Unlicensed NYC boarder’s business operating despite at least 3 dog deaths: grieving pooch owners
An unlicensed animal-boarding operation in a Park Slope apartment is still operating despite three dogs being killed by raging mutts while there, the dead pooches’ stricken owners allege.
“Everywhere I turned, I was told there’s nothing that can be done,” lamented one of the tragic Brooklyn dogs’ owners, who only gave her first name, Lindsay, to The Post.
The dog owner said her 4-year-old mixed pooch Penny was killed by a mutt at the boarding business in September, after three years of previous stays.
She said she thought Penny’s death was a one-time incident — until she connected with the two other grieving dog owners through fliers she posted around the neighborhood.
More than 20 animal-related complaints against the doggie boarding business — operated by owner Jurga Stankeviciute-Evans — date back to at least 2019, according to city 311 records.
The NYPD responded to a half-dozen of the allegations between March 2022 and Oct. 3, 2024, and found “no evidence of the violation at that time” — though most of the incident reports were closed within hours, if not minutes after the complaint was made, according to city records.
A rep for the NYPD, asked whether the department’s animal-cruelty unit has investigated the business, told The Post that “harm or death to an animal caused by another animal is not a criminal matter.’’
The representative said the owners would need to notify the city Department of Health of the incidents.
A city source said the Health Department visited the address three times in the past over concerns reported to 311 but could not gain access and the owner did not respond to requests to talk.
A department rep told The Post in a statement Monday, “Boarding facilities are supposed to be safe havens for our pets, not places where they experience harm.
“Boarding animals in a residence is illegal, and we have no record of an animal handling establishment permit associated with this location.
“To ensure the safety of our pets and help prevent tragedies like this in the future, we ask New Yorkers to use licensed facilities and to call 311 if you are aware of any unlicensed boarding facilities.’’
Alissa Vladimir, a friend of the owners of a beloved 7-year-old long-haired Shih Tzu mix Albie who allegedly died at the apartment after being attacked by another dog in February, told The Post, “You’d think that New York City is such a dog-friendly place.
“But when it comes to their real protection, they’ve failed.”
A third dog, a female named Honey, also died while boarding at the business in May, Lindsay said.
Both she and Vladimir said their dog-owner friends who lost their pets were still “too traumatized” to speak directly about their dog’s untimely passing.
Several requests for comment from Stankeviciute-Evans were not returned. A man who answered the door at her South Slope address declined to comment Sunday.
Lindsay told The Post that the dog boarding business had been a popular word-of-mouth recommendation in the neighborhood and was recommended as an affordable option by her former dog walker in 2021.
She said she took Penny to Stankeviciute-Evans’ apartment for a routine overnight stay — but the dog boarder came back to her home empty-handed.
“She said she left the dogs at 1 a.m. to do laundry, she said she ‘separated the good dogs,’ ” Lindsay said the business owner told her. “When she came back. Penny had been attacked … and she died.”
A necropsy report later found that none of Penny’s wounds punctured a major artery or organ.
“It seemed to be a very slow and painful death,” Lindsay said.
She said a cop told her that her only viable option was to sue in civil court.
“The system is just so inadequate,” she said.
