I was asked a simple question today and realised that the answer was not as simple as it seemed. Are you selling animals at the moment? I have put out this message to explain our current position and the reasoning behind it.

The current legislation, for very obvious and humanitarian reasons, seeks to limit peoples movements and to keep people at home. This is not, as some people think to stop the virus spreading, it is to slow the rate of spread down and keep hospital numbers manageable. We clearly should not be doing anything as a community business to work against this effort. No one should be going out for any reason other than those listed as permissable by the government guidelines, such as to get to work, medical or care reasons, esssential supplies etc.

We obviously fit into essential supplies for most of our products. Pet foods are essential, pets have to eat. Bedding material, medical and water treatments, shampoos, brushes etc can also be considered essential, if not immediately within a few days. Animals will still defecate and urinate so you have to clean them out. Fish will still need water changes, animals still get minor ailments and infestations. I suspect self isolation would be a lot more unpleasant if your cat had fleas you could not treat. Groomers are closed and within a few weeks some breeds are going to become very matted (a welfare issue for the animal) and probably a bit stinky (a welfare issue for the owner!).

Other items are less clear. Is it really essential that you upgrade your budgie cage right now? Probably not. Will it cause any welfare issues to wait a few weeks until the restrictions are hopefully lifted? Probably not. Best to stay at home. Of course you may be coming to the shop anyway to buy bird seed and then, well you are not making an extra journey so that would be acceptable. Don’t use the food as an excuse though, we are all trying to be responsible at the moment. However if your cage breaks and the bird can no longer be secured then it is now essential. Not so simple is it?

Animals seem more obvious but are they? Now is not the time to be leaving home to buy a new pet. In fact, under the current legislation it will possibly earn you a fine. So we are not selling animals for this reason at present. Please still contact us for advice on what you need and how to care for any animal we sell. Even reserve the animal if you wish but put off actually coming in to pick it up until after the restrictions are lifted. We will look after it for you at no charge.

Sometimes however it is not so clear cut. I’ve long said that keeping spiders is habit forming, if not out and out addictive! If someone is in the shop buying livefood for their collection or substrate for repotting, or a larger enclosure etc, then spotting a spider in store that they have been waiting to get and buying it at the same time is not adding to the risk of spreading the virus at all and we would be willing to sell the animal under that circumstance. The journey was being made anyway.

The only other circumstance we are selling animals at the moment is where animal welfare is the main reason for purchase. Some animals are very social. Loss of a cage mate can cause serious depression and in extreme circumstances the premature death of the remaining pet. Rats are one obvious example of this but it can also be seen in rabbits, guinea pigs and other rodents, some birds and even some shoaling fish. If an animal is suffering and you need a cage mate to alleviate that suffering then yes we will sell you an animal for that reason. We would class that as essential although it is not us that has to explain to the nice police officer what you are doing out, although we would back you up if required.

So the general message is don’t go out unless you really need to for essential supplies and be honest with yourself about this. These meassures are not in place to protect you really. They are there to protect the vulnerable members of our society who unlike you won’t just get a bit of a cold but might actually die and also the staff still required to serve customers who need these essential supplies, namely me! So don’t be surprised if I am not my normal welcoming self if you turn up having decided that the worst public health crisis to face this country for at least a generation is the time you “really need” to buy some guinea pigs, a hutch and run, some food etc. because the kids are off school and need something to do.

Well that turned into a little bit of a rant and it wasn’t supposed to. Most people are very reasonable and sensible, however in the retail trade you would be surprised at what we encounter!

Stay safe, be well and if you are thinking of getting a new pet, we’ll see you on the other side.

The Angell Pets Team

Obviously the measures businesses are being asked to take by the government are being increased in a staged fashion in order to control the rate of infection within the population. Our pet shop is considered an essential business. Animals have to be fed. In order to allow us to stay open and to protect our staff, customers and business we are constantly updating our operating procedures so we are still there for you when you need us and also so we have stock on the shelves when you need it.

We have today introduced new protection measures to enable us to continue to be allowed to provide our services to you. I have listed all the current measures below to try and keep it simple and hopefully to convey why each step is important.

• Opening times remain as normal. We are classed as an essential business.
• Only one customer (or customer group) in store at a time. This obviously aids social distancing but also allows us to disinfect hard surfaces, card pin pads and hands in between customers.
• We have a covered area in front of the shop, to protect customers from the elements should a small queue form. If this happens, please maintain at least a 2m distance from other customers, as per guidelines. We don’t think this will be an issue as our customers tend to come in in a fairly regular stream through the day but obviously with people off work this may change. Please be sensible and protect yourselves and others. If people do congregate police may disperse you or worse so if you see others outside the shop, stay in your car or away from the store until those people have been served and have left.
• No members of the public who just wish to view the animals or just browse will be allowed in. We are open for our customers only to buy essential supplies.
• Customers will be assisted to make their purchases as quickly as possible, whilst maintaining suitable distance. This keeps the risk of infection to a minimum and allows us to keep customers flowing.
• We are encouraging customers to telephone orders in and pay by card over the phone, where possible. We can then have their orders ready for collection within minutes (unless pre-ordering is required, then we can give a date for collection).
• For a select group of customers (those infected and having to self isolate, those with serious underlying health issues, such as chemotherapy treatment, or those over the age of 70) we can deliver locally for free. Please telephone your order in. Use the website to choose what you want by all means but telephone the order in (subject to a minimum order of £10). The website will charge for delivery. We ask those who are not in one of these categories not to abuse this service, as we are not set up to deliver to everyone.
• Anyone who is infected or has been in close contact with someone who is infected please stay at home and use the service above. We will telephone you when we arrive with your delivery and leave it on the doorstep and wait until you have come out to collect it so it doesn’t “go missing”.
• We have limited certain items to one or two per customer. This means that we can ensure the shelves remain full and our customers can get what they want, when they want it. Then there is no need to stock up.

By following the above procedure we can protect our customers, ourselves (if we get ill we will have to close) and our business. As long as we can demonstrate we are essential (and we are) and that we are taking all reasonable measures to limit the spread of the virus, we will be allowed to stay open. A lot of work is going on behind the scenes by our trade federations to make sure this situation continues. We hope that we can rely on our customers to be understanding. So far, we are pleased to say we have not had one single incident of a customer not being understanding or being rude to staff because of the sensible precautions we are taking so thank you very much for your continued support.

The Angell Pets Team