[ballerturfali]

Sad news for this pet store which lost most of it's animals due to a fire. I hope they can rebuild - fire is one of the things I am always afraid of when it comes to my pets. What a heartbreaking situation

AN electrical fault has been blamed for a fire which killed hundreds of animals, birds and fish at Cramlington’s Animal Tracks pet shop on Sunday.

The store, within the Azure Garden Centre in Station Road, was destroyed as fire swept through it, leaving almost all the birds, rabbits, guinea pigs, reptiles and fish inside dead.

Partners Helen Edwards and Jason Seymour only opened the store last year, eight years after launching their first store in Ashington.

It was just two days away from reaching its second birthday when it was engulfed by flames.

Helen told the News Post Leader: “We got a call from the garden centre at 8.30am to say there had been a horrific fire.

“Nothing could have prepared us for what we saw when we got there. It was complete devastation. There was nothing left.

“The firemen were still on site, but we couldn’t go in. We were waiting to see whether we could get to any of the animals.

“A couple of the reptiles had escaped, so we rescued them.

“After three hours, they allowed us to go in. We had to rescue the fish by torch light, wading through the water.

“We lost all our birds, rabbits guinea pigs, snakes and spiders.

“Of the 1,200 to 1,500 fish, we saved maybe five per cent.

“Not counting the fish, we lost around 50 animals. More in news story: http://www.newspostleader.co.uk/news...shop-1-4617201