150 dogs burn to death in pet shop fire

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http://mdn.mainichi.co.jp/news/20050302p2a00m0dm004000c.html

 

150 dogs burn to death in pet shop fire

 

TOKUSHIMA -- About 150 dogs at a pet shop here burned

to death after a fire broke out, razing three floors

of the building they were in, police said.

 

Police said the blaze broke out at Tokyo Pet House in

Tokushima at about 2 p.m. on Tuesday, engulfing the

second, third, and fourth floors of the four-story

building.

 

About 150 dogs that were in the building, including

Chihuahuas, spitzes, shih tzus and other breeds,

burned to death in the fire.

 

The manager of the store and three female employees

were in the store when the fire broke out, but two of

them managed to escape by themselves and the other two

were rescued. All of them were treated for light smoke

inhalation.

 

Tokushima prefectural police officials said 175 dogs

had been kept behind wire mesh doors on all floors of

the store. About 10 dogs on the first floor escaped

unharmed, while about 10 others on other floors

appeared to have made it out of the store by

themselves.

 

Police said the fire appeared to have broken out from

the office on the second floor of the building. They

are continuing to investigate the cause of the blaze.

 

A 70-year-old man living near the store described the

fire.

 

" Flames came out of the window on the third floor of

the building, and I heard the frantic barking of dogs,

then several of them ran out of the building from the

emergency exit. "

 

Another resident found a dog from the store that had

been burned.

 

" It's hair was smoldering, so I caught it and cut it

with a pair of scissors, " the man said.

 

The store where the fire broke out was located about 4

kilometers northeast of JR Tokushima Station.

(Mainichi Shimbun, Japan, March 2, 2005)