CONVICTED (2017) | Jewan Shikho, born c. 1991, of Cheshill Court, Marlborough Road, Salford M7 4SD – kept birds and animals in squalor at his pet shop and caused the death of a goldfish
Pet shop owner Shikho was banned from trading until May 2022 after animals were found being kept in appalling conditions.
The court heard how he killed a goldfish by unplugging a fish tank pump to charge his mobile phone. Four other fish were rescued from the tank after the oxygen pipe was left without power.
A parakeet was also found dead in piles of excrement and baby rabbits were seen roaming around the filthy shop because their hutches were not secure.
Council environmental health officers found the shocking conditions when they visited Pets Place in Great Cheetham Street East, Salford.
The owner ‘cared nothing for the welfare of the animals, only for his profits’, town hall bosses said.
Parakeets had been crammed into a makeshift aviary with insufficient perching space and were having to cling to the sides of the cage, while one bird lay dead.
A baby rabbit was left without access to water and three others roamed freely round the mouse-infested premises.
Shikho, who is believed to be a Kurdish national, breached 23 conditions of his pet shop licence, including having no documentation to show where the animals had come from or who he had sold them to.
He pleaded guilty to failing to comply with pet shop licence conditions as prescribed under The Pet Animals Act
Magistrates heard that officers from Salford council went to the shop in August 2016, following a complaint.
They had to get a warrant to enter the shop as Shikho failed to respond to phone calls and messages advising him that officers wanted to inspect.
The rabbits were removed by the RSPCA because they were in poor health. A follow-up inspection a week later found Shikho had removed the aviary.
Sentencing: 80 hours of unpaid community work; costs and charges totalling £940. Pet shop licence revoked. Disqualified for five years from keeping a pet shop (expired May 2022).
You have to have the Right / Correct Conditions and Set Up.
Otherwise Don’t Bother To Keep Them In The First Place.
They need a lot of Daily Cleaning Out, Hygiene Is A Must, To Keep Them Healthy.