Pet shop owner faces neglect charge after dead animals found

The owner of a northern Indiana pet store faces animal neglect charges after police found dead and filthy animals at his store.

Twenty-seven-year-old Terry Driver of Portage was arrested Saturday on one misdemeanor animal neglect count after a caller reported foul odors wafting from T & B’s Exotic Animals and a cage with eight dead birds behind the building.

Driver was released from Porter County’s jail after posting bond. Online court records do not list an attorney for Driver.

The (Northwest Indiana) Times reports officers found “filthy cages full of animals covered in their own feces and urine” inside the store.

Porter County Animal Shelter Director Toni Bianchi says police removed about 100 animals from the store, including three dogs, two dozen lizards and a variety of other animals.