Before I get into all of the drama associated with Animal Kingdom Pet Shop—yes, once again, that little shop at the Santa Maria Town Center Mall with cute little puppies in its windows is in the doghouse—I must get one thing off my small, shapely, feathered chest.
Who pays $2,000 for a freakin’ puppy? Seriously. There are a few dozen dogs on the Santa Maria Valley Humane Society’s Facebook page who are just dying to go home with somebody who will love them, hug them, walk them, and feed them. Your $2,000 could go a long way for one of these homeless pups.
Jen Toste from Arroyo Grande paid that much and then some for her goldendoodle puppy, Lola, that she fell in love with at one of the many Animal Kingdom shops on the Central Coast in 2018. Her beloved GDP has cost her at least $10,000 in surgeries, medications, and vets appointments since that fateful day in front of some shopping mall window, and she’s hoping to get reimbursed for her trouble through a civil lawsuit filed in San Luis Obispo County.
See, little Lola started limping about three months after Toste brought Lola to her forever home.
“If Animal Kingdom had any type of ethical component to their business and really a true love for animals, they would have sourced differently,” Toste told the Sun.
I mean, that pet shop has been in all sorts of trouble with community members over the last few years, so, really, I could say the same for you, Toste, for choosing to make your poochie purchase from this shop with a shady history. Yes ma’am, from puppy mill protests at the local mall to Animal Kingdom’s alleged violations of California’s infamous puppy lemon law (yes, that’s a thing) and a Santa Maria City Council that wouldn’t ban retail pet sales in the city, the Sun has had the local puppy beat on lockdown since 2016.
And we’re here for you puppy peeps one more time! As puppy-gate reappears for another round of animal lovers gone wild. And yes, your favorite animal advocacy group No More Pet Store Puppies 805 and its founder Christine Collier are back in action!
Toste did actually get a “lemon,” if you could call a loved family pet by that term. Lola was diagnosed with a bad case of hip dysplasia as a puppy, which sucks. I hate to see a pup in pain. It’s something that is preventable with responsible breeding, according to the Orthopedic Foundation for Animals. And that insinuates that Animal Kingdom is once again in the hot seat for dealing with disreputable breeders. Seriously? WTF? You didn’t learn your lesson from puppy-gate 2017?
This time around the supposed culprit is Bark Adoptions Rescue, which is currently being investigated for shady dealings by counties across the state, including SLO County Animal Services. Santa Barbara County Animal Services, on the other hand, knows there are “alleged issues” with Animal Kingdom, according to Community Outreach Coordinator Stacy Silva, but doesn’t care enough (my words, not Silva’s) to do more than “actively monitor the store.”
And although San Diego County has found enough shady shit to fine stores $500 per pet for dealing with Bark Adoptions, SLO County seems to think that (at this point, anyway) everything that it’s looking into is in the clear. So I don’t know what to think other than that you people should save your money and adopt from a shelter.
So possibly, Animal Kingdom is in the clear, but Toste did call Animal Kingdom’s owner Adam Tipton an “evil man” who’s awful to work with, which should absolutely count for something! Sick burn! Although Tipton’s shop didn’t return our request for comment this time around, in 2017, he did say that “there’s a bunch of wackos out there that want to harass people.”
Which is true. Have you attended any of the recent oil hearings? Case-in-point. There’s something about these oil projects in Cat Canyon that have got the crowd attending public hearings riled up enough to shout down people who are having their turn at the microphone. Rude!
Once again, why are you environmentalists making me take the oil companies’ side? It’s really starting to chap the underside of my wings. Between the March 13 ERG hearing, the Jan. 17 Aera Energy hearing, and the plastic whale-toters protesting Plains All-American Pipeline, I can see that things are only ramping up on both sides.
Thank goodness I have something I can hang my liberal hat on. It’s the total number of oil wells that ERG, Aera, and PetroRock, are planning to drill into the Cat Canyon Oil Field! I feel like I need a drumroll for this one! According to a March 13 presentation on the ERG project by Energy Supervisor Errin Briggs with the Santa Barbara County Planning and Development Department’s Energy Division, that number could total 666.
I’ll just leave that right there. You’re welcome, environmentalists.
The canary doesn’t believe in El Diablo. Send comments to canary@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Mar 21-28, 2019.
