A TikToker going on her very first dumpster dive was in for a disturbing surprise when she stumbled upon an entire box of live fish outside of a PetSmart.
In a video captioned, "Found this in the dumpster at my local PetSmart," @ugckatehahn32 (Kate) revealed she and her friend found a box of live betta fish in PetSmart's dumpster around the chain's closing time.
In the video, which has now been viewed more than 12.9 million times, Kate explained:
“This is our first time dumpster diving, and we just found an entire box of live fish.”
As Kate showed the containers of fish, some with barely any water, she said:
“Oh my God. This is so sad.”
You can watch the TikTok below.
In response to the popularity of her video as well as to viewer inquiries, Kate posted a follow-up video to share the whole story.
The creator first shared she decided to go dumpster diving because she heard PetSmart regularly throws out items like food, collars, leashes and more that could be donated to a shelter in need.
She had no idea she would stumble across a box labeled "live fish.
At first, Kate revealed she didn't know what she should do, but she definitely didn't want to tamper with any of the containers to add water since the fish require "special drops," but she also knew she couldn't take them home.
At one point, Kate and her friend noticed employees walking to their cars, and Kate alerted them about the fish. She noted the employees seemed genuinely shocked and claimed it must have been an error.
One of the employees took the fish home and took them back to PetSmart the next day.
You can watch the follow-up below.
Viewers of the video agreed Kate did what was best even though she was unsure.
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Sadly, though, many didn't think the act was a mistake like PetSmart claimed.
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PetSmart told Daily Dot in a statement:
"We are pet parents too and nothing is more important to us than the health and safety of pets in our care."
"Our team reached out to the individual who posted the video, as we are actively looking into this situation."
We really hope that's true!
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