WEST KITTANNING -- A West Kittanning pet store owner, who authorities say kept his store open for three weeks without electricity, faces four counts of cruelty to animals for allegedly failing to maintain a proper habitat for 229 animals at the store.

According to Clarion County Humane Society Officer Rebecca McDonald, the owner of Exotic Pets on Butler Road, Terry Primac of 32 First St., North Vandergrift, kept his store open for weeks after the power was turned off there, failing to keep clean environments for fish, birds, reptiles and other animals at the store.

"It was horrible," she said, adding that the store was "unsanitary and very dirty."

Primac told her that the power had been turned off at the store for about three weeks before she arrived with a warrant on July 14, McDonald said. She said she went to the store after receiving a complaint.

Primac had told authorities he couldn't afford to keep electricity on at the store, investigators said.

"He was still open for business and that was amazing, because you couldn't see anything (in the store)," she said.

In charges filed on July 19 at District Judge Martha Medich's office, McDonald says that Primac failed to provide heat lamps for 10 snakes at the store, did not provide air for 103 fish, an aquatic frog and snails and failed to provide "sustenance, drink, shelter or vet care" for birds, kittens, a ferret, a turtle, rabbits, guinea pigs and an alligator.

"It wasn't like it was a few (animals)," she said. Additionally, there were animal carcasses in the store, McDonald said, adding that Primac was feeding the ferret and kittens bird food.

"None of the diets were what the animals needed," she said.

All but four birds were surrendered to the Humane Society, McDonald said, but she is seeking the forfeiture of those animals as well.

The charges are summary offenses, and Primac has 10 days to respond to them by entering a plea, which he has not yet done, according to Medich's office.

Recommend this article...