The owner and an employee of Little Critter Pet Center pleaded guilty to animal-cruelty charges after a witness saw the employee release hamsters into the wild.

The owner, Anthony Canzano, 53, of Salem, and an employee, Marilyn Marquis, 56, of Deerfield, pleaded guilty to one count each of animal cruelty. Both had the $300 fine issued with the charge suspended conditional on good behavior.

The court also ordered $1,725 restitution be paid to the New Hampshire Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals for care of the animals.

The incident occurred in October 2004, when Marquis released three hamsters, one of which was pregnant, by a garbage bin behind the Raymond post office.

Animal Control Officer Tona McCarthy said a resident who witnessed the incident collected the hamsters in a box and followed Marquis back to the Little Critter Pet Center, located at 15 Freetown Road.

"I followed up and it was confirmed that she did work there," said McCarthy, adding Canzano was aware of Marquis’ actions.

State law prohibits the abandoning of any animal in captivity, household pet or wild animal without "proper provision for its care, sustenance, protection or shelter."

McCarthy said there were conflicting reports as to why the animals were being released, but said the bottom line is the animals were in custody and abandoned.

"(Canzano) told me he thought it was OK because they are rodents," he said. "But in the type of business he is in, I would assume he’d know it was a domesticated animal."

Several calls to Canzano’s office and stores in Raymond and Exeter were not returned before press time.

McCarthy said there is no way the animals would have survived in this Northeast climate in October.

"Not in that type of an environment," he said. "They’re a domesticated animal originally from desert areas and it was too cold."

Steve Sprowl, animal-cruelty investigator for the SPCA, said one of the hamsters had health problems and needed to be euthanized for reasons not connected to the charges. He did say the pregnant hamster gave birth to five healthy babies.

The hamsters will remain in SPCA custody as part of the court agreement, according to McCarthy.

McCarthy said Marquis and Canzano were originally charged with three counts of animal cruelty, but each had two counts dropped.

Little Critter Pet Center has stores in Exeter, Raymond and Littleton.

On April 26, 2001 a rare Japanese chin puppy was stolen from the Little Critters Pet Center in Raymond.  The 12-week-old pups value is about $800.  About a month later the dog was returned by the perpetrators neighbor who declined a $100 reward for the return of the dog.  The neighbors had overhead the man "brag that he'd stolen the puppy" from the pet store.  The store pursued charges against the man who stole the dog.

Update 1/31/08:

Jody McGuire, 34 of 5 Lemon Tree Court, Raymond was found guilty of a miscellaneous theft charge alleging that she tried to steal a kitten from the Little Critters Pet Center on Freetown Rd on October 13th.  She was fined $300.

Update 9/4/08:

Canzano sold the Little Critters Pet Center on Meadow St. in Littleton to the stores long-time manager Cindy Ann Carpinetti.  According to the Business Connection Inc. a business brokerage firm based in Gilford, NH, the terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Reference:

Seacoast newspapers

Rockingham News

Rockingham Police Log

The Union Leader