Pet Park to Perish

Saturday, June 28, 2003 12:00AM EDT

Fairgrounds pet park to perish

By MELISSA DRAPER, Staff Writer

RALEIGH -- Rabbitry is no gold mine, but retirees Vaden and Iris Lucas of
Faison have made it their business for 20 years. The couple's long-eared,
whiskered wares fetch $15 each -- while eliciting endless oohs and ahhs --
at the State Fairgrounds flea market on weekends. Vaden Lucas said the
$10,000 a year in bunny money makes ends meet, and the interaction with
customers keeps him energized.

But a new flea market management contract to be approved Tuesday by the
Council of State will force the Lucases and scores of animal breeders
statewide to peddle their pets elsewhere. Senior state Agriculture
Department officials made the change for reasons including pet
overpopulation and complaints about conditions for animals at the flea
market. The change goes into effect when the flea market resumes the second
weekend in November, after the State Fair ends.

"It's going to put a lot of people out of business. My father-in-law has
been selling out here for 15 years," said Leslie Denton of Fuquay-Varina,
who on Sunday was selling a $600 Yorkshire terrier and $150 black Labrador
retriever puppies for her husband's father, James Denton.

Iris Lucas said that losing the so-called pet park, which is usually mobbed
with people cooing over everything from kittens to bulldogs, will affect
more than the pocketbooks of the breeders, who pay $16 a day for a space. "A
lot of people come out there just to see the pets, and of course in the
process, they usually look around ... and buy something. So it's going to
hurt the general flea market bad," she said.

The pet park -- which includes anywhere from two to two dozen breeders each
weekend -- is so popular that its absence will hurt attendance, agreed Joan
Long of Carolina Flea Markets. Her company has overseen the fairgrounds flea
market for 13 years and won the contract for five more. It doesn't get a cut
of proceeds from pet sales.

Animal oversupply

"It's really going to be sad because it's such a happy place when you see
the faces on the kids or the older people," Long said. Wesley Wyatt, manager
of the State Fair, said officials did consider the economic impact of the
change, but the reasons for closing the pet park won out.

"There are a lot of animals at the animal shelter that are waiting for
homes," he said. "We didn't want to necessarily encourage the intentional
breeding of animals when there's such an oversupply of animals at the
shelter." But shoppers like Gina Lipscomb of Raleigh think it should be up
to them where they buy their four-footed companions.

"I don't think that that's right because I come out here all the time. I
bring my children," Lipscomb said. "At the animal shelter, they don't have
the choice in pets we want." She and her children are researching dog breeds
this summer before deciding on one.

People who do the opposite -- impulse buy -- are another reason the pet park
is closing. Agriculture officials don't want to promote rash
decision-making, Wyatt said.

Precarious conditions

Officials also cite complaints about the conditions for pets at the flea
market. There is no permanent structure to house the animals, so vendors
sell them in an open alcove between gates 1 and 2, off Blue Ridge Road.

State veterinarian David Marshall said that each year, a few people call him
and say the pets are too hot, too cold or sitting in cramped cages. He also
recommended that the park be closed and said it had nothing to do with
worries about animal diseases.

Carolina Flea Markets has established guidelines in recent years that
require breeders to provide shade and water for their animals and to close
up shop when the temperature reaches 90 degrees or dips below 35 degrees. It
also has stringent rules about the animals that can be sold on the property.
They must be of a certain age, have records of all vaccinations and come
with health guarantees.

"They toe the line pretty straight up there," said James Denton, a retired
Baptist minister who started selling dogs at the flea market 15 years ago.
"Most of these breeders, people who have been there for a while, do look
after the dogs. Stands to reason -- if they don't, they won't be in business
long."

He doesn't know yet where he'll sell his dogs when the flea market pet park
closes, nor does Vaden Lucas know what he'll do with all his rabbits. They
could go to other flea markets that aren't on state-owned property, but
breeders say the fairgrounds gets the most traffic and has the best setup.
Lucas hasn't sold his rabbits anywhere else. "We would love to still sell
them there, very much," he said.

Staff writer Melissa Draper can be reached at 829-4951 or
mdraper.DeleteThis@newsobserver.com.