Mayor Lori Stone (left), Warren Police Commissioner Eric Hawkins (left, in the second row) and the Warren Police Department K-9 unit join Jill Tack (center), the owner of the Pet Beastro, to thank her for donating food and supplements to the department’s working and retired K-9s.
By: Gena Johnson | Warren Weekly | Published January 6, 2025
WARREN — The Warren Police Department along with Mayor Lori Stone thanked the owners of Pet Beastro in a special acknowledgement at the store’s Warren location Dec. 23 for supporting the Police Department’s K-9 unit with food and supplements.
The owner of the Pet Beastro, Jill Tack, has been donating food and supplements to the K-9 unit for six years at no cost to the Warren Police Department.
“The generous donations from the Pet Beastro have been instrumental in shaping and maintaining the success, health and productivity of the Warren Police K-9 Unit,” said Lt. John Gajewski, the Warren Police Department’s public information officer.
“In 2024 alone, the Warren Police Department’s six K-9s had 518 deployments, resulting in 155 arrests and 45 persons found. These K-9 officers were responsible for seizing 172 kilograms of cocaine, nearly 5 kilograms of heroin, 32 kilograms of methamphetamine, and 10 kilograms of fentanyl. Additionally, they helped recover nearly $500,000 in cash from narcotic transactions,” Gajewski stated in a written release.
Tack addressed how the partnership began.
“Actually, it started as a whim when one of the K-9 (handlers) stopped in the Madison Heights store and started talking about the new K-9 program for Warren and we decided to help them out,” Tack said.
Nutrition is just as important for pets as it is for humans, according to Tack.
“I tell people you don’t buy a Corvette and put water in the gas tank,” Tack said. “With the Warren K-9 officers, we have working dogs that we really need to pay attention to, that we are putting the right fuel in their body so when they go to work, we’re not dealing with a daylong digestive upset.”
Tack and her team want the K-9 unit to have the best quality food, do their jobs and have a healthy life, and live as long as possible. As a result, they donate food and supplements for working the K-9s, as well as the dogs that have retired.
According to Tack, reducing the amount of chemicals in a dog or cat’s body is always a good place to start for every pet, not just working K-9s.
The Pet Beastro is dedicated to holistic food and products for dogs and cats with a focus on nutrition. Tack explained what is meant by holistic.
“All of the food that we carry in our store is wheat-, corn- and soy-free,” Tack said. “We also avoid byproducts, dyes, colorings and additives. All of those things can cause inflammation.”
According to Tack, a lot of the larger brands carried in grocery stores use those ingredients as inexpensive fillers.
“We work with companies that are paying attention to their sourcing. They’re responsibly sourcing,” Tack said. “They’re doing checks and holds on all of their products to make sure there is no bacteria in the product before it leaves the warehouse, before we get it in distribution. So quality control is a big thing that goes with that, as well as transparency in sourcing.”
Tack explained transparency in sourcing as being able to call a brand and find out the farms and country of origin they are using for their meats or other ingredients. With larger manufacturers, that information is not always consistent or available because they do not have relationships with family farms, according to Tack.
The mayor thanked Tack and gave her a proclamation for supporting the community and the Warren Police Department.
“I think it is very generous they have acknowledged we’ve helped out their K-9 team,” Tack said. “Not all city municipalities have that same outlook to small business that helped them out. So that was very nice, we were acknowledged in that way.”
Tack is a traditional naturopath doctor and started her studies 18 years ago under homeopathic veterinarian Dr. Glen Dupree and studied with him until his passing. She then attended naturopathy school and has been practicing for nine years. She is not a veterinarian but said she has used her schooling and extrapolated from human knowledge and applied it to cats and dogs.
In addition to Warren, Tack donates to other K-9 units in Madison Heights, Hazel Park, Oak Park, Center Line and Eastpointe.
The name Pet Beastro came from Tack’s husky, the first dog she had as an adult, which she affectionately called a beast.
Pet Beastro has two locations: 13828 E. 14 Mile Road in Warren and 27637 John R Road in Madison Heights.