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Customers come to rescue of ousted pet store residents

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A young girl sits near animals, including a lizard, her family will temporarily adopt while Pro Petz searches for a new location. The pet store, located at 117 W. Main St. in Xenia, sits in a building that was condemned Tuesday, Aug. 11, by the Xenia Fire Department, store manager Marvin Brown said. Residents and customers line up in the background to also help take care of animals until a new shop location is found.

Staff photo by Kyle Nagel A young girl sits near animals, including a lizard, her family will temporarily adopt while Pro Petz searches for a new location. The pet store, located at 117 W. Main St. in Xenia, sits in a building that was condemned Tuesday, Aug. 11, by the Xenia Fire Department, store manager Marvin Brown said. Residents and customers line up in the background to also help take care of animals until a new shop location is found.

By Kyle Nagel, Staff Writer Updated 9:23 PM Tuesday, August 11, 2009

XENIA — Dozens of residents and customers responded to care for animals displaced when a downtown building housing a pet shop was condemned by the Xenia Fire Department, the store’s manager said.

Marvin Brown, manager of Pro Petz, 117 W. Main St., said fire officials arrived about 12:45 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 11, to inform him the building in which the shop is housed was being condemned.

The cause, Brown said, was a heavily leaking roof noticed by a firefighter who stopped into the store as a customer several days before.

By 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, cars and trucks filled the parking lot to take and temporarily care for the animals while Brown said he and his brother, Monty Salmons, who is the shop’s owner, search for a new location.

Sarah Samuels, who said she lives nearby and drove to the parking lot after learning about the situation through a news report, said, “Anything I could do to help some animals. Whatever humans have done, these animals are helpless.”

Coming and going through the glass door on which a sign saying, “THIS CLOSED by Fire Dept.” was hung, the samaritans carried cages, crates and even brown paper bags filled with animals ranging from rodents to birds.

Even more asked Brown what they could do to help, but he said that, frankly, he didn’t know yet what else he needed.

Only the bait failed to survive, Brown said.

The remaining animals will stay with their temporary adoptive masters until further notice, he said, noting that he and his family planned to house the dogs, but everything else would be trusted to the volunteers.

“I guess it gives us a chance to see if my daughter can finally get a pet like she wants,” said Mary Carpenter, a Xenia resident who stopped by the store when she saw the commotion from Main Street. “We can handle a few days and see how it goes.”

Even as he attempted to share the details of the preceding few hours, Brown had difficulty stopping inquiries from interested parties.

“I think the reptiles are gone,” Brown said.

“I can take the ferrets if you want,” a male customer said.

“What we’re looking for is just someone to temporarily house them,” Brown said.

“That’s why I’m here, you know I have dragons and everything else,” the customer said.

“Do you have places for all the birds?” A female nearby asked.

“Things are coming and going so fast, I’m not sure,” Brown said.

Brown said the roof has been a continuing problem for the store, which Brown said Salmons bought 12 years ago. The brothers turned the store from a tropical fish-oriented shop into one with a wider variety of animals, Brown said.

Xenia fire officials were unavailable for comment Tuesday evening.

Brown said he was given until 5 p.m. Thursday to clear the building.

“Oh boy,” Brown said Tuesday evening, watching people continuing to pull into the lot. “This is overwhelming.”

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-7389 or knagel@DaytonDailyNews.com

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