Pet Store Owner Fined $1500

Scott MacAdam · Apr 5, 2010

I found this really interesting. A sixty year old or so woman who owns a pet store got a fine amounting to $1500 for selling a goldfish to a 14 year old boy acting with a police sting operation. I found this to be ridiculous because I'm sure Walmart does this 100s of times a day... poor woman. She mentioned that she assumed the boy was well over 16 years of age because he was, according to her, over 6 feet tall but she now faces fines and has a curfew much like house arrest where she has to wear one of those ankle bracelets to track her movements. I don't think we have such laws in Canada and I'm glad because I started keeping fish when I was 14 and I wasn't going to get my parents to escort me to the store to get them. I really hope that these days we can assume that a person this age will not purposefully harm animals purchased from a pet shop but this calls into question a whole lot of ethical debates with fish keeping and selling.

I'm curious to hear your thoughts.

Here is a link to the video. Sorry if there is an advertisement beforehand, just wait it out and it the news clip will start after.

http

/video.msn.com/video.aspx/?mkt=en-ca&vid=c686581a-0560-41af-8da9-bff374b7d763&from=imbot_en-ca_m1824&fg=rss&wa=wsignin1.0

~Scott MacAdam

chrisbassist · Apr 5, 2010

there has already been a post about this.

basically it comes down to this:

the fine was for breaking the law and selling to an underage person. (a stupid law designed to make sure only adults are caring for animals, when half the time it's adults abusing goldfish etc)

the curfew was for cruelty to animals, specifically a bird found in the shop which was in such a bad state in had to be put down. apparently the usual punishment on this is imprisonment. and due to the persons age the judge decided that this punishment would be more suitable.

Scott MacAdam · Apr 5, 2010

Oops. Didn't realize that there was already a post. I've been away from the forums for a while but when I saw that video I figured I'd post it. my bad.

snowflake311 · Apr 5, 2010

It is a dumb law that imo does not save animals from abuse. There are many adults that abuse animals. they should do home checks or give people a test before selling animals to anyone.

I pet there are a few 14 year olds on here that take great care of their pets. the lady is under house arrest too. its so stupid.

chrisbassist · Apr 5, 2010

as stated the house arrest was for a different offence which would normally be punished with imprisnment. i think she's better off not being in prison personally

plecoperson · Apr 5, 2010

The cockatiel in question I believe had a broken leg and other injuries and was still on sale. her local council had reason to try and catch her out, and had been reported presumably by many people with their concerns - certainly my local council wouldnt go to such lengths to catch someone out after just one complaint. If she happily keeps an animal on sale with a broken leg, what else is going on in her shop? Id rather have seen her in prison, personally, and had her license taken off her. Maybe its a good job for her Im not a magistrate. Theres no excuse for aimal cruelty, especially by one who should be able to provide advice to people buying animals off her. As for the 14 years old thing, whether any of us agree with it or not is irrelevant, laws are there for a reason and it's her responsibility to check someone is over 16 - when I worke in a pet shop if we didnt believe someone was over 16 we'd send them away and ask them to come back with an adult - onus is then on the adult not the shop. Its not so difficult if she was conscientious about sticking to the law of the land.