Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, July 1, 1995                   TAG: 9507030022
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: NORFOLK                                 LENGTH: Medium

PET SHOP OWNER ARRESTED

Mark Kumpf, a senior Norfolk humane officer, said he found animals with torn eyes and ripped jaws when he opened the door of a glass cage filled with hamsters.

``Those are considered serious injuries for rodents,'' Kumpf said. ``They haven't been treated for ages.''

He said hamster, mouse and gerbil cages in the store should have held only one or two animals each. But up to 20 were in some cages, he said.

Officers who entered the Pets n' Pups store on Wednesday took more than 150 hamsters, mice, lizards, iguanas, birds, kittens and puppies to an animal shelter. The odor in the store was described as overwhelming.

``They are overexaggerating,'' owner Lisa Baker said. ``This is going to hurt my reputation big time. This is really going to tear me up.''

Baker faces up to 30 charges, including several counts of cruelty to animals, failure to provide the duties of a pet shop owner and failure to bury a dead animal, said Lt. Philip McKeon.

She also was charged with not having a license and a rabies certificate for her own dog, which was in the store. She is scheduled to appear in court July 25.

Each charge carries a possible $2,500 fine and a year in jail.

Police entered the store after receiving an anonymous tip that animals were being mistreated, McKeon said. It was the fifth complaint about the store this year and at least the 17th since the store opened five years ago, he said.

``There are about 50 pet stores in the area. This is the one that we have been to several times,'' McKeon said.

The Norfolk Health Department closed the store while the animals were examined and moved. The ailing animals will be treated by a veterinarian, Kumpf said.