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Pro Exotics Fire!!!

They had Chad on another interview last night and the poor guy seems like he is oblivious to what happened. Im sure its gonna take a while for it to sink in. Luckily he does have a strong community helping him get through this and put things back together. They still arent sure what started the fire yet but hope to by today sometime
 
Such a great tragedy for the snakes and the business. My heart goes out the the owners. I've never met them, but I've been to their website many times. I do hope they have to fortitude to rebuild.
 
I saw that to and I don't know if it is so much oblivious as maybe denial or just major sensory over load. I am not sure between everything that is going on and the media he has really (well as of that interview) had time to sink in.
 
I think overload is about right. It's like the shock of a close family death, for a short while it does not seem real. Then when you try to go back to the normal routine everything changes.
 
I have said it before and I will gladly say it again. It is unfortunate, a tragedy in fact, but I was emphasizing the effect on the community as a whole. I also have said I don't sugar coat, never have and never will. I have expressed my condolences to Pro Exotics and I hope they can rebuild. I just mentioned teh morph because if you knew about Pro Exotics, you would know they are the ones producing most if not all of the super high-end Desert combos. Desert G-Stripe, Desert Pied, Super Tiger (Super Enchi Desert), and a variety of otyher awesome combos. They had the majority of the Desert stuff. A few people have the Enchi Deserts (Tiger), and some of the base stuff, but Pro Exotics really was cutting edge when it came to Deserts. Now all those animals are gone, or atleast assumed gone. It's a restart of all the years of projects. It is also assumed the female Deserts don't lay eggs, and that's another setback. Very unfortunate situation that wll effect the hobby for years to come.
 
What I said was not meant to be unsensitive, and I didn't intend to upset people. It was meant to explain possible set-backs to the herp community as a result.
 
Well, it is a fact that genes have been lost. We can hope that animals are out on breeding loan, or there are some offspring out there that can be used to rebuild. I'm sure the herp community will do all that they can to put the lost genetics back in Pro Exotics hands, to the extent that it is possible, if that is the direction they choose to go.
 
One of their FB posts says that they are keeping busy posting pics and doing TV interviews. I'd be keeping as busy as I could also. People have different ways to deal with a shock like this. For some people showing pain and grief is a very private matter and wanting to show a strong determination and stoicism to the outside world even while grieving is completely understandable to me. In picking up the pieces and moving on rather than dwelling on their losses they are setting a good example- I hope their survivng stock and hatchlings will be enough of a base to rebuild on.
 
I think what affects the herp community more than anything is seeing them lose so many animals, regardless of breed/morph. Regardless of "dollar value" or how rare they might be, those were living animals & it is horrible that so many perished in that devastating fire.

I agree that they are likely overwhelmed with the magnitude of loss, everything they have worked for, all those animals they produced, all gone.

The majority of the herp community is proving once again, that they are pulling together to help someone in need.
 
Has anyone heard how they are doing today? I would imagine that today has got to be rough now that the adrenalin has worn off and they are able to truly assist the situation.
 
My mind keeps coming back to this situation, I keep thinking of what all of those poor snakes went through. Poor animals. Poor owners. What a huge loss for everyone. :(

I worked for a reptile shop that burned down, and it was crushing...it was a much smaller operation and a much less serious fire, but it was still absolutely heartbreaking.
 
3,000 snakes. Wow. That's insane. I heard about this in school and broke down. You can see some of the snakes' bodies hanging out in the photos...*shudder*.

I hope that they get through it, though I am sure that there will be plenty of donations and support from the herp community. Speaking of donations, where can we donate?
 
Here is a post on fauna from Robyn:

http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1358469&postcount=24

Thank you all for the well wishes and support. It means so much to me, and our entire PE team.

It has been a rough couple of days. More remain ahead.

We met with insurance folks today. Just trying to get a basic understanding of what is covered. Things look good on that front, thankfully.

Our facility is in a warehouse/office district. Our space had offices up front, with 4500 sq ft of snakes in the warehouse. 8 snakes of nearly 3000 lived. It is a total loss, total devastation. With the smoke and water damage, everything has been lost. We tried to salvage some personal items today, but everything has been touched by fire, smoke, soot or water.

It is an older building, no sprinklers, and the landlord wasn't about to spend a million dollars to install them. No one envisioned such a tragedy was even possible.

We have another building across the parking lot housing our monitor lizards and rodent breeding. That is untouched. We are grateful.

I don't know what the future holds. There are months ahead just dealing with insurance folks. We DO have gap coverage that will help pay employee salaries and expenses, thank goodness.

I don't know that even with the graphic pics at facebook Pro Exotics, I don't know that folks understand the devastation.

There are NO cages left, we have no inventory left (20,000 temp guns melted, books, thermostats, etc. all ruined), we found 8 amazing survivors, but we have no cages to put them in (Sloan Reptiles are housing survivors locally for us). Phone system is dead, computers are all wet. There are no boxes to pack orders in, nor any tape to close the boxes. Total devastation, for real.

And it is just surreal. When I stop to rest, it starts to hit, and hard. The outpouring of support from the reptile community is amazing, uplifting, and just awesome. Thank you all, it means so much.

I can't get the smoke stink off of me, my clothes, or out of my car. But I am lucky. No people were hurt, and when I feel weak, the reptile community gives me strength. Super lucky. Thank you for the support, it means SO much.
__________________
Robyn Markland @ Pro Exotics, ShipYourReptiles.com and All Pro Shipping, Inc.
 
I'm all about helping them out, but for now I'm not donating anything. It sounds like their insurance is going to cover most of their losses. I think they may need fresh breeding stock in the future, though. All I have is an albino BP, but if he would work into any breeding plans, I'll happily let them have him.
 
Will insurance cover animals, though? I guess if you had it specifically set up that way. I remember seeing a large breeding set-up at someone's house once. I asked that person if he had insurance. He was like, are you kidding? My home owners insurance would probably cancel me if they knew the magnitude of snake breeding operation I had going on here. (It was extremely professional and well set-up and safe and organized). But in a business setting, maybe they insure animals.
 
If their legal business was breeding animals, such as horses or dogs or snakes, I bet they had an insurance policy that covered the loss of animals. I'm just shocked, disgusted actually, that they knew there weren't sprinklers in the building. No one expects a fire to happen, but it is a reality that should have been addressed as part of a business plan. I have to shake my head at that error on their part. I know the building's owner wasn't willing to put in the sprinkler system, but why have a business in a building without it? It doesn't make sense from a business standpoint. I'm not unsympathetic to what's happened, but the people at Pro Exotics had some responsibility to protect their animals and supplies by being in a building where there was a functional sprinkler system.
 
I was shocked that there were no sprinklers. Many areas require sprinkler systems in commercial properties. Heck, some new homes are required to have sprinkler systems.
I thought Colorado was one that required sprinkler systems in commercial buildings, unless is was older, & built before those codes were established. *shrug*

I am amazed at their positive outlook, & I know it has got to be devastating for them.

I wish them the best in getting the business rebuilt quickly.
 
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