Pet shop faces investigation for possible animal abuse

Round Up Pet Center is the target of an investigation after dead rodents and fish were found there last week, more than a month after the business shut its doors.
Santa Cruz County Animal Services officials said it is uncertain whether the animals and fish were already dead when the business closed or died because of abandonment.
“Right now, we’re still reviewing the case thoroughly,” animal control officer Todd Stosuy said.
It’s uncertain what charges the owners will face, Stosuy said.
State law requires that pet store owners check on all animals in their care at least once a day and provide adequate food, water and sanitation, as well as enough space for the creatures. Violations are punishable by fines of as much as $1,000 per abuse.
“I’m definitely looking at this pretty aggressively and will interview anyone and everyone I can,” Stosuy said.
A former employee, who asked to remain anonymous but provided a pay stub as proof of employment, said the animal conditions at Round Up were gruesome. The employee said there were often dead birds, large rodents, fish and reptiles in the shop. Many of the mice were kept in fish aquariums instead of cages, the employee said, and they would often die from the ammonia fumes from their urine.
Animals that clients dropped off for boarding would go unfed, and the aviaries in which birds were kept were never cleaned, according to the employee.
“They just told us to add another of layer of bedding so no one would see. Once a coworker and I cleaned out an aviary in one of the backrooms, and the bedding was 3 feet high filled with dead birds. It was pitch black in there, and birds need light to survive,” the former employee wrote in an e-mail.
Round Up Pet Center’s former owners, Brenda and Brian Sanders, could not be reached for comment.
Round Up operated out of King’s Village Shopping Center on Mount Hermon Road before it went out of business in late February, because the owners could not afford the rent.
Kings Village Shopping Center maintenance workers had gone in to clean out the 5,000-square-foot commercial space when they discovered fish, snails, crabs and crawfish in aquariums March 31.
The Sanders, who purchased Round Up in 2005, removed a lot of the store’s inventory but left behind other stock, such as pet food, aquarium accessories, display racks and shelves.
Representatives from an auction house went through the property last week to determine what could be sold to pay back the bank, Kings Village management said.
There has been some confusion about Round Up’s ties to the recently opened Animal House on Scotts Valley Drive. Signs were posted outside of Round Up a couple of weeks ago urging customers to go to Animal House for their pet needs.
But Animal House manager Brian Perea said his outfit has no affiliation with Round Up Pet Center.
Perea said Brenda Sanders put up the signs so former customers would know they had somewhere to get food for their pets.
At a glance
• WHAT: People who are unable to care for their pets can take them to Santa Cruz County Animal Services Authority shelters in Live Oak, 2200 Seventh Ave., or Watsonville, 580 Airport Blvd.
• INFO: www.scanimalservices.us