Urging Illinois Department of Agriculture to Enforce Laws Against Storefronts Sourcing Dogs from Puppy Mills

On June 12, 2024, the Animal Legal Defense Fund filed a complaint with the Illinois Department of Agriculture Bureau of Animal Health and Welfare urging it to investigate, suspend, and revoke the dog dealer licenses for Furry Babies Stratford Square, Furry Babies Fox Valley, The Perfect Pup, Petland Batavia, and King Neptune’s Pet World owner Jim Lombardi. The complaint also urges the agency to investigate, suspend, and revoke the pet shop operator license for King Neptune’s Pet World.

The six licensees mentioned in the complaint are currently violating their respective licenses and the Illinois Animal Welfare Act (AWA) by offering dogs who are not sourced from animal control facilities or animal shelters for retail sale to the public. Rather, all six licensees continue to offer for sale dogs bred at large commercial breeding facilities known as puppy mills — the very kind of facilities the Humane Pet Store Law was passed to address. The Humane Pet Store Law amended the Illinois AWA to prohibit pet shops from selling dogs or cats — with an exception for dogs or cats “obtained from an animal control facility or animal shelter.”

Prior to the Humane Pet Store Law going into effect in 2022, the five stores mentioned in the complaint had pet shop operator licenses. Once the law went into effect, four of these stores — Furry Babies Stratford Square, Furry Babies Fox Valley, The Perfect Pup, and Petland Batavia — opted not to renew their pet shop operator licenses. All four of these stores then applied for dog dealer licenses. These dog dealer licenses were renewed by the Illinois Department of Agriculture in 2023. A “dog dealer” is anyone “who sells, offers to sell, exchange, or offers for adoption with or without charge of donation dogs.” As the Illinois Department of Agriculture has repeatedly made clear, dog dealers are not licensed to sell dogs at retail businesses to the public.

According to records the Animal Legal Defense Fund obtained through multiple Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, the four stores that opted to apply for dog dealer licenses have five sources of dogs between them — not including simply listing non-specific “breeders.” These are: Dog Mother Rescue, Indiana Puppy Rescue, Golden Seal Canines, Blue Ribbon Kennels, and Select Puppies. Every one of these sources is a known puppy mill broker that acts as a go-between linking commercial puppy mill breeders and retail pet stores. Sourcing dogs from any of these five puppy mill brokers violates the Illinois AWA.

King Neptune’s Pet World took a different approach. Instead of giving up its pet shop operator license in exchange for a dog dealer license, the owner — Jim Lombardi — sought and obtained his own personal dog dealer license. Once the Humane Pet Store Law went into effect, King Neptune’s Pet World continued to display puppies in-store as it always had, but added a disclaimer that the dogs are “not for sale.” Lombardi has represented to the Illinois Department of Agriculture that the dogs being displayed in-store are his personal property and only for sale offsite from either his residence or for delivery to the purchaser’s address. Even if this were true, Lombardi is soliciting offers for sale by displaying puppies in his retail store. And there are reasons to be skeptical — during an investigation of the store conducted on March 19, 2024, a nonprofit investigator posing as a customer was told they could take the puppy home right away and would receive a discount if they paid in cash.

Why this action is important: Illinois’ Humane Pet Store Law went into effect on February 23, 2022. Despite the law being in effect, at least five retail pet stores across the state are openly and actively violating it. Four of these stores mentioned in the complaint are operating as pet shops without a valid license, and all six licensees are violating the Illinois AWA by offering puppies who are sourced from commercial puppy mill breeders and brokers for sale to the public at retail businesses. The goal of puppy mills is to produce the largest number of puppies possible, as quickly as possible, without consideration for genetic health factors or the care of the animals.