Update: 3:55 p.m.

Animal House Owner Ty Marshall has contacted Okotoks Online and has released the following statement and will be closing his business following the recent allegations and vandalism at the Animal House this morning.

Dear Friends, Supporters, customers, haters & the misinformed,

It is very upsetting that Animal House has yet again been attacked by animal rights activists, extremists and online computer warriors. The staff at animal house have been verbally attacked, harassed, bullied, threatened and tormented for the past week. Numerous people have been escorted out of the store, police have been called, and the conflict continues everyday.

As the owner of animal house, and a human, I know that my employees don’t deserve to be attacked daily; they don’t deserve to come to work everyday in fear. For those of you who participated in this behavior, you should truly be ashamed of yourselves.

Animal House has provided a great service for thousands of families who have wanted to add a pet to their lives. We also provide a great service to all of the people of Okotoks who are unable to own a pet, but love to come visit the animals.

"All of our animals have come from ethical breeders, whether you want to believe it or not, I know it to be true. The haters can google unethical breeders, and “mills” all they want, but I/we know where our animals have come from. Our breeders have ranged from small time hobby breeders, to professional breeders. Every pet we have sold has come from a breeder who I myself would have no issue obtaining my next pet from. Our breeders have no interest in providing unhealthy animals, we have no interest in providing unhealthy animals. We do live in reality where we understand these are living beings, and things do happen, we are here to help, some people don’t understand that. The combined goal of the breeders and the store has always been to provide happy, healthy animals."

"All of our puppies and kittens are examined by a veterinarian prior to finding their forever home. Each puppy and kitten is also vaccinated and dewormed. Every puppy we sell comes with a guarantee; the guarantee outlines our short-term guarantee, and our long-term genetic guarantee. They are live animals, so it is expected that in some occasions there are going to be medical issues that are not known to us, our vet, our breeders, and in turn our customers. This is why we offer a clearly marked guarantee on our contract, this is to protect our customers, our breeders, and in turn us. All of our puppies are sold on non-breeding contracts/spay & neuter."

"With this being said, as the owner of Animal House I have decided that the ongoing attacks, bullying, slander and harassment towards Animal House; myself and most importantly the staff of Animal House; that I will be closing the store. I understand that people have different opinions, some people have very closed minds, some have open minds, but unfortunately those that have closed minds are taking this to an extreme that is not necessary. This truly was a business started to help families find pets, and pets find families, and it was very successful. For those who believe that people don’t deserve the right to “Shop” or choose their next pet, you are very closed minded. People deserve the right to shop/choose their next pet, and if that means they want a puppy, that is their choice, which the “people” very clearly proved by the overwhelming demand. We completed many families by adding a puppy to their home. Not every person, or every family is suited to “adopt” a dog, so to pressure people into only adopting is absolute nonsense."

"To the hundreds of breeders who have supported animal house by providing happy, healthy fish, reptiles, birds, kittens, rodents and puppies. I am sorry that we will no longer be able to help you find homes for these pets. We are also sorry that many of you will financially not be able to survive without us. Many of our breeders don’t sell their own animals because they live in remote locations, they don’t use technology or quite simply because they don’t want to advertise and in turn be attacked by the same people who have attacked Animal House. You may think finding homes for baby animals is easy, you advertise online, people come and pickup their new animal, and everything is all rainbows and roses, but it isn’t. There are animal rights activists, and simply people who have nothing better to do with their time that browse the Internet and attack breeders. There are also people that have no respect for personal property and breeders don’t want to invite them to their homes. There are hundreds of reasons why some breeders do, will and did choose a pet store as the avenue to find homes for their pets. Some breeders will agree, some wont, but that’s just the way it works. These are good people who will greatly suffer now."

"For all of our customers who have supported us through everything, we cannot say how much we appreciate it. Please come by and say thank you and goodbye to the staff that have worked their butts off, and have had their heart in this from the beginning."

"To all the haters, here is the bit of information you’ve been waiting for throughout this entire letter. When will the store close?
The store will close once the entire product inventory has sold, the employees have all found new jobs, and most importantly the animals have all found new forever homes. The store simply will not close until these things have happened. In this economy I am not going to leave my employees without jobs, the animals will not be “surrendered”, euthanized or given away; each animal will find their forever home as per normal. So instead of protesting, you can be “productive” – you can purchase pet food & supplies, for yourself or you can “donate” to anyone you want!"

"We are not being forced to close by anyone, we have not broke any laws, we are making this choice ourselves."

 

Update: 12:00 p.m.

A late night vandalism occurred last night at the Animal House in Okotoks.

Someone took a can of spray paint to the Animal House store front graphically labeling the store as a puppy mill.

Roland Lines Communications Manager for the Alberta SPCA says the Animal House in Okotoks has never been charged as such.

"I can say that we have not to date had charges or prosecution brought against Animal House." Lines says "Every concern that's reported to us, we take very seriously and we do investigate."

The Okotoks RCMP are currently investigating the vandalism and we are currently waiting on a comment from the Animal House owner.

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