the price of parakeets can differ depending on the location of the pet store and their breed, parakeets sold at PetSmart typically cost around $40.
Viewers of Jasmyne’s TikTok video also believed that Sunshine’s price was ridiculous and even offered to send her money so that she would be able to afford him.
Others encouraged her to speak with the managers of the store, call corporate, or even better — ask one of the employees if she could hold him and then make a run for it!
Rob Byron's Images | Canva Pro
“Shame on PetSmart for allowing to have these beautiful birds in jail,” one TikTok user commented.
“The people have spoken, PetSmart!!! Let her give him the home he deserves!” another commenter wrote.
Jasmyne urged anyone who was able to afford Sunshine to bring him home to save him from his lifeless glass jail box. She also provided the location of the specific PetSmart store in Loganville, Georgia.
In a follow-up video, Jasmyne claimed that she called corporate to file a complaint against the PetSmart store where Sunshine was.
Unfortunately, she reported that they were no help and that there was little they could do.
“Somebody’s gotta save this bird, and it obviously can’t be me!” she said.
Oddly enough, once PetSmart employees discovered Jasmyne’s video, Sunshine was not in his enclosure the next time she visited the store. She claimed that she received enough donations to finally buy the bird herself but was unable to.
While a card was placed in the enclosure claiming that someone had bought him, Jasmyne suspected that he may be elsewhere and that the store employees were attempting to cover up his true whereabouts.
“Now, all of a sudden, he’s just mysteriously gone? This is beyond me,” she said in a follow-up video.
Jasmyne claimed that the store employees did not appreciate her exposing their prices and repeatedly reported her video to TikTok to have it removed from the platform. She even recorded one employee calling the police on her for filming animals in the store and workers without their consent.
To her surprise, she was asked to leave the property and ordered never to return to a PetSmart location for life.
Now, she is looking to file a lawsuit against the chain and fears that Sunshine may not have gone to a loving home due to her original video.
While it is not confirmed what happened to the bird, when PetSmart has difficulty selling an animal, they usually adjust the price so that more customers are willing to buy. However, some people have speculated that unsold animals are killed or even put in dumpsters in the back of the store.
In 2021, several live animals, including birds, were discovered by dumpster divers in a trash can outside of a PetSmart in Ohio. While PetSmart claimed it was an isolated incident, many people are unconvinced.
Even though some argued that high prices ensure that animals go to appropriate homes, $1,000 was exorbitant. Hopefully, Sunshine truly was adopted by kind and loving owners, but it's certainly a lesson in the importance of advocating for animal rights.
Megan Quinn is a writer at YourTango who covers entertainment and news, self, love, and relationships.