Owner of closed Roy’s Aquarium says he is moving to new Beaufort location

Two weeks after more than 1,000 animals were confiscated from his shop after a Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office investigation into allegations of neglect and unsanitary conditions, Roy Rivers, owner of Roy’s Aquarium, said Wednesday he is moving his pet shop to a new location in Beaufort.

Supplies such as fish tanks and boxes of fish food lined the walls of the future business at 1285 Ribaut Road on Wednesday. The sound of a bird chirping floated through the locked door of the shop, less than a mile away from the old store.

Tallulah Trice, Beaufort County Animal Services director, said Wednesday she was aware the owner had a new business in the county.

“We will monitor them regularly,” Trice said.

While animals such as rodents, reptiles, fish and birds were confiscated from the location following the investigation that started July 18, no one has been charged.

Capt. Bob Bromage, Sheriffs Office spokesperson, said Wednesday that the investigation is ongoing and charges are still being evaluated.

The state does not have laws that prohibit people from owning or selling animals even if that person is convicted of neglect or animal cruelty, said Wayne Brennessel, executive director of the Columbia Humane Society.

Brennessel said it is possible that, if someone was convicted of a crime, the county could place prohibitions on the ownership or selling of pets during the sentencing process.

“That has happened in other communities,” Brennessel said. “I don’t know how effective it has been, because someone can move across county lines and still open up a shop.”

On Wednesday, Rivers sat in a chair outside the Roy’s Aquarium location he opened 51 years ago, the shop Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office deputies spent days removing animals from last month. He couldn’t give a timeline for when he would open the new store.

He also refused to comment on the confiscation of his animals and allegations of neglect.

“I don’t want to cause problems,” Rivers said.

Records show that Beaufort County Animal Services has received complaints about conditions at Roy’s Aquarium for years. Trice previously said each complaint was addressed and fixed by Rivers.

Those filing the complaints made allegations such as a dead turtle decomposing in an aquarium and an overwhelming urine smell along with overall dirty conditions for fish, snakes, lizards and rodents.

Trice has said that ammonia was at toxic levels at the time the animals were taken from the pet shop.

Rivers didn’t talk about the allegations Wednesday. Instead he talked about how he started in the business. As a pair of cats weaved in and out of his legs, he said it started as a hobby while he lived in New York City. The hobby inspired the business that he opened on Ribaut Road, Rivers said.

Rivers’ conversation bounced from the growing of Beaufort, to his steel-worker days, to the people he has refused to sell animals to.

The money wasn’t worth selling to someone who couldn’t take care of the animals, Rivers said.

This story was originally published August 2, 2017 at 9:46 AM with the headline "Owner of closed Roy’s Aquarium says he is moving to new Beaufort location."