Humane Society rescues dogs from local pet shop

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (WSVN) -- The Humane Society have seized dozens of dogs from a South Florida pet store, which they said was selling sick dogs.

Thursday, The Humane Society of Broward County seized 32 puppies from the Wizard of Claws pet shop in Pembroke Pines. "This facility has had a number of consumers in the last five years come forward say, 'Look, I bought a dog at this facility, and it had genetic defects, it was dying or it died,'" said Jonathan Lovvorn of the Humane Society of the United States.

Teresa Vomsaal is one of those customers. She said the puppy she bought went blind and then died from fluid buildup around its brain. "She suffered. She would wake up and scream out, like she didn't even know what was going on," said Vomsaal.

The puppies, believed to be from puppy mills, were placed on board a Humane Society van. The store owners of Wizard of Claws filed bankruptcy following a class action suit that the Humane Society and several customers filed against them. A bankruptcy trustee allowed the Humane Society to confiscate the dogs. "We're not saying that they're going to have health problems, but there's a good chance they might, so that's why our clinic staff is going to check them out," said the Humane Society of Broward County's Cherie Wachter.

A former manager of Wizard of Claws believes breeders duped the company. "Maybe they need to go and start checking licenses up there instead of pretty brochures and beautiful pictures on the Internet," said Mary Goist.

The puppies are now at the Humane Society of Broward County where they will be examined and some of them will be put up for adoption as soon as Saturday. "It may be a long time before the people who've bought from this facility see new recovery," said Lovvorn. "However, at least they know this facility is shut down, and these remaining dogs are going to have a happy home."

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