A pair of exotic animals isn't typically found in a pet store, but wander into Animal Jungle in Virginia Beach and you'll find a serval and marmoset.
Do the African wild cat and small monkey belong there?
While the store has drawn complaints - and the attention of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals - owner Robert Hames says the serval and marmoset are well-cared for.
"The environment they're in is cleaned everyday," Hames said. "They're well-fed. They are domestically-bred animals. They were not taken out of the wild."
Lisa Wathne, the captive exotic animal specialist with PETA, said the group gets lots of calls about pet stores in general, but also gets regular complaints about Animal Jungle.
"I think it's mostly because of the serval and the marmoset," Wathne said. "People get very disturbed when they see those two animals in there. The concern people have is that these are wild animals living in enclosures in completely unnatural conditions."
"Marmosets are incredibly social animals," she added, "and this one is completely alone which is just the most cruel thing you can do to a primate."
Some locals may be upset at seeing the exotic animals in the Holland Road pet store, but since late 2006, Virginia Beach Animal Control has made six service calls to the store to check out complaints of animal cruelty, and each time the department has found no evidence of wrongdoing.
"All of them were cleared out," said Virginia Beach Police Sgt. Richard Mlincsek. "There's plenty of food, plenty of water. I think our guidelines are pretty much: Are they healthy? Are they getting fed? That's what we have to go by.
"They check that they're clean and that the environment's clean, and that they're providing for the animals."
Hames is used to the scrutiny his store sometimes gets. But he said it's no coincidence his 32-year-old store has always checked out when Animal Control visits.
"We can't have these animals unless we're permitted by the USDA," Hames said, adding that in order to maintain the permit, he must maintain certain standards so it can be renewed annually.
"They have minimum requirements that the government says you have to maintain," he said. "We're so far above the minimum requirement, that when they come in to investigate, it's not even an issue."
Although Hames admits the two exotic animals are not for sale and are kept solely as an attraction, he tries to make sure they are comfortable.
To that end, Hames had two enclosures specially built for the serval and the marmoset and he said they are much larger than they have to be.
The marmoset's enclosure is 8-foot-by8-foot-by-8-foot, and the serval's room is 16-feet-by10-feet-by-14-feet and has ramps and platforms the wild cat can climb.
Hames used to have another marmoset monkey, a male that he kept as company for the store's existing marmoset. But he donated the male to a primate facility in Florida after six months of the monkeys' nearly constant fighting.
"The minimal requirements in my opinion are criminal," he added. "We're not doing anything wrong. We're following the law to the letter and then some."
Wathne said she's not surprised that Animal Control didn't find any violations during its visits to the shop. The laws that apply to animals in general, she said, are so vague they are virtually nonexistent.
"So that doesn't mean that the conditions are good or even appropriate," Wathne said. "Unfortunately these conditions are typical of pet stores. I wish they were unique to Animal Jungle, but they're not."
Rita Frankenberry, 222-5102, rita.frankenberry@pilotonline.com
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Not a fan of PETA, however...
I have major issues with Animal Jungle, which I used to consider a quality pet store for fish and reptiles, because they opened the puppy store a few doors down. Animal Jungle owns the puppy store, which sells puppy mill dogs while dogs at 2 shelters less than 20 minutes away die. They're supporting two horrible situations. One is the death of animals, even young puppies, in shelters, and the other is the absolutely horrific conditions in which puppy mills are operated. Walk in and they'll tell you the pups are from local breeders. While that would be slightly better, it would still be a problem. But it isn't true anyway. They're shipped in the back of a truck from a puppy mill out of state.
Who is PETA?
The New Yorker, author Michael Specter wrote that Ingrid Newkirk (PETA president and co-founder)has had at least one seeing-eye dog taken away from its blind owner. PETA is also against all medical research that requires the use of animals, including research aimed at curing AIDS and cancer.
PETA paid $70,200 to Rodney Coronado, an Animal Liberation Front (ALF) serial arsonist convicted of burning down a Michigan State University research laboratory. In his sentencing memorandum, a federal prosecutor implicated PETA president Ingrid Newkirk in that crime.
According to government documents, PETA employees have killed more than 19,200 dogs, cats, puppies, and kittens since 1998. PETA holds absolutely no open-adoption shelter hours at its Norfolk, VA headquarters, choosing instead to spend part of its $32 million annual income on a contract with a crematory service to periodically empty hundreds of animal bodies from its large walk-in freezer.
Didn't PETA complain about
Didn't PETA complain about Obama swatting a fly? Wasn't there proof of PETA killing animals and throwing them in a dumpster? And doesn't PETA hate when rich people were furs, but doesn't mind the publicity when they (PETA) gives those same furs to the homeless.
PETA doesn't care about animals, except to the degree that their pretend care generates a bunch of money that makes a number of people rich.
People
Eating
Tasting
Animals
is a P E T A that I can support.
Yep
A few years ago (can't remember how many), this newspaper reported on peta dumping dead animals into shopping center dumpsters in North Carolina. Ever since, we've made dumpster jokes about peta (see my comment near the beginning)
To Clarify
These dead animals were ones peta killed themselves (after promising to find them new homes).
Unnatural conditions for the
Unnatural conditions for the marmoset? What about the fish?
Oh, PETA...
How is this newsworthy? "NEWSFLASH: PETA has a complaint against somebody!" The Pilot might as well start reporting about agencies that PETA DOESN'T have complaints about. That's a shorter list.
Serval's have a history of
Serval's have a history of being kept as pets in Africa.
Animal Jungle
in all its years of operation has never been found in violation of any animal cruelty violation, has been a legitimate business in Va Beach, has complied with the law, and has provided customers with a viable product. SO what's the big deal? We've bought a number of fish from them and found Animal Jungle to be very compassionate and helpful. Go find some real issues--like Michael Vick dog fighting--to squander your time, Peta. As for the Virginian Pilot, why don't you stop placating this radical organization? I am convinced that the staff of the VP are also members of Peta but they won't admit to it. Talk about bias!
PETA NOT CREDIBLE
Peta is not a credible organization and as there are other important issues to report about -- they are not worthy of a news story either.
This is not a credible
This is not a credible newspaper. Journalism is dead.
Animal sources...
I've been in that store a few times to pick up pet food since it was on my way home from work, and I'm glad these two particular animals weren't wild-born, but is the same true of all the animals that are for sale? I've seen stuff for sale there that maybe was born in captivity, but I've got no way of knowing and they didn't seem like the sorts of species that would have a lot of people breeding them.
I've also seen cats for sale there, and... I don't understand why anyone would buy a cat (especially an expensive one like they were selling) when you can save one from Animal Control or the SPCA for dirt cheap. That's how my family's always gotten its pets and always will.
Animal Jungle???
Animal Jungle?? Never heard of them before. Thanks peta for giving them some free advertising. Now I have a new place to go buy my fish. Yes I feel horrible for enslaving a bunch of fish in my aquarium, but at least I treat them good. I never flush them until they die. Except for those three cichlids...they were mean and attacking my other captives and went straight to the toilet bowl, those mean eyes looking up at me as they went to live in my septic system. Anyway, peta..you still remain a joke, va pilot, you continue to report non news, and Animal Jungle...be seeing you soon, hope you bebefit from the free advertising peta and the pilot has given you.
Actually...
what you did to those fish was pretty evil. People think they're just putting fish in water, but that's not the case. For one thing, cichlids are aggressive fish! You can't punish an animal for being what it is! Secondly, when you put a fish in your toilet, he is inhaling chlorine. This essentially burns him to death from the inside out, starting with his lungs. Hope you still feel good about watching those "mean little eyes" looking up at you as they suffered...
peta?
peta has and always will be a spineless group of people who go after the non-threats in our society. The circus scare tactics, the priest at a church carnival with a fish in a small bowl, the pet stores that can't strike back regardless of how well they care for their animals, even the dog trainer with a lease who should let the dog roam free to enjoy his freedom. The list goes on and on.
Now if peta wants to impress society, got after the dog fighters in the bowels of our cities in Tidewater or the 50lb chains around a 40lb pit that's 1 foot shy of the water dish or the hundreds of real abuse cases in our area. No, they don't have the backbone for that! They're cowards that serve veggie burgers at events an dislike others for eating meat... They are tax deductible which is B.S. in a high dollar crib in Norfolk living it up!
People Eating Tasty Animals
Nuff Said
hehehehe
everyone send peeetahhh some chicken nuggets and give something to really cry about
What a bunch of morons...
I cannot believe this is newsworthy during times such as this. We have a published unemployment rate of +9%. Toss in all the people who have lost their careers then doubled up on low paying jobs and you have a +17% unemployment rate. We have a government trying to take away our freedoms and a socialist president.
AND WE ARE WORRIED ABOUT CAGED BIRDS, CATS, AND LIZARDS?
You people are killing me!
What needs to happen is we need to move all the people from PETA who whine to a third world country.
They'll come back begging for fried chicken saying "Cage the lizards!"
no longer a customer
My family stopped buying pet supplies from Animal Jungle years ago -- for exactly this reason, among others. I was always bothered by the sight of the exotic animal in the small enclosure. Also, on one visit the ferret enclosure was packed with ferrets and the water bottle was bone dry. I mentioned it to a store employee who could have cared less. So I asked another employee if I could speak with a manager, who also wasn't interested. And now that the owner of Animal Jungle has opened a puppy mill pet store nearby -- NO THANKS.
PETA: ABORTION FACTORY FOR DOGS AND CATS
PETA, the abortion factory for dogs and cats has absolutely no credibility with me concerning this matter. I conceive these animals will eventually yield a better fate with Animal Jungle, versus the PETA dog and cat killers.