TUCSON, Ariz. (KVOA) – A pet retailer that has faced a lot of public backlash is going out of business.
The News 4 Tucson investigators took several hours to investigate pets at Park Place after multiple customers told us they ended up spending thousands of dollars on dogs that had several illnesses. Spent a month.
One of those customers was Kathleen Doolittle, who was happy to hear the store was closing. She featured her ordeal on News 4's Tucson Investigation last week.
“I'm happy because I'm really excited. There's going to be a lot fewer families going through what we went through,” Doolittle said.
Just a few weeks before this report, we told you about the problems another woman, who asked to remain anonymous, faced after spending $2,500 on each dog and thousands more on veterinary care.
“It's more of a pattern than a one-off,” she says.
The reason for the closure remains unclear, but when contacted, Park Place Mall did not say whether it was their decision to close or the store's decision. I was asked to ask for pets at Park Place.
That's exactly what we did. We reached out to Park Place Pets but did not hear back.
The store has been inspected several times by the Pima Animal Shelter since opening a few years ago. During two inspections last year, investigators found that none of the dogs were vaccinated against rabies and threatened to remove all dogs from the store.
PACC said in an email that it had nothing to do with the store's closing and does not know where the store's dogs went.
Rebecca Cotton has been a vocal animal advocate against pet keeping at Park Place and was pleased to hear about Park Place's closure.
“There's still a lot of work to be done. It's a step in the right direction. The ultimate goal is to have Arizona ban the sale of pets in stores,” she said.
Joining her celebrations was Gary Vella, who runs the group SPEAK, which regularly holds protests outside the Park Place pet store.
“The smile won't be off your face for weeks,” he said.
He had planned another protest for noon Saturday, but said it could turn into a celebratory rally this time.
It remains unclear what happened to the dogs cared for at Pets at Park Place.
If you have a story you'd like us to investigate, email Investigators@kvoa.com or call our tip line at 520-955-4444.
