Idaho woman's viral TikTok shows box of live fish found in PetSmart dumpster: 'Disgusted'
In response to the TikTok video, PetSmart responded saying the incident was 'isolated' and 'made in error'
A woman's discovery of live fish that were tossed in a dumpster outside an Idaho PetSmart has thousands of social media users sounding off on her now-viral TikTok video.
"This is our first time dumpster diving, and we just found an entire box of live fish," Kate Hahn can be heard saying in the video, which shows a large box filled with rows of beta fish with varying amounts of water still in the containers.
Hahn shared her findings to her TikTok account, @ugckatehahn32, on May 14, where it has been viewed more than 13.4 million times. In text that she placed over the 28-second video clip, Hahn wrote that she was "disgusted" by the matter.
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"PetSmart literally threw them away," Hahn says in the footage as she examines the fish.
A viral video on TikTok shows dumpster divers discovering a box of live betta fish in the trash outside an Idaho PetSmart. https://t.co/bqL7H0RATR
— FOX 10 Phoenix (@FOX10Phoenix) May 17, 2023
The TikTok moment garnered a great deal of attention as well as outcry from 50,000-plus commenters.
"PetSmart has been doing this for yearrrrrs. I found an entire colony of hermit crabs back in 2016," one user wrote.
"As a former employee I can account to this and that was one [of] the reasons I quit," another wrote.
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Many viewers tagged PetSmart in their comments.
A box full of live beta fish was found by a TikToker in a dumpster outside an Idaho PetSmart. (iStock / Fox News)
Hahn said she chose PetSmart as her dumpster diving location because she had heard of people finding full bags of dog food and other miscellaneous pet items.
She has since posted follow-up videos sharing the aftermath of her discovery, noting that she spoke to some PetSmart employees who were shocked to learn about the fish, calling it an "accident."
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PetSmart has commented in response to the video, calling this "an isolated incident" and stated they will use the incident as an opportunity to "reinforce our industry-leading pet care standards." (Michael Siluk/UCG/Universal Images Group/Getty Images / Fox News)
She believes the box had never been opened by the stores employees, Hahn stated in her follow-up post.
Hahn said in a subsequent video that the PetSmart worker who took in the fish said she was able to save all of them "besides one," and that the fish are "back in the store."
FOX Business reached out to Hahn for a comment.
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Hahn said PetSmart has since reached out to her saying the situation was being taken care of, according to one of Hahn's TikTok videos.
The fish have since been returned to the PetSmart location and were nearly all saved before being placed back in the store. (Michael Siluk/UCG/Universal Images Group/Getty Images/iStock / Fox News)
"This was an isolated incident, made in error, which we sincerely regret. We are using this incident to reinforce our industry-leading pet care standards with our team to ensure we remain the trusted partner to pet parents and pets," a media representative for PetSmart told Fox TV Stations, which the company forwarded to FOX Business via email on May 18.
In 2021, another TikTok video went viral after a woman said she found a box of live hamsters in the dumpster of a PetSmart in Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania.
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PetSmart has not yet responded to FOX Business' request for comment on the alleged incident from 2021.