Animals housed in filth at pet store, state cites
Savannah, GA (US)Incident Date: Friday, Jun 1, 2001
County: Chatham
Disposition: State Citation
Person of Interest: David Groover
A Savannah pet store is operating on a short leash after state inspectors found animals in unsanitary conditions. The Department of Agriculture inspected Pet Lovers Inc. in April after more than a year of customer complaints. In an agreement with the state, the owner accepted a $5,000 fine and a five-year probationary period. If broken, the fine would jump to $20,000.
Tommy Irvin, Georgia commissioner of agriculture, said the store at 7400 Abercorn St. violated the Georgia Animal Protection and Georgia Bird Dealer Licensing acts. "It was very, very unsanitary and not being cared for," Irvin said. "It was a whole series of violations which caused us to take the action we took." He said state inspectors closed the store for three days after finding it failed to provide sanitary conditions, humane care, adequate housekeeping procedures, and proper space requirements. Other violations were for waste disposal and storage.
David Groover, who has owned the store for four years, said many of those issues are in dispute and many complaints were unfounded. He defended his store, saying inspectors found unsanitary conditions on a day when three employees failed to show up for work to clean. "It was an overnight thing," he said. "We just weren't clean yet. Everything is clean when we leave at night, it's just that during the course of the night (the animals) mess up."
But Jessica Peaden, who has worked at the Humane Society for about a year, said her organization has been receiving phone calls from people complaining about the conditions at Pet Lovers. "I can remember getting three calls in one day," she said.
She said the Humane Society received many calls during March and April, but could only direct them to the Department of Agriculture. State inspectors have checked up on Pet Lovers about once a month, often finding many violations. During the past year, those inspections found incomplete records, leading officials to stop the sale of some animals.
Groover said he unknowingly violated the rules, saying he thought inspectors only quarantined the animals for which he could not provide records. "It was a misunderstanding, for sure," he said.
Irvin said it was not a misunderstanding, but rather a "total disregard for authority," saying inspectors tried to get Groover to comply with statutes for more than a year but kept finding him in violation. "It got to the point that it seems the only way to bring it into compliance Ö was to have a settlement conference," Irvin said.
During that conference in Atlanta on April 27, Groover agreed to a $20,000 penalty for the violations, with $15,000 being withheld if the store meets current standards and remains in compliance for five years. "I had to do it," Groover said. "It wasn't an option. I either had to sign it or close down."
Irvin said temporarily closing down a pet store is rare, but said the fine and agreement are only to make Groover abide by state standards. "We try our best to make sure we give every business the opportunity to comply with the law without having a civil hearing," Irvin said."It's my philosophy that we don't use the law to put people out of business, but to put people in compliance with the statutes." References« GA State Animal Cruelty Map
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