More often than not, the first face greeting customers at Nature’s Call pet shop is soft, fluffy, and downright adorable. Although Rollo — the free-range bunny that hops through the shop in downtown Hillsdale — started out as a caged rabbit, his containment didn’t last long.
“Like any animal, give them enough time and they’ll figure it out. He started hopping over the fence,” shop owner John Hatfield said. “But he was a good boy, so we didn’t get too worked up over it. People love to come in just to see Rollo running around in here.”
While Hatfield admitted to replacing a few chewed-up extension cords, he said the four-year-old bunny has become the shop’s “hilarious” pet, often throwing temper tantrums when he needs more attention. Luckily, Rollo gets plenty of attention while serving as the shop’s unofficial greeter.
In addition to Rollo, Hatfield said he couldn’t put a number on how many animals he houses at Nature’s Call, but running the pet shop has become a “non-stop around-the-clock job.”
“There are a lot of mouths to feed,” Hatfield said, referencing the 12-room reptile enclosure, birdcages in the back and front of the store, salt and freshwater aquariums lining the walls, and dozens of coops in between filled with degus, guinea pigs, and even spiders. The natural background noise — comprised of squeaks, squawks, and running water — complements the thick smell of cage fill and pet food wafting through the shop.
“I have a living inventory. At the end of the day I can’t just shut the lights off and leave,” Hatfield said.
Four years ago, Hatfield opened Nature’s Call as a one-man operation. After working as an automotive mechanic for nearly 22 years, Hatfield decided to turn his lifelong love for fish into a career, filling Hillsdale’s lack of a pet shop.
“If I had my druthers, I would be purely aquatic, but in this small town, being a new business, it takes everything in here to pay the bills,” Hatfield said. “I started on a shoestring budget, and there was tumbleweed in here when we first opened. Now, I’m having a hard time finding places to put stuff.”
Though Hatfield offers a variety of pets — ranging from finches to the occasional hedgehog — he takes plenty of criticism for not selling cats and dogs. Hatfield, however, insists that he had to draw the line somewhere.
“With any animal in here, it’s not enough to just have the animal,” Hatfield explained. “To do it properly, you’re going to have to sell the supplies to go along with it.”
Professor of Biology Anthony Swinehart, who put himself through college working at an aquarium store, has made himself available as a friend and advisor to Hillsdale’s varying pet shops over the years. According to Swinehart, Hatfield’s “huge heart” sets him apart from other pet shop owners.
“He’s done an outstanding job. He’s very conscientious — that’s probably the secret to his success,” Swinehart said. “John will not sell fish that come in sick or get sick, and that’s not the case for a lot of places. He does everything in his power to cure those fish — when I would probably flush them, he goes to great lengths to cure them.”
According to Hatfield, his customers range from beginning pet owners to hobbyists — people who have collected and cared for a certain kind of pet for several years. Hatfield said one of his biggest challenges as owner is trying to educate potential pet owners on how to select and care for their new critters.
“A lot of people see pets like fish for example as disposable pets,” Hatfield said. “But me — being the big softy that I am with a respect for life — I can’t look at them that way. It’s tough to try to navigate the ship for people to get them to come to the same conclusion on how things should be done.”
For an animal lover like Hatfield, combining his hobby with his business presents challenging choices as he weighs potential profit with what’s best for each animal.
“It’s a constant struggle figuring out which comes first, the animal’s welfare or the almighty dollar. This is a business after all,” Hatfield said.
Lifelong hobbyists like Swinehart, however, have a greater appreciation for pet shops in small towns.
“I wanted to make myself available to help because I wanted it to succeed. It’s not easy in a small town like this,” Swinehart said. “In this day and age of video games and social media, I think aquariums are a good healthy, humane hobby that fosters an appreciation for learning and discovery.”
Although Nature’s Call sits just miles from Hillsdale College, Hatfield said he has been hard-pressed to find pet owners among college students due to no-pet policies in dorms and on-campus housing.
Senior Kim Deichmann said she can’t have pets in her off-campus house, either, but she and her friends occasionally wander into Nature’s Call to get their animal fix.
“We’re deprived of our precious pets,” Deichmann said. “I have a cat back home, and from the time that I was eight until I was 18 I raised rabbits for shows and the county fair.”
Deichmann said she loves playing with the degus, and, of course, paying a visit to old Rollo.
“He’s super tame,” Deichmann said. “I can just reach down and pick the thing up. He is adorable.”