Florida attorney general says Petland store sold sick puppies as ‘high quality, healthy’
An Orlando Petland store sold sick, sometimes dying, puppies to customers as healthy dogs from elite stock, according to a civil complaint filed Monday by Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody’s office.
The Orlando County Circuit Court complaint alleged this allowed Petland Orlando East to get $1,500 to $9,000 from hornswoggled consumers for puppies usually bought from breeders for $225.
Messages left on cellphones and at the store for Petland Orlando East owners Geoff Hoofnagle and Ben Hoofnagle have yet to be returned.
Moody’s office has asked Orange County Circuit Court to make the Hoofnagles and their company Hoof’s Pets pay, among other things, restitution for every sick puppy they sold; every puppy that died within a year after the sale via a congenital or herditary problem; and every puppy whose breed, gender or health were lied about.
And the complaint asks for civil penalties of $10,000 per sale, $15,000 per sale to senior citizen consumers.
“The sale of sick and dying puppies is both immoral and illegal,” Moody said. “Planning for a new puppy requires a great deal of time and money — and certainly there is an emotional investment. Families deserve the assurance that they will in fact receive the high-quality puppy they were promised. It is reprehensible that the defendants would exploit the trust of new pet owners to make a profit while risking the health and safety of these puppies.”
The filing said the attorney general’s office received complaints about 19 puppies bought at Petland Orlando East, also known as Petland Waterford Lakes, 453 N. Alafaya Tr.
Of the 19, “six died from contagious illnesses or a genetic or hereditary disorder soon after sale, six were determined to be unfit for purchase by licensed veterinarians, five had congenital or hereditary disorders, and three were not the represented breed or breed quality desired.”
They came with canine coronavirus, canine parovirus, bacterial pnuemonia, eye defects, blindness, lungs of different size, hip, knee or back problems, the complaint alleges.
Meanwhile, potential buyers were told the puppies were or could be American Kennel Club registered and came from USDA-licensed breeders.
Employees helped execute the fraud, according to anecdotes included in the complaint. When two buyers asked an employee why a puppy on display was barfing, the employee allegedly played the vomiting off as nerves from excitement and “normal behavior.”
“In one instance, two consumers asked the Defendants’ employee in the store why a puppy they were interested in was vomiting while on display, the Defendants’ employee represented to the consumers that the puppy was “nervous,” “excited” to see the consumers, and that the vomiting was “normal behavior.”
This story was originally published May 20, 2020 at 6:58 AM with the headline "Florida attorney general says Petland store sold sick puppies as ‘high quality, healthy’."
