Outrage as ultra-wealthy tech tycoon 'opens up cruel puppy dog store'

By James Reinl, Social Affairs Correspondent, For Dailymail.Com 01:59 04 Nov 2024, updated 01:59 04 Nov 2024

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A wealthy tech boss is under fire over his unusual side-hustle — peddling puppies that animal welfare groups say are bred in cruel, factory-like conditions.

Boston-based biotech maven Praveen Tipirneni has a track record in sealing multibillion dollar deals.

Yet in May 2023, he opened a franchise of Puppy Palace in New Hampshire.

His spiffy store features some 20 glass-covered display cases with puppies for sale — some for more than $3,000.

An investigation by the Boston Globe has alleged the business sources dogs from 'puppy mills,' which are deemed cruel and unsanitary by animal rights groups, and has passed on sick pets to unsuspecting customers.

The New Hampshire Animal Rights League has protested at the store, in a strip mall in Manchester, and outside Tipirneni's home in Lexington, Massachusetts, the group's president Joan O'Brien told the DailyMail.com.

'We remain baffled as to why a man with a medical degree and an MBA from Wharton, living in a wealthy town that bans puppy stores, would choose to lower himself by purchasing a puppy store franchise,' said O'Brien. Unlike Manchester - where the store is located - Lexington banned the sale of animals from puppy mills in July.

Statewide legislation to ban prohibits the sale of dogs and cats by retail pet stores was introduced in January 2024, but has since stalled in the State sSenate.

Protestors wave signs saying 'R.I.P. Gus' with a photo of a pup they say died at the store due to poor care, after a woman customer put a down payment on the animal.

'Since our New Hampshire lawmakers failed to pass common-sense legislation to protect puppies like Gus, who tragically died at the store, the responsibility falls on groups like ours to continue fighting for these dogs,' added O'Brien.

Tipirneni and his store did not immediately respond to the DailyMail.com's requests for comment.

He told The Boston Globe he's an 'investor' in what he called 'the Apple of pet stores with the highest standards.'

A LinkedIn profile that's been taken down suggested he was its owner.

The 55-year-old has a medical degree from McGill University and a master's degree from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School.

He's now the CEO of Morphic Therapeutic, a drug research firm that was bought by Eli Lilly for $3.2 billion in June.

Customers give his store a 4.5 out of 5.0 rating on Google, from 624 reviews.

Many say they bought a much-loved pet there; but critics say it's 'sketchy' and its canines are not cared for there.

Online photos show adorable English springer spaniels, West Highland terriers, dachshunds, beagles and other breeds.

Derek DuBois, a medical administrative assistant in North Andover, says his Puppy Palace purchase turned into a nightmare.

He bought a four-month-old Siberian husky called Chili there for $2,000 in August 2023.

Within two days, DuBois said Chili collapsed, had trouble breathing, struggled to stand, had gray gums, diarrhea and was vomiting.

'I absolutely believe The Puppy Palace sold me a sick dog,' wrote DuBois, who says he paid a $4,300 vet bill to keep Chili alive.

Fears about canine welfare saw a former employee give damning testimony about the store to two New Hampshire legislative committees in January.

Ellie Stariknok, who quit working as a kennel attendant in disgust after less than two weeks last year, told senators that dogs with hookworm and other parasites were sold to customers.

'They really didn't see the dogs as animals or living beings,' Stariknok, now 19, told lawmakers.

'They saw them as, "How much money can we make off each dog and how fast can we get them out the door so we can get another dog in here?"'

The committee weighed whether to back a bill to ban the sale of dogs and cats by pet stores.

Members voted to study the document further; a House committee killed it.

Eight states have adopted such bans since 2017, including New York, Maine and Vermont, says the Humane Society of the United States.

Nearly 500 towns and cities nationwide have also barred sales.

Advocates of bans say the commercial kennels where puppies are bred for stores are often inhumane, resembling factory farms.

Puppies frequently catch diseases when they're transported in crowded trucks from kennels, many of which are located in the Midwest, critics say.

O'Brien calls them 'commercial breeding operations that put profit before animal welfare, confining mother dogs to cages for continuous breeding.'

Pet stores then 'hand them over to anyone willing to pay their exorbitant prices,' she added.

The Puppy Palace website says dogs come from breeders licensed by the US Department of Agriculture and are registered with the American Kennel Club or other trusted groups.

But Globe investigators found that at least five dogs there came from large commercial breeders in the Midwest.

Two dachshunds at the store, for example, were traced to S&R Sawmill Holler Kennel in Vanzant, Missouri, where dogs have allegedly been found languishing in feces and huddled together trying to keep warm.

The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals says stores that sell puppies typically rely on 'cruel breeding operations.'

These puppy mills 'typically house hundreds of dogs in overcrowded, unsanitary cages for their entire breeding lives,' says the New York-based group.

The pups often languish without 'veterinary care, food, water and socialization,' it adds.

Animal rights groups say people should adopt dogs or visit responsible breeders rather than buy puppies from stores.

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