SAN JOSE — Wag Lodges pays $150,000 to settle allegations that situations at its Peninsula and South Bay boarding services violated state legal guidelines on pet care and reporting of canine bites, prosecutors mentioned.
Accepted by a choose Thursday, the settlement follows a shopper safety lawsuit filed by the Santa Clara, San Mateo and San Francisco district legal professional’s places of work.
Wag Lodges, which is predicated in Sacramento, has services in Santa Clara, Redwood Metropolis and San Francisco.
“Pets are family,” Santa Clara County District Legal professional Jeff Rosen mentioned in a press release. “When you leave a family member in someone else’s care, you are relying on that caretaker to provide the highest standard of safety, comfort, and care.”
Rosen’s workplace famous {that a} canine attacked 4 workers on the Santa Clara facility in 2019. The workers have been taken to the hospital, and police have been referred to as to the scene.
With out admitting legal responsibility, Wag Lodges agreed to pay $75,000 in civil penalties and $75,000 in investigative prices, prosecutors mentioned.
The settlement additionally requires the corporate to make quite a few reforms, together with creating an animal welfare division; implementing a complete worker coaching program on animal welfare, illness recognition and emergency response; and retaining detailed information of bites and making certain they’re reported to native well being officers.
As well as, Wag Lodges should implement and keep a playgroup security program to make sure canine are correctly supervised and managed when collectively, prosecutors mentioned.
“When people leave their pets in someone else’s care, they are placing immense trust in that facility,” San Mateo County District Legal professional Steve Wagstaffe mentioned in a press release. “This settlement ensures that Wag Hotels will meet the standards the law requires to safeguard the health, safety, and dignity of every animal entrusted to them.”
In January 2024, Wag Lodges confronted a separate lawsuit from 9 canine house owners that accused it of persistently returning pets “smelling like urine or feces, with injuries — both minor and severe — and with weight loss to the extent of indicating they had not been fed.”
The swimsuit was dismissed earlier this 12 months after the house owners and the corporate reached a confidential settlement, in accordance with courtroom information.
Southern California residents Alison and Jeffrey Knowledge claimed within the lawsuit that their canine Paige, throughout a nine-day keep on the facility in Redwood Metropolis, contracted a flesh-eating bacterial an infection they believed was attributable to unsanitary situations. The an infection led to the amputation of the Labrador’s proper hind leg.
Two different house owners claimed in the identical swimsuit that their canine died following stays at Bay Space services.
Workers author Ethan Baron contributed to this report.
