Sunday, May 15, 2005
 
Headline Versus Reality Dissonance
Shrieking headline: Animals in abandoned pet shop are discovered in squalid conditions.

Lead:
    The Department of Agriculture is caring for 206 animals living at the Pampered Pets store in Alton Square mall while the shop's ownership is resolved in court.

    Management at Alton Square mall learned this week just how messy a business breakdown can be when pets are the merchandise.

    Matthew and Jessica Buckingham, the owners of the Pampered Pets store on the mall's second floor, defaulted on a loan and abandoned the store, said Jeff Squibb, a spokesman for the Illinois Department of Agriculture. The agency regulates such businesses.
My dog, man! How long were those animals living in abandoned squalor?
    When the store did not open for business on Thursday, mall officials notified Alton authorities.

    "We arrived and found horrible conditions," said James Greer, Alton assistant chief of animal control. "When animals are unattended like that, even for a short time, things get filthy fast."
It sounds like the officials were confronted with the same amount of mess that pet store employees confront every morning, and the facts in the story imply that Thursday was the first day the store hadn't opened. The story, on the other hand, uses the appropriate words to imply the opposite.


- posted by Brian J. @ 10:11 AM
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