Privacy Policy.

This policy covers the Zoo Creatures website, our online ordering, and the information you give us in the store, by phone or by email. “Zoo Creatures,” “we” and “us” mean [legal entity name], doing business as Zoo Creatures, Zoo Creatures, 149 Plaistow Road, Plaistow, NH 03865.

Our parent company is NERD (New England Reptile Distributors), which shares our building. NERD's own online store, tours and parties are run by NERD under its own policies. When you buy from NERD's website, NERD's privacy policy applies to that purchase.

New Hampshire's consumer data privacy law (SB 255, codified at RSA chapter 507-H, in effect since January 1, 2025) gives New Hampshire residents rights over their personal data and sets rules for the businesses that handle it.

The law applies to businesses above certain size thresholds, measured by how many consumers' data they handle in a year. A single pet store may fall below them. We follow the law anyway, and we extend the same rights to every customer, whether you live in New Hampshire, Massachusetts or anywhere else.

Information you give us

• Contact details: name, email address, phone number.
• Order details: what you bought, when, order number, pickup time and order history.
• Booking details for services, boarding, tours, parties and shows: date, group size, and the event address for in-home shows.
• Information about your animal when you use our services or boarding: species, feeding and care instructions, your veterinarian, and an emergency contact.
• Messages, voicemails and emails you send us, and anything you choose to include in them.
• If we start an email newsletter: your email address and your subscription choices.

Payment information

Online orders are paid through Squarespace's checkout. Your card details go to Squarespace and its payment processors, not to us. We receive the order and confirmation that it was paid, not your full card number.

Information collected automatically

• Basic technical data our website host records when any page loads: IP address, browser type, the page requested and the time. This is used to run and secure the site.
• A small setting saved in your browser so the animated store intro plays only once. It contains no personal data.
• Data collected by embedded maps and videos from Google and YouTube (see “Who we share it with” and “Cookies”).

In the store

When you pick up an animal or an online order, we may ask to see photo ID to confirm your name and age. We look at it and hand it back. [Confirm: we do not photocopy or record ID numbers]

Sensitive data

We do not ask for sensitive data as the law defines it (such as health conditions, religious beliefs, sexual orientation, citizenship status, biometric or genetic data, or precise location). If we ever need it, we will ask for your consent first.

• To take, prepare and hand over your orders, and to tell you when they're ready.
• To answer your questions and give care advice.
• To book and run services, boarding, tours, parties and shows.
• To process refunds, handle problems with an order, and keep the records tax and accounting rules require.
• To send our newsletter, only if you sign up. Every email will have an unsubscribe link.
• To keep the website and our systems working and secure, and to prevent fraud.
• To follow the law and respond to lawful requests.

We do not use your data for targeted advertising, and we do not use it for profiling that leads to automated decisions about you.

We share personal data only with the services that help us run the store, and only what each one needs:

• Squarespace: runs our online checkout, processes payments and keeps the order record.
• Slack: our staff receive an alert for each new online order (name, contact details and items) so someone can prepare it.
• Our inventory system: order and stock records. [name the inventory system / vendor]
• Our email provider (Google): stores the emails you send us and our replies.
• Our website host: serves the site and keeps short-term technical logs.
• NERD, our parent company: when your order, tour, party or question involves NERD animals or staff.

Embedded content

Some pages show a Google Map or a YouTube video. When those load, Google receives your IP address and browser details and may set its own cookies, under Google's privacy policy (opens in a new tab). We load YouTube videos in its privacy-enhanced mode.

Social media

Links to Instagram, Facebook and X take you to those sites, and their own privacy policies apply there. The Instagram posts shown on our site are copies we host ourselves, so viewing them does not send your data to Instagram.

Other disclosures

We may disclose information if the law requires it, to protect the safety of people or animals, or as part of a sale or transfer of the business (in which case this policy's promises go with the data).

No sale of personal data

We do not sell personal data, and we do not share it for targeted advertising. If that ever changes, we will update this policy first and give you a way to opt out.

Our site does not use advertising cookies, tracking pixels or third-party analytics. [Update this section before adding any analytics, pixel or ad tag]The only thing our own code saves in your browser is the “intro already played” setting.

Embedded Google Maps and YouTube videos may set cookies of their own. You can block or delete cookies in your browser settings; the site will still work.

If your browser sends a Global Privacy Control signal, we treat it as a request to opt out of the sale of your data and of targeted advertising. Since we do neither, nothing on the site changes.

You can ask us to:

• Confirm whether we hold personal data about you, and let you see it.
• Correct data that is wrong.
• Delete data you gave us or that we hold about you.
• Give you a copy of your data in a portable, commonly used format.
• Opt you out of targeted advertising, the sale of your data, and profiling that leads to legal or similarly significant decisions. We don't do any of these, but you can still record the request.

Requests are free. (If requests are clearly unfounded or repeated over and over, the law lets us charge a reasonable fee or decline, and we will explain why.) We will not treat you differently, charge you more or refuse you service for using these rights.

Some data we must keep even after a deletion request, such as sales records required for tax and accounting. If so, we will tell you what we kept and why.

• Email ZooCreaturesPetStore@gmail.comwith “Privacy request” in the subject line.
• Call (603) 382-3338 during store hours.
• Or ask at the counter and we will write it down for you.

To protect your data, we will confirm it's you, usually by matching your name and the email or phone number on your order. Someone you authorize can opt out on your behalf.

We respond within 45 days. If we need more time, we may extend once by another 45 days, and we will tell you why within the first 45 days.

If we turn down your request, in whole or in part, you can appeal. Reply to our answer or email ZooCreaturesPetStore@gmail.com with “Privacy appeal” in the subject line. We will review it and give you a written decision with our reasons within 60 days.

If we deny your appeal, you can contact the New Hampshire Attorney General's Consumer Protection and Antitrust Bureau, 33 Capitol Street, Concord, NH 03301, or online at doj.nh.gov (opens in a new tab).

Our website is meant for adults and is not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children under 13, consistent with the federal Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). If you believe a child under 13 has sent us personal data, contact us and we will delete it.

Online orders and animal purchases must be made by an adult. See our Live Animal Sales policy.

• Order and sales records: [X years], as tax and accounting rules require.
• Slack order alerts: [X days/months], then deleted.
• Emails and messages: as long as needed to answer you and handle any follow-up.
• Service and boarding records: as long as you're a customer, so we know your animal's history.
• Newsletter list: until you unsubscribe.

When we no longer need data, we delete it or remove what identifies you.

We use reasonable administrative, technical and physical safeguards. Card payments run through Squarespace's checkout and never touch our systems. Only staff who need order or customer information can see it, and accounts are password protected.

No system is perfectly secure, but we take the job seriously and fix problems quickly.

If a security breach exposes your personal information, we will follow New Hampshire's breach notification law (RSA 359-C:19 to 359-C:21). That means notifying affected people as soon as possible, notifying the New Hampshire Attorney General, and, if more than 1,000 people are affected, notifying the national consumer reporting agencies.

When we change this policy, we will update the date at the top of this page. If a change is significant, such as using your data for a new purpose, we will post a notice on the site and, where we have your email, tell you directly before it takes effect.

Zoo Creatures, 149 Plaistow Road, Plaistow, NH 03865. Email ZooCreaturesPetStore@gmail.com, call (603) 382-3338, or ask at the counter.