Tucson pet stores skirt consumer protection laws, complaints say

A new Tucson pet store selling $2,000 puppies at Park Place mall is sourcing them from out-of-state commercial breeding operations more commonly known as puppy mills, public records show.

Animal welfare advocates are sounding an alarm about Pets at Park Place, which opened a few days before Black Friday and initially failed for weeks to publicly disclose where the puppies came from as required by Arizona law, the records show.

The lack of disclosure has prompted complaints to the Pima Animal Care Center, to Tucson City Councilman Steve Kozachik, whose Ward 6 includes Park Place, and a warning to store management to follow the law or face potential consequences.

“It breaks my heart that people would go into this store, pay $2,000 for a puppy not knowing they were supporting the puppy mill industry, and at the very same time PACC, the Humane Society and local shelters are bursting at the seams with pets looking for homes,” Kozachik said in an interview.

Many U.S. states and cities have banned the sale of commercially bred puppies in retail stores over concerns they aggravate animal overpopulation and create demand for mass-produced animals bred in cramped, stressful conditions that can tax the health of mother dogs.

Tucson City Council voted in 2016 to pass a similar local ban that said pet stores could only sell rescue animals. But the ordinance was shelved when the Legislature passed a new law that made Arizona one of the friendliest places in America for pet store operators.

Arizona is one of only two states that preempt municipalities from adopting local restrictions on puppy sales.

Warning to management

Word of the new Park Place pet store spread quickly in Tucson’s animal welfare community and advocates soon began to visit, snapping cell phone photos of puppies for sale without the legally-required disclosure of breeder names and federal identification numbers.

One of the photo-takers, Gary Vella, president of the animal welfare nonprofit SPEAK (Supporting and Promoting Ethics for the Animal Kingdom) said in an interview when he asked a store staffer about the puppies’ origins, he was told they came from “responsible local breeders.”

In fact, breeder information the store belatedly made public last week show the Park Place puppies are coming from large-scale, high-volume breeders in Iowa, Indiana, Missouri and Minnesota. Their operations vary in size, but most had between 500 and 1,200 puppies and dogs on the premises during their most recent inspections by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, federal records reviewed by the Arizona Daily Star show.

A PACC inspector who visited the pet store Dec. 6 found 29 puppies for sale that seemed healthy but had no source information on their cages, the inspection report shows. The store’s general manager said the animals came from “reputable breeders” but told two different stories about whether puppies are seen by a veterinarian prior to sale, first saying they were and then saying they weren’t, the report says.

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The store also failed to post a required copy of Arizona’s so-called Puppy Lemon Law, which explains a buyer’s legal rights if they purchase a pet that gets sick or dies soon afterward. The lemon law, which must be posted “in close proximity” to animals for sale, still was not visible in the store on Tuesday when Star reporter stopped by to request comment. An employee who identified himself as the manager would not give his name or any other information and ordered the reporter to leave.

The PACC report said the inspector advised the general manager to start following the law, otherwise future violations could result in “criminal citations and/or the puppies being impounded.”

State probes second pet store

Meanwhile in a separate matter involving pet stores, the Arizona Attorney General’s Office announced in news release Friday that the owner of the city’s longest-operating pet store, Animal Kingdom at Tucson Mall, has been under state investigation since 2020 over complaints that suggested the store’s puppies were coming from “commercial breeders providing substandard care and living conditions to animals.”

Animal Kingdom’s parent company, Companion Pets Inc. has agreed to an out- of-court settlement that includes a $120,000 compensation fund for customers who can show they suffered a loss due to the firm’s alleged malfeasance between Jan. 1, 2017 and Dec. 31, 2022. The agreement still needs a judge’s OK, the attorney general’s office said.

Among other things, the Tucson Mall store was accused of allegedly selling puppies with parasites without disclosing their medical condition and of allegedly concealing that the animals were from “out-of-state breeders and brokers,” the attorney general’s office said.

Frank Mineo, Companion Pets owner and president, said the firm is committed to following the law and “worked cooperatively with the AG’s investigators to demonstrate our love and care of animals. Our agreement with the AG reflects our continued commitment to our animals and our customers.”

Besides the Tucson Mall store, Companion Pets has three other locations in Gilbert, Glendale and Tempe.

“We are proud of our record, and, despite the long investigation, we run a highly regarded business and strive every day to love and care for our animals,” Mineo said in the statement provided by a Phoenix public relations firm. “CPI continues to seek out breeders and brokers that it believes to be among the best in the business.”

Both Tucson Mall and Park Place are managed by global property management firm Brookfield Properties. The company did not respond to two requests for comment emailed on Thursday and Friday to two media relations addresses listed on Brookfield’s website.