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Old 05-15-2005, 10:22 PM   #1
Karen Hulvey
Another BAD pet shop bites it & abandons shop

Animals found in abandoned pet shop
By Paul Hampel
Of the Post-Dispatch
05/13/2005

The Department of Agriculture is caring for 206 animals living at the Pampered Pets store in Alton Square mall while the shop's ownership is resolved in court.

Management at Alton Square mall learned this week just how messy a business breakdown can be when pets are the merchandise.

Matthew and Jessica Buckingham, the owners of the Pampered Pets store on the mall's second floor, defaulted on a loan and abandoned the store, said Jeff Squibb, a spokesman for the Illinois Department of Agriculture. The agency regulates such businesses.

The Buckinghams stopped paying employees, Squibb said. The employees stopped coming to work. And meanwhile, the store's 206 animals continued to answer nature's call.

When the store did not open for business on Thursday, mall officials notified Alton authorities.

"We arrived and found horrible conditions," said James Greer, Alton assistant chief of animal control. "When animals are unattended like that, even for a short time, things get filthy fast."

Greer said the stench of animal waste was overpowering. Pet food littered the floor in the back room. Maggots infested containers of rodent feed.

On Friday, the Buckinghams were sued in Madison County Circuit Court by the store's previous owner, Ovella Lange, of Lincoln County.

Lange sold the business to the Buckinghams in January for $61,000. She alleges that the couple stopped making payments in March.

Squibb said the Department of Agriculture has reached an agreement with Lange to care for the animals until ownership of them is resolved in court.

Among the store's stock were several cats and dogs; dozens of mice and hamsters; 14 hedgehogs; several reptiles; and 84 fresh water and 15 sea water tanks containing a wide variety of fish.

Greer said all but two of the animals appeared to be in good health. They also appeared to have been well-fed.

"One snake, (and) possibly another animal, were showing signs of some type of disease," Greer said. "But in the last few weeks we had started to get complaints from people who had purchased animals from Pampered Pets that seemed in poor health."

Greer said one man filed a formal complaint after he said he spent $1,500 on veterinarian bills for a puppy he had purchased at the store.

The Buckinghams did not return telephone calls for comment on Friday.

Les Morris, spokesman for the Simon Property Group in Indianapolis, which owns Alton Square, said mall management had also been unable to reach the owners since officials became aware of the problem on Thursday.

"I get a lot of incident reports, usually dealing with crime and the like," Morris said. "But this one was really horrendous."
 
Old 05-18-2005, 07:07 PM   #2
MorphTiles
I hope the old owner can save these animals, it is sad when animals lose lives due to incompetency.
 
Old 05-20-2005, 03:11 AM   #3
PaulSage
We had a local pet store go out of business in a similar way a few years ago. Originally the shop was the BEST in town. I remember driving all the way over there (from my hometown) when I started keeping reptiles. They had the best maintenance, knowledgeable staff, heathiest animals, impressive displays and reasonable prices. Eventually the owners decided to sell, and it was blatantly obvious that they had done so the first time I walked through the door after ownership changed hands. They allowed big birds to be loose on top of their cages, even with children around and a ceiling fan going at 150 miles and hour, unchanged and nasty-smelling bedding in the small animal cages, filthy bird cage papers and water dishes, algae-coated aquariums, dead reptiles still in display cages, and fruit flies all over everything. They eventually moved to a new location down the block, and started with what looked like a promising store. I don't remember all the details, but employees stopped showing up, the store was rarely open, and soon afterwards the place was comdemned. I don't remember what the fines were, but I believe both owners received a jail sentence. There were reports of freezers full of deceased ferrets, birds, random reptiles, etc. They claimed that all of those were "feeders".

Anyway, it's always sad to see a good shop go bad. I think a lot of people don't realize the commitment it takes to turn an animal hobby into a retail pet store.
 
Old 05-20-2005, 03:30 AM   #4
PaulSage
Okay, I just had to look it up to see what I could find about the sentencing. Since it was back in 2001 there isn't much available for news articles, but these are the offenses the two owners were charged with. I guess it all started when an employee reported them for instructing him/her to freeze a hamster and suffocate some rabbits. It looks like they got off with a 2 year probation sentence. What a joke.

Charge(s)
Count No. Statute Description Severity Disposition
1 951.02 Intentionally Mistreat Animals Misd. A Guilty / No Contest
2 951.02 Mistreatment of Animals/Cause Death Felony E Dismissed-Read In-Pr
4 951.13(1) Intent. Fail/Provide Food for Animal Misd. A Dismissed-Read In-Pr
5 951.14(1)(a) Intentionally Imp. Animal Shelter-Temps Misd. A Dismissed-Read In-Pr
6 951.13(1) Intent. Fail/Provide Food for Animal Misd. A Dismissed-Read In-Pr
7 951.14(3)(b) Intentionally Imp.Animal Shelter Space Misd. A Dismissed-Read In-Pr
8 951.14(4) Intention. Imp.Animal Shelter-Sanitation Misd. A Dismissed-Read In-Pr
9 951.14(3)(b) Intentionally Imp.Animal Shelter Space Misd. A Dismissed-Read In-Pr
10 951.13(1) Intent. Fail/Provide Food for Animal Misd. A Dismissed-Read In-Pr
11 951.14(4) Intention. Imp.Animal Shelter-Sanitation Misd. A Guilty / No Contest
Charge(s)
Count No. Statute Description Severity Disposition
3 951.02 Intentionally Mistreat Animals Misd. A Guilty / No Contest
4 951.13(1) Intent. Fail/Provide Food for Animal Misd. A Guilty / No Contest
5 951.14(1)(a) Intentionally Imp. Animal Shelter-Temps Misd. A Dismissed-Read In-Pr
6 951.13(1) Intent. Fail/Provide Food for Animal Misd. A Dismissed-Read In-Pr
7 951.14(3)(b) Intentionally Imp.Animal Shelter Space Misd. A Dismissed-Read In-Pr
8 951.14(4) Intention. Imp.Animal Shelter-Sanitation Misd. A Dismissed-Read In-Pr
9 951.14(3)(b) Intentionally Imp.Animal Shelter Space Misd. A Dismissed-Read In-Pr
10 951.13(1) Intent. Fail/Provide Food for Animal Misd. A Dismissed-Read In-Pr
11 951.14(4) Intention. Imp.Animal Shelter-Sanitation Misd. A Guilty / No Contest
 
Old 06-26-2005, 11:31 AM   #5
Rattlesnake
How irresponsible of those people. Perhaps they should be locked in their living room for a couple of days.
 

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