Dozens of animals were saved from a Perth pet store after a blaze in the early hours of Saturday morning.
Emergency services rushed to St Catharine’s retail park in Perth shortly after 2am and found the B&M store well ablaze.
There were initial fears that the fire could spread to the neighbouring Pets at Home store, which also houses a Vets4Pets surgery.
A source said that when firefighters eventually gained access to the pet store it was filled with smoke. In a post online Vets4Pets said the animals had suffered minimal effects due to fans within their housing.
More than 50 firefighters worked through the night to contain the fire, with 10 appliances and three aerial platforms sent to the scene.
A police spokesman said there was 30 animals in the store at the time and a spokesman for Pets at Home said all animals except the fish had been safely removed from the store.
The animals were taken to other stores to be checked over. There were no animals staying in the vets surgery overnight.
A Pets at Home spokesman said: “We can confirm that due to a fire on the retail park and on the advice of the emergency services, we evacuated our Perth store.
“The pets were taken to other local stores for health checks and will remain there for now.
“Sadly our fish remain in store and we will work closely with the emergency services to get to them as soon as possible.”
https://www.facebook.com/liesofanangelxx/videos/10162173966530524/
Police Scotland has now launched an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the fire.
Detective Inspector Jennifer Reid said: “Our enquiries into this incident are at an early stage and we are working closely with the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service to establish the full circumstances.
“Around 30 animals have now been evacuated from Pets at Home and the majority of the Retail Park has now reopened.
“I would urge anyone who has information to contact us and would like to thank the businesses at St Catherine’s for their support.”
A spokeswoman for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service said: “More than 50 firefighters tackled a fire within a large commercial unit in St Catherine’s Retail Park, Perth.
“We were alerted at 2.13am on Saturday after reports of an alarm activation and mobilised a number of resources to the scene.
“On arrival firefighters encountered a large, well-developed fire and 10 appliances and three aerial appliances were on scene.”
