sugar glidersCBL & Associates Properties Inc. has enacted a new policy that prohibits companies such as Pocket Pets, which sells sugar gliders, from setting up kiosks at its malls, according to the animal rights group PETA.
"By banning Pocket Pets, CBL & Associates is making a huge difference for tiny sugar gliders, who suffer immensely when they're purchased on a whim," said Daphna Nachminovitch of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.
PETA said that Chattanooga-based CBL was the last remaining major shopping mall management group in the U.S. to still host Pocket Pets. The kiosks sell sugar gliders, which are tiny nocturnal tree-dwellers.
PETA has complained that customers don't have the knowledge required to meet these animals' specialized needs, and the sugar gliders frequently end up confined to small cages, overly or roughly handled, fed improper diets, and forgotten when the novelty wears off.