Shady NYC dog dealers illegally selling puppies for thousands of dollars out of car trunk
This video taken October 23 shows two men hawking newborn puppies of the trunk of a car in Midtown Manhattan. TikTok/@isacsavage
New York City streets are seeing a disturbing trend: shady dealers are selling puppies straight out of the trunks of SUVs for thousands of dollars.
Videos posted on TikTok show at least two men on Oct. 23 openly hawking nearly a dozen miniature and toy poodles in broad daylight in the Diamond District, despite New York State banning dog sales and the city outlawing backyard breeding last year.
“You can probably get $3,500 to $4,500 for the dog,” one of the men told a small crowd on West 47th Street. “Because they’re going to be so small. They got everything – they got shots,” he added, referring to the 9-week-old pups packed into the SUV trunk, lined with sawdust.
“They’re basically going to be teacups,” the man boasted. “Because this is considered a toy.” He also claimed the puppies were AKC certified, a designation from the American Kennel Club for purebred dogs.
The men have been spotted selling pups at the same location multiple times. On Oct. 17, a Post reporter saw them conducting business at the same West 47th Street spot in the early afternoon. Passersby expressed shock and concern.
“I couldn’t look at them, it just made me so sad,” said one animal lover.
“This is 100% illegal,” said Allie Taylor, president of Voters for Animal Rights. “That’s why we passed the backyard breeder bill. Pet stores aren’t the only source—people were getting dogs from multiple illegal channels.”
The illegal trunk sales have been happening since at least the summer. A white Mercedes SUV without license plates was photographed on Canal Street and Broadway on Aug. 1, with social media users reporting sick-looking puppies and contacting police.
Instagram videos show the same puppies in a shopping cart amid counterfeit luxury goods. “Buddy got dogs for sale… I swear you could buy anything from here,” a man is heard saying in one clip.
New York’s Puppy Mill Pipeline Act, passed last December, prohibits the sale of dogs, cats, and rabbits through stores, which were often linked to puppy mills. Now, residents can only buy pets from licensed breeders or adopt from shelters.
Brian Shapiro, New York State director of Humane World for Animals, said there’s virtually no chance these trunk puppies came from responsible breeders. “A consumer trusting they’re bringing a safe, well-bred animal home needs to know the seller and the animal’s background. Rolling up in a car and popping the trunk is the opposite of that.”
Shapiro added that AKC papers shouldn’t reassure potential buyers. “Any animal from a bad breeder can have AKC papers. It means nothing.”
While no law explicitly bans selling animals from a car trunk, the NYC Health Code forbids selling pets from residences or other unlicensed facilities, the ASPCA confirmed.
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