FEBRUARY 3, 2015 \ NORTHERN.STARWEEKLY.COM.AU
NEWS + SPORT + PROPERTY GUIDE
By Lexi Cottee An Epping pet store has defended keeping a puppy in a glass enclosure on a hot day, saying the animal had adequate shade and the store was air-conditioned. On January 22, a shopper walked past the A Pet for Life shop at Pacific Epping shopping centre and took a photo of a Labrador puppy hiding from the sun behind its water bowl. Temperatures that day reached 35.8 degrees. The shopper posted her photo to the Pacific Epping, Oscar’s Law and RSPCA Facebook sites and it quickly went viral. Oscar’s Law’s founder, Debra Tranter, then re-posted the photo to Pacific Epping’s page and the image quickly attracted more than 3000 “likes,” 530 shares and almost 400 comments. However, when Star Weekly spoke last week to A Pet for Life store manager Mel (who declined to reveal her surname), she said the photo was taken first thing in the morning. “They do get a little bit of morning sun, but it was very early in the morning when that photo was taken,” Mel said. The shop faces north-east and does not bear the brunt of the summer heat on its carpark-facing glass enclosures. Mel stressed that all A Pet for Life staff were animal lovers and she was surprised that few people “had the decency” to physically come into the store to talk to staff and check on the animals.
“People just jumped on the phone and verbally abused us,” she said. “The people who take those photos, they don’t come in here. They just take them and post them online.” Mel said the puppy was removed from the glass enclosure a few hours after the photo went viral. But the store’s response didn’t go far enough for some animal rights activists. Ms Tranter said she rang the store that day to relay her concerns and was met with indifference. “They said the puppy was fine, and then hung up on me,” Ms Tranter said. “They were saying ‘nothing is wrong’, and refused to do anything.” The RSPCA responded by calling the store manager to give advice about housing and caring for the puppy. The animal welfare organisation’s senior inspector, Simon Primrose, said the manager was co-operative. “He was aware of the problem prior to us contacting him and took our advice, confirming that measures would be taken to make sure this does not happen again in future,” Mr Primrose said. He said RSPCA Victorian inspectors would follow up on the case in the near future. The Department of Environment and Primary Industries’ Victorian Codes of Practice for Animal Welfare stipulate that animals kept in pet shops must have shelter and comfortable conditions of temperature, ventilation and lighting.
CRICKET WORLD CUP 2015 PULL
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(Damjan Janevski)
Heat on pet shop owners
Heat’s on to slip, slop, slap With the weather set to warm up again, residents are being urged to slip, slop and slap as Cancer Council Victoria and the state government kick-start a six-week SunSmart campaign reminding Victorians about the dangers of excessive sun exposure and tanning. The campaign includes multimedia ad campaign running until early March, in line with the peak-summer UV period. Health Minister Jill Hennessy said more than 40,000 cases of skin cancer were treated in Victoria each year. In 2013, 2307 Victorians were diagnosed with melanoma and 374 people died of this most serious of skin cancers; a further 86 died of other skin cancers. “Skin cancer is one of the most preventable forms of cancer,” Ms Hennessy said. Chanel Bartolo (pictured) took heed as she enjoyed the sun at Keilor’s Cliff Harvey Lagoon Reserve. Charlene Macaulay
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