Page 8, Thursday, November 25th, 1971, WHITBY FREE PRESS Help, There Are Crocodiles in Downtown Whitby! -by lm Quail Crocodiles ? It's true, and there are some pirhana fish as well. You'll find them along with as many other species of animals, f is h and birds at Aquaria iife, Pet and Poodle Supplies on Brock Street, just south of the four corners. Treddie' the monkey When you walk in the door it sounds like amini zoo with "Freddie" the mon- k e y doing her d a r n dest to outyell all the others. Even if Freddie didn't yell she is usually the centre of attention. But let's not forget the humans who run the store. It is co-owned by Terry Sims andhe and hi s wife, Anne, run the s tor e with help from Patt Wilson who clips the poodies. Some time ago, Terry and Anne dec- ided they wanted to own a pet store and so, according to Terry, "I chose Vhitby because it needed a pet shop. " I t w a s n ' t that easy however. New tenants in old buildings usually discov- er they are required to do a lot of up- dating to the building in order to start a b u s i n e s s. Even the installation of doors that swing outward, as required by the fire department, meant a stagger- i n g amount o f renovation and the cost washigh. Wiring had to be updated and the floor had to be strengthened for the fish tanks. Te r r y Si ms found the regulations stringent andhe felit they were strongly enforced. He suggested that this reason and lack of support was endangering the downtown core as a good place for mer- c h an t s to settle and for customers to shop. Poorly impressed with merchant meeting Terry recently attended a meeting of t h e Downtown Merc h ants Association and explained, "The number of people thereand the amountof support they had was nil. "He went on to say, "The local merchants are not sufficiently interes- ted, but there are exceptions to that."I Gradually the work was finished and four months ago the store opened. Anne Sims isglad they picked Whitby and ex- plained, "In Whitby it isn't too fast, and it's quiet. " Along w i t h the n e w store fixtures c am e Fred d ie, a cute Spider monkey from South America. Freddie is a year old and just as mischievous as any three y ea r olId cbild. Local school classes have often been down to the store to see Freddie and ber friends and one student fromnKing Street School drew a picture of Freddie and the pet shop. The picture is presently on the wall of the store. Like ail spider monkey s Freddie is "firlyhardy", according to Terry and she eats monkey chow, fruits and vita- mins. She drinks only water, but bas a yen for soda pop and candy. Just like an y s m ail child Freddie cannot drink WHITBY-HARRISON 9 FUELS LIMITED "Your TEXACO Dealer" 211 Brock St. S. Phone: 668-361os p o p or h a v e sweets because they are bad for her. The life span of a spider monkey is un d e t e r m ined because most die pre- maturely from pneumonia or colds, and they suffer from most human complaints. As Terry pointed out, "You have to t r e a t it as a child. " Freddie is out of her cage off and on ail day and rumour ha s it that s h e has been known to get into mischief in the store. Needless to say, Freddie is a good advertising pro- motion for Aquaria Life and she is not sale. There are many other creatures for sale such as: dogs, cats, fish, croco- d i l e s , g e r bils, hamsters, King Roo rats, budgies, canaries, African frogs and even pirhana fish. Fish - large & smail The store novv has 59 tanks and they will gradually increase until there are 80 ail told. The fish range in price from I9(:for a gold fish to $ 37. 50 for a large tropical fi sh cal led an "Oscar ". As welli a s fish, there are two 40-gallon tanks stocked with tropical plants. Terry takes great pains to look af- ter the fish and said, "We restock this fi sh room at least once a week, some- times twice. ""Our losses are less than o n e p e r cent. " He added, "We do en- deavour to sell healthy pets of all des- criptions. " There are over 100 species of fish in thestoreand suchoddfish as: anAfrican butterfl y fish, Orange Gourmais, Saddle Cichlids, Puffers and a very rare fish calledaGobie. To keep the fish in good condition, TerrySimshasinvestedover $1000 in a compressor, water softener and other miscellaneous equipment. The store sellstanksfrom 21 gallons to a mon ster l00-gallon tank which couldbeused as a room divider. Terry packages his own pet foods and gravels Sand t he s av ings are passed onto the customer. As well as selling fish, the s tore has an outside aquarium service for hospitals, doctors's offices, res- taurants and homes. President of The Social Keys Club, Andrew Rankine, presents Administrator of the Dr. Ruddy General Hospital, R. A. C. Renny with acheque for anexamination table at the club's English Pub Night. The Social Keys Club, formerly the Royal Arch Masons, raises funds in the community for worthwhile projects. 'OLD TYMER' TO RETURN NEXT WEEK Anne with the mischievous 'Freddie' Pet grooming Another service found in the store is pet grooming. Patt Wilson looks after th is department which could be accor- ding to Terry, "Grooming anything from St. Bernardsdown to poodles, monkeys and cats. " When a customer brings a poodle to the grooming room it is first given a rough clipping. Then it is given a bath an d dried with a commercial drier and brushed whi le the dry ing is tak ing pl ace. The final step i s another cl ipping and, if n e e d e d , the nails are cut. The store ai so provides flea bathing for dogs and cats. Te r r y d i splayed a style book and said, "We do most of the standard cuts on dogs. "The most popular is the Town andCountry on poodles.I The grooming room is disinfected every day to protect the customers' pets and is open six days a week with Saturday reserved for ap- pointments only. Aquaria Life is open 10-9 Monday to Thur sday, Friday 10-10and 9 to 6 on Saturdays. lfyould like to visit a mini zoo, drop around. Freddie the monkey would love to se e y ou and who knows, you might fall in love with one of those cute pup- ies.