TV and YouTube made Norbert Zajac a minor celebrity, but for animal rights activists he was a stimulus figure: the Duisburg entrepreneur, who ran the world's largest pet shop, died unexpectedly at the age of 67.
The owner of the world's largest pet shop, Norbert Zajac, is dead. He died suddenly on Tuesday at the age of 67, his company in Duisburg confirmed. With his Internet videos about everyday and exotic animals, Zajac had become a cult among animal lovers - almost 300,000 subscribers followed his YouTube channel. TV crews repeatedly accompanied him for reports and docusoaps through his 13,000 square meter shop in the north of Duisburg, which is in the Guinness Book of Records as the largest pet shop.
For animal rights activists, however, Zajac was an attractive figure because, among other things, he also sold rare exotic animals and puppies. Zajac gives some people the feeling that they can simply keep extraordinary animals in the living room, criticized the German Animal Welfare Association. Norbert Zajac had vehemently rejected this and emphasized that special animals would only be sold after detailed advice. Most recently, dog trainer Martin Rütter called for a boycott of the sale of puppies at Zoo Zajac and criticized keeping puppies in the shop as "psycho-terror for dogs".
Zoo Zajac says it sells 3,000 different species of animals, and around 250,000 animals live in the sales halls. The business will now be continued by Norbert Zajac's wife, the company said.
