ANIMAL rights activists are continuing to target a Chelmsford pet shop by picketing the entrance and scaring away customers.
The Essex Animal Defenders, who are against puppy-farming and the pet shop trade, gathered again outside Aquapets in Moulsham Street last week – the eighth time since they began their campaign in May.
Michelle Pawsey, 48, who has owned the store for 32 years, says allegations that her dogs come from puppy farms and other pets are ill-treated and unfounded.
"I buy my puppies through private sellers and people whose pets have had litters at home," she told the Chronicle.
"They then have full health checks and vaccinations. They are then kept in quarantine for seven days before they can come into the shop.
"The protesters don't like the sale of animals for profit, but what about those selling puppies online on Gumtree and from their homes, that is purely for profit?"
The shop was prosecuted in July 2010 after the Chelmsford City Council's Environmental Services investigated the premises after complaints from members of the public.
Mrs Pawsey pleaded guilty to three breaches of her pet shop licence conditions in relation to record keeping and segregation of different litters of kittens.
She was also found guilty of accepting puppies onto the premises before seven days had expired after they were vaccinated against the Canine Parvo Virus, a debilitating disease which can be fatal to puppies.
She was hit with £1,340 in fines and costs at Chelmsford Magistrates' Court.
But Mrs Pawsey claims the charges simply related to a paperwork mishap in which she failed to record a customer's address after they bought a kitten.
Members of Essex Animal Defenders claim they have received complaints from people who have bought animals from the shop, but they did not have any evidence to support these alleged complaints.
Group spokesperson Marcia Hagon, who travels from Romford to protest in Chelmsford, said: "Some pet owners were not sure about the sources where Aquapets are getting their animals from, but really we're here about the pet shop trade, puppy farming and the conditions in which the animals are kept.
Mrs Hagon added: "Pet shops generally don't home check anyone, you can go in and ask for a hamster and two kittens and they will just send you away with them."
Mrs Pawsey still denies any practice which is against the law and feels the protests are unnecessary and invalid.
"Pet shops have to operate under a licence and the laws and regulations we have to co-operate under are so strict," she said.
"I have to operate under these laws or I would lose my licence."