The subject of an NBC Miami investigation is now being accused of selling puppy mill dogs again, in direct violation of a court-ordered settlement he signed.
NBC Miami has learned the notorious dog-sellers, Jim and Gilda Anderson, face a hearing Wednesday morning where a judge will be asked to throw the book at them.
They ran “Wizard of Claws” pet store in Tamarac and a score of puppy websites. Because of public outcry, they went bankrupt and signed an order in February effectively shutting them down for at least a decade unless they met extraordinarily stringent guidelines.
But angry customers who sued the Anderson’s said through lawyers in court documents the Anderson's went right back into business.
It is loud – even deafening - inside what experts call a puppy mill, large commercial breeding factories where minimal care is traded for profits. The Humane Society of the United States says puppy mills supply virtually all pet stores nationwide.
But not Jim Anderson’s.
"We buy the best of the best,” Anderson said in 2006. He used to say he bought only healthy, purebreds from reputable breeders he knew personally.
Too often, evidence suggests it just wasn't true.
NBC Miami tracked down hundreds of furious customers nationwide who claim Anderson sold them sick and genetically defective dogs, many of whom died.
And then came “Vanna,” a Christmas gift. By early January, Vanna died a slow, grotesque death.
Ed Webb, Vanna's companion owner who lives in Fort Lauderdale, said he’s seen a lot of things in his life as a pilot in Vietnam and the Gulf War. He thought he’d numbed to death. But seeing a little dog die like that will bring a tear to a man's eye, he says.
So the Webb's joined the lawsuit to shut down Anderson. And it worked. They thought.
Anderson appears to have resurrected his dog selling operations through new websites and a front person.
Now the new court filing seeking enforcement of the judge’s order alleges that "only a few days after" the court ordered him out of business, several unwitting customers "purchased sick and dying puppies" from Anderson, demonstrating "willful misconduct" in violating the law.
Ed Webb says, “I'm not surprised” Anderson is back in business but he is surprised at his “audacity and arrogance.”
On the new website, puppiesforsalesite.com, there are striking similarities to Anderson's old websites: the design and style, the photos, many of the same celebrities. Even his name was inadvertently left in some of the text. Not to mention that the phone number goes to the Anderson's.
The Webb's have moved on with a new dog named "Karma," and they hope the name rings true.
Heartbroken customers like the Webb's have one message for anyone buying a dog: either go to the shelter and save a life, or do extensive research on the breeder.
Wednesday, at 11 a.m., Broward Judge Robert A. Rosenberg will be asked to enforce the signed order and punish Jim and Gilda Anderson.
