Fraudsters labelling puppy mill dogs as rescue dogs. Beware.

"A federal jury awarded nearly $4 million against two men who brokered puppy-milled dogs in violation of California’s pet store sales ban by falsely claiming they were rescued puppies. The lawsuit has driven the men out of the state and resulted in the closure of pet stores that illegally sold the puppies." - Nathan Winograd.

The same issues could just as well apply to cats.

Some detail: a federal jury in San Diego ruled that David Salinas of Cedar Pet Supply and puppy mill brokers Raised and Alicia Rothman misrepresented where the puppies that there were selling had come from. A press release says that Rothman is the sales manager for Select Puppies in Iowa. This business supplies puppy mill puppies to pet stores across the country.

They lied to customers according to the court ruling saying that the puppies came from Maryland-based PetConnect Rescue in order to avoid California's 2019 law which bans the sale of dogs in pet stores unless they are rescue animals.

PetConnect Rescue learned about the fraudulent use of the name in 2020 after California customers contacted them to complain that their puppies were seriously ill.

Court exhibits showed that the animals were labelled as coming from PetConnect Rescue when in fact they came from puppy mills.

The jury awarded damages to PetConnect Rescue of $3.9 million. The organisation said that this represents a portion of the wrongful profits that were gained by the fraudsters in using their organisation's trademark. Nonetheless they were pleased with the jury's verdict.

The Cedar Pet Supply stores were put out of business in California. Although they still operate at several locations in Nevada and Utah. They have three locations in southern Nevada:

• Las Vegas - 5191 W. Charleston Boulevard, Suite #170
• Las Vegas - 5105 S. Fort Apache Road, Suite #115
• Henderson - 1000 W. Sunset Road

Comment: I hope people read this article and my thanks to Krnv.com and Nathan Winograd for bringing this to my attention. People should know when they buy puppies from a pet shop that they were either rescue animals ideally or at least from a certified and registered dog breeder. The same of course applies to cats.

By registered I mean registered with a dog association and the same applies to cats.

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.