19 minute read
Cover: Petland
Sick puppies
Petland Waterford Lakes has a history of selling unhealthy, even dying, dogs. Even after a lawsuit from the state and a ban from the county, there’s no guarantee the suffering will end.
BY AVA LOOMAR
HIDDEN in the back room, a puppy’s body shuddered on the cool metal lid of a washing machine. The shih tzu was only a few weeks old. It almost looked like a stuffed animal with soft fur and a cute, squashed snout. It was prime puppy-selling age. But it was too skinny. Too weak. Too sick. Shih tzus are already prone to breathing problems — a side effect of centuries of inbreeding — but this one struggled to squeeze air into lungs the size of a baby’s fist.
The kennel technicians guessed it had an upper respiratory infection, but nothing was listed on its signed health certificate. Whatever out-of-state breeder it had come from clearly didn’t care for it. And now, only days after arriving at the Petland in Orlando’s Waterford Lakes, the shih tzu puppy was dying. It didn’t yet have a name.
Five kennel technicians tried to keep the puppy alive. A more experienced tech put her lips on the puppy’s snout: Blow. Pump. Blow. Pump. Blow. Pump.
It was too late for CPR; the tiny shih tzu needed a veterinarian. But the owners of the store didn’t like sending their puppies off-site unless absolutely necessary, former employees said. An older kennel technician pushed a new hire out of the room. The young woman, a mid-20s Orlandoan, hurried home from the store, images of the puppy’s crumpled body burning her eyelids.
The next day, the shih tzu was gone. The new employee approached the kennel manager. “What happened to the puppy?” she asked, scared she would hear that it died.
It went to the vet, the kennel tech replied. She shouldn’t worry: “This is not common here.”
The puppy never came back to the store.
Over the next five years she spent working there, the young woman realized that her first day was emblematic of her entire Petland experience. She had naively thought the store she worked in would be a wholesome place where animals, staff and customers were all happy. Today, after arrest threats, harassment, racism and trauma-based insomnia, she thinks she was very wrong indeed.
MIDSUMMER 2021: The Orange County Board of Commissioners sat on the dais before a color-coded crowd, wearing red T-shirts emblazoned “Save Our Pet Stores” or yellow ones reading “Vote Yes for Puppies!” The open session was in its fifth hour, and Mayor Jerry Demings already looked tired. The real debate — the one that had dozens of attendees overflowing into the lobby — was about to begin.
The ordinance, first brought to the commission in 2018, would prohibit the retail sale of dogs, cats and rabbits in pet stores in Orange County. According to research from the Humane Society of the United States’ Stop Puppy Mills campaign, there are 10,000 dog breeding facilities in the U.S. [continued on page 18]
Less than a fourth of those are licensed by the USDA and therefore subject to (arguably too limited) regulations. Over 200,000 dogs are kept in these facilities for the sole purpose of breeding, and every year, over 2.5 million puppies are sold from licensed and unlicensed facilities. Similar operations exist for both kittens and rabbits.
In 2020, Humane Society undercover investigations revealed that of the eight commercial pet stores in Orange County, five imported over 2,000 puppies and kittens from 16 different mills. Within the same year, 149 complaints were made about Orange County commercial pet sellers between the Better Business Bureau, Orange County Animal Services, the Humane Society and Yelp reviews. Almost 60 percent of complaints regarded sick pets. In 19, the pets died.
If the ordinance passed that summer day, stores would have a one-year grace period to cease the sale of the prohibited animals. To ensure they met health and safety standards, stores would be required to present documentation for the source of each puppy sold. If the ordinance failed, the status quo would continue.
“Mayor, we have 53 speaker cards today,” the planning administrator replied, “some of which are receiving time from other members of the audience.” Demings peered at him over his glasses, mouth a straight line. Two minutes per speaker then.
One by one, the yellow- and red-shirted attendees pleaded with commissioners.
Pet store owners and a few of their employees argued that the ban would effectively shut down their regulated businesses, lead to the proliferation of unregulated backyard breeders and ensure even more suffering for the animals everyone wants to protect. None of the red-shirts had seen any evidence that their respective pet stores source dogs from puppy mills, they said, and all insisted their goal was making families happy.
Puppies get sick, “like babies,” Petland corporate representative Elizabeth Kunzelman said, but they get vet checks and there’s a Puppy Lemon Law in Florida. With thousands of shelter dogs euthanized every year, other speakers questioned, are shelters really any better than commercial pet stores?
But animal activists and shelter and rescue employees begged commissioners to consider morality instead of economics. They told stories of sick puppies, unsocialized pets and female dogs who were impregnated every time they went into heat. Besides, the yellow-shirts asked, why couldn’t the pet stores move to a food and service-based model, like most other major chains?
No matter which way the vote went, the speakers made clear that this issue was personal. Someone was sure to be unhappy.
Commissioner Emily Bonilla, an animal advocate who had been attacked for her pro-ban position before the hearing, suggested that pet stores had donated to certain commissioners’ campaigns and attempted to “control and manipulate” the whole process. (Mayor Demings, she told Orlando Weekly later, is backed by the Southern Group, a political consulting company that also lobbies for Petland.)
Across the dais, Commissioner Nicole Wilson informed the room that the USDA, which regulates puppy mills, is grossly understaffed and doesn’t have the ability to enforce regulations the way pet stores suggest they do. While the Orange County Commission can’t make laws on puppy mills in Missouri, “any criminal enterprise is only fueled by a supply and demand,” she said, “and if we are … allowing a place for them to be shipped and to be distributed, then we’re a part of that.”
The roll call vote came down to a tie-breaker.
Commissioner Bonilla: Yes. Commissioner Wilson: Yes. Commissioner Christine Moore: No. Commissioner Mayra Uribe: Yes. Commissioner Victoria Siplin: No. Mayor Demings: No. Commissioner Maribel Gomez Cordero wasn’t sure.
“We do have work-force training for your cousins to try to find alternative work,” Bonilla said quietly from the side.
“Stop, stop,” Siplin jumped in, “don’t insult people.” Gomez Cordero nodded, jaw tight.
“It’s aye or no,” Demings said.
After hours of deliberation, the motion had passed. The sale of dogs, cats and rabbits was no longer allowed within Orange County. After a one-year grace period, pet stores in county lines would have to change their business model or close.
To those opposed to pet stores, including the young woman from the beginning of our story and some of her Petland colleagues, the ban was a win, but not a cure-all. Hours of emotional testimony had just barely convinced seven county officials to pass the ordinance. Who would believe them if they exposed what happened behind closed doors?
PETLAND’S BUSINESS SEEMS MAGICAL:
healthy dogs from safe breeders, pristine animal welfare, growing families who cuddle new furry friends. But behind the curtain, water leaks out of broken plumbing, and black mold festers in the employees-only bathroom. Ceilings checkerboarded with missing tiles reveal faulty ventilation for months without attention. Puppies crowd unsanitary kennels, and maggots squirm at the bottom of long-expired dog treats.
Every week, puppies arrive in boiling-hot metal trucks, bulk-ordered for a discount like Costco canned goods.
John Goodman, an investigator with the Humane Society, said they found that almost all puppies in commercial puppy stores like Petland come from
Every week, puppies arrive commercial dog breeders, in boiling-hot metal trucks, colloquially known as “puppy mills.” A commercial breeder, by bulk-ordered at a discount like canned goods. USDA standards, has five or more breeding female dogs and sells to customers sight unseen, meaning they either sell online, to brokers who deal with pet stores or to pet stores directly. But it’s never just five. Usually, Goodman said, mills average around 70 dogs, but there are several with hundreds of dogs, a few in Kansas with thousands. These bigger operations thrive in states like Missouri, Indiana, Kansas, Iowa and Arkansas that have limited local regulation. The Animal Welfare Act, enforced by the USDA, requires commercial breeders to meet minimum standards of care, and while some states do have more regulation, “minimum” is the operative word there. “You can keep a dog in a cage that’s only six inches longer than her body for her life,” Goodman said. “She might stand on wire flooring with her paws never touching a blade of grass.” Breeders can stack cages one on top of another, creating teetering towers of crates to maximize barn space. Ammonia from puppy urine circulates through the air. Female dogs will breed every time they go into heat, for six or seven years, and then be discarded. Though breeders are supposed to give their animals veterinary care, Goodman said his investigations often find deficiencies in that area. Few disagree that puppy mills are inhumane, but no store will admit to buying from them. Petland displays binders in each playroom to show customers they use reputable breeders, but former employees said the pictures are a fairytale. Franchise owners only visit breeders for a short period of time on a corporate trip, former employees said. According to former employees and Humane Society research, Petland Waterford Lakes buys from breeders that don’t appear in the picture books. Some are JAKS Puppies, an Iowa puppy broker that created shell rescues to illegally transfer hundreds of puppies; Blue Ribbon Puppies, an Indiana mill linked to a major multi-drug resistant disease outbreak; and KNE Kennels, an Iowa mill where investigators found fire piles of dog bones. While some of the more expensive breeds, like French bulldogs, are sold for around $700, former employees said the store purchased most of their puppies for around $200. The lower the cost, the larger the profit — Economics 101, applied to man’s best friend. Crammed into the back of a truck, the puppies cross state lines through middlemen like Puppy Travelers, a conglomerate of regional USDA-licensed pet transportation companies. In 2015, nine puppies died after overheating in one of Puppy Travelers’ trucks, as the company had no employee overseeing the animals when the vehicle’s air conditioning malfunctioned. Three years later, Lee County Animal Services seized 24 puppies as they were dropped off at a Fort Myers Petland after investigators found 127 puppies “crowded in cages full of feces and urine without any water.” Petland Waterford Lakes still uses Pet Travelers, as well as JAKS Puppies’ transportation affiliate, JPC Transport, employees said.
Alexa Abitabilo and Odin, her Petland-purchased puppy
When puppies arrive, many have missing toes or green pus clouding eyes red with infection. Others have scabby, unraveling, haphazard stitches, sharp rib cages poking through flea-ridden fur, even blistering cigarette burns. Some puppies’ pedigrees list inbred parents — an aunt who’s also a grandmother, a father who’s also a brother. Some have no documentation at all.
There are too many animals to fit in the store’s retail enclosures. There are 24 windows customers can see, each with three to five puppies. But there are more cages in the back, holding puppies who are too young or too sick for customers to buy. Employees said the store usually has over 150 dogs at one time.
Most puppies don’t see the sun after the day they enter the store. Only bigger dogs get an occasional stroll with the kennel techs. Inside their glass cages, their hips and legs often grow weak from lack of exercise. When customers play with them, their bursting excitement at their momentary freedom gets mistaken for hyperactivity. Families don’t want to buy needy, unsocialized dogs.
When vets come in each week, they have one to two minutes with each puppy in the store. There’s too much ground to cover. Employees say the owners sometimes question the vets’ medical opinions.
When a customer went to the register, they would receive the puppy’s pedigree (if it existed), its vet-signed health certificates and information on how to care for its specific breed. Missing: documentation of any off-site veterinary care. In Orange County, health certificates and rabies documentation are the only documentation required.
Diseases in kennels are common and deadly — from kennel cough to campylobacter, giardia and parvovirus. All require quarantine and veterinary care, both things employees said the owners of the Waterford Lakes store resisted or hesitated to do.
In 2019, a campylobacter outbreak spread through the Southeast, ripping through commercial pet sellers. Hundreds of puppies and dozens of humans contracted it, including six Petland Waterford Lakes employees.
The same year, parvovirus — a disease so contagious and damaging that veterinarians recommend never selling a dog that has contracted it — crept through the kennel. Puppies slept all day as the disease spread through their bodies, leaving them lethargic shells. Their stool became black tar, followed by red blood. Then the puppies stopped eating. Upon losing their appetite, some puppies went to the vet, who confirmed their illness. But there wasn’t enough room to quarantine them at the store.
The outbreaks occurred repeatedly, employees said.
Staff put up glass barriers, attempting to isolate the sick puppies from the healthy ones. In the most recent outbreak, this February, one barrier fell and crushed a puppy.
Employees said they’ll never forget the smell: a nauseous perfume of black mold, blood, diarrhea and the sickly-sweet stench of parvovirus.
THE HUMAN COST: In 2019, Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody opened a class action lawsuit against Petland Waterford Lakes for allegedly selling customers sick puppies and engaging in predatory lending practices. [continued on page 21]
Her investigation revealed that out of the 19 puppies mentioned in complaints, six died from contagious illnesses or genetic disorders soon after being sold; six were determined to be unfit for purchase by licensed veterinarians; five had congenital or hereditary issues, and three were not the presented breed or breed quality. New families received puppies that had canine parvovirus, canine coronavirus, giardia, coccidia, bacterial pneumonia and intestinal deformities, not to mention some with eye defects, lung deformities, as well as congenital and hereditary disorders including eye defects, blindness, different-sized lungs, hip dysplasia, and heart and esophagus issues.
The lawsuit claimed that Ben and Geoff Hoofnagle, the owners of Petland Waterford Lakes, formulated, directed, controlled, had the authority to control, and directly participated in unfair and deceptive acts and practice. The brothers lured misinformed buyers in, said the suit, with “a scheme to misrepresent” their puppies as highquality and healthy while in fact sourcing them from puppy mills. By adding unwanted goods and services to the puppies’ bills, the complaint continued, the brothers charged customers thousands of dollars for puppies for which they paid as little as $225.
According to the lawsuit, the “extras” included things like vitamins, skin and coat conditioner, an AKC Prime Warranty and ID Chip enrollment, training pads, stain and odor remover, dental chews, chew deterrent spray, tearless puppy shampoo, water bottles, “poochie bells,” heartbeat pillows, crates, bowls, treats, toys, leashes, collars, dog beds, flea and tick meds, and various service packages. The complaint states, “The defendants required the consumer to buy the above described additional unwanted goods and services with the puppy.”
For customers who couldn’t afford all that upfront, the store offered financing through a store credit card. Employees told Orlando Weekly that the financing options, while they looked standard, often led customers to pay accrued interest on their entire purchase, even if they only had one small payment left. Petland Waterford Lakes didn’t tell customers their credit would get dinged when an employee checked if they were eligible for financing options. Consumers received conflicting warranty and return policies, and when they attempted to use the store’s warranty or get reimbursed for veterinary costs, the owners refused to pay fully or denied requests entirely.
Employees told Orlando Weekly the Hoofnagles were not concerned when they first heard about the lawsuit; they laughed. The brothers did not respond for requests to comment after multiple messages to their personal numbers and calls to the Petland store on various days spanning several weeks.
When asked broadly about allegations against the Waterford Lakes store, Elizabeth Kunzelman, Petland’s director of public affairs, said the company cannot respond to “hypotheticals.” The testimonies in the summer Orange County Commissioners’ hearing, she said, held a “multitude of false accusations and incorrect statements disguised as ‘facts.’”
“For more than 50 years, Petland has a proud history of matching the right pet with the right customer,” she wrote in an email. “Animal welfare is our number one priority and we take all credible claims seriously. If any store fails to operate within our animal welfare expectations, Petland is on record of having responded accordingly.”
When asked for examples of times the store has responded to animal welfare discrepancies, Kunzelman did not respond. Similarly, Kunzelman did not respond when asked about more direct examples of possible health and animal welfare violations within the Waterford Lakes location. ‘ONE GIRL AGAINST PETLAND’: In 2015, when Alexa Abitabilo decided to sue the business, legal counsel warned her: “Just so you know, you’re going up against a big corporation. You’re just one girl against Petland; that’s like suing Target.”
You just don’t sue companies that have advisors and legal teams and resources, they said. But Abitabilo had to, for Odin.
She visited the store and played with him for two months before he was moved to a sale section for old dogs. “You’re the only one who plays with him, you know,” an employee told her, and her heart broke.
She convinced her mom to let her buy the brown miniature dachshund that walked with a wiggle in his little butt. She signed his vaccine disclosures and feeding guidelines at the register, and an employee slipped the documents into a folder, quietly adding a few pages Abitabilo didn’t sign. While Odin’s cute booty-wiggle caught Abitabilo’s eye, it was actually a sign of what was wrong with him.
Odin, the vet told her later, had a genetic mutation that made his legs shaped like C’s instead of L’s. His mom had likely been overbred. If they didn’t watch his weight, he could have problems with his back.
How could I not have known this, Abitabilo wondered? When she searched back through his paperwork, she found the mystery documents. They were his prior medical records — genetic abnormalities in the hips and pattern baldness, it said. She had signed a document of Odin’s clean bill of health at purchase, but the one noting his problems was blank.
She tried calling the store, and they would field her calls. She resorted to calling from friend’s numbers. Employees gave her excuses and then directed her to the company’s dispute manager, Pawsitive Solutions. They set a mediation date, which then-19-year-old Abitabilo had to attend alone. They couldn’t reach an agreement.
“I’ll see you in court,” she said, leaving the suited adults in the room.
Florida’s Attorney General She filed a lawsuit to get reimbursement for the cost of filed suit against the Hoofnagles, Odin and his veterinary expenses. The day before they went to trial, Abitabilo got a message. Petland saying, “The sale of sick and dying puppies is wanted to settle. “We really don’t want this to go both immoral and illegal.” to court,” Pawsitive Solutions told her. “Do you want to make this go away?” So she did. The case was dismissed, but “only because they paid me off.” It’s possible there were other complaints that settled before ever reaching court. Employees said the Hoofnagles seemed unconcerned.
THROUGHOUT THESE LEGAL BATTLES, the Hoofnagles have still required their employees to represent them at public hearings or sign off on customer settlements. In company group chats, staff took flak for not collecting enough petition signatures to oppose the ban. And during the hearing proceedings, staff were on the clock while endorsing the store’s good qualities — in other words, paid to testify. Most employees who work at Petland use it as their primary form of income, employees said. While the kennel techs make minimum wage, the pet counselors, those who sell puppies, make commission. It can be good money, especially when a puppy is sold for $4,000. But anyone who doesn’t absolutely need to work there, one former female employee said, is gone in a month. And when they leave, it follows them. On bad nights, when the store closed and the moon rose, the Hoofnagles weren’t the ones staying after hours without pay. Their employees took sick puppies home with them whenever they could; one said she must have fostered hundreds of dogs overnight during her time at the Waterford Lakes Petland store. Who else would administer medicine every four hours or calm a puppy’s shaky breathing? All of the women feared that if they told others what they’ve gone through — what current employees are still going through — somehow, the owners would retaliate. Still, they’d rather live with that fear than stay silent. In some ways, the red-shirts were right. It’s been months since the ban of commercial pet sales, and not much has changed. Employees still live with insomnia and traumatizing mental images. And the Hoofnagles, despite the state’s lawsuit, despite the county vote and despite customer testimony, are still in business. In fact, they’ve teamed up with Petland Orlando South and Breeder’s Pick — two more Orlando pet stores that source from puppy mills — to appeal the county ban. None of the employees Orlando Weekly spoke to, former or current, believe the Hoofnagles should ever operate a business with animals again. Yet, when the grace period is over, they have little doubt the brothers will pack up shop and move their business over county lines. Without a statewide law banning commercial pet sales, there’s nothing to stop them. feedback@orlandoweekly.com
