BP Station (Clearwater, Florida)

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Gas Station Dog Kicked Out by State
by Kristen Seymour (Subscribe to Kristen Seymour's posts)
Dec 4th 2009 @ 1:00PM Filed Under: Dogs, Pets News

If you happen to have driven through the BP gas station/convenience store on U.S. 19 and Nursery Road in Clearwater, Fla., you might have noticed something a bit unusual: A dog in a BP employee shirt pops up at the service window, reports the St. Petersburg (Florida) Times. Forget about service with a smile; this dog shows from the tip of his nose to the end of his tail how happy he is to see customers, and it hasn't gone unnoticed.

Karim Mansour, the store's owner, decided to bring his chocolate lab, Cody, in to work with him one day five months ago, and it's since become a habit. Mansour enjoys having his best friend at work with him, to be sure, but it's the customers who really benefit.

Things had been going fabulously: children giggled, adults took pictures with their cell phones, and people of all types broke into grins when greeted by the friendly pooch. Even those who come in angry, upset or crying find themselves drawn to Cody. "He calms them down," Mansour tells the Times. "Animals have the ability to soothe the human soul."

Fabulously, that is, until now.
Yesterday morning, a state health official issued Mansour a warning, saying that Cody has to go. Otherwise, all food products will be considered unfit for consumption, reports TampaBay.com. Mansour doesn't serve any fresh or hot foods, but because items like candy bars touch the counter, Cody can't be there.

Of course, Mansour had to sign the warning, and it was suggested he put Cody in a back room where there is no food. However, that's not really an option: "Cody would think he was being punished if I put him back there," Mansour told TampaBay.com.

Lest you think the state officials are just a bunch of bullies, Terence McElroy, Department of Agriculture spokesman, assured TampaBay.com that they're not. "We all love dogs. But the fact of the matter, as far as we're concerned, nothing's more important than preventing food contamination." Mansour himself says (video below) that previous health inspectors told him that it was fine to have Cody in the store since there was no food being prepared.

Mansour and his customers alike are, understandably, disappointed. For one, because Cody had been a boost to business. When this story first broke, Mansour said, "In a dog-eat-dog world, when our economy sucks and business is hard, you've got to find a way to stand out."

Ironically enough, the media attention that brought even more business and positive attention to this Florida convenience store dog could be the very reason Cody has been ousted. Mansour told TampaBay.com, "[Health Department supervisor Kevin Carroll] told me somebody up top said his boss saw it on the news," he said.