THE PROVINCE
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> Pet store owner charged with failing to provide proper care
> Animal protection agency says numerous complaints have been made over
dirty, crowded cages
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> Elaine O'Connor
> The Province
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> Thursday, May 05, 2005
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> A Burnaby pet store owner will appear in court next month to face charges
of animal cruelty after a B.C. Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to
Animals bust.
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> Thomas Peters, owner of Pet Habitat in the Brentwood Town Centre, is
accused of failing to provide proper veterinary care for a sick animal and
keeping animals in substandard conditions.
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> "Over the past five years we've received numerous complaints on this pet
store," said senior animal protection officer Eileen Drever.
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> The agency claims a sick puppy was found "with its ribs visible, lethargic
and depressed, with laboured breathing" and birds were found with overgrown
nails in dirty, crowded cages. One bird had a broken leg. Rodents were kept
in cracked fish tanks.
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> "The problem with this gentleman is we have advised him over and over
again to seek immediate veterinarian care for any sick or injured animals
and he has failed to do this," Drever said.
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> But Peters, who has owned the store six years, disputes the claims, and
accused the B.C. SPCA of going overboard with a spate of inspections at pet
stores in the region.
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> "I think basically, the SPCA had a vendetta against all the pet stores,"
he said.
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> "We welcome them to come by, but all of a sudden there is a big change [in
standards] and they don't even tell us what's going on, they just say this
is wrong, that's wrong."
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> He explained the ill animal was a wire fox terrier with a cold. It was
eventually put down.
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> "It was under treatment here in the store, and they said that I had to
take it into the vet and they figured because I hadn't taken it that I
hadn't been doing treatment in the store and that was considered neglect."
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> Peters has been summoned to appear in court on the charges June 2. He
plans to dispute the charges.
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> If convicted of animal cruelty under the B.C. Prevention of Cruelty to
Animals Act, he faces up to six months in jail, a maximum $2,000 fine and a
prohibition on owning or keeping animals.
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> Peters said pet store owners have asked the Pet Industry Joint Advisory
Council of Canada (PIJAC) to intervene and clarify care standards with the
B.C. SPCA.
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