Jun 10, 2008 6:41 pm US/Mountain
Police Find Puppies Crammed In Cages At Pet Store
LONGMONT, Colo. (CBS4) ―
A Longmont pet store owner faces 34 counts of animal cruelty after police found dozens of puppies crammed together in small kennels.
It happened on June 3 at the Pet Spot pet store. Police were checking on a burglar alarm when they found the back door of the store open. They went inside and discovered 34 puppies in just a few small kennels.
"When they got back in the storage area in the rear, they found numerous small dogs crammed into multiple cages," Cmdr. Tim Lewis with Longmont police said.
According to the police report, the puppies were crammed in the cages so tight, they had no room to move. They would have remained that way for up to 15 hours had police not found them.
The owner of the store, Jeff Fortin, says it was an isolated incident and blamed his employees of violating store policy.
"We did a follow up the next day and the store employees said they had been directed to store them like that," Lewis said.
Fortin is due in court later this month.
Animal control is now monitoring the puppies' welfare. It says the dogs are now being better cared for inside the store.
(© MMIX CBS Television Stations, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
Click to enlarge
Stumble It!
Reporting
