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

A wealthy tech executive is under fire for his unusual sideline: peddling puppies that animal welfare groups say are bred in cruel, factory-like conditions.

Boston-based biotech expert Praveen Tipirneni has a track record of closing billion-dollar contracts.

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

His chic store features about two dozen glass-covered display cases with puppies for sale — some for more than $3,000.

An investigation by the Boston Globe found that the company sources dogs from “puppy mills,” which animal rights groups consider cruel and unsanitary, 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 DailyMail.com.

“We remain baffled as to why a man with a medical degree and an MBA from Wharton, who lives in an affluent city where puppy stores are banned, would choose to demean himself by purchasing a puppy store franchise,” O’Brien said. Unlike Manchester — where the store is located — Lexington banned the sale of animals from puppy mills in July.

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

Protesters wave signs reading “RIP Gus” and a photo of a puppy they say died at the store due to poor care after a female customer put a deposit on the animal.

“Since our New Hampshire lawmakers have failed to pass common sense legislation to protect puppies like Gus, who tragically died in the store, the responsibility falls on groups like ours to take care of these dogs to keep fighting,” O’Brien added.

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

He told it The Boston Sphere he is an “investor” in what he called “the Apple of pet stores with the highest standards.”

A deleted LinkedIn profile showed he was the owner.

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

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

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

Many say they bought a beloved pet there; but critics say it is ‘sketchy’ and that the 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 has become a nightmare.

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

Within two days, DuBois said Chili collapsed, had trouble breathing, had difficulty standing, had gray gums, had 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.

Fearing for the welfare of dogs, a former employee gave scathing testimony about the store to two New Hampshire legislative committees in January.

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

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

“They looked at them as, ‘How much money can we make on each dog and how quickly can we get them out the door so we can get another dog here?’

The committee has considered whether to support a bill to ban the sale of dogs and cats by pet stores.

Members voted to continue studying the document; a House committee killed it.

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

Nearly 500 towns and cities across the country have also banned sales.

Proponents of a ban say the commercial kennels where puppies are bred for retail outlets are often inhumane and resemble industrial farms.

Puppies often contract diseases when 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 over animal welfare, locking mother dogs in 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 U.S. Department of Agriculture and registered with the American Kennel Club or other trusted groups.

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

For example, two dachshunds in the store were traced to the S&R Sawmill Holler Kennel in Vanzant, Missouri, where dogs were reportedly found languishing in feces and huddled trying to stay 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 life,” the New York-based group says.

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 instead of buying puppies from stores.