Forwarded message - please reply to libbywill@embarqmail.com
Reply - Lots of information - Help - How to close a puppy store?
Subject - Pet Depot Complaint
I hope the following info helps. Let me know if I can do anything
else. I would love nothing more than to see this guy closed down for
good but, as you'll read, it's going to be an uphill battle.
Libby Williams
libbywill@embarqmail.com
Regarding Pet Depot in Point Pleasant Beach:
Contact the Ocean County Health Department (OCHD). Complaints can be
taken over the phone and the inspectors will respond to every one and
visit the store. Not that that's much help because this has happened
repeatedly and yet nothing ever gets done but the more complaints,
the better.
About 3 years ago, before I founded NJCAPSA and had good photographic
equipment, I visited the store and was mortified to see two little
Boxer puppies whose ears had been mutilated by "cropping". There was
blood everywhere on the walls of their "stall" and they were huddled
in the corner trembling miserably. I freaked out and called the
health department immediately from my cell phone but it was Friday
afternoon and no one visited the store until Monday and by that time,
the puppies allegedly were again seen by the vet and
Sladkin "apologized that I had to witness such a thing." I've been
back several times over the years and have reported puppies who were
visibly gagging and coughing – a sign of kennel cough. They need to
be quarantined from the other supposedly healthy animals on the sales
floor. It's the law!
The director/health coordinator of OCHD is a veterinarian and she is
fully aware of the store, its problems so you should ask for her or
Maria Sanzo, the inspector for the store. I'd also call the
Freeholders, the Chamber of Commerce and anyone else you can think
of. Report anything you saw about the sick puppies and unsanitary
conditions.
Ocean County Health Dept
175 Sunset Avenue
PO Box 2191
Toms River, NJ 08754-2191
Ella Boyd, VMD
Public Health Coordinator
Phone: 732-341-9700, Ext. 7201
Fax: 732-341-4467
Email: eboyd@ochd.org
Website: http://www.ochd.org
Ocean County Freeholders:
http://www.co.ocean.nj.us/
Office of the Freeholders
101 Hooper Ave.
Toms River, NJ 08753
(732) 244-2121
Borough of Point Pleasant Beach
http://www.pointpleasantbeach.org/
416 New Jersey Avenue
Point Pleasant Beach, NJ 08742
732-892-1118
Background Info
Nat Sladkin, owner of Pet Depot, aka The Puppy King, is locally well-
connected.
He used to be the President of the Chamber of Commerce and was the
Club President of the Point Pleasant Beach Republicans:
http://www.oceancogop.org/LEADERS.HTM
Sladkin seems to get away with innumerable violations. The Jersey
Shore Animal Shelter has had many protests at this store over the
years. There are many complaints on file, both with the Ocean County
Health Department and the Ocean County Consumer Affairs. Plus,
Sladkin and his wife Paula have been sued many times – I have files
that I obtained through the Open Public Records Act. He pays his
fines and repeats the same thing over and over and over.
He buys puppies exclusively from PA, mostly in Lancaster County from
the Amish and Mennonite puppy mills. Sladkin refuses to register as a
PA Out-of-State Dealer for the "privilege" of coming in to PA and
buying puppies to transport across state lines, which he does
himself. PA has tried unsuccessfully to get Sladkin to comply but the
law is not really enforceable and he is defiant. Sladkin also uses
as his PA "vet of record" a guy named Tom Stevenson in Honey Brook,
PA. Stevenson is also the vet of record for other notorious puppy
miller/broker, Joyce Stoltzfus of Peach Bottom, PA. Stevenson claims
to have worked for Sladkin for over 30 years and allegedly sees the
puppies Sladkin buys before he takes them out of PA. I don't believe
him and feel the so-called vet health records are pre-signed and Nat
can be on his way with his sick cargo every week without having the
puppies checked by anyone. And records trace back to Amish puppy
mills!
Saldkin's NJ Vet of Record is Dr. Jerald Schreiber who practices in
the back of the store under the name of Vet Depot. Schreiber also
practices in Farmingdale and was the store vet for Puppies-n-Puppies
in Toms River before it was closed down by the County for selling
nothing but sick puppies and having terrible sanitation problems.
Here's Schreiber's Disciplinary History as of 2002. Info from the
State Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners. Phone: 973-504-6500
April 1987 – Penalty Letter for deceptive advertising. Paid $250
fine.
September 1991 – Final Order of the Board for REPEATED ACTS OF
NEGLIGENCE. Paid $1,000 penalty and costs.
April 1998 – Penalty Letter for patient records violations. Paid $500
penalty. R
June 1999 – Fined for GROSS NEGLIGENCE, GROSS MALPRACTICE AND GROSS
INCOMPETENCE. Paid fines – amount not disclosed over phone.
Article on Nat Sladkin – Wall Street Journal
http://www.bogartsdaddy.com/Bouvier/Bouv_Pages/article-wsj-puppy-
lemon-laws.htm
Article mentions Sladkin – Philadelphia Inquirer
http://www.bogartsdaddy.com/bouvier/Bouv_Pages/article-inquire-pa-
puppymills.htm
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Original message
Forwarded message - please reply to ktcost@aol.com
Help - How to close a puppy store?
Does anyone know how to go about trying to get a puppy store closed
down? I am talking about the one in Pt. Pleasant. I am sure someone
must have tried before,I cannot understand why they are allowed to
stay in business.
Against our better judgement, we stopped in there yesterday. It was
one of the saddest things I've ever seen. Visably sick dogs in with
others. Dogs too big for the little cages. Filth everywhere. It was
worse than any poor shelter that I have ever seen! I cannot get their
faces out of my head. We were devastated when we left.
Please, if anyone knows, would you tell me how amd where to start?
As I said, surely animal control or the authorities must know what
goes on there, so what can be done? How can they stay in business?
Kathy
ktcost@aol.com
Posted on SHARE Yahoo group 11/5/06