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Community Corner

Exotic Pets Reunited with Their Owner

Tim Moore, 18, received the animals Thursday after a fire in his Bridgeville home.

After days of wondering which exotic pets survived a fire inside his Bridgeville home last Saturday, Tim Moore finally was reunited with his animals.

Not all survived when the fire broke out in the back bedroom of his family’s Liberty Street home, but .

Dan Callow, an animal expert from Washington County, was called by firefighters to shelter the pets and aid in their rescue. The cold temperatures Saturday night left him and his team working quickly to save the creatures from the elements.

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"It's the first time we've had these types. We didn't know what some of them were,” Callow said. “But it was clear that all the animals were well cared for."

Over the next few days, Callow and his family diligently tended the animals, setting shifts to feed and monitor them. Callow received permission from Bridgeville police to return the animals on Thursday. Until then, Moore did not know which animals had perished, although most had survived.

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“The support my family has gotten because of the fire has been amazing,” Moore said. “I just wish people would realize, though, that I did everything legally for my animals."

The blaze raised questions in the borough regarding zoning rules, but as long as he did not cross state line with them or release them into the wild.

Now that Moore, 18, found his animals, he is finding places to temporarily care for them while he his family are focus on rebuilding their lives. The Moore family is no stranger to tragedy after they lost everything to Hurricane Katrina while living in Louisiana in 2005. They moved to Pennsylvania shortly after the storm.

"Most people sit and feel sorry for themselves when tragedy happens,” Moore said. “You can do that or you can do something about it. I won't just sit and do nothing.”

Moore gave a lizard and snake to Callow as a way to express his gratitude for caring for the animals. Meanwhile, Burton's Pet Supply store in the Chartiers Valley Shopping Center has allowed Moore to keep some of his animals there. Moore, who is an employee at the store, must maintain the animals' financial needs on his own.

"They can give them a better home than I can right now,” he said.

Moore became interested in animals at a young age, watching "The Crocodile Hunter" years ago. Despite his mother being fearful of snakes, she allowed him to have one that fostered his love and knowledge of them.

Throughout his childhood, he educated himself through books, websites and reptile expos. Moore's life's ambition is to be a herpetologist, which studies reptile and amphibians.

Moore’s senior project at Chartiers Valley High School was to breed several snakes for genetic traits. Unfortunately, the female being used to breed did not survive the fire.

Still, he plans to share his knowledge with others, especially friends just starting out, in learning about these misunderstood creatures.

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