Explosion at a Petco in NJ!!!

I was just watching on of the news channels on TV and heard about this. There's still people trapped inside, and they managed to rescue two people who were injured so far.

No mention on whether any pets were harmed, though. Only that they were trapped.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/03/04/pet....ap/index.html

Omg, how scary!

I hope everyone concerned will be ok!!

Five people are rescued with critical injuries. The explosion was caused by workers hitting a gas line.

Holy Crap!! I used to work for Petco at their distribution center here in Portland. WOW!!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7089871/

Just found this article on MSNBC.
...In addition, about 100 to 200 small animals and fish were likely inside the store at the time of the blast, said Ursula Goetz, director of the Monmouth County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. She said the store sold exotic birds, guinea pigs, ferrets, gerbils and mice.

Yeah, I just saw some overhead pictures and I don't think it's going to be good for the fish or the small animals. I think all Petcos are built the same way with the animals being at the front of the store - which is completely collapsed.

Oh no... for some reason when I saw the word Petco, I thought gas station, not pet store - how sad!

Here in the Philadelphia area, we get south Jersey news too. I heard about this when it happened. The manager was trapped in the basement, but fortunately had a cel phone with her and could call for help.

One thing I read that made me very happy, three area vets are going to treat any injured animals for free.

Wonder which AR group will claim this stunt <--- sarcasm [I hope]

What a horrible thing to have happened.

Spotz

Oh dear! That's not good.

I heard on the news last night that a lot of the animals were killed. I looked at my birds and started crying.

Originally Posted by wodesorel

Yeah, I just saw some overhead pictures and I don't think it's going to be good for the fish or the small animals. I think all Petcos are built the same way with the animals being at the front of the store - which is completely collapsed.

Click to expand...

Actually, all of the Petco stores are different. Some have their fish in the back, some on the side of the store...etc... It's all different. It is inredibly saddening to hear about all of the animals & fish lost in this accident that shouldnt have happened.

Poor animals. I hope everyone else was okay. I wonder what caused it?

Oh how awful for the all the critters that didn't survive, I will light a candle for them tonight-

Wow....what a terrible story.

Mom of 10 Cats, thank for telling us about the vets who are going to help! Once the story dropped off the national news I haven't heard anything.

To tell you guys the truth, I was a little worried that one of our members might have been at that store. It's a small world, and there do seem to be quite a few members from New Jersey. I'm hoping that since we haven't heard anything, it means that no one was there.

I miss my hampsters, and I love my betta, and I hate to think of any small animal being harmed because of a human's mistake.

Here is the latest news I can find... The article is from yesterday, the names of those injured are given and I don't think any of them are TCS members~

There were about 150 animals in the store and about 120-130 were saved
From one of the volunteers:

"All you look at is what can I save, even if it's one animal," Goetz said. "That's one less that dies."

Click to expand...

http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/art...83/1007/NEWS01

There was a fire in an area pet store early last week, and all the small animals except for the fish died of smoke inhalation.

I know this will sound cruel when I say it, but, I was so happy to know they didn't have any cat adoptions going on then.

It is still quite devastating thinking of the other animals, fish, birds, reptiles, etc. that did die. Horrible thoughts to imagine.