A Kokomo pet store has been evicted after not paying several months worth of rent.
Pet’s Choice was given an eviction notice and was ordered to vacate its storefront, located at 3712 S. Reed Road, by Tuesday, according to court documents.
A claim to evict was filed in early September in Howard County Superior Court III by Southway Plaza LLC, owner of the Southway Plaza strip mall.
According to the eviction request, Pet’s Choice and its owner Miles Handy owe more than $18,500 in rent as of Aug. 2.
The business and Southway Plaza LLC entered into a new, 10-year lease that took effect April 1, 2017. Rent began at $2,000 a month for the first two years, with increases to $2,333 a month in years three and four and $3,000 a month in years five through 10.
Handy, through his attorney Alan Wilson, filed for a motion for continuance on Sept. 22, but that request was denied. On Oct. 7, the court held an eviction hearing, and Handy agreed to vacate the storefront before or on Dec. 7, according to the court docket. A damages hearing is scheduled for Jan. 9, 2023.
U-Haul moving trucks were seen over the weekend hauling store items away. As of Sunday afternoon, the floorspace of Pet’s Choice was mostly empty.
The pet store has faced allegations of selling customers sick and malnourished puppies in the past.
In 2019, Indianapolis-based TV station WRTV aired a story quoting people who said Pet’s Choice sold them sick puppies.
One customer told the TV station at the time that the boxer puppy they bought had “genetic deformities” and had to be euthanized. Handy, when asked in the TV segment if he sells puppies with genetic deformities, said “not to our knowledge” and stressed the importance of customers keeping up with vaccinations after purchase.
A Facebook page titled “Boycott Pet’s Choice & PuppyGram in Indiana & Kentucky” was started in 2017 and aims to persuade people not to buy puppies from Pet’s Choice by sharing testimonials from unhappy customers. The page has garnered more than 2,000 likes.
Pet’s Choice is on the nonprofit Bailing Out Benji’s list of Indiana pet stores that buy puppies from known puppy mills, mostly from Missoui and Iowa. Bailout Out Benji is an organization “dedicated to ending puppy mill cruelty through research, education and advocacy,” according to its website.
Puppy mills are defined by the Humane Society of the United States as “inhumane high-volume dog breeding facilities that churn out puppies for profit, ignoring the needs of the pups and their mothers.”
Mindi Callison, Bailing Out Benji’s founder and executive director, told the Tribune the organization files public records requests in Iowa, Missouri and others to acquire certificates of veterinary inspection (CVIs) to determine who is selling puppies across state lines and to whom. CVIs are required anytime animals are taken across state lines and are documents signed by licensed veterinarians attesting that the animals have no “visible” sign of illness.
The organization then looks at both state and USDA inspections of breeders for any possible violations. According to Bailing Out Benji, Pet’s Choice has bought puppies from Tiffanie’s LLC out of Frankford, Missouri, within the last couple of years.
Tiffanie’s LLC was placed on The Humane Society of North America’s 2019 edition of its annual “The Horrible Hundred” publication, which uses state and USDA inspections of breeders to list “problem puppy mills and dog sellers.”
According to the Humane Society, an inspection by the Missouri Department of Agriculture of Tiffanie’s LLC found that nearly three dozen puppies died at the facility between Jan. 1, 2018, and June 25, 2018, some to parvovirus and that puppies with the virus were not taken to the veterinarian for treatment.
A subsequent inspection in February 2019 by the Missouri Department of Agriculture found that some of the issues were resolved but also found multiple enclosures housing puppies showed evidence of loose stools.
Handy did not respond to a request from the Tribune for comment. Handy also owns and operates the PuppyGram pet stores in Indianapolis and Hurstbourne Acres, Kentucky.
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