97 Cruelty Charges Filed Against Pet Trade Dealers

Owners, Manager of Thornton Facility Charged After PETA Video Exposes Animals Bashed to Death, Among Other Abuses

For Immediate Release:
March 10, 2015

Contact:
Shakira Croce 202-483-7382

Following a PETA investigation of Jurassic Pets, LLC, a pet store in Thornton—which prompted the Thornton Police Department to execute a search warrant and seize more than 100 animals from the store in December 2014—Thornton law-enforcement officials have charged Jurassic Pets owners Kenneth Mark and Lynn Denise Kubic, along with their son and store manager Brian James Kubic, with cruelty to animals. Lynn and Brian Kubic each face 38 counts, while Kenneth Kubic faces 21. Each of the class 1 misdemeanor charges is punishable by up to 18 months behind bars and/or a fine of up to $5,000. The defendants are scheduled to be arraigned on April 6 at 8:30 a.m. before Judge Bradley Victor Varmo.

Video footage and photographs captured by PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way”—reveal that store staff attempted to kill domestic rats and mice by “whacking” them against surfaces, leaving some twitching and gasping for breath after the blows. Staff, along with Lynn Kubic, also admitted that they freeze rodents and reptiles alive, resulting in a painful, lingering death. Animals at Jurassic Pets were also routinely denied water.

“It’s too late for the animals who were bashed and frozen to death at Jurassic Pets, but the Kubic family must now answer for such grotesquely cruel conduct,” says PETA Senior Vice President of Cruelty Investigations Daphna Nachminovitch. “PETA investigations have uncovered terrible abuse and neglect in the pet trade, and we urge everyone to adopt animals from shelters, not buy them from stores or breeders.”

Previous PETA investigations of the pet trade prompted seizures of thousands of animals from abusive dealers in California and Texas. Although PETA also documented egregious suffering at a second business owned by the Kubic family—Willards Rodent Factory, a breeding facility in Adams County—the Adams County Sheriff’s Office, which has jurisdiction over the facility, has yet to help animals there. At this facility, animals were typically fed only monthly, and food became moldy, was contaminated with feces, or ran out. Rats and mice routinely drowned in flooded tubs and were found dead and rotting in bins. The Kubics routinely denied animals veterinary care and euthanasia, including for a weak and thin rat whose facial injuries were so severe that her nose and upper jaw were missing.

Broadcast-quality video footage from PETA’s investigation is available here. For more information, please visit PETA.org or click here.