Pet Ranch owner Ansel Walters operates the store in Golden. His son and brother own and operate several other Pet Ranch stores in the metro area, including stores in Arvada, Thornton, Littleton, Boulder and Colorado Springs.
Evans said the Golden Police Department has received complaints about the local Pet Ranch about once a month since 2000 — In addition to Mack’s report, multiple complaints about unsanitary conditions in the Golden store were reported, along with several more serious allegations.
Evans said Pet Ranch has never been found in violation of the city’s animal cruelty ordinance. Golden’s animal cruelty ordinance is fairly vague. It says caregivers must provide shelter, food and water for animals and may not overwork an animal. It can be found online at www.ci.golden.co
.us/Code.asp?CodeID=376. Mack said the conditions at Pet Ranch may not be illegal, but they are “morally reprehensible.” Others have been concerned enough to report the following incidents to police:
On May 16, three students from Compass Montessori School went to do their weekly community service project by volunteering at Pet Ranch. The police report said the girls “found a half-dead dog in a plastic box with the lid on … at the back door of (Walters’) shop,” according to the girls’ statements to police. “The container was under a bunch of trash cans and other things, … the dog was suffocating.” Crying, the girls confronted Walters, who they said became “outraged.”
Walters said the dog was in a plastic quarantine kennel because it was sick. Pet stores are required by the Department of Agriculture to isolate sick animals so they do not infect healthy ones.
The police report states that Walters told the girls the dog had been purchased and someone was coming to pick it up, then inserted a catheter into the dog’s leg and injected it at least eight times, according to the girls. The students called their teacher, Jorja Bennett, and asked her to pick them up. Bennett told police she also saw Walters injecting the dog.
Bennett reported that Walters followed her and the girls to her car and banged angrily on her vehicle’s window, yelling as she drove away.
The dog died later that day, according to the police report.
The police investigation revealed that the dog had been sold, but was returned because it had Parvo virus, which is deadly if not treated immediately. There was “not substantial evidence to serve a summons for neglect or cruelty,” according to the police report.
According to police reports, many other people discovered the pets they purchased from Pet Ranch were sick after the 10-day return period, many with Parvo virus.
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