Our appeal was successful

[Sarah-Jayne]

I never saw the original thread but having met Lauren on numerous occassions I find it very difficult to think that she would ever treat any animal badly. Pet shops can't be perfect, they have animals in them which make a mess! as for that artical saying about animal food and stuff on the floor in your house, you should see the mess my parrot makes in one day lol! anyway congrats on winning your appeal!

[Darklas]

Originally Posted by sarasin

I am very disappointed with the amount of replies to this post. 675 people have read it and only 21 replies. Its obvious from the amount of replies to the original thread 239 that people love it when they think someone is guilty, they love reading all the nasty comments etc.

I wasn't going to reply, and I may get flamed for this. But maybe the reason there are so many reads and less replies is that they feel she simply 'got away with it'.

I congradulate you on your successful appeal. It must have been a horrible thing to go through, especially for your reputation as animal keepers. And I am sure you did do your best caring for the animals you had.


But I find it hard to believe there could have been so many charges without something being very wrong in the first place. I worked in a pet shop for years and things go wrong all the time, but in the 15 years it's been open and running nothing like this ever happened and I don't think it ever would. Because the owner runs a tight ship, everything is cleaned every morning and checked on several times a day.
There was no excuse for things being found dead - for animals being without water etc.
I never even read the original thread until now so I don't know how much I may have missed, but thats my understanding of it.

[jenren321]

i would like to say congrads on your appeal

i never read the original thread way back when...... but today i have taken the time to read 15 pages of it and although i have no opion, by the time i got to page 15 i saw the usual witch hunt and gave up reading it to be honest.

i would like to say good luck in what ever you decide to do in the future, and hope you get some sort of justice for everything you have been through, if you decide to go down that road.

[uroplatus]

Thanks to everyone has has offered their congratulations it means a lot to us.

Sparkle - I have no idea whether or not I am getting involved with Rhac-shack because as mentioned a number of times in the old threads it is actually my mams name for her Rhac keeping and excess stock, although I did help her out on occassion the animals all belong to my mam. I may have some Rhacs at my house and in that case I may either add my name to the Rhac shack or decide not to.

Darklas

But I find it hard to believe there could have been so many charges without something being very wrong in the first place. I worked in a pet shop for years and things go wrong all the time, but in the 15 years it's been open and running nothing like this ever happened and I don't think it ever would. Because the owner runs a tight ship, everything is cleaned every morning and checked on several times a day.
There was no excuse for things being found dead - for animals being without water etc.
I never even read the original thread until now so I don't know how much I may have missed, but thats my understanding of it.

There were so many charges in the first place because the council thought if they flung as much mud as possible some of of it would stick - they even charged us with breaching the design of a rabbit run even though them themselves licenced it in the very same condition only 9 months earlier!!! A very large majority of what they claimed had no photographs to attempt to back it up only the 'testomonies' of the council all of which conflicted with each other on a number of points. I have worked in pet stores since I was 16 and nothing like that had happened to me either until this. We had not one complaint from the public the whole time we were open and we even had members of the RSPCA come into our shop for advice!!! All animals in the shop were fed and watered no less than 3 times daily but when the raid happened we were prevented going to the shop to see to any of the animals and it was many hours after the raid on the house that we were allowed to go to the shop and by that time waters and foods in SOME of the enclosures had ran out - bear in mind we were not convicted in the first place of ANY animal in the shop only breach of licence conditions all of which were overturned bar the blocking of the fire exit which we admitted. The animals which we were initially found guilty of were at home and we were raided first thing on a morning when we hadnt gotten round to feed and water any animals and again we were prevented doing so by police until mid-day - again only SOME of the food and waters had ran out and that includes the animals we were initially found guilty of. The vet for the council only actually physically examined 2 of the animals we were charged with out of th 18 and just 'assumed' we had neglected the other. Her examinations were discredited in court as she hadnt looked at everything and again assumed things wrongly.
The fact that animals were found dead has no relevance if they are found in a freezer - if you read my explanation for this on my first post on here you will see why. Also the fact the council refused to do autopsies speaks volumes.
I hope I have clarified a few points for you? The fact a lot of people think no smoke without fire I can understand but believe me the only fire involved here was the fact our house was a mess and we were convicted the first time based on that. The judge at the magistrates was of the opinion that we couldnt look after our housework therefore we couldnt look after our animals - does that mean if our house had been clean we wouldnt have been found guilty??? Food for thought there I think.

Also a quick point for those for you who are skeptical - our defence vet who gave evidence to the courts on our behalf was an extremely experienced and a well respected reptile vet who also does many prosecutions fro the RSPCA - do you really think a vet of that experience and high standard would support us through something like this? Bear in mind they saw all the photographs and evidence before the courts and still maintained we were innocent and stood up in court possibly risking their own reputation in doing so.

[freekygeeky]

I remember the first thread! a while back now though, but i still remember it. As sparkle has said i cant comment on anything as i havent seen your shop your home etc etc etc
But im glad you have been cleared, and im so so so sorry you have lost so many animals.

[blood and guts]

I dont know you and ive never been in your shop being miles away but have to say if that gecko pic was from the shop and it was on sale then it was plain wrong on your part as it was clearly very very ill.
I wont say well done on beating the law on this one as i do not have enough fact and first hand expeince of yous but ive seen some truly shit hole shops avoid being taken as fare as you guys and they where worse then the pics seem to show. Prehaps they should be getting in touch for some contact numbers just in case.

[uroplatus]

Originally Posted by blood and guts

I dont know you and ive never been in your shop being miles away but have to say if that gecko pic was from the shop and it was on sale then it was plain wrong on your part as it was clearly very very ill.
I wont say well done on beating the law on this one as i do not have enough fact and first hand expeince of yous but ive seen some truly shit hole shops avoid being taken as fare as you guys and they where worse then the pics seem to show. Prehaps they should be getting in touch for some contact numbers just in case.

You are commenting on something which you have no background on. I took in that gecko along with some others as rescues which were in far worse state when I took them in. The were checked out by a vet and treated accordingly. So yes it HAD been ill and was actually on the path to recovery. They were NOT on sale in the shop and were labeled as NOT FOR SALE UNDER TREATMENT. So before you make judgements try and find out a bit of background before stringing us up like the rest of them did on the last thread. This is a major problem that we had to overcome with the courts - that we took in quite a number of rescue animals some of which needed and received veterinary treatment. We in effect we persecuted for taking in rescues whereas if we hadnt and got them back to health they would have almost certainly died. It really annoys me when people judge things on face value - I have learnt the hard way that unfortunately that can and does happen and people often dont want to hear the truth as they would rather slag you off than hear that your actually doing something good for the animal. In future I suggest you ask questions first before making assumptions.

[Utter Nutter]

I do not know the original 'story' nor do I care for 'gossip' but I would like to offer my best wishes for you and your family moving forward. It must have been a very traumatic time for you all. I am so glad that you have stuck together in your fight for truth. So many familes end up in divorce and seperation when dealing with so much stress. At least you have still got each other, a small consolation when you seem to have lost so much.
The past is the past, now you just have to pick yourselves up, dust yourselves off and start all over again. This time you will be better stronger people.

Best of luck

[uroplatus]

Utter nutter thank you for your post. It is true that a lot of relationships would crumble under the massive pressure we have been under. We have been blessed with an amazing son who is 2 1/2 now who has been the glue that has held us together. He has never really known his 'true' parents as we have been constantly stressed and finally we can begin to live our lives as normal happy parents now.

[blood and guts]

It was a fare point that i agree i could have put better and i thankyou for your replie. It does bring up a effical dilema though for the future. First off is it right to have sick under treatment animals on show? and the gecko in the pic looked like a crypto type case witch is very very contagius and secondly should shops even be taking in rescues where theres a chance of spreading problems. But thats best left for another thread as a purly effical discussion if this forum is capabal of that. Theres some lessons other shops could learn from this, your case while sad for your selves could help improve standards across the trade witch is some thing we should all work towards.

Im only on one side and thats the animals, some times that upsets peoples feelings or ego but i wont loose sleep on that.

You won the day that does not mean on a public forum every one has to say well done or be happy for you, i still dont know enough to make a judgment one way or the other.

I will end in saying however theres many many shops that make what i see of yours in the pics look beyond fantastic, why are they still getting away with being so bad. Shows how great uk justice is becoming.

At least you can now put this behind yous and move on and enjoy being parents.