Fire Kills Many Animals at Pet Store

Dozens of hamsters, puppies and exotic birds died Friday morning in a fire that spread to the pet store where they were kept in a Hyde Park strip mall, authorities said.

Firefighters were able to revive a handful of the puppies using oxygen masks, Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Jim Wells said.

“One poor little puppy taken out didn’t make it,” Wells said. “But right beside it was another little puppy receiving oxygen--his little tail just a-wagging.”

The fire began about 1:10 a.m. Friday in a furniture-making shop next to R&T; Pet & Feed Enterprise on Western Avenue, Wells said.

It took 70 firefighters half an hour to contain the blaze, which killed four puppies and dozens of birds and hamsters.

The two businesses suffered a total of about $50,000 in structural damage, Wells said, and lost about $10,000 worth of contents. An adjacent church suffered minor smoke damage. The cause of the fire remained under investigation, Wells said.