Ken & Sandra Smith's Wesa-A-Geh-Ya

is not accredited by The Association of Sanctuaries. Check for yourself to see if they meet the sanctuary standards for an accredited animal refuge. See an interactive online map of exotic cat owners . See people being stupid with big cats, endangering themselves and others HERE . See the awful conditions that many captive cats endure HERE .

Video of Wesa-A-Geh-Ya

USDA findings HERE

Warren County: Exotic animal owner charged for violating registration rules

Cited by USDA in 2004 for more than 35 violations

By Kevin Spradlin
Saturday, August 4, 2007 10:36 AM CDT

Warren County resident Rosella Baller only wants county officials to enforce the rules regarding the registration and upkeep of exotic animals.

Doing so might be easier said than done, the commissioners said Monday. That's because the commissioners, along with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Missouri Department of Conservation, are still trying to figure out what the rules are.

At issue is whether an animal sanctuary - a 17-acre parcel of land called Wesa-A-Geh-Ya - owned and operated by Ken and Sandra Smith in northern Warren County has been properly registering its animals with the Warren County Sheriff's Department.

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Ken Smith, of Highway A between Interstate 70 and New Truxton, was charged by Warren County Prosecuting Attorney Mike Wright on June 1 with one count of keeping dangerous wild animals without registering with local law enforcement. The charge is a misdemeanor.

The Smiths could not be reached for comment.

Ken Smith has a court date scheduled for Aug. 21 before Associate Circuit Judge Wesley Dalton.

Until then, Presiding Commissioner Arden Engelage said, there's not much the county can do. He said the commission sent Baller's complaints and mounting evidence - a pile of papers going back seven years - to the county attorney last week.

Engelage said he didn't know when he might hear from county counsel. The situation might resolve itself in court, he said.

Baller, who lives near the Smiths, said it was nearly impossible to ensure the Smiths were following the law and registering their animals - which include nearly 60 lions, tigers, wolves and cougars.

Baller suggested Monday the county commissioners should adopt an ordinance requiring exotic animal owners, such as the Smiths, to insert microchips into each animal. That would help identify an animal's owner should one escape, she said, and keep track of the animals in captivity.

Northern District Commissioner Jim Logan said that wouldn't fix the registration issue because a female animal could have babies - which, of course, wouldn't be born with the microchips.

Baller pointed out this is not a new issue. The Smiths were cited for roughly three dozen violations of the Animal Welfare Act in November 2004 by the USDA.

Those complaints, which were administrative in nature and not civil or criminal, were settled early last year. The Smiths agreed to a $13,000 fine and two years' probation.

The USDA said the Smiths operated "a dilapidated backyard animal menagerie" which "masquerades as a sanctuary while breeding lions and tigers and confining animals to small, barren cages," according to a report from www.bigcatrescue.org, a Florida-based sanctuary and educational facility.

The USDA report filed in 2004 said the Smiths "failed to provide minimally adequate veterinary care." Examples of that substandard care included a malnourished bear with sores on the pads of both front feet, a young lion who was "lethargic, cold to the touch and dehydrated," a lion with bite wounds on its legs and a tiger whose hind legs were paralyzed.

The Big Cat Rescue organization also reported USDA officials "found maggot-infested food storage; unsafe caging; inadequate shelter from inclement weather; unsanitary drinking water; and insufficient perimeter fencing for dangerous animals."

http://suburbanjournals.stltoday .com/articles/2007/08/04/news/sj2tn20070801-0801wa r_zone.ii1.txt

Wesa-A-Geh-Ya Charged With Denying Care to Dying Animals

January 25, 2005

Contact:

Lisa Wathne 757-622-7382

Warrenton, Mo. - The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has filed multiple charges against Wesa-A-Geh-Ya, a dilapidated backyard animal menagerie in Warren County, Mo., which masquerades as a sanctuary while breeding lions and tigers and confining animals to small, barren cages. The USDA launched an investigation and charged Wesa with violations of the Animal Welfare Act after PETA filed a formal complaint with the agency in June 2003, based on eyewitness reports of atrocious conditions at the facility.

The USDA's 13-page complaint states, "The gravity of the violations alleged in this complaint is great. They include instances in which respondents impeded an inspection and failed to allow access to their facility, and repeated instances in which they failed to provide minimally adequate veterinary care." The USDA cited the following examples of Wesa's failure to provide veterinary care:

* A bear who "appeared malnourished and had sores on the pads of both front feet"

* A juvenile lion who "was lethargic, cold to the touch, and dehydrated"

* A lion with an abscess on his face and bite wounds on his legs

* A tiger whose hind legs were paralyzed

The USDA also found maggot-infested food storage with foul-smelling, rotten meat; unsafe caging; inadequate shelter from inclement weather; unsanitary drinking water; and insufficient perimeter fencing for dangerous animals. Wesa's menagerie includes more than 65 animals, including tigers, lions, cougars, wolves, and a bear.

In December 2003, PETA also filed a formal complaint with the Missouri Attorney General's Office, asking that it declare Wesa in violation of the Missouri Nonprofit Corporation Act. The attorney general determined that Wesa was in violation of state law for continuing to advertise as a zoo after forfeiting its USDA exhibitor's license.

"Wesa-A-Geh-Ya bills itself as a sanctuary, when it's nothing but a hellhole of animal misery," says PETA Director Debbie Leahy. "The only thing that can stop perpetual suffering at Wesa is to rescue these animals and padlock the place for good."

For more information, please visit PETA's Web site WildlifePimps.com.

Big Misery for Big Cats at Wesa-A-Geh-Ya

Update January 2005: The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has filed multiple charges for violations of the Animal Welfare Act against Wesa-A-Geh-Ya.

The USDA's 13-page complaint states, "The gravity of the violations alleged in this complaint is great. They include instances in which respondents impeded an inspection and failed to allow access to their facility, and repeated instances in which they failed to provide minimally-adequate veterinary care. Respondents have continually failed to comply with the Regulations, after having been repeatedly advised of the deficiencies."

Wesa was charged with failing to provide veterinary care for the following animals:

. A juvenile female bear named Hazel who "appeared malnourished and had sores on the pads of both front feet"
. A juvenile male lion named Jeffrey who "was lethargic, cold to the touch, and dehydrated"
. An adult male lion named Pooh who had an abscess on his face and month-old bite wounds on his hind legs
. An adult male tiger named Samson whose hind legs were paralyzed
. A lion named Simbanala who had a lacerated ear
. A tiger named Brutus who had an injured tail

The USDA also found maggot-infested food storage with foul-smelling, rotten meat; unsafe caging; inadequate shelter from inclement weather; unsanitary drinking water; and perimeter fencing that was insufficient to safely contain dangerous animals.

In December 2003, PETA also filed a formal complaint with the Missouri Attorney General's Office, asking that it declare Wesa in violation of the Missouri Nonprofit Corporation Act. The attorney general determined that Wesa was in violation of state law for continuing to advertise as a zoo after forfeiting its USDA exhibitor's license and notified Wesa that it must amend its articles of incorporation and advertising.

Background

Down a rural road 60 miles west of St. Louis, in Warrenton, Missouri, sits a collection of haphazardly constructed dog runs at a facility called Wesa-A-Geh-Ya (Wesa), operated by Ken and Sandra Smith. At first glance, Wesa appears to be yet another backyard puppy mill so prevalent in the Midwest-but its dilapidated, barren cages aren't filled with neglected and overbred dogs; they're crowded with an estimated 63 tigers, lions, cougars, wolves, and other exotic animals. Warehoused, the animals have neither environmental enrichment nor adequate space to exercise. Wesa is a classic roadside zoo and backyard breeder of big cats that masquerades as a sanctuary, preying on people's sympathy to collect donations while exploiting the animals in its care.

Whistleblowers-many of them former board members and volunteers-have come forward with shocking and persistent complaints of overbreeding, inbreeding, abuse, animal disappearances, malnourishment, neglect, and preventable animal deaths. State officials charged the facility with violating caging laws, and Wesa has been repeatedly cited by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) for failure to provide adequate veterinary care, failure to provide adequate shelter from inclement weather, improper food storage, sub-standard perimeter fencing, poor construction of animal enclosures, and unsanitary conditions.

Sick, Dying, Malnourished, Crippled Animals Left to Suffer
Witnesses report animals dying slow, agonizing deaths without any veterinary care, including an 18-year-old tiger who lay in her cage for more than a month, not eating or drinking. She withered away to skin and bones until she died. A black bear cub was in so much pain with raw and bleeding wounds on the soft, tender pads of her paws, apparently caused by living on rough gravel, that she actually tried to walk on the tops of her front paws. After being shot and killed by the Smiths, a sick horse was found to have had an untreated broken hip. A goat who approached a wolf cage to eat straw out of sheer starvation was badly injured when the wolf attacked, perhaps out of hunger. Volunteers claim that the animals are often fed only once every five days.

An animal nutritionist, funded by a local veterinarian concerned about the animals' care, had found vision problems attributable to vitamin A deficiency; bowleggedness in big cats from rickets, metabolic bone disease, or vitamin A deficiency; unsanitary food storage; and failure to provide enough time between pregnancies to allow animals' nutritional stores to recover.

A former board member reported seeing Ken Smith punch, hit, and kick the animals on numerous occasions. In one instance, Smith repeatedly kicked three lion cubs in the face and head because they jumped on him when he entered their cage.

A veterinarian who visited the facility was appalled at the shocking conditions: "Animals were cramped in crowded cages. Males were not separated from females, encouraging breeding. . The animals had nothing in their tiny enclosures for enrichment. Cages were barren, with cement or gravel floors. Ken and Sandy Smith did not seem to care about enhancing the lives of the animals." In fact, conditions are so overcrowded that a former board member reported four cougars were stored in a horse trailer for an entire year before being moved to a cage.

Jeffrey was a young lion cub who suffered and died because of Wesa's apathy and greed. According to volunteers, Jeffrey was not given enough to eat so he consumed straw, gravel, and bone that caused an impaction. Over several weeks, Jeffrey lost weight and grew listless. In August 2002, Jeffrey was obviously in severe pain and deteriorating. Volunteers expressed concern to the Smiths, who not only refused to seek veterinary care for Jeffrey, but also denied permission for a volunteer to take him to a veterinarian. Fearing Jeffrey was on the brink of death, the caring volunteer finally rushed Jeffrey to a vet hospital anyway.

The veterinarian who treated Jeffrey wrote, "[Jeffrey was] gravely ill ... On presentation, this lion appeared to be dying. His body temperature was 96°F, and he was virtually lifeless. . A large foreign body mass was found in the stomach." The lion cub was operated on, but it was too late. Jeffrey died following surgery.

Despite overwhelming evidence that Wesa had failed to provide adequate care to Jeffrey in the form of wholesome and ample food and health care, and therefore was in direct violation of Missouri's cruelty-to-animals statute, the county prosecutor declined to prosecute the facility for Jeffrey's unnecessary suffering and tragic death.

"Scamtuary"
In violation of any legitimate sanctuary's guiding principles, Wesa breeds animals in order to remain well stocked with cute babies to draw visitors to the backyard menagerie and to sell for a profit. No legitimate sanctuary would make a bad situation worse by breeding and selling exotic animals. Volunteers report that more than half of Wesa's "rescued" animals were actually born there. And it has been documented that the zoo has sold at least a few animals to a man who was recently convicted of selling and slaughtering tigers and leopards to sell their meat and skins on the black market.

In addition to breeding animals, Wesa-A-Geh-Ya engages in the harmful practice of prematurely removing baby animals from their mothers, which is psychologically cruel to both the infants and their mothers and deprives the babies of proper maternal care and normal development. The lion and tiger cubs have been sold or carted around to state fairs where people pay to have photos taken with them, a practice that perpetuates the exotic pet trade by inspiring others to obtain wild animals. The additional stress of transport, excessive handling, confusion, and other unnatural aspects of these events puts further stress on the babies' delicate immune systems and increases the chances of their becoming ill. No legitimate sanctuary would ever tear babies from their mothers or take animals off site except for medical reasons.

PETA has filed a formal complaint against Wesa with the Missouri attorney general for violations of the state Nonprofit Corporation Act and deceptive trade practices. PETA is asking that Wesa's nonprofit status be revoked and that Wesa be required to immediately terminate all public and private deception, fraud, misrepresentation, and use of false pretenses in connection with the solicitation of funds for charitable purposes or, in the alternative, face criminal prosecution. PETA is also asking that Wesa's assets, including the animals, be placed in receivership for their own protection.

What You Can Do
Please write a polite letter to the Missouri attorney general. Ask him to seriously and carefully review PETA's complaint regarding Wesa-A-Geh-Ya, which thoroughly documents the many ways in which the facility is violating the state's nonprofit rules and engaging in deceptive trade practices, and to revoke Wesa-A-Geh-Ya's nonprofit status, to institute criminal proceedings if necessary, or to institute any proceedings deemed necessary to protect the animals' welfare:

Please write a polite letter to U.S. Department of Agriculture officials. Thank them for thoroughly investigating and pressing charges against Wesa-A-Geh-Ya. Urge them to pursue aggressive prosecution of this case and to levy the maximum penalties possible against Wesa-A-Geh-Ya.

Dr. Chester A. Gipson, Associate Deputy Administrator
USDA-APHIS-VS
4700 River Rd., Unit 84
Riverdale, MD 20737-1234
301-734-7833
301-734-4993 (fax)
Chester.A.Gipson@usda.gov

No genuine sanctuary would make a bad situation worse by engaging in or condoning commercial activities such as breeding, buying, selling, and exhibiting animals or by keeping animals in deplorable, overcrowded, neglectful conditions. Please contact PETA (e-mail CaptiveAnimals@peta.org) for help in combating pseudo-sanctuaries in your area.