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Bad Guy Beware of "Exotic Aquatics and Pets" in Kendallville, Indiana!

When dealing with small communities / townships there really is no governing power except local government. BOAH and DNR have no jurisdiction in cases dealing with exotics. There are no local animal cruelty groups and I know (since I am local and get the buzz) that the local county shelter just down the road sat back and did nothing last time this was reported 2 months ago to them. This boils down to whether the local police are willing to file a case against a business in a town where businesses are closing and leaving town at a fast pace right now. I had heard that the mayor was even contacted this time my a local animal rescue. The owner, Chad, as stated earlier is the owner but the other two are now running it. This shop used to be a very nice shop until management changed hands. Have I seen these horrible conditions, in a simple answer yes. Have I brought it to the attention of the parties involved, you bet ya. As several have stated they will clean tanks since it has gone public yet again. For someone not familiar with the care of animals they may walk in there and see clean tanks again with water in the bowls and not even notice the condition of the animals themselves. After the last time their shop went public about the way they did things in there they started cleaning up their act and I started doing business with the shop again. That didnt last long and after seeing that they are back to poor animal care I doubt I will ever step foot in there again. The next closest pet shop is about a 40 minute drive but it is worth it as I know they have a consistent record on their animal care. I really do hope they respond but I am not sure that will help their situation out at all, might make it worse for them.
 
There should be a county ASPCA that you can report to, even if there isn't one in the town. Many ASPCAs work out of a city and do a huge surrounding area.
 
http://www.aspca.org/Fight-Animal-Cruelty/Advocacy-Center/state-animal-cruelty-laws

As with all powers to be you are directed to report it to your local law enforcement. The reasoning, as explained to me, was that the local law enforcement is "local" and can assess the situation. With the animals being "exotic" it limits who can really do anything, this as stated by the BOAH and DNR. Indiana really doesnt have any laws concerning "exotics" as you can see by the link above.
 
They are spending tons of time today trying to keep their Facebook clean...can't delete the comments here guys...people are not happy even if you are trying to ignore this issue
 
They claim the issue is fixed. Where is the proof???? If I lived closer I would go and take some more current pictures of the animals as they are right this moment.
 
I will personally go in there tomorrow and attempt to get some pictures. frankly though, they have been through this before, as soon as someone starts talking about the conditions they just cover it up until it blows over. so even if they decided to clean it up for now, it will not last.
 
They are trying to keep up the cleaning on the page but also the shop one would think. They may get the shop clean but you cant fix sick animals over night. This is not a new problem as I stated earlier. The first pics were from over 2 months ago and many in the area went in and offered to help as he stated “come in and talk to us”. That got no where but right after the go around 2 months ago the shop had a bunch of animals missing. Some were very sick. His post on FB is that they do take in sick animals that people cant care for, but I have witnessed them just dropping them in a dirty tank with other animals and next thing you know there is a price on them. I saw the corn snakes that they had in the shop. Those corn snakes were posted on a FB page for sale as “king snake food or rescue” by the breeder as they had not eaten in almost 2 months. Exotic Aquatics immediately reposted them for sale on various other FB pages as hatchling corn snakes for sale. I spoke of this earlier in my post as well. When I went in the shop there they were in a dirty pet keeper right on the countertop by the register for sale for $35. Mind you they did not have any water either. These were the same snakes that he had posted on FB for sale and the breeder that sold them verified that by responding to his post questioning them. The post was immediately deleted but my walk in the shop was a day after that posting deletion and the snakes were there for sale. This kind of behavior cannot be fixed over night. This is just one example of how they keep their animals. Another example and my last as this makes me sick to think about all of this. Went into the petshop and checked out the snakes. There was a cornsnakes aborting or passing blood and slugs. Two days later I was back in to check her out and she was gone. The were just then wiping the slugs out of the tank to put in some Leopard Geckos they had someone bring in. They wiped down MOST of it and dropped the Leos in on the walnut substrate still stained with the filth. When asked why they did it they said it was just temporary till they freed up a tank. The leopard Gecko that I was speaking about is the one left in that tank still with the dead tail, as well as some newer additions. You can still see the bedding clumps in there, well maybe not today if they changed it. There are tons of stories like this that the local could probably tell you. The reason none will come forward is because it is a very small town. The owner of the petshop also owns several other businesses. If someone were to speak up publically there may be repercussions for what they say. In a small town that very well could happen if you speak against a local multi business owner. I don’t live in Kendallville and don’t visit to often now that I wont go to the petshop. You will see some positive post in the FB list above. Kinda funny the boys running the shop have the last name Pant as well does their big supporter that spoke up for them …… lol. This shop has had months to get this taken care of and just cleaning cages when someone points out the shop doesn’t cut it. Sure you can call the local police if you dare but when they go in the shop and see the newly cleaned tanks that is all that they will see. They wont realize the health of the animals just that the tanks are now clean and water in the bowls. No offense meant in that statement either, just stating that if they would take a vet in the store it may be a different outcome. Not sure if I can make a statement a former employee told me about what happened to the animals last time this all got fired up but I can tell you from my knowledge there were quite a few empty tanks and I did not go in the back to see if they finally set up a QT area. Thank you all for your support in helping to get something done. The mirage of post and messages to them may finally make its mark.
 
Its almost like a fiction movie. Most just dont think of pet store (particularly exotic pet stores) can or will do these things. Most pet stores, even if they get sub-par animals in at low prices and then retail them, they at least put them in fairly clean housing with proper set up, in hopes that the customers dont notice the sick/injured animals prior to buying them. These people are in a whole different league of animal abuse and neglect. They dont even try to create the image of taking care of the animals. I wish the store was here in Az, and I could go in. Good times right there
 
well like I said there are lots of people to call round me and the one group you dont want is the fish and game commission and then followed by license and inspection because they just take away everything close you down and fine the crap out of you. I would also think the health dept could get in on this as disease can spread. you could even call local police because its boarder line animal cruelty and that is a police issue.
 
I hate to rain on everyone's parade but go to the Canadian boi and read "Red Deer Reptiles and such". Very similar story with absolutely no closure. There are a lot of tips there for dealing with these types of situations like writing a post on your own wall then tagging the pet store in it.
 
And they can just remove the tag...
Actually, they can report it as harassment, too - I don't know what, if any, action FB would take against a person doing that.
 
Having been involved in a huge ordeal with a seizure here in Texas, I can sort of understand why the local authorities and ASPCA might be trying to pass the buck so to speak. The SPCA here in Texas shut down US Global Exotics a few years ago, as many of you might recall. I was still taking in rescues at that point, and signed up as a shelter. Well, that experience caused me to quit rescuing except for referrals from close friends or other rescue organizations. Most local shelters and even the ASPCA have no clue about how to care for reptiles. When they get in one to a few reptiles, they have a list of rescues that will take in certain types of reptiles and they contact them and get them out of their facilities as quickly as possible. But that is much harder to do when a whole facility is shut down and the animals are seized. The USGE seizure was a fiasco. Yes, IMO, the animals in that facility were suffering, but their suffering did not end when ASPCA seized them until they turned them over to rescue orgs over a month later. By that time, the animals had not been given much vet care and had been cross contaminated. It was a huge mess.

This store is horrible. I wish that some authority would and could step in in cases like this, but honestly, I am very burned on the idea that such an authority exists. I think the best solution is public outcry, keeping pressure on them and making them lose enough money to get out of the business.
 
Not that I ever have or ever will condone such conditions of any animals, one thing I will say, most of these retail stores and even most rescue type places, have little to no knowledge of how to properly keep reptiles. Many species of reptiles sell for more than other species of animals, particularly in resuce situations. Their thoughts and hopes, are to just give the animal better living conditions than from what they came from, and they will move (sell or get adopted out) quicker than the animal will start to get worse. I think they assume that most people that come into a retail or resuce store, are just as uneducated as they are, as they probably assume that the true novice keeper will go directly to a high quality breeder, rather than a retail store.
That being said, regardless of what they think and their intentions are, stores and rescue places like that or remotely like that, need to be called out and shut down. Period. I run a reptile rescue out of my house, but, I know what my limit is, and I dont sell any of my rescues one able to go to a good, forever home. Whether you are a pure retail store or a rescue organization, you need to have some, at least basic, knowledge of all species you bring in or attempt to bring in, as well as up to livable standards for the animal. Pretty obvious here, neither of those were met. Cleaning up when called out on how bad it is, doesnt fix anything. At best, it mildly makes it look ok to the quick eye, not the animals conditions and what it will go back to in a few days
 
Since most legal entities have little interest in the well being of pet-shop reptiles, maybe contacting a local news source would be more beneficial? It may even give somebody a shot at educating the public on how to properly care for them and give some good exposure in a bad situation?
 
I run a rescue in Philadelphia and many animals come to me in very poor condition. I strive to bring them back to good health and yet still lose a few. Ive taken pictures of animals ready to move on to homes and have come under attack for pieces of poop in the background of the picture. Im wondering if they need help with the tasks of cleaning and general upkeep? I have a friend or two that come to help me once every two weeks and it makes all the difference. I put about 6 hours a day in myself feeding, watering and cleaning out the nastiest of the messes. My point being, no matter how hard you try sometimes you still need help, has anyone offered help to them on a regular basis? I'd take it in a second, I live on ssi am permanently disabled, many of the simplest tasks wear me out after a few hours. I offer $10.00 per hour credit towards any animal they like and offer the animal at very reasonable cost. I started my rescue while out fishing one day and watched someone release 2 red tail boas 6 to 7 foot and 1 ball python. Rather than try to get their license as my eyesight is poor I caught the animals, took them to a vet for a general check up and started posting, please dont release your animals into the woods, call Malestroms Reptile rescue @ 610-449-4125 and have found the response to be overwhelming at times. I work with my twp, the local SPCA and other rescues, I dont do turtles but have a friend who does nothing but turtles, same for rats and other rodents. I specialize in snakes and lizards, the rescue quickly became overwhelming and I found myself at capacity. Unfortunately, rehoming is about 1/4 the speed of influx and I have to turn animals away. my population is 98% healthy, I quarantine the sick and nurse them back to health or ease their transition to the other side. Anyway, despite constant harassment and slamming of my character on facebook, ill never stop trying to do a good deed. I cant imagine what would have happened to the animals I rescued had I not because of others discouraging me.
If you are willing to publicly crucify someones efforts, please be equally willing to help them out if they need it, its so easy to sit backand point fingers andmake accusations,its a lot harder to donate your time for love of the animals and see them taken care of.
I do not know these folks but from my own experience, (never this bad) I can only imagine they may be needing help. Its either this or they flat out dont give a hoot and are selling sick animals too. I ship all over the country, ill do what it takes to find a good home, if they clean up each time its brought to thier attention then maybe they truly are in need of some regular help, theres no justification for that frog in the water dish, the boas however may have been housed together while thier own enclosures were being cleaned, the beardies looked ok from the photo and of course they begged for attention, thats what beardies do lol! I have a few and they always want to be on my shoulder.
Again, I dont knw these folks and am not affiliated with them in any way. I just wanted to offer another perspective on the situation. Im not claiming to be right or know the ins and outs of thier operation, just offering another insight, hopefully im correct and they just need help and arent the monsters they are being made out to be.
 
My understanding is that this is a retial pet store (and Im sure as most retail stores go, they want to dabble in breeding certain things). If this was solely and only a rescue attempted organization, Id view it differently. And even if it is a rescue organization, then you dont take on more rescues than you can afford (money and personnel wise) to care for and rehabilitate. I also do a side rescue, but I know the number of animals I can comfortably handle and rehab to rehome, and will not go beyond that number.

Bottom line, the animals/conditions that are in these pics are terrible, even for a rescue.

Its like those animal hoardes on animal planet, most start out with good intentions trying to rescue and save all these animals, but too much is too much. Even as a retail store that takes in rescues, you have to have your limit to be able to properly care for the ones you have
 
Retail store taking in sick animals and making sick animals themselves. Sick animals come in, are then shoved in tanks with other animals and a price tag put on them. as you can tell by the pictures the tanks are not kept up and the animals arent kept up as well. this has been going on for months on end with this store so it is nothing new. Yes they clean the tanks after someone complains then it is back to just letting go again. Many in the area have offered to help them in the shop but they wont allow it. Hell people are offering to help for free as the shop makes money and they still turn it down. It boils down to money over the animals or the customers...............
 
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