Protest at Petco for Selling Live Animals as Campaign Grows to Ban Retail Animal Sales

VIDEO: Activists Protest Petco for Selling Live Animals

Animal rights activists protest the retail pet trade at Petco in San Mateo, CA (Credit: Direct Action Everywhere)

Photos/Videos
(Credit: Direct Action Everywhere)

June 20, 2026, San Mateo, CA – With Bay Area cities moving to ban the retail sale of animals, animal rights activists with Direct Action Everywhere (DxE) are turning up the pressure on one of the Bay’s biggest pet retailers: Petco. Dozens of activists with DxE, PETA, and other groups protested inside and outside Petco in San Mateo Saturday afternoon, urging Petco to end the retail sale of animals at all locations. 

Protesters spoke about how animals routinely die in the pet trade — at breeding mills, in transit, and on the shelves at stores like Petco. They held bright pink banners reading “The ‘Exotic Pet’ Industry Is Killing Animals” and “Petco Profits, Animals Die.” 

This protest is a part of a broader campaign to expand California’s ban on the retail sale of dogs, cats and rabbits in pet stores to include all species. 

Petco is a leading pet supply company and in 2025 generated a revenue of $6 billion. The majority of animals sold at Petco are sourced from cruel industrial breeding factories or are poached from their native habitat. Recently, DxE members investigated Petco locations throughout the Bay Area and found sick animals, enclosures with no enrichment, and a hamster repeatedly pacing back and forth, indicating mental distress. Investigations of the San Francisco and San Mateo Petco locations found overly crowded fish tanks with deceased fish and filthy reptile enclosures. Multiple animals were being sold at a 50% discount, a tactic to get rid of unsold animals that have been at the store for more than 5 months, according to an employee. Petco sells animals to customers without any background check or vetting process. 

In May, Albany City Council unanimously voted to draft an ordinance banning the retail sale of live animals, becoming the first city in the Bay Area to do so. More recently, the San Francisco Commission of Animal Control and Welfare, an advisory body that focuses on local animal issues, unanimously voted in support of a retail animal sale ban within San Francisco proper. The Commission sent their recommendation to the Board of Supervisors and Mayor Daniel Lurie. 

"It's bizarre that Petco hosts some adoption events while simultaneously continuing to buy and sell animals from breeding mills,” said Rena Korb of Cavy Haven Guinea Pig Rescue. “Petco, and all pet stores, must stop contributing to animal suffering and promote adoption from shelters only! Rescues like mine are chronically overwhelmed with animals who need homes.”

Local animal advocates plan to continue protesting Petco stores across the Bay Area and urging city leaders to enact bans on the retail sale of animals.