12/16/2025
To our Paws Plaza community,
We wanted to share information regarding an upsetting story you may have seen circulating online. In May 2023, we discovered an incident of an employee mistreating three pets in our care. Our team took swift action including delivering on-site veterinary exams for the impacted pets while working directly with those pet families, and we terminated the employee. The Center Manager who was overseeing the facility at the time of the incident is also no longer employed with us.
We maintain a zero-tolerance policy for mistreatment of any kind and as such, immediately notified law enforcement and provided evidence including video footage so they could fully prosecute the individual. Law enforcement later arrested this individual, which you may have seen in the news. We are continuing to work with law enforcement and fully support their investigation.
On behalf of our entire Paws Plaza team, we are deeply sorry this happened. We are all sickened and heartbroken by this individual’s actions. The safety and wellbeing of all animals in our facility is Paws Plaza’s number one priority and as such matters like this are addressed with the urgency and diligence they deserve.
Based on a comprehensive internal investigation, we believe we have identified any pets that may have been impacted and have worked directly with those families.
We have always conducted background checks, required all employees to complete rigorous ongoing training programs and we actively monitor the facility to ensure adherence to our standards and protocols. After this incident, we made changes to further enhance our stringent standards including installing more cameras and ensuring that two groomers always work together.
Please know our team is working hard to ensure nothing like this ever happens again. If you have questions or if you would like to discuss your concerns further, please send us a direct message with your contact information and we’ll get back to you as quickly as possible.
The Paws Plaza Team
