- A TikToker said she found a box with live betta fish in a dumpster behind a PetsMart in Idaho.
- Kate Hahn said she was "disgusted" when she found the fish, and store employees saved all but one.
A TikToker going "dumpster diving" for the first time said she stumbled onto dozens of live betta fish in the garbage behind a PetSmart store in Idaho.
TikTok user Kate Hahn posted the video on Sunday, which now has more than 12.5 million views.
"They've lost like half their water, more than half," Hahn said in the video. "They're all alive. PetSmart literally threw them away."
@ugckatehahn32 Found this in the dumpster at my local Petsmart. #dumpsterdiving ♬ original sound - Kate :)
Hahn posted a follow-up video on Tuesday where she said she was "disgusted" that the fish were in the dumpster and didn't know what to do with them because betta fish are typically aggressive and can't be put into tanks together and all the local pet stores were closed.
Hahn said she posted videos of the fish on her Snapchat story to try and find friends who would be willing to take them, but no one could.
Then, she said, she noticed PetSmart employees coming out of the store and told them that she found the fish.
@ugckatehahn32 Replying to @Chase ↯ ♬ original sound - Kate :)
Hahn said the employees were "horrified" and said that they thought the fish being in the dumpster was an accident. She said the workers told her that the blue water in the containers indicated that they had just been shipped to the store.
The employees took the fish and were able to save all but one, Hahn said.
PetSmart told Insider in a statement on Wednesday that "nothing is more important than the health and safety of pets in our care."
"This was an isolated incident, made in error, which we sincerely regret," the statement continued. "We are using this situation to review store policies and procedures with our team to reinforce our industry-leading pet care standards."
Several TikTok users left comments on Hahn's video claiming that PetSmart has let animals end up in dumpsters behind its stores before. One comment from user @lolcrybaby said they found a box of hermit crabs behind a store in 2016.
In 2021, PetSmart said it was "reviewing these situations" after TikTok users posted videos of live hamsters and a bird in dumpsters behind stores in Ohio and Pennsylvania, The Independent reported.
This story was updated with comment from PetSmart.