Beverly, Mt. Greenwood & Morgan Park

Urban Animals

Radio Extra: Pet Shop Owner Defends His Business as 'Puppy Mill' Ban Looms

Jon Hansen

and

Howard Ludwig

February 9, 2015 4:42pm | Updated February 9, 2015 4:42pm

Jim Sparks Jr., owner of Park Pet Shop in Mount Greenwood, recieves a kiss from one of the few remaining puppies in his store. A ban on the sale of designer dogs goes into affect on March 5. A sign accusing Ald. Matt O'Shea (19th) for a lack of support is displayed in the kennel.

DNAinfo/Howard A. Ludwig

MOUNT GREENWOOD — Jim Sparks Jr. doesn't want to buy a pet from a puppy mill.

That being said, Sparks, owner of Park Pet Shop Inc. in Mount Greenwood, is in the business of reselling the puppies he buys for upward of $1,500 each. The sale of puppies accounts for roughly 60 percent of business at the small pet store at 10429 S. Kedzie Ave. on the far Southwest Side.

On this DNAinfo Radio Extra, Howard Ludwig says that Sparks fears for the future of the business his father opened in 1959:

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