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Vanishing Species Barbara Jeff Vanishing Species Barbara Jeffrey Harrod
- From: Anon
-
Description:
Feb 9,2010 Barbara Harrod entered a no contest plea in front of Judge Ginger Lerner Wren Broward County Florida Court House. The judge found Barbara Harrod guilty of all 5 counts and sentenced her to 12 months of probation and she was ordered to pay court costs roughly in the amount of $1000.00. NO fine was given by the judge even though she could have done so.
Barbara Harrod often “gets” her baby tigers from Larry Wallach whom is licensed out of NY and Ft Lauderdale. Barbara uses these babies for pets then tosses them into a tiny cage for the rest of their lives which typically isn’t very long.
I have now released graphic video’s of what these animals had to endure every day at the Davie location of Vanishing Species under the lack of care of Barbara Harrod.The Sun- Sentinel also did three stories on Barbara Harrod and the property of Vanishing Species. Here’s the link to the latest story. If you type in Vanishing Species you’ll be able to locate David Fleshlers other stories on Vanishing Species.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/fl-wildlife-violations-20100313,0,2508711.story
DAVIE An arthritic tiger failed to receive proper veterinary care. Small mammals housed in a shed died when the air conditioning broke down. Tigers disappeared without proper documentation.A Davie wildlife exhibitor has been accused of those violations in federal inspection reports.
She faces the possible loss of state and federal licenses, after years of using animals to entertain at schools, summer camps, fairs and parties.
Barbara Harrod, who operates Vanishing Species Wildlife Inc., pleaded no contest in February to state charges that she kept animals in unsanitary conditions, used cages that were too small and engaged in other wildlife violations.
She was assessed court costs, not fines.
But the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is reviewing the case to determine whether to suspend or revoke her license, said Capt. John West, of the agency's law enforcement division.
After a separate federal review, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said she has failed to comply with a federal consent order to move all big cats off her site.
The order was issued after inspectors found animals' food contaminated with blood and maggots, inadequate veterinary care, and tigers left unprotected from sun and rain.
The agreement signed last year gave her until July 31, 2009, to get big cats off her fenced compound along Southwest 136th Avenue in Davie.
However, visits by federal inspectors over the past several months found big cats still there and repeated violations of the laws requiring adequate care for the animals.
"It's been systematic noncompliance," said Nolan Lemon, spokesman for the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
"The Animal Welfare Act details minimum standards — minimum standards," Lemon said. "These are repeat violations of those standards."
Harrod said she would answer questions only in writing. Questions were sent by e-mail March 3, but she never responded. Her lawyer, Marshall Platt, could not be reached to comment despite messages left by phone and e-mail.
Despite the agreement to move out big cats, a Feb. 4 inspection found two adult tigers and an adult cougar on the property.
Lemon said Harrod was in violation of the consent agreement.
"It's with our legal folks at this point," he said.
Inspections over the past several months have turned up other violations.
Several small mammals housed in a windowless structure died after the air conditioning failed, according to USDA inspection reports.
hree adult tigers disappeared without the required documentation showing to whom they were given or sold.
The Feb. 4 inspection found an adult tiger named Nicky limping and suffering from arthritis and not receiving adequate veterinary care. The attending veterinarian, who last signed a program of care in 2008, does not live in the area, according to the inspection report.
"It's not like owning a dog or a cat," Lemon said. "There are people who get in with the best intentions and they forget that Tigger is a dangerous animal with very demanding and expensive needs. Vet care is expensive, but you can't compromise on that."
David Fleshler can be reached at dfleshler@SunSentinel.com or 954-356-4535.
Video Links
Warning these videos are graphic, I recommend not eating prior to viewing if you have a weaker stomach.These video’s are on you tube under vanishing species.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDq9vLf51io
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXW2Gz3YBJ4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruby5Kyoo2Y
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGv6rR2fV0g
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bi8pyhZpmwc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKj8W8zCsEU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_l5ap6EDI4M
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVJVs3izR4E
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYGQLoWfmtY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAmij5EUcuU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Du9OOqCchZQ
Some of the animals in these pictures are now dead due to "unnatural" causes.
The Palmdale facility was closed to the public in Feb 2009 by the USDA after a plea agreement with Jeffery and Barbara Harrod owners of Vanishing Species was reached.
USDA fined the Harrods $27,000 for violations and citations at the Palmdale facility but after the plea deal USDA reduced the fines to $3,700.00 with $100.00 payments per month.
USDA didn't return to enforce the plea agreement. Through repeat calling Dr Goldentire , Dr Gibson whom is Dr Goldentire's boss and then calling Joe Nelson I was informed they couldn't discuss the case with me but this case is public record yet none would comment on the case.
In accordance to the public record of USDA it states all cats’ juveniles and adults must be removed off the Davie, Fl. location by July 31, 2009. It's now March 31, 2010 and still class 1 and 2 cats remained on that property. No enforcing of the USDA rules for the plea agreement.
Send a message to USDA to enforce their own plea agreements, revocate licenses, not allow exotic permits or licenses to be given out like candy unless more stringent rules such as testing, serving 500 hours in a vet office that deals with exotic animals, having 500 hours of apprentice experience with FWC and field work, pass a written test, produce 1000 hours of logged time working with exotic animals.
USDA doesn't care about the animals nor enforces their own plea deals.
CALL THESE PEOPLE TODAY!
DEMAND AN EXPLAINATION TO WHY VANISHING SPECIES CAN RETAIN EXOTIC ANIMAL PERMITS AND LICENSES WHEN THEY HAVE VIOLATED EVERY LAW FROM A-N. USDA HAS 2 FILE FOLDERS OF REPEAT VIOLATIONS; THEY HAVE EVEN FORDGED VET RECORDS AND HIDDEN DEATH OF THE ANIMALS, SALES OF THE ANIMALS AND TRANSPORTS OF ANIMALS. SINCE THE PALMDALE FACILITY IS CLOSED TO THE PUBLIC HOW CAN THEY EXHABIT LEGALLY! THEY CAN'T! ANOTHER LAW BROKEN BUT WHO'S LOOKING. I HOPE CAROL CAN ATTACH THE ORIGINAL PLEA AGREEMENT TO THIS ARTICLE I SENT HER.
The Key players with this disaster with USDA are:
CALL TODAY AND EXPRESS YOUR VOICE
_____________________________________
Dr Goldentire USDA District Manager: 919-855-7100, Fax: 919-855-7123
Dr Gibson, Dr Goldentire direct supervisor: 301-734-4980.
Joe Nelson: 919-855-7106You can access the Harrods inspection records at:
http://acissearch.aphis.usda.gov/LPASearch/faces/pdfpage.jspx?custid=9487
If this link doesn’t work type in aphis, then on the left side click on animal welfare, then
On the right side click on publication and reports, next you’ll get a “ warning “ page, just click except, it’s legal for you to look at public records, next your get a page with a box asking name your looking up type in Vanishing Species, under state type in florida hit enter. At the bottom you’ll click on the PDF file and there you go, all of the inspection reports by USDA.
Ask why they have not revoked the Harrods license with repeat violations. Last I checked forging vet records is still forgery and is a felony.
FWC has the green light to revoke Barbara Harrods license yet Captain John West out of Tallassee has done nothing at this point.
Please call: 850-488-6253
Demand answers why FWC won’t revoke Jeffery Harrods or Barbara Harrods license after repeat violations with their agency and numerous complains. They have my log book, video’s I shot that you can now view and still more animals continue to die from lack of vet care, lack of knowledge and lack of funding to buy food.
3 weeks ago Art Matson whom is the inspector for Vanishing Species called and said he had just preformed an inspection at Palmdale, he said he eye balled the tigers and said they looked happy and healthy, I questioned Arts inspection as to what paper work did he receive in regards to the transfer of 7 cougars to Jeffery Harrods friends. Art replied no he ever checked. Art indicated he never went to check on the transferred cougars and made sure their cages were up to FWC standards or checking the proper permits of the friends. I asked Art if he checked for food on the premise to ensure the tigers, lions, leopards and cougars had enough palatable food to feed them daily, Art replied no he did not check to see how much food was in the refrigerators or freezers.
I asked Art if he knew what the proper weight was for a Siberian tiger was, he replied no he did not. I asked Art if he knew the proper weight for a Bengal tiger, Art replied no he did not. I asked Art if he knew what the percentage of food per animal and their weight was too been to feed daily, Art replied no he did not. I asked Art if he looked at any current vet records as a yearly vet check is needed, he replied no he did not.
Art Matson said to me and I quote” the tigers look happy and healthy”. I asked Art what does a happy and healthy tiger look like, he said he didn’t know. I said how do you know the tigers are healthy, are you a licensed veterinarian? He replied no he was not. I asked if a Bengal at proper weight was to weight 600 lbs, eyeballing the tiger how do you know it’s at proper weight? He said he didn’t know but said and I quote again” no bones were sticking out”. This I said would be past malnutrition this is called Emaciation.
Art Matson said to me he couldn’t find any violations or anything wrong yet never checked anything, just talked to Mr Harrod and left.
Concerned a proper inspection wasn’t done and biased friendships seemed to have gotten in Art Matson’s view I called Tallahassee and lodged a complaint against his “inspection”. The next week 2 state officials out of Tallahassee were sent to Palmdale and they discovered MANY, MANY violations!!! Odd how a week prior to that Art Matson said he couldn’t find one thing wrong.
Art Matson said he knows of a sanctuary out of Colorado called Wild Animal sanctuary and they were willing at their own expense bring in eight tractor trailers and take every cat the Harrods have to their rescue where they have set aside 250 acres giving each cat 20 acres to themselves with dens and water falls. Jeffery said he’d agree to it but the condition was he had to also give up his breeders license so this mess can’t be repeated down the road. Jeffery refuses to give up his breeders permits and indicated to Art he wanted to get more babies for money making opportunities. So this process will begin all over again.
From my sources Jeffery Harrod is planning on putting all the animals names in his girlfriends name but she doesn’t yet have a class 1 & 2 license however Jeffery indicated he was going to “ sign” saying she has her 1000 hours per species even though she has none logged and has no idea of animal husbandry.
This way Jeffery Harrod can manipulate the system again and gets to keep the cats.
Art Matson said to me Jeffery Harrod told him he was selling Palmdale by the end of his month, so I said to Captian Ardleen yesterday were at the end of the month is Palmdale sold, he said no Jeffery now said it’ll be at the end of the year. STALL, STALL, STALL!!!!
Right now according to Art Matson Jeffery Harrod has housed on the Palmdale property:
7 tigers7 cougars
2 lions
2 leopards
6 alligators
Host of other assorted animals from raccoons to pheasants, emu’s, goats, pigs, etc.
On the property of Palmdale one black leopard according to my close source died about 2 months ago, he was only 2 ½ years old. To my knowledge this animal was not listed on the inventory register as dead with FWC or USDA. No records were ever looked at by Art Matson to compare what animals were there last inspection verses what animals aren’t there this inspection. If sold where is the transfers paperwork and sellers book? Art said he never checked.
March 29, 2010 I received credible information Jeffery Harrod was housing a 3 week old baby cougar in his trailer, according to my inside source the baby is very ill and has diaherra. I was on the phone till after 2 am with a hot line operator whom was in communication with Captain Adleen whom indicated he and Pat Reynolds with FWC would be visiting Jeffery Harrods home and checking if the cougar was ok. He looked at the cat saw the diaherra asked Jeffery if he was going to seek medical attention with a vet at which time Jeffery answered no he wasn’t. He has this cougar baby according to my sources on whole cow’s milk, diluted with water and cat food mixed in. Jeffery indicated the baby is on cat formula and it’s common to remove the baby as soon as it’s born away from the mother. They believe Jeffery Harrod but took pictures
BARBARA HARRODS BROWARD COUNTY COURTHOUSE CASE RECORD
Link HERE
These three powerful people had the green light and authority to revocate ( strip these licenses and permits) but instead looked the other way and gave them a tap on the wrist while more animals suffered and died. The USDA and there laws are worthless to animals.
This is why I've been working to help shut down Vanishing Species because under there lack of proper animal care the species is truely vanishing.
Remember when viewing these animals some here in these pictures are now dead and no one cared!
Who know's what's become of the others in the pictures. Change needs to come to the laws governing who can and can't have exotic animals.
The Harrods have no formal education in attending college for animal husbandry also known as animal science, they have no formal training as a veterarian assistant or in veterinarian medicine, the Harrod's don't possess a master's degrees or doctorates in disciplines such as nutrition, genetics and animal breeding, or reproductive physiology. Yet The Harrods have been given permits for breeding and exhibition by FWC and USDA.
They were just simply given permits! So in essence you need no skill, training nor knowledge to possess and keep a tiger , cougar or leopard which is a class 1 animal!
You just need to “know" someone that already has a class 1 and 2 permit to sign for you stating you have the 1000 hours per species even if you never had 20 hours. You don't need to prove you have the knowledge you just have to produce a few bucks for the permits and off you go.
Unite your voice with mine and stand up to politics that condemn these sacred and endangered animals to a life in a small prison, there only crime was they were born.
Unfortunately these animals you see were only a commodity and expendable.
If one baby died and many did they'd just go BUY another tiger baby to exploit for money doing baby pets at fairs such as Dade County Youth Fair, Birthday parties , schools, and other private functions ,Saw Grass Rec Park where they used to exhibit some of these animals and used the baby tiger pictured here , lioness named " Savanna" and the bob cat for baby pets for money but had lost their contact there and weren't asked back , along with other fairs.
One way or another the laws are going to have to change and if I have to stand alone then so be it but I'd like you the ones reading this to get involved because laws only change when people make law makers change them.
I don't feel the punishment for Barbara Harrod fit the crimes and should have been much more severe. Once again the animals died for a slap on the wrist and court costs. Where is the justice for the voiceless! This statement is my own personal feelings. After this case sat in the legal system with postponements for 3 years this was the outcome for the animals that suffered and died.Please help me to help the animals and be a voice with mine to demand answer from USDA and FWC. How many more animals have to die at the hands of the Harrods? When is enough, enough?
I am an animal advocate, a voice for the voiceless and I’m not going away. If I have to stand alone so be it, I have fought this ongoing night mare for the animals for 3 years and I have no intensions of going away any time soon.
Written by eye witness Chrissy Fischer
Email: witcheswand@yahoo.com
- 5 months ago
- Views: 235
- Not yet rated
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Vanishing Species Barbara Jeff Vanishing Species Barbara Jeffrey Harrod
- From: Anon
-
Description:
Feb 9,2010 Barbara Harrod entered a no contest plea in front of Judge Ginger Lerner Wren Broward County Florida Court House. The judge found Barbara Harrod guilty of all 5 counts and sentenced her to 12 months of probation and she was ordered to pay court costs roughly in the amount of $1000.00. NO fine was given by the judge even though she could have done so.
Barbara Harrod often “gets” her baby tigers from Larry Wallach whom is licensed out of NY and Ft Lauderdale. Barbara uses these babies for pets then tosses them into a tiny cage for the rest of their lives which typically isn’t very long.
I have now released graphic video’s of what these animals had to endure every day at the Davie location of Vanishing Species under the lack of care of Barbara Harrod.The Sun- Sentinel also did three stories on Barbara Harrod and the property of Vanishing Species. Here’s the link to the latest story. If you type in Vanishing Species you’ll be able to locate David Fleshlers other stories on Vanishing Species.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/fl-wildlife-violations-20100313,0,2508711.story
DAVIE An arthritic tiger failed to receive proper veterinary care. Small mammals housed in a shed died when the air conditioning broke down. Tigers disappeared without proper documentation.A Davie wildlife exhibitor has been accused of those violations in federal inspection reports.
She faces the possible loss of state and federal licenses, after years of using animals to entertain at schools, summer camps, fairs and parties.
Barbara Harrod, who operates Vanishing Species Wildlife Inc., pleaded no contest in February to state charges that she kept animals in unsanitary conditions, used cages that were too small and engaged in other wildlife violations.
She was assessed court costs, not fines.
But the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is reviewing the case to determine whether to suspend or revoke her license, said Capt. John West, of the agency's law enforcement division.
After a separate federal review, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said she has failed to comply with a federal consent order to move all big cats off her site.
The order was issued after inspectors found animals' food contaminated with blood and maggots, inadequate veterinary care, and tigers left unprotected from sun and rain.
The agreement signed last year gave her until July 31, 2009, to get big cats off her fenced compound along Southwest 136th Avenue in Davie.
However, visits by federal inspectors over the past several months found big cats still there and repeated violations of the laws requiring adequate care for the animals.
"It's been systematic noncompliance," said Nolan Lemon, spokesman for the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
"The Animal Welfare Act details minimum standards — minimum standards," Lemon said. "These are repeat violations of those standards."
Harrod said she would answer questions only in writing. Questions were sent by e-mail March 3, but she never responded. Her lawyer, Marshall Platt, could not be reached to comment despite messages left by phone and e-mail.
Despite the agreement to move out big cats, a Feb. 4 inspection found two adult tigers and an adult cougar on the property.
Lemon said Harrod was in violation of the consent agreement.
"It's with our legal folks at this point," he said.
Inspections over the past several months have turned up other violations.
Several small mammals housed in a windowless structure died after the air conditioning failed, according to USDA inspection reports.
hree adult tigers disappeared without the required documentation showing to whom they were given or sold.
The Feb. 4 inspection found an adult tiger named Nicky limping and suffering from arthritis and not receiving adequate veterinary care. The attending veterinarian, who last signed a program of care in 2008, does not live in the area, according to the inspection report.
"It's not like owning a dog or a cat," Lemon said. "There are people who get in with the best intentions and they forget that Tigger is a dangerous animal with very demanding and expensive needs. Vet care is expensive, but you can't compromise on that."
David Fleshler can be reached at dfleshler@SunSentinel.com or 954-356-4535.
Video Links
Warning these videos are graphic, I recommend not eating prior to viewing if you have a weaker stomach.These video’s are on you tube under vanishing species.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDq9vLf51io
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXW2Gz3YBJ4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruby5Kyoo2Y
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGv6rR2fV0g
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bi8pyhZpmwc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKj8W8zCsEU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_l5ap6EDI4M
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVJVs3izR4E
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYGQLoWfmtY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAmij5EUcuU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Du9OOqCchZQ
Some of the animals in these pictures are now dead due to "unnatural" causes.
The Palmdale facility was closed to the public in Feb 2009 by the USDA after a plea agreement with Jeffery and Barbara Harrod owners of Vanishing Species was reached.
USDA fined the Harrods $27,000 for violations and citations at the Palmdale facility but after the plea deal USDA reduced the fines to $3,700.00 with $100.00 payments per month.
USDA didn't return to enforce the plea agreement. Through repeat calling Dr Goldentire , Dr Gibson whom is Dr Goldentire's boss and then calling Joe Nelson I was informed they couldn't discuss the case with me but this case is public record yet none would comment on the case.
In accordance to the public record of USDA it states all cats’ juveniles and adults must be removed off the Davie, Fl. location by July 31, 2009. It's now March 31, 2010 and still class 1 and 2 cats remained on that property. No enforcing of the USDA rules for the plea agreement.
Send a message to USDA to enforce their own plea agreements, revocate licenses, not allow exotic permits or licenses to be given out like candy unless more stringent rules such as testing, serving 500 hours in a vet office that deals with exotic animals, having 500 hours of apprentice experience with FWC and field work, pass a written test, produce 1000 hours of logged time working with exotic animals.
USDA doesn't care about the animals nor enforces their own plea deals.
CALL THESE PEOPLE TODAY!
DEMAND AN EXPLAINATION TO WHY VANISHING SPECIES CAN RETAIN EXOTIC ANIMAL PERMITS AND LICENSES WHEN THEY HAVE VIOLATED EVERY LAW FROM A-N. USDA HAS 2 FILE FOLDERS OF REPEAT VIOLATIONS; THEY HAVE EVEN FORDGED VET RECORDS AND HIDDEN DEATH OF THE ANIMALS, SALES OF THE ANIMALS AND TRANSPORTS OF ANIMALS. SINCE THE PALMDALE FACILITY IS CLOSED TO THE PUBLIC HOW CAN THEY EXHABIT LEGALLY! THEY CAN'T! ANOTHER LAW BROKEN BUT WHO'S LOOKING. I HOPE CAROL CAN ATTACH THE ORIGINAL PLEA AGREEMENT TO THIS ARTICLE I SENT HER.
The Key players with this disaster with USDA are:
CALL TODAY AND EXPRESS YOUR VOICE
_____________________________________
Dr Goldentire USDA District Manager: 919-855-7100, Fax: 919-855-7123
Dr Gibson, Dr Goldentire direct supervisor: 301-734-4980.
Joe Nelson: 919-855-7106You can access the Harrods inspection records at:
http://acissearch.aphis.usda.gov/LPASearch/faces/pdfpage.jspx?custid=9487
If this link doesn’t work type in aphis, then on the left side click on animal welfare, then
On the right side click on publication and reports, next you’ll get a “ warning “ page, just click except, it’s legal for you to look at public records, next your get a page with a box asking name your looking up type in Vanishing Species, under state type in florida hit enter. At the bottom you’ll click on the PDF file and there you go, all of the inspection reports by USDA.
Ask why they have not revoked the Harrods license with repeat violations. Last I checked forging vet records is still forgery and is a felony.
FWC has the green light to revoke Barbara Harrods license yet Captain John West out of Tallassee has done nothing at this point.
Please call: 850-488-6253
Demand answers why FWC won’t revoke Jeffery Harrods or Barbara Harrods license after repeat violations with their agency and numerous complains. They have my log book, video’s I shot that you can now view and still more animals continue to die from lack of vet care, lack of knowledge and lack of funding to buy food.
3 weeks ago Art Matson whom is the inspector for Vanishing Species called and said he had just preformed an inspection at Palmdale, he said he eye balled the tigers and said they looked happy and healthy, I questioned Arts inspection as to what paper work did he receive in regards to the transfer of 7 cougars to Jeffery Harrods friends. Art replied no he ever checked. Art indicated he never went to check on the transferred cougars and made sure their cages were up to FWC standards or checking the proper permits of the friends. I asked Art if he checked for food on the premise to ensure the tigers, lions, leopards and cougars had enough palatable food to feed them daily, Art replied no he did not check to see how much food was in the refrigerators or freezers.
I asked Art if he knew what the proper weight was for a Siberian tiger was, he replied no he did not. I asked Art if he knew the proper weight for a Bengal tiger, Art replied no he did not. I asked Art if he knew what the percentage of food per animal and their weight was too been to feed daily, Art replied no he did not. I asked Art if he looked at any current vet records as a yearly vet check is needed, he replied no he did not.
Art Matson said to me and I quote” the tigers look happy and healthy”. I asked Art what does a happy and healthy tiger look like, he said he didn’t know. I said how do you know the tigers are healthy, are you a licensed veterinarian? He replied no he was not. I asked if a Bengal at proper weight was to weight 600 lbs, eyeballing the tiger how do you know it’s at proper weight? He said he didn’t know but said and I quote again” no bones were sticking out”. This I said would be past malnutrition this is called Emaciation.
Art Matson said to me he couldn’t find any violations or anything wrong yet never checked anything, just talked to Mr Harrod and left.
Concerned a proper inspection wasn’t done and biased friendships seemed to have gotten in Art Matson’s view I called Tallahassee and lodged a complaint against his “inspection”. The next week 2 state officials out of Tallahassee were sent to Palmdale and they discovered MANY, MANY violations!!! Odd how a week prior to that Art Matson said he couldn’t find one thing wrong.
Art Matson said he knows of a sanctuary out of Colorado called Wild Animal sanctuary and they were willing at their own expense bring in eight tractor trailers and take every cat the Harrods have to their rescue where they have set aside 250 acres giving each cat 20 acres to themselves with dens and water falls. Jeffery said he’d agree to it but the condition was he had to also give up his breeders license so this mess can’t be repeated down the road. Jeffery refuses to give up his breeders permits and indicated to Art he wanted to get more babies for money making opportunities. So this process will begin all over again.
From my sources Jeffery Harrod is planning on putting all the animals names in his girlfriends name but she doesn’t yet have a class 1 & 2 license however Jeffery indicated he was going to “ sign” saying she has her 1000 hours per species even though she has none logged and has no idea of animal husbandry.
This way Jeffery Harrod can manipulate the system again and gets to keep the cats.
Art Matson said to me Jeffery Harrod told him he was selling Palmdale by the end of his month, so I said to Captian Ardleen yesterday were at the end of the month is Palmdale sold, he said no Jeffery now said it’ll be at the end of the year. STALL, STALL, STALL!!!!
Right now according to Art Matson Jeffery Harrod has housed on the Palmdale property:
7 tigers7 cougars
2 lions
2 leopards
6 alligators
Host of other assorted animals from raccoons to pheasants, emu’s, goats, pigs, etc.
On the property of Palmdale one black leopard according to my close source died about 2 months ago, he was only 2 ½ years old. To my knowledge this animal was not listed on the inventory register as dead with FWC or USDA. No records were ever looked at by Art Matson to compare what animals were there last inspection verses what animals aren’t there this inspection. If sold where is the transfers paperwork and sellers book? Art said he never checked.
March 29, 2010 I received credible information Jeffery Harrod was housing a 3 week old baby cougar in his trailer, according to my inside source the baby is very ill and has diaherra. I was on the phone till after 2 am with a hot line operator whom was in communication with Captain Adleen whom indicated he and Pat Reynolds with FWC would be visiting Jeffery Harrods home and checking if the cougar was ok. He looked at the cat saw the diaherra asked Jeffery if he was going to seek medical attention with a vet at which time Jeffery answered no he wasn’t. He has this cougar baby according to my sources on whole cow’s milk, diluted with water and cat food mixed in. Jeffery indicated the baby is on cat formula and it’s common to remove the baby as soon as it’s born away from the mother. They believe Jeffery Harrod but took pictures
BARBARA HARRODS BROWARD COUNTY COURTHOUSE CASE RECORD
Link HERE
These three powerful people had the green light and authority to revocate ( strip these licenses and permits) but instead looked the other way and gave them a tap on the wrist while more animals suffered and died. The USDA and there laws are worthless to animals.
This is why I've been working to help shut down Vanishing Species because under there lack of proper animal care the species is truely vanishing.
Remember when viewing these animals some here in these pictures are now dead and no one cared!
Who know's what's become of the others in the pictures. Change needs to come to the laws governing who can and can't have exotic animals.
The Harrods have no formal education in attending college for animal husbandry also known as animal science, they have no formal training as a veterarian assistant or in veterinarian medicine, the Harrod's don't possess a master's degrees or doctorates in disciplines such as nutrition, genetics and animal breeding, or reproductive physiology. Yet The Harrods have been given permits for breeding and exhibition by FWC and USDA.
They were just simply given permits! So in essence you need no skill, training nor knowledge to possess and keep a tiger , cougar or leopard which is a class 1 animal!
You just need to “know" someone that already has a class 1 and 2 permit to sign for you stating you have the 1000 hours per species even if you never had 20 hours. You don't need to prove you have the knowledge you just have to produce a few bucks for the permits and off you go.
Unite your voice with mine and stand up to politics that condemn these sacred and endangered animals to a life in a small prison, there only crime was they were born.
Unfortunately these animals you see were only a commodity and expendable.
If one baby died and many did they'd just go BUY another tiger baby to exploit for money doing baby pets at fairs such as Dade County Youth Fair, Birthday parties , schools, and other private functions ,Saw Grass Rec Park where they used to exhibit some of these animals and used the baby tiger pictured here , lioness named " Savanna" and the bob cat for baby pets for money but had lost their contact there and weren't asked back , along with other fairs.
One way or another the laws are going to have to change and if I have to stand alone then so be it but I'd like you the ones reading this to get involved because laws only change when people make law makers change them.
I don't feel the punishment for Barbara Harrod fit the crimes and should have been much more severe. Once again the animals died for a slap on the wrist and court costs. Where is the justice for the voiceless! This statement is my own personal feelings. After this case sat in the legal system with postponements for 3 years this was the outcome for the animals that suffered and died.Please help me to help the animals and be a voice with mine to demand answer from USDA and FWC. How many more animals have to die at the hands of the Harrods? When is enough, enough?
I am an animal advocate, a voice for the voiceless and I’m not going away. If I have to stand alone so be it, I have fought this ongoing night mare for the animals for 3 years and I have no intensions of going away any time soon.
Written by eye witness Chrissy Fischer
Email: witcheswand@yahoo.com
- 5 months ago
- Views: 152
- Not yet rated
-
Vanishing Species Barbara Jeff Vanishing Species Barbara Jeffrey Harrod
- From: Anon
-
Description:
Feb 9,2010 Barbara Harrod entered a no contest plea in front of Judge Ginger Lerner Wren Broward County Florida Court House. The judge found Barbara Harrod guilty of all 5 counts and sentenced her to 12 months of probation and she was ordered to pay court costs roughly in the amount of $1000.00. NO fine was given by the judge even though she could have done so.
Barbara Harrod often “gets” her baby tigers from Larry Wallach whom is licensed out of NY and Ft Lauderdale. Barbara uses these babies for pets then tosses them into a tiny cage for the rest of their lives which typically isn’t very long.
I have now released graphic video’s of what these animals had to endure every day at the Davie location of Vanishing Species under the lack of care of Barbara Harrod.The Sun- Sentinel also did three stories on Barbara Harrod and the property of Vanishing Species. Here’s the link to the latest story. If you type in Vanishing Species you’ll be able to locate David Fleshlers other stories on Vanishing Species.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/fl-wildlife-violations-20100313,0,2508711.story
DAVIE An arthritic tiger failed to receive proper veterinary care. Small mammals housed in a shed died when the air conditioning broke down. Tigers disappeared without proper documentation.A Davie wildlife exhibitor has been accused of those violations in federal inspection reports.
She faces the possible loss of state and federal licenses, after years of using animals to entertain at schools, summer camps, fairs and parties.
Barbara Harrod, who operates Vanishing Species Wildlife Inc., pleaded no contest in February to state charges that she kept animals in unsanitary conditions, used cages that were too small and engaged in other wildlife violations.
She was assessed court costs, not fines.
But the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is reviewing the case to determine whether to suspend or revoke her license, said Capt. John West, of the agency's law enforcement division.
After a separate federal review, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said she has failed to comply with a federal consent order to move all big cats off her site.
The order was issued after inspectors found animals' food contaminated with blood and maggots, inadequate veterinary care, and tigers left unprotected from sun and rain.
The agreement signed last year gave her until July 31, 2009, to get big cats off her fenced compound along Southwest 136th Avenue in Davie.
However, visits by federal inspectors over the past several months found big cats still there and repeated violations of the laws requiring adequate care for the animals.
"It's been systematic noncompliance," said Nolan Lemon, spokesman for the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
"The Animal Welfare Act details minimum standards — minimum standards," Lemon said. "These are repeat violations of those standards."
Harrod said she would answer questions only in writing. Questions were sent by e-mail March 3, but she never responded. Her lawyer, Marshall Platt, could not be reached to comment despite messages left by phone and e-mail.
Despite the agreement to move out big cats, a Feb. 4 inspection found two adult tigers and an adult cougar on the property.
Lemon said Harrod was in violation of the consent agreement.
"It's with our legal folks at this point," he said.
Inspections over the past several months have turned up other violations.
Several small mammals housed in a windowless structure died after the air conditioning failed, according to USDA inspection reports.
hree adult tigers disappeared without the required documentation showing to whom they were given or sold.
The Feb. 4 inspection found an adult tiger named Nicky limping and suffering from arthritis and not receiving adequate veterinary care. The attending veterinarian, who last signed a program of care in 2008, does not live in the area, according to the inspection report.
"It's not like owning a dog or a cat," Lemon said. "There are people who get in with the best intentions and they forget that Tigger is a dangerous animal with very demanding and expensive needs. Vet care is expensive, but you can't compromise on that."
David Fleshler can be reached at dfleshler@SunSentinel.com or 954-356-4535.
Video Links
Warning these videos are graphic, I recommend not eating prior to viewing if you have a weaker stomach.These video’s are on you tube under vanishing species.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDq9vLf51io
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXW2Gz3YBJ4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruby5Kyoo2Y
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGv6rR2fV0g
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bi8pyhZpmwc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKj8W8zCsEU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_l5ap6EDI4M
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVJVs3izR4E
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYGQLoWfmtY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAmij5EUcuU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Du9OOqCchZQ
Some of the animals in these pictures are now dead due to "unnatural" causes.
The Palmdale facility was closed to the public in Feb 2009 by the USDA after a plea agreement with Jeffery and Barbara Harrod owners of Vanishing Species was reached.
USDA fined the Harrods $27,000 for violations and citations at the Palmdale facility but after the plea deal USDA reduced the fines to $3,700.00 with $100.00 payments per month.
USDA didn't return to enforce the plea agreement. Through repeat calling Dr Goldentire , Dr Gibson whom is Dr Goldentire's boss and then calling Joe Nelson I was informed they couldn't discuss the case with me but this case is public record yet none would comment on the case.
In accordance to the public record of USDA it states all cats’ juveniles and adults must be removed off the Davie, Fl. location by July 31, 2009. It's now March 31, 2010 and still class 1 and 2 cats remained on that property. No enforcing of the USDA rules for the plea agreement.
Send a message to USDA to enforce their own plea agreements, revocate licenses, not allow exotic permits or licenses to be given out like candy unless more stringent rules such as testing, serving 500 hours in a vet office that deals with exotic animals, having 500 hours of apprentice experience with FWC and field work, pass a written test, produce 1000 hours of logged time working with exotic animals.
USDA doesn't care about the animals nor enforces their own plea deals.
CALL THESE PEOPLE TODAY!
DEMAND AN EXPLAINATION TO WHY VANISHING SPECIES CAN RETAIN EXOTIC ANIMAL PERMITS AND LICENSES WHEN THEY HAVE VIOLATED EVERY LAW FROM A-N. USDA HAS 2 FILE FOLDERS OF REPEAT VIOLATIONS; THEY HAVE EVEN FORDGED VET RECORDS AND HIDDEN DEATH OF THE ANIMALS, SALES OF THE ANIMALS AND TRANSPORTS OF ANIMALS. SINCE THE PALMDALE FACILITY IS CLOSED TO THE PUBLIC HOW CAN THEY EXHABIT LEGALLY! THEY CAN'T! ANOTHER LAW BROKEN BUT WHO'S LOOKING. I HOPE CAROL CAN ATTACH THE ORIGINAL PLEA AGREEMENT TO THIS ARTICLE I SENT HER.
The Key players with this disaster with USDA are:
CALL TODAY AND EXPRESS YOUR VOICE
_____________________________________
Dr Goldentire USDA District Manager: 919-855-7100, Fax: 919-855-7123
Dr Gibson, Dr Goldentire direct supervisor: 301-734-4980.
Joe Nelson: 919-855-7106You can access the Harrods inspection records at:
http://acissearch.aphis.usda.gov/LPASearch/faces/pdfpage.jspx?custid=9487
If this link doesn’t work type in aphis, then on the left side click on animal welfare, then
On the right side click on publication and reports, next you’ll get a “ warning “ page, just click except, it’s legal for you to look at public records, next your get a page with a box asking name your looking up type in Vanishing Species, under state type in florida hit enter. At the bottom you’ll click on the PDF file and there you go, all of the inspection reports by USDA.
Ask why they have not revoked the Harrods license with repeat violations. Last I checked forging vet records is still forgery and is a felony.
FWC has the green light to revoke Barbara Harrods license yet Captain John West out of Tallassee has done nothing at this point.
Please call: 850-488-6253
Demand answers why FWC won’t revoke Jeffery Harrods or Barbara Harrods license after repeat violations with their agency and numerous complains. They have my log book, video’s I shot that you can now view and still more animals continue to die from lack of vet care, lack of knowledge and lack of funding to buy food.
3 weeks ago Art Matson whom is the inspector for Vanishing Species called and said he had just preformed an inspection at Palmdale, he said he eye balled the tigers and said they looked happy and healthy, I questioned Arts inspection as to what paper work did he receive in regards to the transfer of 7 cougars to Jeffery Harrods friends. Art replied no he ever checked. Art indicated he never went to check on the transferred cougars and made sure their cages were up to FWC standards or checking the proper permits of the friends. I asked Art if he checked for food on the premise to ensure the tigers, lions, leopards and cougars had enough palatable food to feed them daily, Art replied no he did not check to see how much food was in the refrigerators or freezers.
I asked Art if he knew what the proper weight was for a Siberian tiger was, he replied no he did not. I asked Art if he knew the proper weight for a Bengal tiger, Art replied no he did not. I asked Art if he knew what the percentage of food per animal and their weight was too been to feed daily, Art replied no he did not. I asked Art if he looked at any current vet records as a yearly vet check is needed, he replied no he did not.
Art Matson said to me and I quote” the tigers look happy and healthy”. I asked Art what does a happy and healthy tiger look like, he said he didn’t know. I said how do you know the tigers are healthy, are you a licensed veterinarian? He replied no he was not. I asked if a Bengal at proper weight was to weight 600 lbs, eyeballing the tiger how do you know it’s at proper weight? He said he didn’t know but said and I quote again” no bones were sticking out”. This I said would be past malnutrition this is called Emaciation.
Art Matson said to me he couldn’t find any violations or anything wrong yet never checked anything, just talked to Mr Harrod and left.
Concerned a proper inspection wasn’t done and biased friendships seemed to have gotten in Art Matson’s view I called Tallahassee and lodged a complaint against his “inspection”. The next week 2 state officials out of Tallahassee were sent to Palmdale and they discovered MANY, MANY violations!!! Odd how a week prior to that Art Matson said he couldn’t find one thing wrong.
Art Matson said he knows of a sanctuary out of Colorado called Wild Animal sanctuary and they were willing at their own expense bring in eight tractor trailers and take every cat the Harrods have to their rescue where they have set aside 250 acres giving each cat 20 acres to themselves with dens and water falls. Jeffery said he’d agree to it but the condition was he had to also give up his breeders license so this mess can’t be repeated down the road. Jeffery refuses to give up his breeders permits and indicated to Art he wanted to get more babies for money making opportunities. So this process will begin all over again.
From my sources Jeffery Harrod is planning on putting all the animals names in his girlfriends name but she doesn’t yet have a class 1 & 2 license however Jeffery indicated he was going to “ sign” saying she has her 1000 hours per species even though she has none logged and has no idea of animal husbandry.
This way Jeffery Harrod can manipulate the system again and gets to keep the cats.
Art Matson said to me Jeffery Harrod told him he was selling Palmdale by the end of his month, so I said to Captian Ardleen yesterday were at the end of the month is Palmdale sold, he said no Jeffery now said it’ll be at the end of the year. STALL, STALL, STALL!!!!
Right now according to Art Matson Jeffery Harrod has housed on the Palmdale property:
7 tigers7 cougars
2 lions
2 leopards
6 alligators
Host of other assorted animals from raccoons to pheasants, emu’s, goats, pigs, etc.
On the property of Palmdale one black leopard according to my close source died about 2 months ago, he was only 2 ½ years old. To my knowledge this animal was not listed on the inventory register as dead with FWC or USDA. No records were ever looked at by Art Matson to compare what animals were there last inspection verses what animals aren’t there this inspection. If sold where is the transfers paperwork and sellers book? Art said he never checked.
March 29, 2010 I received credible information Jeffery Harrod was housing a 3 week old baby cougar in his trailer, according to my inside source the baby is very ill and has diaherra. I was on the phone till after 2 am with a hot line operator whom was in communication with Captain Adleen whom indicated he and Pat Reynolds with FWC would be visiting Jeffery Harrods home and checking if the cougar was ok. He looked at the cat saw the diaherra asked Jeffery if he was going to seek medical attention with a vet at which time Jeffery answered no he wasn’t. He has this cougar baby according to my sources on whole cow’s milk, diluted with water and cat food mixed in. Jeffery indicated the baby is on cat formula and it’s common to remove the baby as soon as it’s born away from the mother. They believe Jeffery Harrod but took pictures
BARBARA HARRODS BROWARD COUNTY COURTHOUSE CASE RECORD
Link HERE
These three powerful people had the green light and authority to revocate ( strip these licenses and permits) but instead looked the other way and gave them a tap on the wrist while more animals suffered and died. The USDA and there laws are worthless to animals.
This is why I've been working to help shut down Vanishing Species because under there lack of proper animal care the species is truely vanishing.
Remember when viewing these animals some here in these pictures are now dead and no one cared!
Who know's what's become of the others in the pictures. Change needs to come to the laws governing who can and can't have exotic animals.
The Harrods have no formal education in attending college for animal husbandry also known as animal science, they have no formal training as a veterarian assistant or in veterinarian medicine, the Harrod's don't possess a master's degrees or doctorates in disciplines such as nutrition, genetics and animal breeding, or reproductive physiology. Yet The Harrods have been given permits for breeding and exhibition by FWC and USDA.
They were just simply given permits! So in essence you need no skill, training nor knowledge to possess and keep a tiger , cougar or leopard which is a class 1 animal!
You just need to “know" someone that already has a class 1 and 2 permit to sign for you stating you have the 1000 hours per species even if you never had 20 hours. You don't need to prove you have the knowledge you just have to produce a few bucks for the permits and off you go.
Unite your voice with mine and stand up to politics that condemn these sacred and endangered animals to a life in a small prison, there only crime was they were born.
Unfortunately these animals you see were only a commodity and expendable.
If one baby died and many did they'd just go BUY another tiger baby to exploit for money doing baby pets at fairs such as Dade County Youth Fair, Birthday parties , schools, and other private functions ,Saw Grass Rec Park where they used to exhibit some of these animals and used the baby tiger pictured here , lioness named " Savanna" and the bob cat for baby pets for money but had lost their contact there and weren't asked back , along with other fairs.
One way or another the laws are going to have to change and if I have to stand alone then so be it but I'd like you the ones reading this to get involved because laws only change when people make law makers change them.
I don't feel the punishment for Barbara Harrod fit the crimes and should have been much more severe. Once again the animals died for a slap on the wrist and court costs. Where is the justice for the voiceless! This statement is my own personal feelings. After this case sat in the legal system with postponements for 3 years this was the outcome for the animals that suffered and died.Please help me to help the animals and be a voice with mine to demand answer from USDA and FWC. How many more animals have to die at the hands of the Harrods? When is enough, enough?
I am an animal advocate, a voice for the voiceless and I’m not going away. If I have to stand alone so be it, I have fought this ongoing night mare for the animals for 3 years and I have no intensions of going away any time soon.
Written by eye witness Chrissy Fischer
Email: witcheswand@yahoo.com
- 5 months ago
- Views: 158
- Not yet rated
-
Vanishing Species Barbara Jeff Vanishing Species Barbara Jeffrey Harrod
- From: Anon
-
Description:
Feb 9,2010 Barbara Harrod entered a no contest plea in front of Judge Ginger Lerner Wren Broward County Florida Court House. The judge found Barbara Harrod guilty of all 5 counts and sentenced her to 12 months of probation and she was ordered to pay court costs roughly in the amount of $1000.00. NO fine was given by the judge even though she could have done so.
Barbara Harrod often “gets” her baby tigers from Larry Wallach whom is licensed out of NY and Ft Lauderdale. Barbara uses these babies for pets then tosses them into a tiny cage for the rest of their lives which typically isn’t very long.
I have now released graphic video’s of what these animals had to endure every day at the Davie location of Vanishing Species under the lack of care of Barbara Harrod.The Sun- Sentinel also did three stories on Barbara Harrod and the property of Vanishing Species. Here’s the link to the latest story. If you type in Vanishing Species you’ll be able to locate David Fleshlers other stories on Vanishing Species.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/fl-wildlife-violations-20100313,0,2508711.story
DAVIE An arthritic tiger failed to receive proper veterinary care. Small mammals housed in a shed died when the air conditioning broke down. Tigers disappeared without proper documentation.A Davie wildlife exhibitor has been accused of those violations in federal inspection reports.
She faces the possible loss of state and federal licenses, after years of using animals to entertain at schools, summer camps, fairs and parties.
Barbara Harrod, who operates Vanishing Species Wildlife Inc., pleaded no contest in February to state charges that she kept animals in unsanitary conditions, used cages that were too small and engaged in other wildlife violations.
She was assessed court costs, not fines.
But the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is reviewing the case to determine whether to suspend or revoke her license, said Capt. John West, of the agency's law enforcement division.
After a separate federal review, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said she has failed to comply with a federal consent order to move all big cats off her site.
The order was issued after inspectors found animals' food contaminated with blood and maggots, inadequate veterinary care, and tigers left unprotected from sun and rain.
The agreement signed last year gave her until July 31, 2009, to get big cats off her fenced compound along Southwest 136th Avenue in Davie.
However, visits by federal inspectors over the past several months found big cats still there and repeated violations of the laws requiring adequate care for the animals.
"It's been systematic noncompliance," said Nolan Lemon, spokesman for the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
"The Animal Welfare Act details minimum standards — minimum standards," Lemon said. "These are repeat violations of those standards."
Harrod said she would answer questions only in writing. Questions were sent by e-mail March 3, but she never responded. Her lawyer, Marshall Platt, could not be reached to comment despite messages left by phone and e-mail.
Despite the agreement to move out big cats, a Feb. 4 inspection found two adult tigers and an adult cougar on the property.
Lemon said Harrod was in violation of the consent agreement.
"It's with our legal folks at this point," he said.
Inspections over the past several months have turned up other violations.
Several small mammals housed in a windowless structure died after the air conditioning failed, according to USDA inspection reports.
hree adult tigers disappeared without the required documentation showing to whom they were given or sold.
The Feb. 4 inspection found an adult tiger named Nicky limping and suffering from arthritis and not receiving adequate veterinary care. The attending veterinarian, who last signed a program of care in 2008, does not live in the area, according to the inspection report.
"It's not like owning a dog or a cat," Lemon said. "There are people who get in with the best intentions and they forget that Tigger is a dangerous animal with very demanding and expensive needs. Vet care is expensive, but you can't compromise on that."
David Fleshler can be reached at dfleshler@SunSentinel.com or 954-356-4535.
Video Links
Warning these videos are graphic, I recommend not eating prior to viewing if you have a weaker stomach.These video’s are on you tube under vanishing species.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDq9vLf51io
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXW2Gz3YBJ4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruby5Kyoo2Y
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGv6rR2fV0g
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bi8pyhZpmwc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKj8W8zCsEU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_l5ap6EDI4M
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVJVs3izR4E
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYGQLoWfmtY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAmij5EUcuU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Du9OOqCchZQ
Some of the animals in these pictures are now dead due to "unnatural" causes.
The Palmdale facility was closed to the public in Feb 2009 by the USDA after a plea agreement with Jeffery and Barbara Harrod owners of Vanishing Species was reached.
USDA fined the Harrods $27,000 for violations and citations at the Palmdale facility but after the plea deal USDA reduced the fines to $3,700.00 with $100.00 payments per month.
USDA didn't return to enforce the plea agreement. Through repeat calling Dr Goldentire , Dr Gibson whom is Dr Goldentire's boss and then calling Joe Nelson I was informed they couldn't discuss the case with me but this case is public record yet none would comment on the case.
In accordance to the public record of USDA it states all cats’ juveniles and adults must be removed off the Davie, Fl. location by July 31, 2009. It's now March 31, 2010 and still class 1 and 2 cats remained on that property. No enforcing of the USDA rules for the plea agreement.
Send a message to USDA to enforce their own plea agreements, revocate licenses, not allow exotic permits or licenses to be given out like candy unless more stringent rules such as testing, serving 500 hours in a vet office that deals with exotic animals, having 500 hours of apprentice experience with FWC and field work, pass a written test, produce 1000 hours of logged time working with exotic animals.
USDA doesn't care about the animals nor enforces their own plea deals.
CALL THESE PEOPLE TODAY!
DEMAND AN EXPLAINATION TO WHY VANISHING SPECIES CAN RETAIN EXOTIC ANIMAL PERMITS AND LICENSES WHEN THEY HAVE VIOLATED EVERY LAW FROM A-N. USDA HAS 2 FILE FOLDERS OF REPEAT VIOLATIONS; THEY HAVE EVEN FORDGED VET RECORDS AND HIDDEN DEATH OF THE ANIMALS, SALES OF THE ANIMALS AND TRANSPORTS OF ANIMALS. SINCE THE PALMDALE FACILITY IS CLOSED TO THE PUBLIC HOW CAN THEY EXHABIT LEGALLY! THEY CAN'T! ANOTHER LAW BROKEN BUT WHO'S LOOKING. I HOPE CAROL CAN ATTACH THE ORIGINAL PLEA AGREEMENT TO THIS ARTICLE I SENT HER.
The Key players with this disaster with USDA are:
CALL TODAY AND EXPRESS YOUR VOICE
_____________________________________
Dr Goldentire USDA District Manager: 919-855-7100, Fax: 919-855-7123
Dr Gibson, Dr Goldentire direct supervisor: 301-734-4980.
Joe Nelson: 919-855-7106You can access the Harrods inspection records at:
http://acissearch.aphis.usda.gov/LPASearch/faces/pdfpage.jspx?custid=9487
If this link doesn’t work type in aphis, then on the left side click on animal welfare, then
On the right side click on publication and reports, next you’ll get a “ warning “ page, just click except, it’s legal for you to look at public records, next your get a page with a box asking name your looking up type in Vanishing Species, under state type in florida hit enter. At the bottom you’ll click on the PDF file and there you go, all of the inspection reports by USDA.
Ask why they have not revoked the Harrods license with repeat violations. Last I checked forging vet records is still forgery and is a felony.
FWC has the green light to revoke Barbara Harrods license yet Captain John West out of Tallassee has done nothing at this point.
Please call: 850-488-6253
Demand answers why FWC won’t revoke Jeffery Harrods or Barbara Harrods license after repeat violations with their agency and numerous complains. They have my log book, video’s I shot that you can now view and still more animals continue to die from lack of vet care, lack of knowledge and lack of funding to buy food.
3 weeks ago Art Matson whom is the inspector for Vanishing Species called and said he had just preformed an inspection at Palmdale, he said he eye balled the tigers and said they looked happy and healthy, I questioned Arts inspection as to what paper work did he receive in regards to the transfer of 7 cougars to Jeffery Harrods friends. Art replied no he ever checked. Art indicated he never went to check on the transferred cougars and made sure their cages were up to FWC standards or checking the proper permits of the friends. I asked Art if he checked for food on the premise to ensure the tigers, lions, leopards and cougars had enough palatable food to feed them daily, Art replied no he did not check to see how much food was in the refrigerators or freezers.
I asked Art if he knew what the proper weight was for a Siberian tiger was, he replied no he did not. I asked Art if he knew the proper weight for a Bengal tiger, Art replied no he did not. I asked Art if he knew what the percentage of food per animal and their weight was too been to feed daily, Art replied no he did not. I asked Art if he looked at any current vet records as a yearly vet check is needed, he replied no he did not.
Art Matson said to me and I quote” the tigers look happy and healthy”. I asked Art what does a happy and healthy tiger look like, he said he didn’t know. I said how do you know the tigers are healthy, are you a licensed veterinarian? He replied no he was not. I asked if a Bengal at proper weight was to weight 600 lbs, eyeballing the tiger how do you know it’s at proper weight? He said he didn’t know but said and I quote again” no bones were sticking out”. This I said would be past malnutrition this is called Emaciation.
Art Matson said to me he couldn’t find any violations or anything wrong yet never checked anything, just talked to Mr Harrod and left.
Concerned a proper inspection wasn’t done and biased friendships seemed to have gotten in Art Matson’s view I called Tallahassee and lodged a complaint against his “inspection”. The next week 2 state officials out of Tallahassee were sent to Palmdale and they discovered MANY, MANY violations!!! Odd how a week prior to that Art Matson said he couldn’t find one thing wrong.
Art Matson said he knows of a sanctuary out of Colorado called Wild Animal sanctuary and they were willing at their own expense bring in eight tractor trailers and take every cat the Harrods have to their rescue where they have set aside 250 acres giving each cat 20 acres to themselves with dens and water falls. Jeffery said he’d agree to it but the condition was he had to also give up his breeders license so this mess can’t be repeated down the road. Jeffery refuses to give up his breeders permits and indicated to Art he wanted to get more babies for money making opportunities. So this process will begin all over again.
From my sources Jeffery Harrod is planning on putting all the animals names in his girlfriends name but she doesn’t yet have a class 1 & 2 license however Jeffery indicated he was going to “ sign” saying she has her 1000 hours per species even though she has none logged and has no idea of animal husbandry.
This way Jeffery Harrod can manipulate the system again and gets to keep the cats.
Art Matson said to me Jeffery Harrod told him he was selling Palmdale by the end of his month, so I said to Captian Ardleen yesterday were at the end of the month is Palmdale sold, he said no Jeffery now said it’ll be at the end of the year. STALL, STALL, STALL!!!!
Right now according to Art Matson Jeffery Harrod has housed on the Palmdale property:
7 tigers7 cougars
2 lions
2 leopards
6 alligators
Host of other assorted animals from raccoons to pheasants, emu’s, goats, pigs, etc.
On the property of Palmdale one black leopard according to my close source died about 2 months ago, he was only 2 ½ years old. To my knowledge this animal was not listed on the inventory register as dead with FWC or USDA. No records were ever looked at by Art Matson to compare what animals were there last inspection verses what animals aren’t there this inspection. If sold where is the transfers paperwork and sellers book? Art said he never checked.
March 29, 2010 I received credible information Jeffery Harrod was housing a 3 week old baby cougar in his trailer, according to my inside source the baby is very ill and has diaherra. I was on the phone till after 2 am with a hot line operator whom was in communication with Captain Adleen whom indicated he and Pat Reynolds with FWC would be visiting Jeffery Harrods home and checking if the cougar was ok. He looked at the cat saw the diaherra asked Jeffery if he was going to seek medical attention with a vet at which time Jeffery answered no he wasn’t. He has this cougar baby according to my sources on whole cow’s milk, diluted with water and cat food mixed in. Jeffery indicated the baby is on cat formula and it’s common to remove the baby as soon as it’s born away from the mother. They believe Jeffery Harrod but took pictures
BARBARA HARRODS BROWARD COUNTY COURTHOUSE CASE RECORD
Link HERE
These three powerful people had the green light and authority to revocate ( strip these licenses and permits) but instead looked the other way and gave them a tap on the wrist while more animals suffered and died. The USDA and there laws are worthless to animals.
This is why I've been working to help shut down Vanishing Species because under there lack of proper animal care the species is truely vanishing.
Remember when viewing these animals some here in these pictures are now dead and no one cared!
Who know's what's become of the others in the pictures. Change needs to come to the laws governing who can and can't have exotic animals.
The Harrods have no formal education in attending college for animal husbandry also known as animal science, they have no formal training as a veterarian assistant or in veterinarian medicine, the Harrod's don't possess a master's degrees or doctorates in disciplines such as nutrition, genetics and animal breeding, or reproductive physiology. Yet The Harrods have been given permits for breeding and exhibition by FWC and USDA.
They were just simply given permits! So in essence you need no skill, training nor knowledge to possess and keep a tiger , cougar or leopard which is a class 1 animal!
You just need to “know" someone that already has a class 1 and 2 permit to sign for you stating you have the 1000 hours per species even if you never had 20 hours. You don't need to prove you have the knowledge you just have to produce a few bucks for the permits and off you go.
Unite your voice with mine and stand up to politics that condemn these sacred and endangered animals to a life in a small prison, there only crime was they were born.
Unfortunately these animals you see were only a commodity and expendable.
If one baby died and many did they'd just go BUY another tiger baby to exploit for money doing baby pets at fairs such as Dade County Youth Fair, Birthday parties , schools, and other private functions ,Saw Grass Rec Park where they used to exhibit some of these animals and used the baby tiger pictured here , lioness named " Savanna" and the bob cat for baby pets for money but had lost their contact there and weren't asked back , along with other fairs.
One way or another the laws are going to have to change and if I have to stand alone then so be it but I'd like you the ones reading this to get involved because laws only change when people make law makers change them.
I don't feel the punishment for Barbara Harrod fit the crimes and should have been much more severe. Once again the animals died for a slap on the wrist and court costs. Where is the justice for the voiceless! This statement is my own personal feelings. After this case sat in the legal system with postponements for 3 years this was the outcome for the animals that suffered and died.Please help me to help the animals and be a voice with mine to demand answer from USDA and FWC. How many more animals have to die at the hands of the Harrods? When is enough, enough?
I am an animal advocate, a voice for the voiceless and I’m not going away. If I have to stand alone so be it, I have fought this ongoing night mare for the animals for 3 years and I have no intensions of going away any time soon.
Written by eye witness Chrissy Fischer
Email: witcheswand@yahoo.com
- 5 months ago
- Views: 103
- Not yet rated
-
Vanishing Species Barbara Jeff Vanishing Species Barbara Jeffrey Harrod
- From: Anon
-
Description:
Feb 9,2010 Barbara Harrod entered a no contest plea in front of Judge Ginger Lerner Wren Broward County Florida Court House. The judge found Barbara Harrod guilty of all 5 counts and sentenced her to 12 months of probation and she was ordered to pay court costs roughly in the amount of $1000.00. NO fine was given by the judge even though she could have done so.
Barbara Harrod often “gets” her baby tigers from Larry Wallach whom is licensed out of NY and Ft Lauderdale. Barbara uses these babies for pets then tosses them into a tiny cage for the rest of their lives which typically isn’t very long.
I have now released graphic video’s of what these animals had to endure every day at the Davie location of Vanishing Species under the lack of care of Barbara Harrod.The Sun- Sentinel also did three stories on Barbara Harrod and the property of Vanishing Species. Here’s the link to the latest story. If you type in Vanishing Species you’ll be able to locate David Fleshlers other stories on Vanishing Species.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/fl-wildlife-violations-20100313,0,2508711.story
DAVIE An arthritic tiger failed to receive proper veterinary care. Small mammals housed in a shed died when the air conditioning broke down. Tigers disappeared without proper documentation.A Davie wildlife exhibitor has been accused of those violations in federal inspection reports.
She faces the possible loss of state and federal licenses, after years of using animals to entertain at schools, summer camps, fairs and parties.
Barbara Harrod, who operates Vanishing Species Wildlife Inc., pleaded no contest in February to state charges that she kept animals in unsanitary conditions, used cages that were too small and engaged in other wildlife violations.
She was assessed court costs, not fines.
But the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is reviewing the case to determine whether to suspend or revoke her license, said Capt. John West, of the agency's law enforcement division.
After a separate federal review, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said she has failed to comply with a federal consent order to move all big cats off her site.
The order was issued after inspectors found animals' food contaminated with blood and maggots, inadequate veterinary care, and tigers left unprotected from sun and rain.
The agreement signed last year gave her until July 31, 2009, to get big cats off her fenced compound along Southwest 136th Avenue in Davie.
However, visits by federal inspectors over the past several months found big cats still there and repeated violations of the laws requiring adequate care for the animals.
"It's been systematic noncompliance," said Nolan Lemon, spokesman for the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
"The Animal Welfare Act details minimum standards — minimum standards," Lemon said. "These are repeat violations of those standards."
Harrod said she would answer questions only in writing. Questions were sent by e-mail March 3, but she never responded. Her lawyer, Marshall Platt, could not be reached to comment despite messages left by phone and e-mail.
Despite the agreement to move out big cats, a Feb. 4 inspection found two adult tigers and an adult cougar on the property.
Lemon said Harrod was in violation of the consent agreement.
"It's with our legal folks at this point," he said.
Inspections over the past several months have turned up other violations.
Several small mammals housed in a windowless structure died after the air conditioning failed, according to USDA inspection reports.
hree adult tigers disappeared without the required documentation showing to whom they were given or sold.
The Feb. 4 inspection found an adult tiger named Nicky limping and suffering from arthritis and not receiving adequate veterinary care. The attending veterinarian, who last signed a program of care in 2008, does not live in the area, according to the inspection report.
"It's not like owning a dog or a cat," Lemon said. "There are people who get in with the best intentions and they forget that Tigger is a dangerous animal with very demanding and expensive needs. Vet care is expensive, but you can't compromise on that."
David Fleshler can be reached at dfleshler@SunSentinel.com or 954-356-4535.
Video Links
Warning these videos are graphic, I recommend not eating prior to viewing if you have a weaker stomach.These video’s are on you tube under vanishing species.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDq9vLf51io
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXW2Gz3YBJ4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruby5Kyoo2Y
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGv6rR2fV0g
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bi8pyhZpmwc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKj8W8zCsEU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_l5ap6EDI4M
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVJVs3izR4E
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYGQLoWfmtY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAmij5EUcuU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Du9OOqCchZQ
Some of the animals in these pictures are now dead due to "unnatural" causes.
The Palmdale facility was closed to the public in Feb 2009 by the USDA after a plea agreement with Jeffery and Barbara Harrod owners of Vanishing Species was reached.
USDA fined the Harrods $27,000 for violations and citations at the Palmdale facility but after the plea deal USDA reduced the fines to $3,700.00 with $100.00 payments per month.
USDA didn't return to enforce the plea agreement. Through repeat calling Dr Goldentire , Dr Gibson whom is Dr Goldentire's boss and then calling Joe Nelson I was informed they couldn't discuss the case with me but this case is public record yet none would comment on the case.
In accordance to the public record of USDA it states all cats’ juveniles and adults must be removed off the Davie, Fl. location by July 31, 2009. It's now March 31, 2010 and still class 1 and 2 cats remained on that property. No enforcing of the USDA rules for the plea agreement.
Send a message to USDA to enforce their own plea agreements, revocate licenses, not allow exotic permits or licenses to be given out like candy unless more stringent rules such as testing, serving 500 hours in a vet office that deals with exotic animals, having 500 hours of apprentice experience with FWC and field work, pass a written test, produce 1000 hours of logged time working with exotic animals.
USDA doesn't care about the animals nor enforces their own plea deals.
CALL THESE PEOPLE TODAY!
DEMAND AN EXPLAINATION TO WHY VANISHING SPECIES CAN RETAIN EXOTIC ANIMAL PERMITS AND LICENSES WHEN THEY HAVE VIOLATED EVERY LAW FROM A-N. USDA HAS 2 FILE FOLDERS OF REPEAT VIOLATIONS; THEY HAVE EVEN FORDGED VET RECORDS AND HIDDEN DEATH OF THE ANIMALS, SALES OF THE ANIMALS AND TRANSPORTS OF ANIMALS. SINCE THE PALMDALE FACILITY IS CLOSED TO THE PUBLIC HOW CAN THEY EXHABIT LEGALLY! THEY CAN'T! ANOTHER LAW BROKEN BUT WHO'S LOOKING. I HOPE CAROL CAN ATTACH THE ORIGINAL PLEA AGREEMENT TO THIS ARTICLE I SENT HER.
The Key players with this disaster with USDA are:
CALL TODAY AND EXPRESS YOUR VOICE
_____________________________________
Dr Goldentire USDA District Manager: 919-855-7100, Fax: 919-855-7123
Dr Gibson, Dr Goldentire direct supervisor: 301-734-4980.
Joe Nelson: 919-855-7106You can access the Harrods inspection records at:
http://acissearch.aphis.usda.gov/LPASearch/faces/pdfpage.jspx?custid=9487
If this link doesn’t work type in aphis, then on the left side click on animal welfare, then
On the right side click on publication and reports, next you’ll get a “ warning “ page, just click except, it’s legal for you to look at public records, next your get a page with a box asking name your looking up type in Vanishing Species, under state type in florida hit enter. At the bottom you’ll click on the PDF file and there you go, all of the inspection reports by USDA.
Ask why they have not revoked the Harrods license with repeat violations. Last I checked forging vet records is still forgery and is a felony.
FWC has the green light to revoke Barbara Harrods license yet Captain John West out of Tallassee has done nothing at this point.
Please call: 850-488-6253
Demand answers why FWC won’t revoke Jeffery Harrods or Barbara Harrods license after repeat violations with their agency and numerous complains. They have my log book, video’s I shot that you can now view and still more animals continue to die from lack of vet care, lack of knowledge and lack of funding to buy food.
3 weeks ago Art Matson whom is the inspector for Vanishing Species called and said he had just preformed an inspection at Palmdale, he said he eye balled the tigers and said they looked happy and healthy, I questioned Arts inspection as to what paper work did he receive in regards to the transfer of 7 cougars to Jeffery Harrods friends. Art replied no he ever checked. Art indicated he never went to check on the transferred cougars and made sure their cages were up to FWC standards or checking the proper permits of the friends. I asked Art if he checked for food on the premise to ensure the tigers, lions, leopards and cougars had enough palatable food to feed them daily, Art replied no he did not check to see how much food was in the refrigerators or freezers.
I asked Art if he knew what the proper weight was for a Siberian tiger was, he replied no he did not. I asked Art if he knew the proper weight for a Bengal tiger, Art replied no he did not. I asked Art if he knew what the percentage of food per animal and their weight was too been to feed daily, Art replied no he did not. I asked Art if he looked at any current vet records as a yearly vet check is needed, he replied no he did not.
Art Matson said to me and I quote” the tigers look happy and healthy”. I asked Art what does a happy and healthy tiger look like, he said he didn’t know. I said how do you know the tigers are healthy, are you a licensed veterinarian? He replied no he was not. I asked if a Bengal at proper weight was to weight 600 lbs, eyeballing the tiger how do you know it’s at proper weight? He said he didn’t know but said and I quote again” no bones were sticking out”. This I said would be past malnutrition this is called Emaciation.
Art Matson said to me he couldn’t find any violations or anything wrong yet never checked anything, just talked to Mr Harrod and left.
Concerned a proper inspection wasn’t done and biased friendships seemed to have gotten in Art Matson’s view I called Tallahassee and lodged a complaint against his “inspection”. The next week 2 state officials out of Tallahassee were sent to Palmdale and they discovered MANY, MANY violations!!! Odd how a week prior to that Art Matson said he couldn’t find one thing wrong.
Art Matson said he knows of a sanctuary out of Colorado called Wild Animal sanctuary and they were willing at their own expense bring in eight tractor trailers and take every cat the Harrods have to their rescue where they have set aside 250 acres giving each cat 20 acres to themselves with dens and water falls. Jeffery said he’d agree to it but the condition was he had to also give up his breeders license so this mess can’t be repeated down the road. Jeffery refuses to give up his breeders permits and indicated to Art he wanted to get more babies for money making opportunities. So this process will begin all over again.
From my sources Jeffery Harrod is planning on putting all the animals names in his girlfriends name but she doesn’t yet have a class 1 & 2 license however Jeffery indicated he was going to “ sign” saying she has her 1000 hours per species even though she has none logged and has no idea of animal husbandry.
This way Jeffery Harrod can manipulate the system again and gets to keep the cats.
Art Matson said to me Jeffery Harrod told him he was selling Palmdale by the end of his month, so I said to Captian Ardleen yesterday were at the end of the month is Palmdale sold, he said no Jeffery now said it’ll be at the end of the year. STALL, STALL, STALL!!!!
Right now according to Art Matson Jeffery Harrod has housed on the Palmdale property:
7 tigers7 cougars
2 lions
2 leopards
6 alligators
Host of other assorted animals from raccoons to pheasants, emu’s, goats, pigs, etc.
On the property of Palmdale one black leopard according to my close source died about 2 months ago, he was only 2 ½ years old. To my knowledge this animal was not listed on the inventory register as dead with FWC or USDA. No records were ever looked at by Art Matson to compare what animals were there last inspection verses what animals aren’t there this inspection. If sold where is the transfers paperwork and sellers book? Art said he never checked.
March 29, 2010 I received credible information Jeffery Harrod was housing a 3 week old baby cougar in his trailer, according to my inside source the baby is very ill and has diaherra. I was on the phone till after 2 am with a hot line operator whom was in communication with Captain Adleen whom indicated he and Pat Reynolds with FWC would be visiting Jeffery Harrods home and checking if the cougar was ok. He looked at the cat saw the diaherra asked Jeffery if he was going to seek medical attention with a vet at which time Jeffery answered no he wasn’t. He has this cougar baby according to my sources on whole cow’s milk, diluted with water and cat food mixed in. Jeffery indicated the baby is on cat formula and it’s common to remove the baby as soon as it’s born away from the mother. They believe Jeffery Harrod but took pictures
BARBARA HARRODS BROWARD COUNTY COURTHOUSE CASE RECORD
Link HERE
These three powerful people had the green light and authority to revocate ( strip these licenses and permits) but instead looked the other way and gave them a tap on the wrist while more animals suffered and died. The USDA and there laws are worthless to animals.
This is why I've been working to help shut down Vanishing Species because under there lack of proper animal care the species is truely vanishing.
Remember when viewing these animals some here in these pictures are now dead and no one cared!
Who know's what's become of the others in the pictures. Change needs to come to the laws governing who can and can't have exotic animals.
The Harrods have no formal education in attending college for animal husbandry also known as animal science, they have no formal training as a veterarian assistant or in veterinarian medicine, the Harrod's don't possess a master's degrees or doctorates in disciplines such as nutrition, genetics and animal breeding, or reproductive physiology. Yet The Harrods have been given permits for breeding and exhibition by FWC and USDA.
They were just simply given permits! So in essence you need no skill, training nor knowledge to possess and keep a tiger , cougar or leopard which is a class 1 animal!
You just need to “know" someone that already has a class 1 and 2 permit to sign for you stating you have the 1000 hours per species even if you never had 20 hours. You don't need to prove you have the knowledge you just have to produce a few bucks for the permits and off you go.
Unite your voice with mine and stand up to politics that condemn these sacred and endangered animals to a life in a small prison, there only crime was they were born.
Unfortunately these animals you see were only a commodity and expendable.
If one baby died and many did they'd just go BUY another tiger baby to exploit for money doing baby pets at fairs such as Dade County Youth Fair, Birthday parties , schools, and other private functions ,Saw Grass Rec Park where they used to exhibit some of these animals and used the baby tiger pictured here , lioness named " Savanna" and the bob cat for baby pets for money but had lost their contact there and weren't asked back , along with other fairs.
One way or another the laws are going to have to change and if I have to stand alone then so be it but I'd like you the ones reading this to get involved because laws only change when people make law makers change them.
I don't feel the punishment for Barbara Harrod fit the crimes and should have been much more severe. Once again the animals died for a slap on the wrist and court costs. Where is the justice for the voiceless! This statement is my own personal feelings. After this case sat in the legal system with postponements for 3 years this was the outcome for the animals that suffered and died.Please help me to help the animals and be a voice with mine to demand answer from USDA and FWC. How many more animals have to die at the hands of the Harrods? When is enough, enough?
I am an animal advocate, a voice for the voiceless and I’m not going away. If I have to stand alone so be it, I have fought this ongoing night mare for the animals for 3 years and I have no intensions of going away any time soon.
Written by eye witness Chrissy Fischer
Email: witcheswand@yahoo.com
- 5 months ago
- Views: 144
- Not yet rated
-
Abuse at Vanishing Species Abuse at Vanishing Species
- From: Anon
-
Description:
Feb 9,2010 Barbara Harrod entered a no contest plea in front of Judge Ginger Lerner Wren Broward County Florida Court House. The judge found Barbara Harrod guilty of all 5 counts and sentenced her to 12 months of probation and she was ordered to pay court costs roughly in the amount of $1000.00. NO fine was given by the judge even though she could have done so.
Barbara Harrod often “gets” her baby tigers from Larry Wallach whom is licensed out of NY and Ft Lauderdale. Barbara uses these babies for pets then tosses them into a tiny cage for the rest of their lives which typically isn’t very long.
I have now released graphic video’s of what these animals had to endure every day at the Davie location of Vanishing Species under the lack of care of Barbara Harrod.The Sun- Sentinel also did three stories on Barbara Harrod and the property of Vanishing Species. Here’s the link to the latest story. If you type in Vanishing Species you’ll be able to locate David Fleshlers other stories on Vanishing Species.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/fl-wildlife-violations-20100313,0,2508711.story
DAVIE An arthritic tiger failed to receive proper veterinary care. Small mammals housed in a shed died when the air conditioning broke down. Tigers disappeared without proper documentation.A Davie wildlife exhibitor has been accused of those violations in federal inspection reports.
She faces the possible loss of state and federal licenses, after years of using animals to entertain at schools, summer camps, fairs and parties.
Barbara Harrod, who operates Vanishing Species Wildlife Inc., pleaded no contest in February to state charges that she kept animals in unsanitary conditions, used cages that were too small and engaged in other wildlife violations.
She was assessed court costs, not fines.
But the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is reviewing the case to determine whether to suspend or revoke her license, said Capt. John West, of the agency's law enforcement division.
After a separate federal review, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said she has failed to comply with a federal consent order to move all big cats off her site.
The order was issued after inspectors found animals' food contaminated with blood and maggots, inadequate veterinary care, and tigers left unprotected from sun and rain.
The agreement signed last year gave her until July 31, 2009, to get big cats off her fenced compound along Southwest 136th Avenue in Davie.
However, visits by federal inspectors over the past several months found big cats still there and repeated violations of the laws requiring adequate care for the animals.
"It's been systematic noncompliance," said Nolan Lemon, spokesman for the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
"The Animal Welfare Act details minimum standards — minimum standards," Lemon said. "These are repeat violations of those standards."
Harrod said she would answer questions only in writing. Questions were sent by e-mail March 3, but she never responded. Her lawyer, Marshall Platt, could not be reached to comment despite messages left by phone and e-mail.
Despite the agreement to move out big cats, a Feb. 4 inspection found two adult tigers and an adult cougar on the property.
Lemon said Harrod was in violation of the consent agreement.
"It's with our legal folks at this point," he said.
Inspections over the past several months have turned up other violations.
Several small mammals housed in a windowless structure died after the air conditioning failed, according to USDA inspection reports.
hree adult tigers disappeared without the required documentation showing to whom they were given or sold.
The Feb. 4 inspection found an adult tiger named Nicky limping and suffering from arthritis and not receiving adequate veterinary care. The attending veterinarian, who last signed a program of care in 2008, does not live in the area, according to the inspection report.
"It's not like owning a dog or a cat," Lemon said. "There are people who get in with the best intentions and they forget that Tigger is a dangerous animal with very demanding and expensive needs. Vet care is expensive, but you can't compromise on that."
David Fleshler can be reached at dfleshler@SunSentinel.com or 954-356-4535.
Video Links
Warning these videos are graphic, I recommend not eating prior to viewing if you have a weaker stomach.These video’s are on you tube under vanishing species.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDq9vLf51io
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXW2Gz3YBJ4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruby5Kyoo2Y
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGv6rR2fV0g
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bi8pyhZpmwc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKj8W8zCsEU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_l5ap6EDI4M
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVJVs3izR4E
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYGQLoWfmtY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAmij5EUcuU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Du9OOqCchZQ
Some of the animals in these pictures are now dead due to "unnatural" causes.
The Palmdale facility was closed to the public in Feb 2009 by the USDA after a plea agreement with Jeffery and Barbara Harrod owners of Vanishing Species was reached.
USDA fined the Harrods $27,000 for violations and citations at the Palmdale facility but after the plea deal USDA reduced the fines to $3,700.00 with $100.00 payments per month.
USDA didn't return to enforce the plea agreement. Through repeat calling Dr Goldentire , Dr Gibson whom is Dr Goldentire's boss and then calling Joe Nelson I was informed they couldn't discuss the case with me but this case is public record yet none would comment on the case.
In accordance to the public record of USDA it states all cats’ juveniles and adults must be removed off the Davie, Fl. location by July 31, 2009. It's now March 31, 2010 and still class 1 and 2 cats remained on that property. No enforcing of the USDA rules for the plea agreement.
Send a message to USDA to enforce their own plea agreements, revocate licenses, not allow exotic permits or licenses to be given out like candy unless more stringent rules such as testing, serving 500 hours in a vet office that deals with exotic animals, having 500 hours of apprentice experience with FWC and field work, pass a written test, produce 1000 hours of logged time working with exotic animals.
USDA doesn't care about the animals nor enforces their own plea deals.
CALL THESE PEOPLE TODAY!
DEMAND AN EXPLAINATION TO WHY VANISHING SPECIES CAN RETAIN EXOTIC ANIMAL PERMITS AND LICENSES WHEN THEY HAVE VIOLATED EVERY LAW FROM A-N. USDA HAS 2 FILE FOLDERS OF REPEAT VIOLATIONS; THEY HAVE EVEN FORDGED VET RECORDS AND HIDDEN DEATH OF THE ANIMALS, SALES OF THE ANIMALS AND TRANSPORTS OF ANIMALS. SINCE THE PALMDALE FACILITY IS CLOSED TO THE PUBLIC HOW CAN THEY EXHABIT LEGALLY! THEY CAN'T! ANOTHER LAW BROKEN BUT WHO'S LOOKING. I HOPE CAROL CAN ATTACH THE ORIGINAL PLEA AGREEMENT TO THIS ARTICLE I SENT HER.
The Key players with this disaster with USDA are:
CALL TODAY AND EXPRESS YOUR VOICE
_____________________________________
Dr Goldentire USDA District Manager: 919-855-7100, Fax: 919-855-7123
Dr Gibson, Dr Goldentire direct supervisor: 301-734-4980.
Joe Nelson: 919-855-7106You can access the Harrods inspection records at:
http://acissearch.aphis.usda.gov/LPASearch/faces/pdfpage.jspx?custid=9487
If this link doesn’t work type in aphis, then on the left side click on animal welfare, then
On the right side click on publication and reports, next you’ll get a “ warning “ page, just click except, it’s legal for you to look at public records, next your get a page with a box asking name your looking up type in Vanishing Species, under state type in florida hit enter. At the bottom you’ll click on the PDF file and there you go, all of the inspection reports by USDA.
Ask why they have not revoked the Harrods license with repeat violations. Last I checked forging vet records is still forgery and is a felony.
FWC has the green light to revoke Barbara Harrods license yet Captain John West out of Tallassee has done nothing at this point.
Please call: 850-488-6253
Demand answers why FWC won’t revoke Jeffery Harrods or Barbara Harrods license after repeat violations with their agency and numerous complains. They have my log book, video’s I shot that you can now view and still more animals continue to die from lack of vet care, lack of knowledge and lack of funding to buy food.
3 weeks ago Art Matson whom is the inspector for Vanishing Species called and said he had just preformed an inspection at Palmdale, he said he eye balled the tigers and said they looked happy and healthy, I questioned Arts inspection as to what paper work did he receive in regards to the transfer of 7 cougars to Jeffery Harrods friends. Art replied no he ever checked. Art indicated he never went to check on the transferred cougars and made sure their cages were up to FWC standards or checking the proper permits of the friends. I asked Art if he checked for food on the premise to ensure the tigers, lions, leopards and cougars had enough palatable food to feed them daily, Art replied no he did not check to see how much food was in the refrigerators or freezers.
I asked Art if he knew what the proper weight was for a Siberian tiger was, he replied no he did not. I asked Art if he knew the proper weight for a Bengal tiger, Art replied no he did not. I asked Art if he knew what the percentage of food per animal and their weight was too been to feed daily, Art replied no he did not. I asked Art if he looked at any current vet records as a yearly vet check is needed, he replied no he did not.
Art Matson said to me and I quote” the tigers look happy and healthy”. I asked Art what does a happy and healthy tiger look like, he said he didn’t know. I said how do you know the tigers are healthy, are you a licensed veterinarian? He replied no he was not. I asked if a Bengal at proper weight was to weight 600 lbs, eyeballing the tiger how do you know it’s at proper weight? He said he didn’t know but said and I quote again” no bones were sticking out”. This I said would be past malnutrition this is called Emaciation.
Art Matson said to me he couldn’t find any violations or anything wrong yet never checked anything, just talked to Mr Harrod and left.
Concerned a proper inspection wasn’t done and biased friendships seemed to have gotten in Art Matson’s view I called Tallahassee and lodged a complaint against his “inspection”. The next week 2 state officials out of Tallahassee were sent to Palmdale and they discovered MANY, MANY violations!!! Odd how a week prior to that Art Matson said he couldn’t find one thing wrong.
Art Matson said he knows of a sanctuary out of Colorado called Wild Animal sanctuary and they were willing at their own expense bring in eight tractor trailers and take every cat the Harrods have to their rescue where they have set aside 250 acres giving each cat 20 acres to themselves with dens and water falls. Jeffery said he’d agree to it but the condition was he had to also give up his breeders license so this mess can’t be repeated down the road. Jeffery refuses to give up his breeders permits and indicated to Art he wanted to get more babies for money making opportunities. So this process will begin all over again.
From my sources Jeffery Harrod is planning on putting all the animals names in his girlfriends name but she doesn’t yet have a class 1 & 2 license however Jeffery indicated he was going to “ sign” saying she has her 1000 hours per species even though she has none logged and has no idea of animal husbandry.
This way Jeffery Harrod can manipulate the system again and gets to keep the cats.
Art Matson said to me Jeffery Harrod told him he was selling Palmdale by the end of his month, so I said to Captian Ardleen yesterday were at the end of the month is Palmdale sold, he said no Jeffery now said it’ll be at the end of the year. STALL, STALL, STALL!!!!
Right now according to Art Matson Jeffery Harrod has housed on the Palmdale property:
7 tigers7 cougars
2 lions
2 leopards
6 alligators
Host of other assorted animals from raccoons to pheasants, emu’s, goats, pigs, etc.
On the property of Palmdale one black leopard according to my close source died about 2 months ago, he was only 2 ½ years old. To my knowledge this animal was not listed on the inventory register as dead with FWC or USDA. No records were ever looked at by Art Matson to compare what animals were there last inspection verses what animals aren’t there this inspection. If sold where is the transfers paperwork and sellers book? Art said he never checked.
March 29, 2010 I received credible information Jeffery Harrod was housing a 3 week old baby cougar in his trailer, according to my inside source the baby is very ill and has diaherra. I was on the phone till after 2 am with a hot line operator whom was in communication with Captain Adleen whom indicated he and Pat Reynolds with FWC would be visiting Jeffery Harrods home and checking if the cougar was ok. He looked at the cat saw the diaherra asked Jeffery if he was going to seek medical attention with a vet at which time Jeffery answered no he wasn’t. He has this cougar baby according to my sources on whole cow’s milk, diluted with water and cat food mixed in. Jeffery indicated the baby is on cat formula and it’s common to remove the baby as soon as it’s born away from the mother. They believe Jeffery Harrod but took pictures
BARBARA HARRODS BROWARD COUNTY COURTHOUSE CASE RECORD
Link HERE
These three powerful people had the green light and authority to revocate ( strip these licenses and permits) but instead looked the other way and gave them a tap on the wrist while more animals suffered and died. The USDA and there laws are worthless to animals.
This is why I've been working to help shut down Vanishing Species because under there lack of proper animal care the species is truely vanishing.
Remember when viewing these animals some here in these pictures are now dead and no one cared!
Who know's what's become of the others in the pictures. Change needs to come to the laws governing who can and can't have exotic animals.
The Harrods have no formal education in attending college for animal husbandry also known as animal science, they have no formal training as a veterarian assistant or in veterinarian medicine, the Harrod's don't possess a master's degrees or doctorates in disciplines such as nutrition, genetics and animal breeding, or reproductive physiology. Yet The Harrods have been given permits for breeding and exhibition by FWC and USDA.
They were just simply given permits! So in essence you need no skill, training nor knowledge to possess and keep a tiger , cougar or leopard which is a class 1 animal!
You just need to “know" someone that already has a class 1 and 2 permit to sign for you stating you have the 1000 hours per species even if you never had 20 hours. You don't need to prove you have the knowledge you just have to produce a few bucks for the permits and off you go.
Unite your voice with mine and stand up to politics that condemn these sacred and endangered animals to a life in a small prison, there only crime was they were born.
Unfortunately these animals you see were only a commodity and expendable.
If one baby died and many did they'd just go BUY another tiger baby to exploit for money doing baby pets at fairs such as Dade County Youth Fair, Birthday parties , schools, and other private functions ,Saw Grass Rec Park where they used to exhibit some of these animals and used the baby tiger pictured here , lioness named " Savanna" and the bob cat for baby pets for money but had lost their contact there and weren't asked back , along with other fairs.
One way or another the laws are going to have to change and if I have to stand alone then so be it but I'd like you the ones reading this to get involved because laws only change when people make law makers change them.
I don't feel the punishment for Barbara Harrod fit the crimes and should have been much more severe. Once again the animals died for a slap on the wrist and court costs. Where is the justice for the voiceless! This statement is my own personal feelings. After this case sat in the legal system with postponements for 3 years this was the outcome for the animals that suffered and died.Please help me to help the animals and be a voice with mine to demand answer from USDA and FWC. How many more animals have to die at the hands of the Harrods? When is enough, enough?
I am an animal advocate, a voice for the voiceless and I’m not going away. If I have to stand alone so be it, I have fought this ongoing night mare for the animals for 3 years and I have no intensions of going away any time soon.
Written by eye witness Chrissy Fischer
Email: witcheswand@yahoo.com
- 5 months ago
- Views: 146
- Not yet rated
-
Abuse at Vanishing Species Abuse at Vanishing Species
- From: Anon
-
Description:
Feb 9,2010 Barbara Harrod entered a no contest plea in front of Judge Ginger Lerner Wren Broward County Florida Court House. The judge found Barbara Harrod guilty of all 5 counts and sentenced her to 12 months of probation and she was ordered to pay court costs roughly in the amount of $1000.00. NO fine was given by the judge even though she could have done so.
Barbara Harrod often “gets” her baby tigers from Larry Wallach whom is licensed out of NY and Ft Lauderdale. Barbara uses these babies for pets then tosses them into a tiny cage for the rest of their lives which typically isn’t very long.
I have now released graphic video’s of what these animals had to endure every day at the Davie location of Vanishing Species under the lack of care of Barbara Harrod.The Sun- Sentinel also did three stories on Barbara Harrod and the property of Vanishing Species. Here’s the link to the latest story. If you type in Vanishing Species you’ll be able to locate David Fleshlers other stories on Vanishing Species.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/fl-wildlife-violations-20100313,0,2508711.story
DAVIE An arthritic tiger failed to receive proper veterinary care. Small mammals housed in a shed died when the air conditioning broke down. Tigers disappeared without proper documentation.A Davie wildlife exhibitor has been accused of those violations in federal inspection reports.
She faces the possible loss of state and federal licenses, after years of using animals to entertain at schools, summer camps, fairs and parties.
Barbara Harrod, who operates Vanishing Species Wildlife Inc., pleaded no contest in February to state charges that she kept animals in unsanitary conditions, used cages that were too small and engaged in other wildlife violations.
She was assessed court costs, not fines.
But the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is reviewing the case to determine whether to suspend or revoke her license, said Capt. John West, of the agency's law enforcement division.
After a separate federal review, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said she has failed to comply with a federal consent order to move all big cats off her site.
The order was issued after inspectors found animals' food contaminated with blood and maggots, inadequate veterinary care, and tigers left unprotected from sun and rain.
The agreement signed last year gave her until July 31, 2009, to get big cats off her fenced compound along Southwest 136th Avenue in Davie.
However, visits by federal inspectors over the past several months found big cats still there and repeated violations of the laws requiring adequate care for the animals.
"It's been systematic noncompliance," said Nolan Lemon, spokesman for the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
"The Animal Welfare Act details minimum standards — minimum standards," Lemon said. "These are repeat violations of those standards."
Harrod said she would answer questions only in writing. Questions were sent by e-mail March 3, but she never responded. Her lawyer, Marshall Platt, could not be reached to comment despite messages left by phone and e-mail.
Despite the agreement to move out big cats, a Feb. 4 inspection found two adult tigers and an adult cougar on the property.
Lemon said Harrod was in violation of the consent agreement.
"It's with our legal folks at this point," he said.
Inspections over the past several months have turned up other violations.
Several small mammals housed in a windowless structure died after the air conditioning failed, according to USDA inspection reports.
hree adult tigers disappeared without the required documentation showing to whom they were given or sold.
The Feb. 4 inspection found an adult tiger named Nicky limping and suffering from arthritis and not receiving adequate veterinary care. The attending veterinarian, who last signed a program of care in 2008, does not live in the area, according to the inspection report.
"It's not like owning a dog or a cat," Lemon said. "There are people who get in with the best intentions and they forget that Tigger is a dangerous animal with very demanding and expensive needs. Vet care is expensive, but you can't compromise on that."
David Fleshler can be reached at dfleshler@SunSentinel.com or 954-356-4535.
Video Links
Warning these videos are graphic, I recommend not eating prior to viewing if you have a weaker stomach.These video’s are on you tube under vanishing species.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDq9vLf51io
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXW2Gz3YBJ4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruby5Kyoo2Y
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGv6rR2fV0g
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bi8pyhZpmwc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKj8W8zCsEU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_l5ap6EDI4M
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVJVs3izR4E
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYGQLoWfmtY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAmij5EUcuU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Du9OOqCchZQ
Some of the animals in these pictures are now dead due to "unnatural" causes.
The Palmdale facility was closed to the public in Feb 2009 by the USDA after a plea agreement with Jeffery and Barbara Harrod owners of Vanishing Species was reached.
USDA fined the Harrods $27,000 for violations and citations at the Palmdale facility but after the plea deal USDA reduced the fines to $3,700.00 with $100.00 payments per month.
USDA didn't return to enforce the plea agreement. Through repeat calling Dr Goldentire , Dr Gibson whom is Dr Goldentire's boss and then calling Joe Nelson I was informed they couldn't discuss the case with me but this case is public record yet none would comment on the case.
In accordance to the public record of USDA it states all cats’ juveniles and adults must be removed off the Davie, Fl. location by July 31, 2009. It's now March 31, 2010 and still class 1 and 2 cats remained on that property. No enforcing of the USDA rules for the plea agreement.
Send a message to USDA to enforce their own plea agreements, revocate licenses, not allow exotic permits or licenses to be given out like candy unless more stringent rules such as testing, serving 500 hours in a vet office that deals with exotic animals, having 500 hours of apprentice experience with FWC and field work, pass a written test, produce 1000 hours of logged time working with exotic animals.
USDA doesn't care about the animals nor enforces their own plea deals.
CALL THESE PEOPLE TODAY!
DEMAND AN EXPLAINATION TO WHY VANISHING SPECIES CAN RETAIN EXOTIC ANIMAL PERMITS AND LICENSES WHEN THEY HAVE VIOLATED EVERY LAW FROM A-N. USDA HAS 2 FILE FOLDERS OF REPEAT VIOLATIONS; THEY HAVE EVEN FORDGED VET RECORDS AND HIDDEN DEATH OF THE ANIMALS, SALES OF THE ANIMALS AND TRANSPORTS OF ANIMALS. SINCE THE PALMDALE FACILITY IS CLOSED TO THE PUBLIC HOW CAN THEY EXHABIT LEGALLY! THEY CAN'T! ANOTHER LAW BROKEN BUT WHO'S LOOKING. I HOPE CAROL CAN ATTACH THE ORIGINAL PLEA AGREEMENT TO THIS ARTICLE I SENT HER.
The Key players with this disaster with USDA are:
CALL TODAY AND EXPRESS YOUR VOICE
_____________________________________
Dr Goldentire USDA District Manager: 919-855-7100, Fax: 919-855-7123
Dr Gibson, Dr Goldentire direct supervisor: 301-734-4980.
Joe Nelson: 919-855-7106You can access the Harrods inspection records at:
http://acissearch.aphis.usda.gov/LPASearch/faces/pdfpage.jspx?custid=9487
If this link doesn’t work type in aphis, then on the left side click on animal welfare, then
On the right side click on publication and reports, next you’ll get a “ warning “ page, just click except, it’s legal for you to look at public records, next your get a page with a box asking name your looking up type in Vanishing Species, under state type in florida hit enter. At the bottom you’ll click on the PDF file and there you go, all of the inspection reports by USDA.
Ask why they have not revoked the Harrods license with repeat violations. Last I checked forging vet records is still forgery and is a felony.
FWC has the green light to revoke Barbara Harrods license yet Captain John West out of Tallassee has done nothing at this point.
Please call: 850-488-6253
Demand answers why FWC won’t revoke Jeffery Harrods or Barbara Harrods license after repeat violations with their agency and numerous complains. They have my log book, video’s I shot that you can now view and still more animals continue to die from lack of vet care, lack of knowledge and lack of funding to buy food.
3 weeks ago Art Matson whom is the inspector for Vanishing Species called and said he had just preformed an inspection at Palmdale, he said he eye balled the tigers and said they looked happy and healthy, I questioned Arts inspection as to what paper work did he receive in regards to the transfer of 7 cougars to Jeffery Harrods friends. Art replied no he ever checked. Art indicated he never went to check on the transferred cougars and made sure their cages were up to FWC standards or checking the proper permits of the friends. I asked Art if he checked for food on the premise to ensure the tigers, lions, leopards and cougars had enough palatable food to feed them daily, Art replied no he did not check to see how much food was in the refrigerators or freezers.
I asked Art if he knew what the proper weight was for a Siberian tiger was, he replied no he did not. I asked Art if he knew the proper weight for a Bengal tiger, Art replied no he did not. I asked Art if he knew what the percentage of food per animal and their weight was too been to feed daily, Art replied no he did not. I asked Art if he looked at any current vet records as a yearly vet check is needed, he replied no he did not.
Art Matson said to me and I quote” the tigers look happy and healthy”. I asked Art what does a happy and healthy tiger look like, he said he didn’t know. I said how do you know the tigers are healthy, are you a licensed veterinarian? He replied no he was not. I asked if a Bengal at proper weight was to weight 600 lbs, eyeballing the tiger how do you know it’s at proper weight? He said he didn’t know but said and I quote again” no bones were sticking out”. This I said would be past malnutrition this is called Emaciation.
Art Matson said to me he couldn’t find any violations or anything wrong yet never checked anything, just talked to Mr Harrod and left.
Concerned a proper inspection wasn’t done and biased friendships seemed to have gotten in Art Matson’s view I called Tallahassee and lodged a complaint against his “inspection”. The next week 2 state officials out of Tallahassee were sent to Palmdale and they discovered MANY, MANY violations!!! Odd how a week prior to that Art Matson said he couldn’t find one thing wrong.
Art Matson said he knows of a sanctuary out of Colorado called Wild Animal sanctuary and they were willing at their own expense bring in eight tractor trailers and take every cat the Harrods have to their rescue where they have set aside 250 acres giving each cat 20 acres to themselves with dens and water falls. Jeffery said he’d agree to it but the condition was he had to also give up his breeders license so this mess can’t be repeated down the road. Jeffery refuses to give up his breeders permits and indicated to Art he wanted to get more babies for money making opportunities. So this process will begin all over again.
From my sources Jeffery Harrod is planning on putting all the animals names in his girlfriends name but she doesn’t yet have a class 1 & 2 license however Jeffery indicated he was going to “ sign” saying she has her 1000 hours per species even though she has none logged and has no idea of animal husbandry.
This way Jeffery Harrod can manipulate the system again and gets to keep the cats.
Art Matson said to me Jeffery Harrod told him he was selling Palmdale by the end of his month, so I said to Captian Ardleen yesterday were at the end of the month is Palmdale sold, he said no Jeffery now said it’ll be at the end of the year. STALL, STALL, STALL!!!!
Right now according to Art Matson Jeffery Harrod has housed on the Palmdale property:
7 tigers7 cougars
2 lions
2 leopards
6 alligators
Host of other assorted animals from raccoons to pheasants, emu’s, goats, pigs, etc.
On the property of Palmdale one black leopard according to my close source died about 2 months ago, he was only 2 ½ years old. To my knowledge this animal was not listed on the inventory register as dead with FWC or USDA. No records were ever looked at by Art Matson to compare what animals were there last inspection verses what animals aren’t there this inspection. If sold where is the transfers paperwork and sellers book? Art said he never checked.
March 29, 2010 I received credible information Jeffery Harrod was housing a 3 week old baby cougar in his trailer, according to my inside source the baby is very ill and has diaherra. I was on the phone till after 2 am with a hot line operator whom was in communication with Captain Adleen whom indicated he and Pat Reynolds with FWC would be visiting Jeffery Harrods home and checking if the cougar was ok. He looked at the cat saw the diaherra asked Jeffery if he was going to seek medical attention with a vet at which time Jeffery answered no he wasn’t. He has this cougar baby according to my sources on whole cow’s milk, diluted with water and cat food mixed in. Jeffery indicated the baby is on cat formula and it’s common to remove the baby as soon as it’s born away from the mother. They believe Jeffery Harrod but took pictures
BARBARA HARRODS BROWARD COUNTY COURTHOUSE CASE RECORD
Link HERE
These three powerful people had the green light and authority to revocate ( strip these licenses and permits) but instead looked the other way and gave them a tap on the wrist while more animals suffered and died. The USDA and there laws are worthless to animals.
This is why I've been working to help shut down Vanishing Species because under there lack of proper animal care the species is truely vanishing.
Remember when viewing these animals some here in these pictures are now dead and no one cared!
Who know's what's become of the others in the pictures. Change needs to come to the laws governing who can and can't have exotic animals.
The Harrods have no formal education in attending college for animal husbandry also known as animal science, they have no formal training as a veterarian assistant or in veterinarian medicine, the Harrod's don't possess a master's degrees or doctorates in disciplines such as nutrition, genetics and animal breeding, or reproductive physiology. Yet The Harrods have been given permits for breeding and exhibition by FWC and USDA.
They were just simply given permits! So in essence you need no skill, training nor knowledge to possess and keep a tiger , cougar or leopard which is a class 1 animal!
You just need to “know" someone that already has a class 1 and 2 permit to sign for you stating you have the 1000 hours per species even if you never had 20 hours. You don't need to prove you have the knowledge you just have to produce a few bucks for the permits and off you go.
Unite your voice with mine and stand up to politics that condemn these sacred and endangered animals to a life in a small prison, there only crime was they were born.
Unfortunately these animals you see were only a commodity and expendable.
If one baby died and many did they'd just go BUY another tiger baby to exploit for money doing baby pets at fairs such as Dade County Youth Fair, Birthday parties , schools, and other private functions ,Saw Grass Rec Park where they used to exhibit some of these animals and used the baby tiger pictured here , lioness named " Savanna" and the bob cat for baby pets for money but had lost their contact there and weren't asked back , along with other fairs.
One way or another the laws are going to have to change and if I have to stand alone then so be it but I'd like you the ones reading this to get involved because laws only change when people make law makers change them.
I don't feel the punishment for Barbara Harrod fit the crimes and should have been much more severe. Once again the animals died for a slap on the wrist and court costs. Where is the justice for the voiceless! This statement is my own personal feelings. After this case sat in the legal system with postponements for 3 years this was the outcome for the animals that suffered and died.Please help me to help the animals and be a voice with mine to demand answer from USDA and FWC. How many more animals have to die at the hands of the Harrods? When is enough, enough?
I am an animal advocate, a voice for the voiceless and I’m not going away. If I have to stand alone so be it, I have fought this ongoing night mare for the animals for 3 years and I have no intensions of going away any time soon.
Written by eye witness Chrissy Fischer
Email: witcheswand@yahoo.com
- 5 months ago
- Views: 96
- Not yet rated
-
Abuse at Vanishing Species Abuse at Vanishing Species
- From: Anon
-
Description:
Feb 9,2010 Barbara Harrod entered a no contest plea in front of Judge Ginger Lerner Wren Broward County Florida Court House. The judge found Barbara Harrod guilty of all 5 counts and sentenced her to 12 months of probation and she was ordered to pay court costs roughly in the amount of $1000.00. NO fine was given by the judge even though she could have done so.
Barbara Harrod often “gets” her baby tigers from Larry Wallach whom is licensed out of NY and Ft Lauderdale. Barbara uses these babies for pets then tosses them into a tiny cage for the rest of their lives which typically isn’t very long.
I have now released graphic video’s of what these animals had to endure every day at the Davie location of Vanishing Species under the lack of care of Barbara Harrod.The Sun- Sentinel also did three stories on Barbara Harrod and the property of Vanishing Species. Here’s the link to the latest story. If you type in Vanishing Species you’ll be able to locate David Fleshlers other stories on Vanishing Species.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/fl-wildlife-violations-20100313,0,2508711.story
DAVIE An arthritic tiger failed to receive proper veterinary care. Small mammals housed in a shed died when the air conditioning broke down. Tigers disappeared without proper documentation.A Davie wildlife exhibitor has been accused of those violations in federal inspection reports.
She faces the possible loss of state and federal licenses, after years of using animals to entertain at schools, summer camps, fairs and parties.
Barbara Harrod, who operates Vanishing Species Wildlife Inc., pleaded no contest in February to state charges that she kept animals in unsanitary conditions, used cages that were too small and engaged in other wildlife violations.
She was assessed court costs, not fines.
But the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is reviewing the case to determine whether to suspend or revoke her license, said Capt. John West, of the agency's law enforcement division.
After a separate federal review, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said she has failed to comply with a federal consent order to move all big cats off her site.
The order was issued after inspectors found animals' food contaminated with blood and maggots, inadequate veterinary care, and tigers left unprotected from sun and rain.
The agreement signed last year gave her until July 31, 2009, to get big cats off her fenced compound along Southwest 136th Avenue in Davie.
However, visits by federal inspectors over the past several months found big cats still there and repeated violations of the laws requiring adequate care for the animals.
"It's been systematic noncompliance," said Nolan Lemon, spokesman for the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
"The Animal Welfare Act details minimum standards — minimum standards," Lemon said. "These are repeat violations of those standards."
Harrod said she would answer questions only in writing. Questions were sent by e-mail March 3, but she never responded. Her lawyer, Marshall Platt, could not be reached to comment despite messages left by phone and e-mail.
Despite the agreement to move out big cats, a Feb. 4 inspection found two adult tigers and an adult cougar on the property.
Lemon said Harrod was in violation of the consent agreement.
"It's with our legal folks at this point," he said.
Inspections over the past several months have turned up other violations.
Several small mammals housed in a windowless structure died after the air conditioning failed, according to USDA inspection reports.
hree adult tigers disappeared without the required documentation showing to whom they were given or sold.
The Feb. 4 inspection found an adult tiger named Nicky limping and suffering from arthritis and not receiving adequate veterinary care. The attending veterinarian, who last signed a program of care in 2008, does not live in the area, according to the inspection report.
"It's not like owning a dog or a cat," Lemon said. "There are people who get in with the best intentions and they forget that Tigger is a dangerous animal with very demanding and expensive needs. Vet care is expensive, but you can't compromise on that."
David Fleshler can be reached at dfleshler@SunSentinel.com or 954-356-4535.
Video Links
Warning these videos are graphic, I recommend not eating prior to viewing if you have a weaker stomach.These video’s are on you tube under vanishing species.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDq9vLf51io
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXW2Gz3YBJ4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruby5Kyoo2Y
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGv6rR2fV0g
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bi8pyhZpmwc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKj8W8zCsEU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_l5ap6EDI4M
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVJVs3izR4E
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYGQLoWfmtY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAmij5EUcuU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Du9OOqCchZQ
Some of the animals in these pictures are now dead due to "unnatural" causes.
The Palmdale facility was closed to the public in Feb 2009 by the USDA after a plea agreement with Jeffery and Barbara Harrod owners of Vanishing Species was reached.
USDA fined the Harrods $27,000 for violations and citations at the Palmdale facility but after the plea deal USDA reduced the fines to $3,700.00 with $100.00 payments per month.
USDA didn't return to enforce the plea agreement. Through repeat calling Dr Goldentire , Dr Gibson whom is Dr Goldentire's boss and then calling Joe Nelson I was informed they couldn't discuss the case with me but this case is public record yet none would comment on the case.
In accordance to the public record of USDA it states all cats’ juveniles and adults must be removed off the Davie, Fl. location by July 31, 2009. It's now March 31, 2010 and still class 1 and 2 cats remained on that property. No enforcing of the USDA rules for the plea agreement.
Send a message to USDA to enforce their own plea agreements, revocate licenses, not allow exotic permits or licenses to be given out like candy unless more stringent rules such as testing, serving 500 hours in a vet office that deals with exotic animals, having 500 hours of apprentice experience with FWC and field work, pass a written test, produce 1000 hours of logged time working with exotic animals.
USDA doesn't care about the animals nor enforces their own plea deals.
CALL THESE PEOPLE TODAY!
DEMAND AN EXPLAINATION TO WHY VANISHING SPECIES CAN RETAIN EXOTIC ANIMAL PERMITS AND LICENSES WHEN THEY HAVE VIOLATED EVERY LAW FROM A-N. USDA HAS 2 FILE FOLDERS OF REPEAT VIOLATIONS; THEY HAVE EVEN FORDGED VET RECORDS AND HIDDEN DEATH OF THE ANIMALS, SALES OF THE ANIMALS AND TRANSPORTS OF ANIMALS. SINCE THE PALMDALE FACILITY IS CLOSED TO THE PUBLIC HOW CAN THEY EXHABIT LEGALLY! THEY CAN'T! ANOTHER LAW BROKEN BUT WHO'S LOOKING. I HOPE CAROL CAN ATTACH THE ORIGINAL PLEA AGREEMENT TO THIS ARTICLE I SENT HER.
The Key players with this disaster with USDA are:
CALL TODAY AND EXPRESS YOUR VOICE
_____________________________________
Dr Goldentire USDA District Manager: 919-855-7100, Fax: 919-855-7123
Dr Gibson, Dr Goldentire direct supervisor: 301-734-4980.
Joe Nelson: 919-855-7106You can access the Harrods inspection records at:
http://acissearch.aphis.usda.gov/LPASearch/faces/pdfpage.jspx?custid=9487
If this link doesn’t work type in aphis, then on the left side click on animal welfare, then
On the right side click on publication and reports, next you’ll get a “ warning “ page, just click except, it’s legal for you to look at public records, next your get a page with a box asking name your looking up type in Vanishing Species, under state type in florida hit enter. At the bottom you’ll click on the PDF file and there you go, all of the inspection reports by USDA.
Ask why they have not revoked the Harrods license with repeat violations. Last I checked forging vet records is still forgery and is a felony.
FWC has the green light to revoke Barbara Harrods license yet Captain John West out of Tallassee has done nothing at this point.
Please call: 850-488-6253
Demand answers why FWC won’t revoke Jeffery Harrods or Barbara Harrods license after repeat violations with their agency and numerous complains. They have my log book, video’s I shot that you can now view and still more animals continue to die from lack of vet care, lack of knowledge and lack of funding to buy food.
3 weeks ago Art Matson whom is the inspector for Vanishing Species called and said he had just preformed an inspection at Palmdale, he said he eye balled the tigers and said they looked happy and healthy, I questioned Arts inspection as to what paper work did he receive in regards to the transfer of 7 cougars to Jeffery Harrods friends. Art replied no he ever checked. Art indicated he never went to check on the transferred cougars and made sure their cages were up to FWC standards or checking the proper permits of the friends. I asked Art if he checked for food on the premise to ensure the tigers, lions, leopards and cougars had enough palatable food to feed them daily, Art replied no he did not check to see how much food was in the refrigerators or freezers.
I asked Art if he knew what the proper weight was for a Siberian tiger was, he replied no he did not. I asked Art if he knew the proper weight for a Bengal tiger, Art replied no he did not. I asked Art if he knew what the percentage of food per animal and their weight was too been to feed daily, Art replied no he did not. I asked Art if he looked at any current vet records as a yearly vet check is needed, he replied no he did not.
Art Matson said to me and I quote” the tigers look happy and healthy”. I asked Art what does a happy and healthy tiger look like, he said he didn’t know. I said how do you know the tigers are healthy, are you a licensed veterinarian? He replied no he was not. I asked if a Bengal at proper weight was to weight 600 lbs, eyeballing the tiger how do you know it’s at proper weight? He said he didn’t know but said and I quote again” no bones were sticking out”. This I said would be past malnutrition this is called Emaciation.
Art Matson said to me he couldn’t find any violations or anything wrong yet never checked anything, just talked to Mr Harrod and left.
Concerned a proper inspection wasn’t done and biased friendships seemed to have gotten in Art Matson’s view I called Tallahassee and lodged a complaint against his “inspection”. The next week 2 state officials out of Tallahassee were sent to Palmdale and they discovered MANY, MANY violations!!! Odd how a week prior to that Art Matson said he couldn’t find one thing wrong.
Art Matson said he knows of a sanctuary out of Colorado called Wild Animal sanctuary and they were willing at their own expense bring in eight tractor trailers and take every cat the Harrods have to their rescue where they have set aside 250 acres giving each cat 20 acres to themselves with dens and water falls. Jeffery said he’d agree to it but the condition was he had to also give up his breeders license so this mess can’t be repeated down the road. Jeffery refuses to give up his breeders permits and indicated to Art he wanted to get more babies for money making opportunities. So this process will begin all over again.
From my sources Jeffery Harrod is planning on putting all the animals names in his girlfriends name but she doesn’t yet have a class 1 & 2 license however Jeffery indicated he was going to “ sign” saying she has her 1000 hours per species even though she has none logged and has no idea of animal husbandry.
This way Jeffery Harrod can manipulate the system again and gets to keep the cats.
Art Matson said to me Jeffery Harrod told him he was selling Palmdale by the end of his month, so I said to Captian Ardleen yesterday were at the end of the month is Palmdale sold, he said no Jeffery now said it’ll be at the end of the year. STALL, STALL, STALL!!!!
Right now according to Art Matson Jeffery Harrod has housed on the Palmdale property:
7 tigers7 cougars
2 lions
2 leopards
6 alligators
Host of other assorted animals from raccoons to pheasants, emu’s, goats, pigs, etc.
On the property of Palmdale one black leopard according to my close source died about 2 months ago, he was only 2 ½ years old. To my knowledge this animal was not listed on the inventory register as dead with FWC or USDA. No records were ever looked at by Art Matson to compare what animals were there last inspection verses what animals aren’t there this inspection. If sold where is the transfers paperwork and sellers book? Art said he never checked.
March 29, 2010 I received credible information Jeffery Harrod was housing a 3 week old baby cougar in his trailer, according to my inside source the baby is very ill and has diaherra. I was on the phone till after 2 am with a hot line operator whom was in communication with Captain Adleen whom indicated he and Pat Reynolds with FWC would be visiting Jeffery Harrods home and checking if the cougar was ok. He looked at the cat saw the diaherra asked Jeffery if he was going to seek medical attention with a vet at which time Jeffery answered no he wasn’t. He has this cougar baby according to my sources on whole cow’s milk, diluted with water and cat food mixed in. Jeffery indicated the baby is on cat formula and it’s common to remove the baby as soon as it’s born away from the mother. They believe Jeffery Harrod but took pictures
BARBARA HARRODS BROWARD COUNTY COURTHOUSE CASE RECORD
Link HERE
These three powerful people had the green light and authority to revocate ( strip these licenses and permits) but instead looked the other way and gave them a tap on the wrist while more animals suffered and died. The USDA and there laws are worthless to animals.
This is why I've been working to help shut down Vanishing Species because under there lack of proper animal care the species is truely vanishing.
Remember when viewing these animals some here in these pictures are now dead and no one cared!
Who know's what's become of the others in the pictures. Change needs to come to the laws governing who can and can't have exotic animals.
The Harrods have no formal education in attending college for animal husbandry also known as animal science, they have no formal training as a veterarian assistant or in veterinarian medicine, the Harrod's don't possess a master's degrees or doctorates in disciplines such as nutrition, genetics and animal breeding, or reproductive physiology. Yet The Harrods have been given permits for breeding and exhibition by FWC and USDA.
They were just simply given permits! So in essence you need no skill, training nor knowledge to possess and keep a tiger , cougar or leopard which is a class 1 animal!
You just need to “know" someone that already has a class 1 and 2 permit to sign for you stating you have the 1000 hours per species even if you never had 20 hours. You don't need to prove you have the knowledge you just have to produce a few bucks for the permits and off you go.
Unite your voice with mine and stand up to politics that condemn these sacred and endangered animals to a life in a small prison, there only crime was they were born.
Unfortunately these animals you see were only a commodity and expendable.
If one baby died and many did they'd just go BUY another tiger baby to exploit for money doing baby pets at fairs such as Dade County Youth Fair, Birthday parties , schools, and other private functions ,Saw Grass Rec Park where they used to exhibit some of these animals and used the baby tiger pictured here , lioness named " Savanna" and the bob cat for baby pets for money but had lost their contact there and weren't asked back , along with other fairs.
One way or another the laws are going to have to change and if I have to stand alone then so be it but I'd like you the ones reading this to get involved because laws only change when people make law makers change them.
I don't feel the punishment for Barbara Harrod fit the crimes and should have been much more severe. Once again the animals died for a slap on the wrist and court costs. Where is the justice for the voiceless! This statement is my own personal feelings. After this case sat in the legal system with postponements for 3 years this was the outcome for the animals that suffered and died.Please help me to help the animals and be a voice with mine to demand answer from USDA and FWC. How many more animals have to die at the hands of the Harrods? When is enough, enough?
I am an animal advocate, a voice for the voiceless and I’m not going away. If I have to stand alone so be it, I have fought this ongoing night mare for the animals for 3 years and I have no intensions of going away any time soon.
Written by eye witness Chrissy Fischer
Email: witcheswand@yahoo.com
- 5 months ago
- Views: 173
- Not yet rated
-
Abuse at Vanishing Species Abuse at Vanishing Species
- From: Anon
-
Description:
Feb 9,2010 Barbara Harrod entered a no contest plea in front of Judge Ginger Lerner Wren Broward County Florida Court House. The judge found Barbara Harrod guilty of all 5 counts and sentenced her to 12 months of probation and she was ordered to pay court costs roughly in the amount of $1000.00. NO fine was given by the judge even though she could have done so.
Barbara Harrod often “gets” her baby tigers from Larry Wallach whom is licensed out of NY and Ft Lauderdale. Barbara uses these babies for pets then tosses them into a tiny cage for the rest of their lives which typically isn’t very long.
I have now released graphic video’s of what these animals had to endure every day at the Davie location of Vanishing Species under the lack of care of Barbara Harrod.The Sun- Sentinel also did three stories on Barbara Harrod and the property of Vanishing Species. Here’s the link to the latest story. If you type in Vanishing Species you’ll be able to locate David Fleshlers other stories on Vanishing Species.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/fl-wildlife-violations-20100313,0,2508711.story
DAVIE An arthritic tiger failed to receive proper veterinary care. Small mammals housed in a shed died when the air conditioning broke down. Tigers disappeared without proper documentation.A Davie wildlife exhibitor has been accused of those violations in federal inspection reports.
She faces the possible loss of state and federal licenses, after years of using animals to entertain at schools, summer camps, fairs and parties.
Barbara Harrod, who operates Vanishing Species Wildlife Inc., pleaded no contest in February to state charges that she kept animals in unsanitary conditions, used cages that were too small and engaged in other wildlife violations.
She was assessed court costs, not fines.
But the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is reviewing the case to determine whether to suspend or revoke her license, said Capt. John West, of the agency's law enforcement division.
After a separate federal review, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said she has failed to comply with a federal consent order to move all big cats off her site.
The order was issued after inspectors found animals' food contaminated with blood and maggots, inadequate veterinary care, and tigers left unprotected from sun and rain.
The agreement signed last year gave her until July 31, 2009, to get big cats off her fenced compound along Southwest 136th Avenue in Davie.
However, visits by federal inspectors over the past several months found big cats still there and repeated violations of the laws requiring adequate care for the animals.
"It's been systematic noncompliance," said Nolan Lemon, spokesman for the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
"The Animal Welfare Act details minimum standards — minimum standards," Lemon said. "These are repeat violations of those standards."
Harrod said she would answer questions only in writing. Questions were sent by e-mail March 3, but she never responded. Her lawyer, Marshall Platt, could not be reached to comment despite messages left by phone and e-mail.
Despite the agreement to move out big cats, a Feb. 4 inspection found two adult tigers and an adult cougar on the property.
Lemon said Harrod was in violation of the consent agreement.
"It's with our legal folks at this point," he said.
Inspections over the past several months have turned up other violations.
Several small mammals housed in a windowless structure died after the air conditioning failed, according to USDA inspection reports.
hree adult tigers disappeared without the required documentation showing to whom they were given or sold.
The Feb. 4 inspection found an adult tiger named Nicky limping and suffering from arthritis and not receiving adequate veterinary care. The attending veterinarian, who last signed a program of care in 2008, does not live in the area, according to the inspection report.
"It's not like owning a dog or a cat," Lemon said. "There are people who get in with the best intentions and they forget that Tigger is a dangerous animal with very demanding and expensive needs. Vet care is expensive, but you can't compromise on that."
David Fleshler can be reached at dfleshler@SunSentinel.com or 954-356-4535.
Video Links
Warning these videos are graphic, I recommend not eating prior to viewing if you have a weaker stomach.These video’s are on you tube under vanishing species.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDq9vLf51io
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXW2Gz3YBJ4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruby5Kyoo2Y
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGv6rR2fV0g
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bi8pyhZpmwc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKj8W8zCsEU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_l5ap6EDI4M
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVJVs3izR4E
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYGQLoWfmtY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAmij5EUcuU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Du9OOqCchZQ
Some of the animals in these pictures are now dead due to "unnatural" causes.
The Palmdale facility was closed to the public in Feb 2009 by the USDA after a plea agreement with Jeffery and Barbara Harrod owners of Vanishing Species was reached.
USDA fined the Harrods $27,000 for violations and citations at the Palmdale facility but after the plea deal USDA reduced the fines to $3,700.00 with $100.00 payments per month.
USDA didn't return to enforce the plea agreement. Through repeat calling Dr Goldentire , Dr Gibson whom is Dr Goldentire's boss and then calling Joe Nelson I was informed they couldn't discuss the case with me but this case is public record yet none would comment on the case.
In accordance to the public record of USDA it states all cats’ juveniles and adults must be removed off the Davie, Fl. location by July 31, 2009. It's now March 31, 2010 and still class 1 and 2 cats remained on that property. No enforcing of the USDA rules for the plea agreement.
Send a message to USDA to enforce their own plea agreements, revocate licenses, not allow exotic permits or licenses to be given out like candy unless more stringent rules such as testing, serving 500 hours in a vet office that deals with exotic animals, having 500 hours of apprentice experience with FWC and field work, pass a written test, produce 1000 hours of logged time working with exotic animals.
USDA doesn't care about the animals nor enforces their own plea deals.
CALL THESE PEOPLE TODAY!
DEMAND AN EXPLAINATION TO WHY VANISHING SPECIES CAN RETAIN EXOTIC ANIMAL PERMITS AND LICENSES WHEN THEY HAVE VIOLATED EVERY LAW FROM A-N. USDA HAS 2 FILE FOLDERS OF REPEAT VIOLATIONS; THEY HAVE EVEN FORDGED VET RECORDS AND HIDDEN DEATH OF THE ANIMALS, SALES OF THE ANIMALS AND TRANSPORTS OF ANIMALS. SINCE THE PALMDALE FACILITY IS CLOSED TO THE PUBLIC HOW CAN THEY EXHABIT LEGALLY! THEY CAN'T! ANOTHER LAW BROKEN BUT WHO'S LOOKING. I HOPE CAROL CAN ATTACH THE ORIGINAL PLEA AGREEMENT TO THIS ARTICLE I SENT HER.
The Key players with this disaster with USDA are:
CALL TODAY AND EXPRESS YOUR VOICE
_____________________________________
Dr Goldentire USDA District Manager: 919-855-7100, Fax: 919-855-7123
Dr Gibson, Dr Goldentire direct supervisor: 301-734-4980.
Joe Nelson: 919-855-7106You can access the Harrods inspection records at:
http://acissearch.aphis.usda.gov/LPASearch/faces/pdfpage.jspx?custid=9487
If this link doesn’t work type in aphis, then on the left side click on animal welfare, then
On the right side click on publication and reports, next you’ll get a “ warning “ page, just click except, it’s legal for you to look at public records, next your get a page with a box asking name your looking up type in Vanishing Species, under state type in florida hit enter. At the bottom you’ll click on the PDF file and there you go, all of the inspection reports by USDA.
Ask why they have not revoked the Harrods license with repeat violations. Last I checked forging vet records is still forgery and is a felony.
FWC has the green light to revoke Barbara Harrods license yet Captain John West out of Tallassee has done nothing at this point.
Please call: 850-488-6253
Demand answers why FWC won’t revoke Jeffery Harrods or Barbara Harrods license after repeat violations with their agency and numerous complains. They have my log book, video’s I shot that you can now view and still more animals continue to die from lack of vet care, lack of knowledge and lack of funding to buy food.
3 weeks ago Art Matson whom is the inspector for Vanishing Species called and said he had just preformed an inspection at Palmdale, he said he eye balled the tigers and said they looked happy and healthy, I questioned Arts inspection as to what paper work did he receive in regards to the transfer of 7 cougars to Jeffery Harrods friends. Art replied no he ever checked. Art indicated he never went to check on the transferred cougars and made sure their cages were up to FWC standards or checking the proper permits of the friends. I asked Art if he checked for food on the premise to ensure the tigers, lions, leopards and cougars had enough palatable food to feed them daily, Art replied no he did not check to see how much food was in the refrigerators or freezers.
I asked Art if he knew what the proper weight was for a Siberian tiger was, he replied no he did not. I asked Art if he knew the proper weight for a Bengal tiger, Art replied no he did not. I asked Art if he knew what the percentage of food per animal and their weight was too been to feed daily, Art replied no he did not. I asked Art if he looked at any current vet records as a yearly vet check is needed, he replied no he did not.
Art Matson said to me and I quote” the tigers look happy and healthy”. I asked Art what does a happy and healthy tiger look like, he said he didn’t know. I said how do you know the tigers are healthy, are you a licensed veterinarian? He replied no he was not. I asked if a Bengal at proper weight was to weight 600 lbs, eyeballing the tiger how do you know it’s at proper weight? He said he didn’t know but said and I quote again” no bones were sticking out”. This I said would be past malnutrition this is called Emaciation.
Art Matson said to me he couldn’t find any violations or anything wrong yet never checked anything, just talked to Mr Harrod and left.
Concerned a proper inspection wasn’t done and biased friendships seemed to have gotten in Art Matson’s view I called Tallahassee and lodged a complaint against his “inspection”. The next week 2 state officials out of Tallahassee were sent to Palmdale and they discovered MANY, MANY violations!!! Odd how a week prior to that Art Matson said he couldn’t find one thing wrong.
Art Matson said he knows of a sanctuary out of Colorado called Wild Animal sanctuary and they were willing at their own expense bring in eight tractor trailers and take every cat the Harrods have to their rescue where they have set aside 250 acres giving each cat 20 acres to themselves with dens and water falls. Jeffery said he’d agree to it but the condition was he had to also give up his breeders license so this mess can’t be repeated down the road. Jeffery refuses to give up his breeders permits and indicated to Art he wanted to get more babies for money making opportunities. So this process will begin all over again.
From my sources Jeffery Harrod is planning on putting all the animals names in his girlfriends name but she doesn’t yet have a class 1 & 2 license however Jeffery indicated he was going to “ sign” saying she has her 1000 hours per species even though she has none logged and has no idea of animal husbandry.
This way Jeffery Harrod can manipulate the system again and gets to keep the cats.
Art Matson said to me Jeffery Harrod told him he was selling Palmdale by the end of his month, so I said to Captian Ardleen yesterday were at the end of the month is Palmdale sold, he said no Jeffery now said it’ll be at the end of the year. STALL, STALL, STALL!!!!
Right now according to Art Matson Jeffery Harrod has housed on the Palmdale property:
7 tigers7 cougars
2 lions
2 leopards
6 alligators
Host of other assorted animals from raccoons to pheasants, emu’s, goats, pigs, etc.
On the property of Palmdale one black leopard according to my close source died about 2 months ago, he was only 2 ½ years old. To my knowledge this animal was not listed on the inventory register as dead with FWC or USDA. No records were ever looked at by Art Matson to compare what animals were there last inspection verses what animals aren’t there this inspection. If sold where is the transfers paperwork and sellers book? Art said he never checked.
March 29, 2010 I received credible information Jeffery Harrod was housing a 3 week old baby cougar in his trailer, according to my inside source the baby is very ill and has diaherra. I was on the phone till after 2 am with a hot line operator whom was in communication with Captain Adleen whom indicated he and Pat Reynolds with FWC would be visiting Jeffery Harrods home and checking if the cougar was ok. He looked at the cat saw the diaherra asked Jeffery if he was going to seek medical attention with a vet at which time Jeffery answered no he wasn’t. He has this cougar baby according to my sources on whole cow’s milk, diluted with water and cat food mixed in. Jeffery indicated the baby is on cat formula and it’s common to remove the baby as soon as it’s born away from the mother. They believe Jeffery Harrod but took pictures
BARBARA HARRODS BROWARD COUNTY COURTHOUSE CASE RECORD
Link HERE
These three powerful people had the green light and authority to revocate ( strip these licenses and permits) but instead looked the other way and gave them a tap on the wrist while more animals suffered and died. The USDA and there laws are worthless to animals.
This is why I've been working to help shut down Vanishing Species because under there lack of proper animal care the species is truely vanishing.
Remember when viewing these animals some here in these pictures are now dead and no one cared!
Who know's what's become of the others in the pictures. Change needs to come to the laws governing who can and can't have exotic animals.
The Harrods have no formal education in attending college for animal husbandry also known as animal science, they have no formal training as a veterarian assistant or in veterinarian medicine, the Harrod's don't possess a master's degrees or doctorates in disciplines such as nutrition, genetics and animal breeding, or reproductive physiology. Yet The Harrods have been given permits for breeding and exhibition by FWC and USDA.
They were just simply given permits! So in essence you need no skill, training nor knowledge to possess and keep a tiger , cougar or leopard which is a class 1 animal!
You just need to “know" someone that already has a class 1 and 2 permit to sign for you stating you have the 1000 hours per species even if you never had 20 hours. You don't need to prove you have the knowledge you just have to produce a few bucks for the permits and off you go.
Unite your voice with mine and stand up to politics that condemn these sacred and endangered animals to a life in a small prison, there only crime was they were born.
Unfortunately these animals you see were only a commodity and expendable.
If one baby died and many did they'd just go BUY another tiger baby to exploit for money doing baby pets at fairs such as Dade County Youth Fair, Birthday parties , schools, and other private functions ,Saw Grass Rec Park where they used to exhibit some of these animals and used the baby tiger pictured here , lioness named " Savanna" and the bob cat for baby pets for money but had lost their contact there and weren't asked back , along with other fairs.
One way or another the laws are going to have to change and if I have to stand alone then so be it but I'd like you the ones reading this to get involved because laws only change when people make law makers change them.
I don't feel the punishment for Barbara Harrod fit the crimes and should have been much more severe. Once again the animals died for a slap on the wrist and court costs. Where is the justice for the voiceless! This statement is my own personal feelings. After this case sat in the legal system with postponements for 3 years this was the outcome for the animals that suffered and died.Please help me to help the animals and be a voice with mine to demand answer from USDA and FWC. How many more animals have to die at the hands of the Harrods? When is enough, enough?
I am an animal advocate, a voice for the voiceless and I’m not going away. If I have to stand alone so be it, I have fought this ongoing night mare for the animals for 3 years and I have no intensions of going away any time soon.
Written by eye witness Chrissy Fischer
Email: witcheswand@yahoo.com
- 5 months ago
- Views: 146
- Not yet rated
-
Abuse at Vanishing Species Abuse at Vanishing Species
- From: Anon
-
Description:
Feb 9,2010 Barbara Harrod entered a no contest plea in front of Judge Ginger Lerner Wren Broward County Florida Court House. The judge found Barbara Harrod guilty of all 5 counts and sentenced her to 12 months of probation and she was ordered to pay court costs roughly in the amount of $1000.00. NO fine was given by the judge even though she could have done so.
Barbara Harrod often “gets” her baby tigers from Larry Wallach whom is licensed out of NY and Ft Lauderdale. Barbara uses these babies for pets then tosses them into a tiny cage for the rest of their lives which typically isn’t very long.
I have now released graphic video’s of what these animals had to endure every day at the Davie location of Vanishing Species under the lack of care of Barbara Harrod.The Sun- Sentinel also did three stories on Barbara Harrod and the property of Vanishing Species. Here’s the link to the latest story. If you type in Vanishing Species you’ll be able to locate David Fleshlers other stories on Vanishing Species.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/fl-wildlife-violations-20100313,0,2508711.story
DAVIE An arthritic tiger failed to receive proper veterinary care. Small mammals housed in a shed died when the air conditioning broke down. Tigers disappeared without proper documentation.A Davie wildlife exhibitor has been accused of those violations in federal inspection reports.
She faces the possible loss of state and federal licenses, after years of using animals to entertain at schools, summer camps, fairs and parties.
Barbara Harrod, who operates Vanishing Species Wildlife Inc., pleaded no contest in February to state charges that she kept animals in unsanitary conditions, used cages that were too small and engaged in other wildlife violations.
She was assessed court costs, not fines.
But the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is reviewing the case to determine whether to suspend or revoke her license, said Capt. John West, of the agency's law enforcement division.
After a separate federal review, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said she has failed to comply with a federal consent order to move all big cats off her site.
The order was issued after inspectors found animals' food contaminated with blood and maggots, inadequate veterinary care, and tigers left unprotected from sun and rain.
The agreement signed last year gave her until July 31, 2009, to get big cats off her fenced compound along Southwest 136th Avenue in Davie.
However, visits by federal inspectors over the past several months found big cats still there and repeated violations of the laws requiring adequate care for the animals.
"It's been systematic noncompliance," said Nolan Lemon, spokesman for the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
"The Animal Welfare Act details minimum standards — minimum standards," Lemon said. "These are repeat violations of those standards."
Harrod said she would answer questions only in writing. Questions were sent by e-mail March 3, but she never responded. Her lawyer, Marshall Platt, could not be reached to comment despite messages left by phone and e-mail.
Despite the agreement to move out big cats, a Feb. 4 inspection found two adult tigers and an adult cougar on the property.
Lemon said Harrod was in violation of the consent agreement.
"It's with our legal folks at this point," he said.
Inspections over the past several months have turned up other violations.
Several small mammals housed in a windowless structure died after the air conditioning failed, according to USDA inspection reports.
hree adult tigers disappeared without the required documentation showing to whom they were given or sold.
The Feb. 4 inspection found an adult tiger named Nicky limping and suffering from arthritis and not receiving adequate veterinary care. The attending veterinarian, who last signed a program of care in 2008, does not live in the area, according to the inspection report.
"It's not like owning a dog or a cat," Lemon said. "There are people who get in with the best intentions and they forget that Tigger is a dangerous animal with very demanding and expensive needs. Vet care is expensive, but you can't compromise on that."
David Fleshler can be reached at dfleshler@SunSentinel.com or 954-356-4535.
Video Links
Warning these videos are graphic, I recommend not eating prior to viewing if you have a weaker stomach.These video’s are on you tube under vanishing species.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDq9vLf51io
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXW2Gz3YBJ4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruby5Kyoo2Y
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGv6rR2fV0g
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bi8pyhZpmwc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKj8W8zCsEU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_l5ap6EDI4M
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVJVs3izR4E
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYGQLoWfmtY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAmij5EUcuU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Du9OOqCchZQ
Some of the animals in these pictures are now dead due to "unnatural" causes.
The Palmdale facility was closed to the public in Feb 2009 by the USDA after a plea agreement with Jeffery and Barbara Harrod owners of Vanishing Species was reached.
USDA fined the Harrods $27,000 for violations and citations at the Palmdale facility but after the plea deal USDA reduced the fines to $3,700.00 with $100.00 payments per month.
USDA didn't return to enforce the plea agreement. Through repeat calling Dr Goldentire , Dr Gibson whom is Dr Goldentire's boss and then calling Joe Nelson I was informed they couldn't discuss the case with me but this case is public record yet none would comment on the case.
In accordance to the public record of USDA it states all cats’ juveniles and adults must be removed off the Davie, Fl. location by July 31, 2009. It's now March 31, 2010 and still class 1 and 2 cats remained on that property. No enforcing of the USDA rules for the plea agreement.
Send a message to USDA to enforce their own plea agreements, revocate licenses, not allow exotic permits or licenses to be given out like candy unless more stringent rules such as testing, serving 500 hours in a vet office that deals with exotic animals, having 500 hours of apprentice experience with FWC and field work, pass a written test, produce 1000 hours of logged time working with exotic animals.
USDA doesn't care about the animals nor enforces their own plea deals.
CALL THESE PEOPLE TODAY!
DEMAND AN EXPLAINATION TO WHY VANISHING SPECIES CAN RETAIN EXOTIC ANIMAL PERMITS AND LICENSES WHEN THEY HAVE VIOLATED EVERY LAW FROM A-N. USDA HAS 2 FILE FOLDERS OF REPEAT VIOLATIONS; THEY HAVE EVEN FORDGED VET RECORDS AND HIDDEN DEATH OF THE ANIMALS, SALES OF THE ANIMALS AND TRANSPORTS OF ANIMALS. SINCE THE PALMDALE FACILITY IS CLOSED TO THE PUBLIC HOW CAN THEY EXHABIT LEGALLY! THEY CAN'T! ANOTHER LAW BROKEN BUT WHO'S LOOKING. I HOPE CAROL CAN ATTACH THE ORIGINAL PLEA AGREEMENT TO THIS ARTICLE I SENT HER.
The Key players with this disaster with USDA are:
CALL TODAY AND EXPRESS YOUR VOICE
_____________________________________
Dr Goldentire USDA District Manager: 919-855-7100, Fax: 919-855-7123
Dr Gibson, Dr Goldentire direct supervisor: 301-734-4980.
Joe Nelson: 919-855-7106You can access the Harrods inspection records at:
http://acissearch.aphis.usda.gov/LPASearch/faces/pdfpage.jspx?custid=9487
If this link doesn’t work type in aphis, then on the left side click on animal welfare, then
On the right side click on publication and reports, next you’ll get a “ warning “ page, just click except, it’s legal for you to look at public records, next your get a page with a box asking name your looking up type in Vanishing Species, under state type in florida hit enter. At the bottom you’ll click on the PDF file and there you go, all of the inspection reports by USDA.
Ask why they have not revoked the Harrods license with repeat violations. Last I checked forging vet records is still forgery and is a felony.
FWC has the green light to revoke Barbara Harrods license yet Captain John West out of Tallassee has done nothing at this point.
Please call: 850-488-6253
Demand answers why FWC won’t revoke Jeffery Harrods or Barbara Harrods license after repeat violations with their agency and numerous complains. They have my log book, video’s I shot that you can now view and still more animals continue to die from lack of vet care, lack of knowledge and lack of funding to buy food.
3 weeks ago Art Matson whom is the inspector for Vanishing Species called and said he had just preformed an inspection at Palmdale, he said he eye balled the tigers and said they looked happy and healthy, I questioned Arts inspection as to what paper work did he receive in regards to the transfer of 7 cougars to Jeffery Harrods friends. Art replied no he ever checked. Art indicated he never went to check on the transferred cougars and made sure their cages were up to FWC standards or checking the proper permits of the friends. I asked Art if he checked for food on the premise to ensure the tigers, lions, leopards and cougars had enough palatable food to feed them daily, Art replied no he did not check to see how much food was in the refrigerators or freezers.
I asked Art if he knew what the proper weight was for a Siberian tiger was, he replied no he did not. I asked Art if he knew the proper weight for a Bengal tiger, Art replied no he did not. I asked Art if he knew what the percentage of food per animal and their weight was too been to feed daily, Art replied no he did not. I asked Art if he looked at any current vet records as a yearly vet check is needed, he replied no he did not.
Art Matson said to me and I quote” the tigers look happy and healthy”. I asked Art what does a happy and healthy tiger look like, he said he didn’t know. I said how do you know the tigers are healthy, are you a licensed veterinarian? He replied no he was not. I asked if a Bengal at proper weight was to weight 600 lbs, eyeballing the tiger how do you know it’s at proper weight? He said he didn’t know but said and I quote again” no bones were sticking out”. This I said would be past malnutrition this is called Emaciation.
Art Matson said to me he couldn’t find any violations or anything wrong yet never checked anything, just talked to Mr Harrod and left.
Concerned a proper inspection wasn’t done and biased friendships seemed to have gotten in Art Matson’s view I called Tallahassee and lodged a complaint against his “inspection”. The next week 2 state officials out of Tallahassee were sent to Palmdale and they discovered MANY, MANY violations!!! Odd how a week prior to that Art Matson said he couldn’t find one thing wrong.
Art Matson said he knows of a sanctuary out of Colorado called Wild Animal sanctuary and they were willing at their own expense bring in eight tractor trailers and take every cat the Harrods have to their rescue where they have set aside 250 acres giving each cat 20 acres to themselves with dens and water falls. Jeffery said he’d agree to it but the condition was he had to also give up his breeders license so this mess can’t be repeated down the road. Jeffery refuses to give up his breeders permits and indicated to Art he wanted to get more babies for money making opportunities. So this process will begin all over again.
From my sources Jeffery Harrod is planning on putting all the animals names in his girlfriends name but she doesn’t yet have a class 1 & 2 license however Jeffery indicated he was going to “ sign” saying she has her 1000 hours per species even though she has none logged and has no idea of animal husbandry.
This way Jeffery Harrod can manipulate the system again and gets to keep the cats.
Art Matson said to me Jeffery Harrod told him he was selling Palmdale by the end of his month, so I said to Captian Ardleen yesterday were at the end of the month is Palmdale sold, he said no Jeffery now said it’ll be at the end of the year. STALL, STALL, STALL!!!!
Right now according to Art Matson Jeffery Harrod has housed on the Palmdale property:
7 tigers7 cougars
2 lions
2 leopards
6 alligators
Host of other assorted animals from raccoons to pheasants, emu’s, goats, pigs, etc.
On the property of Palmdale one black leopard according to my close source died about 2 months ago, he was only 2 ½ years old. To my knowledge this animal was not listed on the inventory register as dead with FWC or USDA. No records were ever looked at by Art Matson to compare what animals were there last inspection verses what animals aren’t there this inspection. If sold where is the transfers paperwork and sellers book? Art said he never checked.
March 29, 2010 I received credible information Jeffery Harrod was housing a 3 week old baby cougar in his trailer, according to my inside source the baby is very ill and has diaherra. I was on the phone till after 2 am with a hot line operator whom was in communication with Captain Adleen whom indicated he and Pat Reynolds with FWC would be visiting Jeffery Harrods home and checking if the cougar was ok. He looked at the cat saw the diaherra asked Jeffery if he was going to seek medical attention with a vet at which time Jeffery answered no he wasn’t. He has this cougar baby according to my sources on whole cow’s milk, diluted with water and cat food mixed in. Jeffery indicated the baby is on cat formula and it’s common to remove the baby as soon as it’s born away from the mother. They believe Jeffery Harrod but took pictures
BARBARA HARRODS BROWARD COUNTY COURTHOUSE CASE RECORD
Link HERE
These three powerful people had the green light and authority to revocate ( strip these licenses and permits) but instead looked the other way and gave them a tap on the wrist while more animals suffered and died. The USDA and there laws are worthless to animals.
This is why I've been working to help shut down Vanishing Species because under there lack of proper animal care the species is truely vanishing.
Remember when viewing these animals some here in these pictures are now dead and no one cared!
Who know's what's become of the others in the pictures. Change needs to come to the laws governing who can and can't have exotic animals.
The Harrods have no formal education in attending college for animal husbandry also known as animal science, they have no formal training as a veterarian assistant or in veterinarian medicine, the Harrod's don't possess a master's degrees or doctorates in disciplines such as nutrition, genetics and animal breeding, or reproductive physiology. Yet The Harrods have been given permits for breeding and exhibition by FWC and USDA.
They were just simply given permits! So in essence you need no skill, training nor knowledge to possess and keep a tiger , cougar or leopard which is a class 1 animal!
You just need to “know" someone that already has a class 1 and 2 permit to sign for you stating you have the 1000 hours per species even if you never had 20 hours. You don't need to prove you have the knowledge you just have to produce a few bucks for the permits and off you go.
Unite your voice with mine and stand up to politics that condemn these sacred and endangered animals to a life in a small prison, there only crime was they were born.
Unfortunately these animals you see were only a commodity and expendable.
If one baby died and many did they'd just go BUY another tiger baby to exploit for money doing baby pets at fairs such as Dade County Youth Fair, Birthday parties , schools, and other private functions ,Saw Grass Rec Park where they used to exhibit some of these animals and used the baby tiger pictured here , lioness named " Savanna" and the bob cat for baby pets for money but had lost their contact there and weren't asked back , along with other fairs.
One way or another the laws are going to have to change and if I have to stand alone then so be it but I'd like you the ones reading this to get involved because laws only change when people make law makers change them.
I don't feel the punishment for Barbara Harrod fit the crimes and should have been much more severe. Once again the animals died for a slap on the wrist and court costs. Where is the justice for the voiceless! This statement is my own personal feelings. After this case sat in the legal system with postponements for 3 years this was the outcome for the animals that suffered and died.Please help me to help the animals and be a voice with mine to demand answer from USDA and FWC. How many more animals have to die at the hands of the Harrods? When is enough, enough?
I am an animal advocate, a voice for the voiceless and I’m not going away. If I have to stand alone so be it, I have fought this ongoing night mare for the animals for 3 years and I have no intensions of going away any time soon.
Written by eye witness Chrissy Fischer
Email: witcheswand@yahoo.com
- 5 months ago
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Puppy Mills Puppy Mills
- From: TheirVoice
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Description:
Statement of Marshal Smith, USDA Whistleblower
I am perhaps one of the least likely people to have turned government whistleblower. I was raised in a family whose agricultural interests included a cattle ranch in south Texas. My father was Executive Director for the USDA's Fever Tick Eradication program. For nine years I was a member of the 4H club. I was comfortable with structure and rules. I was also brought up to adhere to a personal code of ethics; that meant doing what was right.
With my father's code of ethics as my model and a desire to protect the livestock industry, I joined USDA in 1976, while in my early twenties. To me, USDA exemplified doing what was right to protect the public and industry. I was assigned to a mounted patrol along the Rio Grande under the Veterinary Services Fever Tick Eradication Program. In 1979 I moved to Big Bend National Park as a Quarantine Enforcement Officer and continued riding horseback patrol for Veterinary Services. From there I was promoted to a Supervisory Animal Health Technician with the Screwworm Eradication Program, acting as an agricultural attaché to the US Embassy in Mexico. I resigned for a short time to go into private business but returned to USDA in 1984.
In 1984 I was assigned to brucellosis eradication efforts in Fort Smith, Arkansas. It was during my tenure in Arkansas that I first learned of the Animal Welfare Act. I learned that pet producers. i.e. breeders for pet stores were required to be licensed and inspected to conform with federal standards. Since USDA’s brucellosis eradication efforts had been successful I volunteered to participate in the Animal Welfare Program.
In 1985, I volunteered as an inspector for USDA'S Animal Welfare Program in order to ensure that puppy mills followed federal regulations. I recall the brief training period, which included viewing footage from a news show that had investigated pet store breeders. There was no discussion following that footage and no mention of the fact that USDA had, since 1967, been responsible for ensuring that conditions like those no longer existed. Thus began many of the naive assumptions I would make in the subsequent years when I was committed to believing the agency I worked for. I assumed then that since the problem of puppy mills had been publicly disclosed, USDA taken remedial steps. I assumed that the sobering news segment, my colleagues and I were viewing was old footage. In the field, I would learn that my assumption was wrong.
My territory included 40 kennels in northwest Arkansas. I approached my new job conscientiously. Records of these pet producers were transferred to me from a retiring inspector who told me, "If you’re smart you'll do what I did, you’ll check everything is OK." I told him that I intended to abide by the law. Another assumption: I assumed he was a lazy good old boy, that he was not voicing the agency's mindset.
The kennels I visited had seemingly never been inspected. I was overwhelmed by what I saw: the wretched looking animals, the mounds of fecal matter reaching in some cases to my knees, at very least to the wire caging of the rabbit hutches which most puppy millers used to house the dogs. In every instance that I recall, the filth and deprivation were shocking. I recorded scores of violations prompting complaints to my supervisor in Little Rock. Luckily for me however, my supervisor, DR. W. J. Ward, who had carved a niche for himself in the Animal Welfare Program, supported me. I was given a cash award and Certificate of Merit for my inspection activities.
I assumed that further measures were taken to enforce the regulations and bring offenders into compliance. I later learned that cases were not developed for enforcement, and that those that were would languish years before coming to hearing, when they would invariably be dismissed. Thus some of the most horrendous conditions under which dogs were bred festered, unfettered by federal intervention.
I accepted a promotion and transfer to Jefferson City, Missouri in 1986 as a Compliance officer, later reclassified to Senior Investigator. In this capacity I documented violations of regulations which were administered under the Veterinary Service Program; the cases were a combination of animal quarantine, animal welfare and veterinary accreditation violations. During this time, my colleagues and I were instructed to review the Animal Welfare case files and close them out with a VS Form 3-60. These were "warning tickets" used to essentially dismiss cases due to a backlog at the Office of General Counsel (OGC). These cases represented the more deplorable pet breeding facilities and I was dismayed at USDA's seemingly inability, or unwillingness, to deal with the violators as the law stipulated.
At this time USDA announced its re-organization which would separate the Animal Welfare Program from the Veterinary Services division. Agency officials publicly stated that the newly independent Animal Welfare Program's workforce of VMO’s and inspectors would be dedicated solely to animal welfare inspections. With the focus exclusively on the Animal Welfare Program it was touted that inspections and enforcement would be more effective and consistent. I would later hear that this re-organization was simply a strategic ploy to obtain larger congressional appropriations. Under Veterinary Services funds appropriated for brucellosis eradication had been allegedly diverted to subsidize Animal Welfare activities. With an independent division designated exclusively for the Animal Welfare Program additional appropriations were needed to properly fund the program. To this day the bulk of the funds account for salaries and equipment.
The resulting reorganization formed Regulatory Enforcement and Animal Care (REAC). It consisted of two distinct divisions; one for the enforcement of all APHIS regulations, Regulatory Enforcement (RE); and one for inspections, Animal Care (AC), which was responsible solely for the Animal Welfare Program. These branches were supposed to work together; Animal Care performing inspections, Regulatory Enforcement developing cases against alleged violators of various APHIS programs including AC. Five geographic sectors were created, but the RE and AC boundaries did not mesh. For example, investigators stationed in Missouri reported to the North Central Sector while Animal Care inspectors reported to the South Central Sector. This arrangement made for confusion and inefficiency.
Following the creation of REAC, Dr. Edward Slauter left his post as Director of the Animal Health Division of the Missouri Department of Agriculture. Why he left this position is telling: he was under pressure from the state's Attorney General for his failure to enforce state animal health regulations. Slauter, an associate of Dr. Joan Arnoldi, the newly named Deputy Administrator for REAC, found a welcoming home at the newly created division.
REAC's publicly stated mission to enforce the Animal Welfare Act and bring offenders into compliance is articulated by Dr. Glosser, APHIS Administrator at that time. As Glosser put it, REAC would "lead people into compliance," through "a flexible, dynamic body of regulations."
I was hopeful then that REAC would begin to address the serious inconsistencies in the inspection program and the agency's chronic failure to seek legal remedy against offenders.
By 1990, my Midwest colleagues and I were working fewer cases than prior to REAC's creation. Congress and the media however were not as willing to overlook transgressions right under the nose of USDA. A September 7, 1990 letter from Indiana Congressman, John Meyer, related to a complaint from one of his constituents who attended an exotic animal park and described it to Meyer as a concentration camp for animals. Forced out of its passive role into action, Animal Care under Dr. Mott investigated and reported three violations; I found 12 categories of violations, with numerous sub category violations. During the course of my investigation I also learned that the Missouri Department of Conservation had convicted the manager of this exotic animal park for hunting those exotic animals under his protective care. The thoroughly documented case was sent on to the USDA attorneys but never reached hearing and prosecution.
At the end of 1990, Dr. Walter A. Christensen, Animal Care Sector Supervisor, requested an investigation of a Stover, Missouri kennel operated by two sisters, Janice Knierim and Rhoda Burnett. The case is a classic example of USDA's corruption of established procedures. The kennel in question had been previously licensed under Mr. And Mrs. Vinson Whittle, their parents, who USDA convinced to surrender their license and re-apply under their daughters’ names to clean their slate of severe violations; a new license was thus issued, giving this same kennel a fresh slate, on paper. Yet the same and worse violations persisted: sick dogs ("dehydration, open sores, skin infections"), lack of water and food; improper records; failure to account for the disposition of many of the dogs they sold.
My division, Regulatory Enforcement was, however, never called in to investigate. When the sisters refused Animal Care access to their kennel, Animal Care requested intervention by the local sheriff to gain entry, this in an effort to keep in-house Animal Care's own negligence in issuing the license. The warrant secured by the Sheriff’s department was invalid due to an incorrect address. Later AC did gain access and the kennel passed inspection. But, as indicated by documents in my case file, a complainant who phoned in asked Dr. Slauter "How could they pass? Your inspector must be on the take." Slauter responded, "I know the inspector, he's an excellent inspector." In 1996 the inspector, Robert Dunning, was nabbed in a FBI sting for soliciting a bribe from a kennel owner.
For me, 1992 was a turning point. The stolen pet issue had gotten so hot that local sheriff departments were asking USDA for help. One in Missouri told me pet theft was so widespread that it wanted USDA to set up a hotline to track cases; his request fell on deaf ears. Bunchers were in their heyday, picking up animals from newspaper ads, neighborhoods and I could not understand why USDA was denying there was a problem. I speculated at the time that the situation had gotten so out of hand that the catch up work alone would inundate Animal Care's staff, in addition to reflect poorly on management. I later understood this as an attempt to keep the egregious, long unaddressed problems confined in-house. Animal Care had begun isolating itself from its sister division- it was covering its tracks by excluding Enforcement officers like myself from investigations.
To conceal their misdeeds Animal Care turned to local sheriff's rather than its Enforcement arm, as in the Donald Wood cattery. The conditions there festered over time: sick animals, lack of food or water, improper identification of cats, failure to remove excrement from cages, lack of veterinary care to the extent an inspection report noted: "The gravity of this situation is compounded by the fact that the animals were apparently temporarily abandoned." A warrant was issued with the assistance of the local sheriff and five cats were seized; the warrant, however, did not authorize the seizure. Regulatory Enforcement was subsequently called in to clean up the mess. In an apparent effort to destroy the evidence of the illegal confiscation, Dr. Christensen ordered the cats destroyed. The APHIS Administrator had to sign a confiscation order after the fact. Had Animal Care gone through the proper channels the confiscation would have been legal.
In the Bryant case, yet another case of improper authorizations by Animal Care involved instructions given to an inspector to falsify his reports. When I accompanied this inspector and entered the filthy kennel building, which housed the puppy mill, my eyes immediately started burning from the ammonia vapors; there was no ventilation. One-gallon cans, which formerly contained toxic paint, served as water buckets. When I returned to our vehicle, the Animal Care inspector wrote up his report, clearly omitting some of the most serious and obvious violations. He explained to me that his supervisor had told him "not to document too many violations." I then phoned my own supervisor to discuss this situation. I followed up with a memo, which I faxed to his office as requested. I subsequently learned that the memo had been destroyed "to protect" me. I had not done anything wrong and I was angry that my superiors would not or could not address the issue of a falsified document or the alleged instructions to do so.
This was the last pet producing facility I was asked to visit. In fact, I was not given cases from Animal Care until year-end 1992 when I was dispatched to examine the records of two long time research suppliers, Bruce Barnfield and Randall Huffstetler. The Animal Care inspector responsible for inspecting Huffstetler's kennel had formerly worked at one of the dealer's clients, a university in Missouri. This same inspector had previously called Huffstetler for tips on getting hired by the agency. He returned the favor quid pro quo. On the occasion of my visit, he gave Huffstetler an inappropriate correction deadline. I reported my objections to this action to my supervisor. Huffstetler lodged his own complaint: he was incensed that he had been cited at all. Dr. Bruce Mammeli, Assistant Sector Supervisor, sent an apologetic letter to the dealer exempting him from responding to those citations. Suddenly the inspection had become simply a "fact finding mission." As Mammeli wrote: "On fact finding inspections correction dates are not given, therefore they are not mandatory and will not be held against you during your next routine inspection."
The following year I was asked to review 16 computer generated pages of selected excerpts relating to suppliers of random source animals whose records I had copied. I was not allowed, however, to use the records I had copied, only what headquarters had sent down to me. The resulting case, which I prepared with such selective evidence, was, not surprisingly, returned to me as insufficient for prosecution. The voluminous records I had copied which indicated scores of violations had disappeared. It was not until 1996 that, under pressure from the Office of General Counsel (OGC) and finally a threat of prosecution, Huffstetler voluntarily relinquished his license.
At that time, it was advantageous for the sake of public relations and political expediency to finally sacrifice this one dealer, whose kennel should never have been licensed.
In May 1992 the OIG issued its audit of APHIS. For me, the report was confirmation of what I had long been observing and reporting back to my supervisors: there was internally an ongoing pattern of mismanagement, lack of enforcement of the regulations, and a passive, reactive administering of the Animal Welfare Program. OlG concluded that "APHIS cannot ensure the humane care and treatment of animals at all dealer facilities as required by the Animal Welfare Act...did not inspect dealer facilities with a reliable frequency and it did not enforce timely corrections of violations found during inspections." Of the 284 facilities reviewed, 46, or 16.2 percent, had received no annual inspection; 80.8 percent of the remaining facilities found to be in violation had received no follow-up; that APHIS does not have an effective inspection monitoring system... had not timely penalized facilities found to be in violation - in one case "continuous, uncorrected violations” were noted as far back as July 1988.
Notwithstanding this scathing federal report, USDA took no corrective action. Valuable time and resources were thus wasted and admonitions soon forgotten by USDA. Operationally, USDA continued to fall down on the job. In the next year, 1993, there were even fewer inspections fewer re-inspections, fewer cases investigated and reviewed, fewer cases submitted to Regulatory Enforcement; fewer compliance inspections; fewer cases submitted to OGC; fewer official warnings, and on and on. Licensed facilities in violation remained virtually unchanged. I began to understand that USDA had assumed the position that it was above the law.
Meanwhile, complaints had been flooding USDA in states hardest hit by pet theft, including Missouri and Iowa. Media were breaking stories of animals vanishing without at trace. USDA had been forced to respond. A mid West Stolen Dog Task Force had been hastily formed in 1990; I was not asked to participate. Nearly 150 pages of unreleased field investigator notes indicated that dog dealers under investigation had in a few months period obtained dogs from 148 illegal sources, from dealers who had been convicted in local court of stealing pets, and from long dead individuals or those who simply did not exist. Yet APHIS administrator Dr. James Glosser issued quite another finding to the public and press. USDA concluded, "There was a lack of substantive evidence that dealers were knowingly dealing in stolen pets.” Inspectors were told to offer licenses to the 148 illegal suppliers, also known as bunchers.
Providing improper statements to the government (18, U.S.C., 1001) could have sent USDA administrators themselves to jail for a maximum of five years, and a $10,000 fine, let alone imposed maximum sanctions against the dog dealers.
This dog task force would be the first of three, which provided fodder for the agency's self-justified inaction and involved significant laundering of data and tampering with evidence. A January 1993 task force, from which again I was excluded, found rampant falsification of records among long prospering violators in Missouri and Arkansas, and evidence that dealers were obtaining dogs and cats from “Free to Good Home” ads and from other dealers who had been convicted of illegally acquiring animals. One dealer whose underground, football field size underground kennels service most of the large mid west research institutions, burned his records prior to an announced inspection visit and, according to one of its Senior Investigators, moved about 300 dogs overnight to undisclosed locations. Instead of aggressively pursing this dealer, the Task Force was instructed to drop his from further investigation.
Ultimately the entire task force project was canned, despite or perhaps because of, accumulated evidence of wrongdoing by USDA licensees. In November of the same year, another stolen dog task force was revived, this largely in response to the publication of STOLEN FOR PROFIT, a book about the theft of pets and USDA's role in enabling those crimes. This Stolen Dog Traceback Project like its predecessors uncovered severe, widespread violations of the law at dog dealer kennels.
According to USDA regulation, 9 CFR, Section 2.132 (b), dealers must determine whether or not a particular animal was born and raised on his supplier's premises. Yet USDA had constructed pre-written affidavits, which omitted this crucial question, thus exempting critical evidence from case files. I had sent on records containing obvious violations, which should have again justified punitive action, but when those records were returned to me they were purged of these observations and watered down to a handful of relatively minor violations. In one case, Animal Care referred to Enforcement only 17 minor offenses out of hundreds of major, well-documented violations.
National news magazine shows had picked up the story. I was interviewed in silhouette for "Eye to Eye with Connie Chung." Although I was a key source I remained anonymous, out of fear of agency reprisals. Yet there were mounting suspicions that I had provided the author with damning internal documents and that it was in fact I on the news show. By the end of 1993 I had been removed from Animal Care cases involving dogs and cats. My work assignments were principally in the area of animal quarantine cases under the purview of Veterinary Services. I was totally out of the dealer and puppy mill investigation loop.
Throughout 1994 into 1995, USDA's public exposure and vulnerability was increasing. The re-release in paperback of Stolen for Profit drew yet more public and media attention to stolen pets and USDA's role. Despite specific federal code Title 7, Section 2159 "Authority to Apply for Injunction" if the agency believed that "any dealer is dealing in stolen animals or is placing the health of any animal in serious danger," the only occasional cases which made their way to the OGC were invariably granted safe haven. In its by then 28 years monitoring dealers - some of whom had been found guilty by local courts of stealing pets, dealers who had been housing animals in everything from front load dryers to mailboxes to chicken coops, dealers who were selling infected and dying animals to research institutions, the USDA Attorney General had only once taken injunctive action. At this point, only the high profile cases, which had attracted media attention were being, resolved other than by warnings. Under threat of punitive action, relatively small dealers voluntarily relinquished their licenses, among them Randall Huffstetler. This was good PR for USDA, which could claim to shut these dealers down.
USDA's "discretionary powers" were, however, enabling the agency to re- write its federally mandated job description, favoring industry (dog dealers and their research, puppy mills and their pet store clients) over the public. The agency was making obtaining and retaining those licenses by violators easier. It was simply governing "by consensus," and actively removing dealers from legal obligation to comply with regulations. One USDA memo specifically states that corrective measures for non-compliant items cited during routine inspections should be a “…consensus between the inspector and the licensee or registrant.”
It is particularly noteworthy that USDA continued its laissez faire policies despite a 1995 internal report by the Office of Inspector General identifying the agency's negligence and non-enforcement. USDA seemed to have also lost control over not only dealer kennels but its own employees. During a 1994 annual meeting in Oklahoma word got out that a USDA employee within Animal Care had reportedly embezzled over $80,OOO from USDA, primarily in dog dealer license fees and subsequently sabotaged the computer systems so that it became impossible to determine the full extent of this damage.
Shortly after the 0IG report was released, REAC's own internal assessment was provided to headquarters; this report was not made public. In fact, administrators flatly told press inquirers that no such report existed. In the summer of 1994 Morley Cook, had conducted a review of the South Central Sector REAC program whose office was in Fort Worth, Texas. Cook found significant failings within that area's program: the data base system impeded efficiency and management control; public complaints were not being recognized; inspectors were not adequately trained and lacked sufficient information for their job performance; REAC policy was not uniform, etc. What the report did not mention was that the Sector Supervisor, Dr. Walter Christensen had been taking matters into his own hands.
Since 1992, Dr. Christensen had been arbitrarily clearing Enforcement files of violators. Animal Care supervisors had access to the Compliance Investigations Tracking System (CITS) which tracks cases from initiation date to final resolution. This was initially an investigative tool designed to track the time spent gathering evidence and completion of an investigative report subsequent to formal prosecution. Dr. Christensen lobbied for and was eventually granted access to the CITS System so AC could track cases handled by the AC Sector offices. However, Dr. Christensen was closing out cases, oftentimes the same day of their entry. He was accomplishing this by arbitrarily issuing warning tickets. In many cases the violation would have justified a far more punitive action, for example dealer license suspension and even confiscation of animals whose health and safety was in danger. It was my understanding the Enforcement's investigations were a management tool for Animal Care, a back-up for any violations Animal Care had failed to observe. This, apparently, is just what Animal Care did not want: any further indication of its negligence. To bolster its slack enforcement image, the south central sector was padding its enforcement entries.
In spite of or perhaps because of my frustration with USDA authorities I applied for a promotion and was interviewed by RE Sector Supervisor Neil Williamson concerning an Enforcement Specialist position, a promotion that would have entailed my moving to Denver. I even received a confirming letter. However, I received a call from Williamson stating that he had been instructed by Ron Stanley, Deputy Administrator for Regulatory Enforcement, to advise me that the job in Denver had been "put on the shelf." I immediately faxed a memo to Williamson, requesting clarification.
A month later, on May 15, 1995 I was told by Dianne Shank, Regulatory Enforcement Supervisor for the South Central region, that my position in Jefferson City had suddenly been "abolished." I was also told that I had to choose one of seven cities as my new duty station. There was no mention of my promotion to the Denver office. The agency was asking for an immediate reply indicating my compliance with its sudden new directive.
To address this clear evidence of retaliation, I contacted an attorney. He advised me not to comply until I received a written request and had an opportunity to review the agency's offer. On May 22 I advised the agency that I had hired an attorney. That same day Ron Stanley left me a voice mail stating that I would not have to relocate after all. I do not believe the agency was prepared for me to take such aggressive action.
By now I was receiving only insignificant investigations which had no merit. But my complaint concerning the rescinding of my promotion had drawn the attention of OlG. In late November 1995, I was interviewed by an investigator. He told me that Office of Inspector General was looking into allegations of corruption within REAC. At this time, I was sent a case from Animal Care. On fact value it seemed open and shut: minor violations involving the unlicensed sale of some dogs to research. Animal Care did not expect me to further investigate using the records they supplied. I learned that this buncher had been selling dogs to one of the major Arkansas based dealers during a period of ten years, using his relative's names. Again I had, by simply doing my job, placed Animal Care in a bad light. In 1997, that Arkansas dealer who received this buncher's dogs would only be fined $5000 for his own longtime, serious violations.
Following OIG's inquiry I contacted the Government Accountability Project (GAP) in Washington DC. GAP was ostensibly established to address government whistleblower complaints. It was clear by now that I was the subject of retaliation by the agency. GAP was not aggressive in filing a complaint on my behalf, however. GAP suggested I accept USDA's offer that would allow me to remain in the Midwest in my current investigative position. The USDA had created a position that was unacceptable in that I was to educate the industry and public regarding Animal Care’s mission. I simply wanted to do the job I was assigned to do, document alleged violations of APHIS regulations. I could not accept an untenable compromise that would further isolate me.
The on-paper supervisory position would have made me the target continued hostility. Already my once amicable, productive relationship with my longtime office mate in Jefferson City had been eroded. The officer told me, "I'm tired of your whistleblowing shit" and expressed a desire to "beat the shit out of me." He made these statements in the presence of three superiors including Ron Stanley, *none of whom defended me.
Meanwhile Animal Care was consolidating its power. Through a voice mail announcement -no paper trail, we were informed that Regulatory Enforcement would be severed from Animal Care and transferred to the Office of Management and Budget. By assigning enforcement to an office which makes regulations, rather than enforcing them, the former REAC, thus divested of it RE, would take even fewer steps to deal with alleged violators.
In February 1997, I resigned from USDA, a disheartening end to nearly 20 years of services. I forfeited my retirement as well as a lifetime career. The untenable atmosphere had taken a toll. Fortunately, I found a niche with IDA through friendships I had nurtured during my tumultuous last few years with USDA. I quickly embarked on a war against puppy mill leading national, regional, and local television crews to deplorable facilities. On one of my escapades the news crew and I were shot at by the kennel operator and the news vehicle hit with pellets from the shotgun. The shooting incident was caught on tape yet two years later a jury acquitted the shooter.
The suffering and misery that I have seen and continue to see motivate me to fight for the animals who have no voice, no representation, and virtually no standing with our laws. I am determined to expose the evil puppy mill industry, which is supported by the retail pet industry. Each day our efforts improve thanks to those who have seen a mill or vicariously experienced the agony victims of this industry endure each day. Many will suffer and others die at the whim of people motivated by greed instead of love for animals that they profess to the world.
- Blog post
- 6 months ago
- Views: 178
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Abuse Happening Right Now Abuse Happening Right Now
- From: BabyCakes199295
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Description:
I know of animals that are being abused right now it has been going on a little of a year. There are dogs,puppies aned a horse involed. They are being starved and left outside in these harsh cold conditions and they need a safe warm place to call home. I"m not using my real name because my family knows these person personally and he has a tendency to be very abusive. If anyone can help me help these innocent animals please contact and ask for Leighanna Johnson at 1818-533-2706. thank you very much
- Blog post
- 8 months ago
- Views: 199
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Sad Thing Is, If They Are Wild Sad Thing Is, If They Are Wild, Nobody Really Cares!!!!!
- From: shelleyann
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Description:
- 1 year ago
- Views: 290
- Forum: Animal Abus...
Big Cats Sold for Meat and Ski Big Cats Sold for Meat and Skins in U.S.
- From: TheirVoice
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Endangered_Animal_Trade
Check out how caring the Smiths were in 2002.Exotic Animal Trader Sentenced To Prison
11/15/2002 11:12:41 PM
One of the 15 suspects busted in a Midwest exotic animal ring was sentenced Friday in St. Louis federal court.
A Newschannel 5 investigation exposed the killing and butchering of endangered animals earlier this month. It's a multi-billion dollar black market business with roots in Missouri.
Friday, Stoney Ray Elam, the former operator of a Ft. Gibson Oklahoma exotic animal farm, was sentenced to one year with the bureau of prisons. The last six months of his sentence will include home detention with electronic monitoring.
Elam pleaded guilty to illegally selling two federally protected tigers and three leopards and falsifying federal documents to list the sale as a donation. Elam was busted after selling the five animals to undercover agents at a New Florence Missouri truck stop.
The judge also ordered Elam to pay 5000 dollars to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife "Save the Tiger" Fund.The Endangered Animal Trade
11/1/2002 5:50:02 PM
By Leisa Zigman
(KSDK) -- Missouri has become a major player in a gruesome industrythat preys on endangered animals. Federal agents say next to the drug
trade, the illegal killing of exotic animals is the second most profitable
business in the world.
Recently NewsChannel 5 learned that Missouri is now a black-markethub where some breeders and brokers are making a killing; literally.
Members of a secret Midwest exotic animal ring with roots in Cape
Girardeau had chilling plans for some federally protected endangered
tigers. According to Federal officials they were going to shoot, butcher,
and sell their hides, their body parts, and their meat. Why? Because
these majestic animals, are worth a lot more dead, than alive.
Bill Hartwig is the Regional Director of U.S. Fish and Wildlife. He says
many endangered tigers are purchased to be killed and made into rugs.It's a billion dollar black market business, and it's led federal agents to
Missouri as part of a multi-state sting.
"Animals from Florida, Oklahoma, and Arkansas, were sent to Missouri,to Cape Girardeau, and were killed, butchered, and shipped to Chicago,"
said Hartwig.
In February, Todd and Vicky Lantz of Cape Girardeau pleaded guilty totheir roles in the exotic animal trade.
Tim Santel, an investigator with U.S. Fish and Wildlife, said, "We find the
illegal animal trade is nationwide, worldwide. The fact that it happened inCape Girardeau doesn't surprise me at all."
Tiger hides sell for up to $25,000 dollars a piece. If the big cats weren't
butchered for their pelts, meat, bones, and organs, collectors would pay
thousands to stuff and display them as trophies.
A government informant, who will remain anonymous said, "The personwho supplied the biggest check, got to keep the animal and of course,
they would shoot the animal usually in a caged situation."
Federal prosecutors said the tigers often came through Missouri, enroute to Chicago where collectors paid thousands of dollars to shoot
caged endangered animals. Federal prosecutors say Doctor Robert
Martinez, of Chicago, paid $7000 to shoot an endangered black
spotted leopard while it was still caged.
Hartwig said, "It was a painful situation for them and anyone who has a
conscience to be able to watch."
In August, Steven Galecki of Chicago pleaded guilty to selling and
slaughtering numerous tigers and leopards. When federal authoritiesbusted Galecki, they confiscated all of his paper work. One of the names
led agents to Warrenton, Missouri, and the Wesa A Geh Ya Sanctuary,
run by Ken and Sandy Smith.
The Smiths admit to selling Galecki two lions, a cougar and a dead tigerin the mid 90's. Those actions are legal, but they were in direct contrast to
the mission of her animal sanctuary.
"I truly thought, I believed it in my heart at the time, he had right intentions,"said Sandy Smith.
The Smiths say they used to breed and sell animals but stopped in 1998,
when Wesa A Geh Ya became a not-for-profit sanctuary .
"When I started a year ago this last August, there were 52 animals, andwhen I left there were well over 70, and a lot of them were cubs," said Pat
Bohler, a former Wesa A Geh Ya board member.
Bohler and the other former Wesa a Geh Ya board members, volunteers,and employees, all say the Smiths are not only breeding exotic animals
but soliciting charitable donations.
"Each animal has a story, and each story is a tear jerker, and the more
people cried the more money you're going to get," said Beth Norman,former grant director for the sanctuary.
Former board members say they repeatedly urged the Smiths to quitbreeding, but the Smiths say they¹re against spaying and neutering.
Former volunteers say there have been several recent deaths at the
sanctuary including Zander, a four-month lion cub. His cause of death has
not been established.
Former board members and employees believe the Smiths need to be
investigated and the sanctuary closed. However, the USDA just renewedthe smith's license and the couple insists they have no part in a Midwestern
black market ring.
Nationwide 12,000 tigers are in private hands and more are born everyday. Federal agents asked us not to reveal where the rescued tigers and
leopards are located. We can tell you, it is within the NewsChannel 5
viewing area.
Today, Dr. Martinez pleaded guilty to killing an endangered animal. Hefaces five years in prison and $250,000 dollars in fines.
If you have information about the exotic animal trade that you would liketo report, contact us fish and wildlife call 612-713-5320 or online at
Midwest.fws.gov - Blog post
- 1 year ago
- Views: 489
Genesis Wildlife Center: A dec Genesis Wildlife Center: A decent life for wildlife?
- From: Guatemala
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CONCRETE JUNGLE: Inside the Genesis Wildlife Center
Published: Sunday, April 05, 2009
Updated: Sunday, April 5, 2009 11:30 AM EDT
A series of reports by The Times-Tribune about the conditions and operations of the Genesis Wildlife Center in Scranton's Nay Aug Park.Genesis Wildlife Center: A decent life for wildlife?
BY LAURA LEGERE
STAFF WRITERPublished: Sunday, April 05, 2009
Updated: Sunday, April 5, 2009 11:15 AM EDTFirst of three parts
Margaret Miller, the 64-year-old director of the Genesis Wildlife Center, escorted a visitor into a side room full of caged birds that nattered and squawked when she entered.
She stood in the narrow middle of the room partitioned by parallel 2-by-4s suspended thigh-high, each board labeled in handwritten pen "Do Not Cross." As an additional precaution, Ms. Miller likes to have a volunteer sit in the room to prevent people leaning over the wobbly boards and sticking their fingers into the birds' cages. The birds are apt to bite, she said.
"Isn't that right?" she asked the birds. The birds bobbed their heads.
Genesis Wildlife Center aims to be a sanctuary for animals that once were unwanted or abused. But a lack of adequate funding, modern facilities or a long-term plan means chronic problems often are overlooked or patched with makeshift solutions.
Since 2003, when the menagerie was moved to the city-owned building that once was part of the Nay Aug Zoo, the center has struggled to make a home fit for the animals, revealing limitations in both the facility and the way the center is run.
Care fails inspections
The center strains to meet even the minimum standards of animal care set by the federal government under the Animal Welfare Act.
Inspections by the U.S. Department of Agriculture between June 2005 and September 2007, obtained by The Sunday Times in response to a Freedom of Information Act request, describe an array of infractions.
- Read the Inspections (.pdf)
In June 2007, four "grossly overweight" primates were given a "morning snack" of waffles coated with marshmallow topping. They had become "very sedentary" in their cages after apparently gaining back the weight lost on a previous diet.
In November 2005, a member of the public accompanied an employee and volunteer inside the tiger and cougar enclosure, where she was allowed to pet the tiger. Neither animal was restrained or under a handler's control.
In June 2005, most of the medications stored in the office were noted to be expired, including an antibiotic that had been expired for a year but was being administered to a coatimundi, a long-tailed mammal in the raccoon family. The outdated medicines were still on site during an inspection two months later, when staff members threw them out.
None of the animals was examined by a veterinarian during the six months between October 2005 and April 2006, despite the center's program calling for the animals to receive monthly checkups.
Throughout the 27 months of inspections there were numerous examples of noncompliance concerning the building, including dangerous or frayed wire in the animals' metal enclosures, an exposed heater, peeling paint and wallpaper, and gaps and weeds around the perimeter fences that posed a risk to animal or human safety.
In the nine inspections during the period when records were released, Genesis was found to have 17 examples of noncompliance with the Animal Welfare Act. During two of the nine inspections, the center was found to be violation-free. A Freedom of Information Act request for records of USDA inspections performed in 2008 and 2009 is still pending.
'Is it going to kill them?'
Ms. Miller, who owns the animals, said she generally receives clean inspections. When she is cited, the violations most often have to do with maintenance of the city-owned building, "things that I have no control over," she said, like the aging structure, the weeds around it, and the occasional mice that get inside.
"I think I'm doing a terrific job, and most people do. If I was doing something wrong, they would close me," she said. "And if (the animals) get a waffle every once in a while, is it going to kill them? No. No, it won't."
She explained that the citation for having a visitor inside the tiger and cougar cage was a misunderstanding: The woman was the mother of the center's lynx caretaker at the time and she was trained to work with big cats, though she was not wearing any identification when the inspector saw her.
"I don't take people in with the cats because the cats would kill you," Ms. Miller said.
Not all of Genesis' inspectors have recorded violations. The state Game Commission, which regulates the center as a wildlife menagerie, has never issued a citation "for any deficiencies or blatant violations" in seven years of at least twice-annual inspections, said Mark Rutkowski, a conservation officer for the region.
A June 2008 inspection report — the only one released in response to a Right-to-Know records request — indicated the center passed all 22 categories on which it was evaluated, including providing bedding, clean water and adequately sized pens for the animals.
- Read the Inspection Report (.pdf)
Mr. Rutkowski said visitors' complaints to the Game Commission about the center often are about what he calls "aesthetics."
"When people go there, they go there looking for these well-groomed animals you might see at the Bronx Zoo or Philadelphia Zoo, and that's just not what the center is," he said.
But the center's most vocal critics say their concerns go beyond aesthetics: they fear it is unsafe for both people and animals and sends the wrong message to the public.
"The way they display those animals, the huge message you get from that place is these wild animals make good pets," said Mary Sweeney, a former Scranton resident. "A big part of the attitude is, 'Aren't they cute.'"
Eunice Alexander, who grew up in the Hill Section next to the Nay Aug Zoo, said there is little educational value in displaying animals in small cages with concrete floors.
"You can't really do education divorced from any kind of habitat context," she said. "You're showing them that animal seems to be OK in nothing."
Backlash over breeder
The most sustained roar of public criticism leveled at Genesis Wildlife Center began a year ago and was caused by two tiger cubs then big enough to emit only fledgling mews.
Ms. Miller acquired the cubs two months after her beloved Siberian tiger, Reba, died. Many visitors were happy for the chance to see baby animals, but others questioned whether a small, aging facility that admittedly struggled to afford to stay open was an appropriate place to bring 11-week-old tigers.
Captive wildlife and animal sanctuary experts now say the transfer of the cubs had far graver implications.
Ms. Miller obtained the tigers from G.W. Exotic Animal Park, which formerly billed itself as a sanctuary but now considers itself a "conservancy and educational zoo" in Wynnewood, Okla. Sanctuary representatives say G.W. Exotic is notorious for inhumane treatment of its animals.
In 2006, the USDA fined the park $25,000, suspended its license for two weeks and put it on an 18-month probation for violating at least 14 regulations of the Animal Welfare Act.
The park is particularly infamous among animal sanctuary experts for breeding exotic animals indiscriminately to entice visitors who want to play with new cubs. For sanctuary accrediting agencies, such as the American Sanctuary Association and the Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries, breeding breaks the cardinal rule of true sanctuaries because it adds to the population of unwanted captive species.
Lisa Wathne, a captive exotic animal specialist with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, said acquiring cubs from the park makes Genesis complicit in G.W. Exotic's behavior.
"Genesis is essentially enabling them to continue breeding these animals," she said.
Vernon Weir, director of the American Sanctuary Association, said Ms. Miller's move is particularly problematic because of a surplus of adult tigers in the country.
"There probably wasn't a single day in the last 10 years when someone didn't call me about an adult tiger that didn't have a place to go," he said. "For them to get tigers from this breeder down in Oklahoma is ridiculous."
Ms. Miller said she had "nothing to do with" G.W. Exotic's practices as a breeder or its past USDA violations. She explained that she found a listing for the cubs in the Animal Finder's Guide, a publication for those who raise captive wildlife. She was asked to make a donation to the park to reserve the cubs, and never got the money back.
She said she does not breed animals at her center — the male tiger and monkeys are neutered, she said, and the male lemurs were "fixed" after several reproduced. She also countered the claims that she is complicit in G.W. Exotic's breeding.
"Do you think he's going to stop? He's not going to," she said of G.W. Exotic. "I wanted two baby tigers that I wanted to save out of there. Does it mean I approve? No."
Now she says she is "truly sorry" she brought the tigers to Genesis, in part because of the public criticism and in part because of the cost. The tigers each eat about 20 pounds of meat each day and a pallet of meat costs about $3,600.
Asked why she acquired the cats, knowing the high cost of feeding them, she said she had leftover meat when Reba died and other cats to feed.
"I had children coming and asking about Reba and not understanding death or where she was or why she went. And some of the cards from the children, that probably influenced me," she said. "But if I could have flashed forward and seen everything, I probably would not have taken them."
Higher standards
Around the country and the world, zoo, aquarium and sanctuary accrediting agencies have worked to set a true standard for humane, viable animal care and distinguish what they call "pseudo-sanctuaries" from real ones.
Accredited sanctuaries are marked by their exceptional care, their avoidance of any trade in animals, and their dedication to creating havens for animals that have been exploited. Once a sanctuary is accredited, it often is easier for it to receive funding and other grants.
Sanctuary accreditation exists because simply complying with the Animal Welfare Act "is so inadequate in terms of what these animals need," said Kim Haddad, a board member of the Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries and the manager of the Captive Wild Animal Protection Coalition.
"Our standards are much, much higher" than USDA regulations, she said. "They take into account the natural history of the animal, the animal's life experience."
According to Mr. Weir, the director of the American Sanctuary Association, accredited sanctuaries should have steady finances, strong nonprofit boards, plenty of room for animals to roam and enrichment activities to stimulate them. They also should have a robust education program that focuses on why exotic animals should not be pets.
Both organizations also indicated their willingness to work with sanctuaries to help them meet such standards, if the sanctuaries disavow breeding and trade.
"The whole idea behind it, it's not to shut every place down that's not perfect," Dr. Haddad said. "It's to say, 'Here's how you do it right.'"
Genesis Wildlife Center is not accredited as either a sanctuary or a zoo, although Ms. Miller said she would like to work toward it. She had papers in her office about accreditation through the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, but had not heard of the American Sanctuary Association or the Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries.
She is in the process of cutting back at the center, working to place some of her tropical birds at an Ohio sanctuary.
"I'm thinking about not doing this (anymore)," she said.
She has been flustered by a stream of public criticism and believes she is being personally attacked, even as she draws consolation from students, volunteers and supporters she works with daily.
She said she wants everything for her center that critics want: a space that serves the needs of her animals and benefits the community.
"I would like it to be a place that, when people visit, they walk away saying, 'Wow, did you see that amazing little wildlife center at Nay Aug Park?' Not, 'The building's falling down. They're not adequately staffed. They don't have funding.'
"Why would you want people to walk away thinking something like that?"
Read more from the Concrete Jungle series
Contact the writer: llegere@timesshamrock.comClose 'zoo' at Nay Aug
Published: Monday, March 09, 2009
Updated: Monday, March 9, 2009 4:13 AM EDTBack when Scranton's government operated a zoo at Nay Aug Park, the obsolete, wholly inadequate facility became a major embarrassment and a metaphor for the blighted park and the city itself.
The Doherty administration has strived mightily to restore the park, making it once again a source of pride. Yet it allows a reincarnation of the decrepit zoo to drag down the effort.
Although the Genesis Wildlife Center is not technically a zoo, it serves that purpose in terms of its role in the park. And, although it is not operated by the city, the center operates in much the way the city operated the former zoo — hand to mouth, month to month.
The center has a dedicated director and volunteers, and it might well do some good work. But it is far removed from the modern zoos that grace the parks of progressive American cities — the sort of parks to which the Doherty administration otherwise aspires.
Mr. Doherty saw the center as a means to establish a zoo-like presence at the park without binding the city government to a project that it could not afford. The question that the mayor and City Council should consider, going forward, is whether the center enhances the park. The answer, unfortunately, is that it does not.
If Mr. Doherty and council think a zoo is fundamental to the ongoing renaissance and long-term stability of the park, they should methodically go about establishing one. That would involve substantial planning, expert opinions, and a step-by-step implementation plan, including long-term sustainable funding.
The most likely objective conclusion, unfortunately, is that Scranton simply cannot afford to operate a zoo according to modern standards for humane treatment of animals and for amenities required by human visitors. That is why the city does not have its own zoo now.
If the government studies the matter and reaches that conclusion, it should help the wildlife center with a relocation, and use the old zoo grounds to enhance the park in a different way.Nay Aug tiger cub fights infection
Published: Sunday, January 25, 2009
Updated: Sunday, January 25, 2009 8:11 AM ESTIn the six months since Nay Aug Park welcomed two new tiger cubs, both big cats have grown up quickly, but the male continues to be plagued by health problems.
Ivan, a Siberian tiger now 7 months old and 130 pounds, has not been able to fully fight off ringworm he arrived with from Oklahoma. Margaret Miller, director of the Genesis Wildlife Center, said the fungus keeps reoccurring, and Ivan is under regular veterinary care. Otherwise, he is a healthy growing tiger, but Ms. Miller is worried his immune system could be compromised.
"With him tiring easily, that scares me," she said.
The other tiger, an Indochinese named Alea, has a clean bill of health, and she and Ivan are inseparable. Both often share a pen now with the cougars at Genesis.Tiger cubs debut at Nay Aug with video
A male tiger cub at the Genesis Wildlife Sanctuary on Friday, July 25, 2008. Linda Morgan/Staff Photograph BY JEREMY G. BURTON
STAFF WRITERPublished: Saturday, July 26, 2008
Updated: Saturday, July 26, 2008 1:00 AM EDTIf the newest stars at the Genesis Wildlife Center were feeling any effects of a cross-country trek, they didn't seem to show it.
But two bottles of formula and some ground beef are apparently enough to conk a couple of tigers right out.
The Genesis sanctuary on Friday introduced two new tiger cubs, two months after the death in May of 15-year-old Siberian tiger Reba, a park favorite.
The Indochinese tigers, a male and a female, arrived Thursday night from G.W. Exotic Animal Park, a conservancy and educational zoo in Wynnewood, Okla.
"Long drive there, long drive back, but it was well worth it," volunteer Robin Perri said.
With the acquisition of two new cubs, some have criticized the aging, outdated facilities as inadequate for such animals. Throughout the afternoon, though, visitors crowded in front of the enclosure for a glimpse at the cubs. Little kids grinned, and adults marveled.
"Oh my goodness gracious, isn't he cute?"
"Wave to him!"
Staffers said the cubs were doing well and enjoying the attention.
Linda Layland, of South Scranton, said her 6-year-old granddaughter, Stephanie, bawled over the death of Reba.
On Friday, Ms. Layland carried her 18-month-old grandson, Jeremy, who doesn't make a habit of sitting still for long but spent a half-hour watching the two cubs feed and play.
"The kids need something like this," she said.
For now, the 11- and 12-week-old tigers will be housed in an enclosure next to the 3,700-square-foot cougar pen, and they will rotate time outside until a partition can be built between the big cats. Eventually, they will all share the single space, possibly also with the wildlife center's Siberian lynx.
Mayor Chris Doherty is expected to announce a contest to name the two cubs.
Many residents' concerns stem from the rocky history of the former Nay Aug Zoo. Twice in five years in the 1980s, Parade magazine named it among the worst zoos nationwide. The facilities date from 1938, with renovations in the 1970s, 1990s and in 2003, when the Genesis sanctuary moved there. In 1981, two Humane Society officials called the zoo "archaic" and recommended it be closed, which it was in 1991.
Genesis is not by definition a zoo, and its volunteers feel like they are catching flak for a burden that isn't theirs.
"All the things the public wants, I want, too. But it's not my building," Genesis director Margaret Miller said.
Ms. Miller said the new cubs don't represent a change in mission or direction. As a rescue, it's rare for the center to acquire young, healthy animals, but Ms. Miller said they are simply replacing what was lost.
Reba's death cast a pall over the center. The staff was devastated; the cougars didn't eat. Ms. Miller said the cubs bring an infusion of energy and excitement.
"They fit in here just perfectly," she said.
Contact the writer: jburton@timesshamrock.comAbout the Genesis Wildlife Center animals
A pig nose turtle swims in a tank at the Genesis Wildlife Center at Nay Aug Park. April 1, 2009. PAMELA SUCHY / Staff PhotographerPublished: Sunday, April 05, 2009
Updated: Sunday, April 5, 2009 9:20 AM EDTMore than 50 animals from over 20 species reside at the Genesis Wildlife Center. Click each for more information.
WILD CATS
Bearcat (1)
Cougar (1)
Cougar (1)
Fennec foxes (2)
Genet cats (2)
Lynx (1)
Tigers (2)
PRIMATES
Capuchin monkeys (3)
Lemurs (5)
Long-tailed macaques (2)
Patas monkey (1)
Rhesus macaques (2)
Spider monkey (1)
AQUATIC LIFE
Fish (1)
Galapagos tortoises (2)
Pig-nosed turtles (2)
Red-eared slider turtles (About 20)
Red-foot tortoise (1)
Russian tortoises (2)
Spiny soft-shell turtle (1)
OTHER
Fruit bats (5)
Two-toed sloths (3)
Various tropical birds
SOURCE: GENESIS WILDLIFE CENTER'It's like I lost a part of me' with video and photos
Published: Thursday, May 08, 2008
Updated: Thursday, May 8, 2008 1:00 AM EDTBut as the sun beat down on the zoo area, the Elmo doll lay alone in the middle of the cage, which still contains mattresses and blankets for each of Reba's animal roommates.
BY STACY BROWN
STAFF WRITER
Visitors to the Genesis Wildlife Center in Nay Aug Park stared into an empty cage Wednesday, as if expecting Reba the tiger to toss around the Elmo doll she often played with to the delight of those young and old.
But as the sun beat down on the zoo area, the Elmo doll lay alone in the middle of the cage, which still contains mattresses and blankets for each of Reba's animal roommates.
Reba, the beloved Siberian tiger, died late Tuesday. She was 15.
After Reba had been cremated early Wednesday, Katlynn, the cougar whom Reba helped raise, moved about slowly, apparently grieving for her companion. Katlynn barely mingled with the cage's other cougar, Dakota.
"Katlynn licked Reba's head as she died last night," said a tearful Margaret Miller, director of the wildlife center. "This is what people don't see: The real animals and what they're really like."
Ms. Miller raised Reba after she obtained her from a small zoo in Marshalls Creek in 1993.
"When I got her, she was nearly dead," Ms. Miller recalled. "Her mother didn't have any milk, one other cub had died, and Reba was in an incubator. I held Reba in the palm of my hand; she was so small.
"It's like I've lost a part of me."
Reba featured in a 2007 video about the Genesis Wildlife Center:
Contact the writer: sbrown@timesshamrock.com
Reba, a park favorite since her arrival here in September 2003, suffered a seizure three weeks ago and was taken to the University of Pennsylvania, where doctors performed an MRI, a CT scan and blood test, all of which failed to show why the tiger was ill, Ms. Miller said. The average life expectancy of a Siberian tiger is 8 years in the wild, but 20 to 25 years in captivity, she said.
"It was a fluke blood clot that caused the seizure," she said.
Tears flowed freely among the workers and passers-by at the Genesis Wildlife Center on Wednesday.
"I can't believe we won't see her anymore," said Jesse Walker, a Dunmore resident and frequent visitor to the Wildlife Center. "I heard about Reba dying, and I felt bad. I wanted to see if I could see her just one more time, but it was too late."
Ms. Miller said all the animals will eventually die, but the staff provides regular, first-rate care for all of them.
While the city pays heating bills and contributes $50,000 annually and the use of the building, Ms. Miller has said she needs about $150,000 more a year to run the facility.
The center has relied heavily on donations, and Ms. Miller has said that she often pays for some expenditures out of her own pocket.
One expense Ms. Miller would not have minded paying, if it were at all possible, was whatever the cost would have been to keep Reba alive.
"She was so adorable. Everyone loved her and she loved everyone," said Fern Norton, wildlife center volunteer. "Margaret (Miller) is devastated, as are all of us."
http://www.thetimes-tribune.com/multimedia/GWCFOIA.PDF
http://thetimes-tribune.com/articles/2009/04/05/news/sc_times_trib.20090405.a.pg1.tt05genesis_s1.2420904_top2.txt - Blog post
- 1 year ago
- Views: 297
Bear Creek Feline Center Jim B Bear Creek Feline Center Jim Broaddus
- From: CaroleBaskin
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Description:
Carole's letter to the reporter:
Dear Will Hobson whobson@pcnh.com,
Bear Creek Feline Center is no sanctuary. Real sanctuaries do not breed their animals. Real sanctuaries do not let people go in the cages with animals who are capable of killing animals much larger than humans. Real sanctuaries are accredited by the Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries. Real sanctuaries meet the guidelines posted at SanctuaryStandards.com
If you visit that site and see how reputable sanctuaries behave you will see that Bear Creek is just a back yard menagerie.
Some of the most disturbing elements that you mentioned were that the owners were bragging about how inbred their cougars are, and how they intend to continue to breed them, so they can fool the public into thinking they are FL panthers. If you check with the Florida Wildlife Conservation Commission, you will find that these are not FL panthers, but just very inbred to look like them, with the kinked tails, cowlick, etc. that are the earmarks of FL panthers. Those earmarks are nothing to be proud of. That is the result of FL not doing their job in protecting wild cougars in FL to the point that their numbers dropped to around 30 in the late 1990s. They dropped to those levels, largely because of inbreeding that came about from pockets of cats not being able to access other, non related cats. Eventually the inbreeding causes the animals to stop reproducing. You can get the whole background on why inbreeding is so bad by learning more about the white tiger: http://www.bigcatrescue.org/cats/wild/white_tigers.htm
I participated in the American Zoological Association's Felid Taxon Advisory Group's assessment of how many species of cats were in zoos back in the late 1990s and there was only one aging Jaguarundi in the U.S. at the time. How did Jim Broaddus come by his? Exporting from their native range is nearly impossible. Can he prove to you that this was done legally? If it was, what was the point of taking cats from the wild to live in his back yard cages? For years people have made the excuse for this bad behavior by saying they are "educating" the public and causing them to care about animals in the wild, but you will find these places, including most zoos, either send no money back into conservation, or only enough to serve as lip service.
The fact is that if someone can pay $10.00 to see an exotic cat in a cage, they will not send $10.00 to protect that animal in the wild. They will pay for the convenience of seeing the cat in a cage, rather than protect it in the wild. If the only way you could see a Jaguarundi was to go to Central or South America and plow money into eco tourism, then these and other rare and endangered species would have some chance at survival.
No matter what they are saying with their lips, if a person takes a wild cat out on a leash, they make it look like a pet. This is how so many people are duped into fueling the exotic pet trade, which is second only to the illegal trade in drugs. It's bad for the animals and dangerous for the people. The following is a partial listing (583) of incidents in the U.S. involving captive exotic cats since 1990. The U.S. incidents have resulted in the deaths of 21 humans, 16 adults and 5 children, the additional mauling of 193 more adults and children, 170 escapes, the killing of 92 big cats, and 122 confiscations. These figures only represent the headlines that Big Cat Rescue has been able to track. Because there is no reporting agency that keeps such records the actual numbers are certainly much higher. http://www.bigcatrescue.org/big_cat_news.htm
To see the number of exotic cats abandoned each year go to http://www.bigcatrescue.org/animal_abuse.htm
Florida represents less than 6% of the U.S. population while 12% of all U.S. incidents occur in Florida. Florida boasts the most comprehensive sets of regulations allowing private ownership of exotic cats while ranking #1 in the highest numbers of big cat killings, maulings and escapes. To see FL rules that are currently being changed go to: http://www.bigcatrescue.org/laws/2008/captivewildanimalrules.htm
The only intelligent remark made by your subject was, "They're very, very intelligent animals." That is true and that is why it is so cruel to breed them, support those who breed them (by buying or giving them a dumping ground), or take them from the wild for lives of captivity and deprivation. At Big Cat Rescue we have 137 exotic cats and our staff of 84 volunteers spends most of their time trying to keep them comfortable and stimulated. Science is proving that animals are far more complex than we ever imagined. When you consider that a bobcat needs 5 square miles of territory to fully express all of their instinctual talents then it becomes clear why keeping them in cages is so inhumane.
I used to be ignorant, but I learned better. Our evolution is all on our website. There is no excuse, in this day of the Internet, for people to continue to breed wildcats for life in cages. Those who do are not saving animals, but are exploiting them. I hope you will continue to investigate this issue and let the public know what is really going on in the name of "rescue" and "conservation."
--
For the cats,
Carole Baskin, CEO of Big Cat Rescue
an Educational Sanctuary home
to more than 100 big cats
12802 Easy Street Tampa, FL 33625
813.493.4564 fax 885.4457
http://www.BigCatRescue.org
SaveTheBigCats@gmail.com
Sign our petition to protect tigers from being farmed here:
http://capwiz.com/bigcatrescue/issues/alert/?alertid=9952801&type=CU
This message contains information from Big Cat Rescue that may be
confidential or privileged. The information contained herein is intended
only for the eyes of the individual or entity named above. You are hereby
notified that any dissemination, distribution, disclosure, and/or copying of
the information contained in this communication is strictly prohibited. The
recipient should check this e-mail and any attachments for the presence of
viruses. Big Cat Rescue accepts no liability for any damage or loss caused
by any virus transmitted by this e-mail.
Cats rule at Bear Creek (See VIDEO, PHOTO GALLERY)
By WILL HOBSON / News Herald Writer
February 28, 2009 - 5:38PM
PANAMA CITY - Hero, the Siberian lynx, is suffering from stage
fright. Tours at Bear Creek Feline Center, the feline sanctuary off
U.S. 231, are usually treated to Hero's leaping skills, but today the
50-pound cat won't oblige.
Hero is a regal-looking cat, with sandy brown spotted fur and a white
belly. He is sitting against the back wall of his cage, ignoring the
requests of Amanda Libert, a Bear Creek volunteer, to come out and
play.
At first glance the most striking characteristic of a lynx is its
oversized feet. They act as snowshoes when the cat is in its frigid
natural habitat; here they make Hero, an otherwise beautiful
creature, look a little odd, like a 10-year-old boy with size-13 feet.
"They have these luxurious coats. You put your hand on it and it just
sinks in," says Jim Broaddus, who started the non-profit sanctuary at
his home in 2000. Bear Creek, which offers tours ($10 for adults, $5
for children), also houses bobcats, panthers, caracals, servals, and
feisty little otterish-looking cats called jaguarundis.
As Broaddus, 65, talks about Hero, the lynx perks up. Hero's pale
eyes lock in on something behind me, and he pulls his legs, and those
big feet, together into a crouch, as if preparing to pounce.
Libert recognizes the stance.
"Oh, he's hunting," she says matter-of-factly. I stop paying
attention to Broaddus and look over to the 19-year-old Libert.
"He's hunting?" I ask. Broaddus normally doesn't allow people inside
the cage with lynx, which in the wild hunt rabbits, rodents, and
sometimes game as large as sheep and deer. He made an exception for
the photographer and me. I begin to wish he hadn't.
"What is he hunting?" I ask nervously.
Broaddus answers dismissively, "Oh, just the domestic," referring to
Obama, one of his four housecats, who is conveniently outside the
cage.
They're right - Hero zones in on Obama, sizes up the cage, then gives
up. He barely looks at me or the photographer. I exhale.
Most of Broaddus' cats are rescues, or re-homes. Hero was bought from
a Nova Scotian fur farm, where he was destined to become a blanket or
a coat before Broaddus bought him.
The biggest feline on Broaddus' 2.5 acres is Cleo, a 200-pound
mountain lion. The smallest are the jaguarundis, which are just a bit
larger than housecats, but you can tell the difference right away.
Jaguarundis hiss like angry rattlesnakes at strangers, but Broaddus
says they're all bark, no bite.
The panthers are the big attraction. Dani is four years old, weighs
about 70 pounds and, according to Broaddus, is the prototypical
Florida panther.
"She has the Romanesque nose, the cowlick, the tip on her tail, the
whole package deal. If we could only get her to breed, we'd be
famous," he says.
Educating the public
Broaddus created Bear Creek for conservation and enrichment - to
teach people about these cats while also providing a place where, he
hopes, the ones facing extinction can breed. He estimates there are
only about 100 Florida panthers in the wild, and Bear Creek's
breeding efforts have been in vain so far. Dani and Thatcher, the
male panther, don't get along well, Broaddus says.
We are not allowed to join Broaddus in the cage with Dani. Panthers
are not known to attack humans, but they can get playful, and playful
for a 70-pound cat can be painful for a human.
Bear Creek is in a residential neighborhood, surrounded by a six-foot
chain-link fence topped with barbed wire. A slightly taller wooden
fence runs outside the metal one. Other than a few of his housecats,
none of Broaddus' animals have ever escaped, he says.
Bear Creek volunteers train to handle the cats under Broaddus'
direction, so they can obtain state licenses to train on their own.
Mike Myers, one of those volunteers, takes Marilyn, a 9-month-old
panther, outside of her cage on a leash. Myers tries to get Marilyn
to sit, but she does not comply. He asks her again. She half-sits for
a second, then rolls over on her back.
"Okay, lay," he says, admitting defeat. Marilyn then curls around his
left leg and starts gnawing on his jeans. As he tries to shake her
loose I ask him what it takes to get comfortable around a panther.
"Just spend time with her, and don't mind a few nips," he answers.
Marilyn has acquiesced to being petted as Myers kneels, but then she
clutches onto his leg. Myers tries to stand up, and Marilyn rises
with him, her paws latched onto his leg. She falls off, then,
apparently a bit upset, leaps and bites Myers in the rear end. His
laughter breaks into an "Ow!"
Lynn Culver, a past president of the Feline Conservation
Organization, sold Broaddus some serval kittens (servals look like
small cheetahs, between jaguarundis and lynx in terms of size) when
he started Bear Creek in 2000.
"Florida is rather unique in that it does have a large and exotic
animal population," Culver says in a phone interview.
"With so many people interested in the animals ... there's a need for
what Jim does, so we can have the next generation of keepers, and
they can be better than the previous one."
`Very intelligent animals'
A few days after our first visit to Bear Creek, I join Broaddus in
his kitchen. Gregarious when leading the tour the previous week,
Broaddus is now a bit quieter, but no less eager to talk shop.
"Bay County is starved for good, quality, family things to do. The
restaurants, the night clubs, when you run through those, what are
you going to do?" he asks.
Broaddus used to own two local radio stations - WPFM (107.9) and
Island 106 (105.9). He sold them both, the latter in 1996. His
interest in music is still evident, though. He named Dani after "Dani
California", the song by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. When asked about
tattoos on his wrist and neck, Broaddus simply says, "I guess they're
from the whole rock and roll scene," and quickly changes the topic.
His wife, Bertie, is a teacher at Waller Elementary School. The cats
are like family members; one of the servals slept with the Broaddus'
until it started urinating in the bed. Dani spends most of her time
on a deck outside their bedroom.
A silence in the conversation is broken by the sound of liquid
clapping against concrete. Dani is relieving herself from the deck.
Jim blushes.
"Well that's kind of embarrassing," he says.
I ask him if he ever worries about one of the cats going off on him
Siegfried and Roy-style.
"I do. I think about it," he says, then looks off into his yard in a
moment of introspection.
"I probably shouldn't even tell you this, but I was in the hospital
for a while last year ... Cleo slapped me in the head. It wasn't his
fault, he was just doing what cats do."
The blow gave Broaddus a subdural hematoma. He recovered, though, and
is quick to point out that that could never happen with a guest; they
don't go in the cage with Cleo.
"They're very, very intelligent animals," said Broaddus of his
panthers. I ask him how a panther reacts when it encounters humans in
the wild.
"He'd run away from you if he had the chance," he answers. "If I had
100 acres, and had one living out there next to me, I'd try to make
friends with it."
http://www.newsherald.com/news/broaddus_72224___article.html/bear_hero
.html - Blog post
- 1 year ago
- Views: 849
Jeffrey Harsh Lion Mauls Man i Jeffrey Harsh Lion Mauls Man in Kansas
- From: TheirVoice
-
Description:
OAKLEY, Kan. (AP) -- Authorities are investigating a weekend incident
in which a man was mauled by a lion at an animal refuge in western
Kansas, but no charges are expected to be filed.
The lion's owner, Jeffrey Harsh, told authorities that man staying at
the Free Breakfast Inn motel next to the refuge near Oakley apparently
made his way Saturday into an outer perimeter lion cage.
When Harsh showed up to feed the animals that evening, he found the
man with his arm over the top of a gate on the inner cage. A Barbary
lion had grabbed the man's right arm, said Thomas County Sheriff Rod
Taylor.
Harsh reportedly beat the lion with a steel pipe so it would release
the man. He then drove him to a Colby hospital. The victim, Bradley
Buchanan, has since been transferred to a Denver hospital for more
surgery. Buchanan, of Oakley, is expected to recover.
Taylor said photos of Buchanan's deep wounds appear to show that the
lion reached the bone.
Harsh previously has faced legal problems for his ownership of exotic
animals.
On Tuesday, the Thomas County prosecutor agreed to dismiss a
misdemeanor case against Harsh, provided he transfers three Barbary
lions to the Detroit Zoo.
Zoo officials were expected to travel to Oakley within three months to
examine the lions for any diseases. If the tests are negative, the
lions would then be taken to Detroit.
Taylor said no charges are expected to be filed in Saturday's
incident, providing Harsh follows through on his promise to move the
lions.
But Harsh still has two tigers at the facility.
"I hope we find a home for the other two," Taylor said.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29397583/
Lion Mauls Man in Western Kansas
Last Update: 2/25 10:02 pm
You wouldn't know it driving down I-70, but outside of Oakley you'll find cats you don't normally see in Kansas.
For almost 20 years Jeffrey Harsh has managed the Prairie Cat Animal Refuge. The refuge sits between a motel and farm field. From the outside, you see abandoned vehicles, construction debris and fencing. "No they don't have Disney land facilities, but are they fed well and are they happy," said Harsh.
Besides taking care of three lions and two tigers, Harsh also hires people to work at the Free Breakfast motel. Saturday night one of the workers came to see the animals. "He loved them and was good with them when he was sober."
But Harsh and the sheriff say the man was drunk and tried to pet the lion. "When you're drinking or under medication it tells them you're part of the food chain," said Harsh.
When he came over to feed the animals Saturday night, Harsh noticed the perimeter fence was open and he heard screaming. "It had him by the arm. I broke him lose from the animal by whacking her over the head. There was a major tear in his arm," Harsh said.
Harsh took the man to the hospital in Colby. He was then air lifted to a Denver hospital. Harsh says they stitched him up and he's been released.
Thomas County Sheriff Rod Taylor says long before this attack the county has tried to shut the refuge down. The lions have bitten two other people. "Get those animals out of there. They cause more trouble and we've almost got it accomplished," said the sheriff.
Due to Saturday's attack, Harsh agreed to give up the cats to avoid exotic animal charges. He says it's probably a good time to do it because it's getting too expensive to feed them.
Harsh and the county worked to find new owners for the animals. If the Kansas Health Department allows, the Detroit Zoo will take the three lions. The Detroit Zoo tells Eyewitness News after the lions are checked for rabies and approved by the health department they'll pick them up. A zoo employee says that could take several weeks or several months.
The zoo doesn't have room for the tigers, so Harsh is still looking for place to move them.
http://www.woai.com/mostpopular/story/Lion-Mauls-Man-in-Western-Kansas/snbsG-uIxkeo1J6EgTVaLQ.cspx
Lion Mauls Hotel Worker In Western Kansas
Last Update: 2/24 10:12 pm
A lion mauled a hotel worker near the town of Oakley in Western Kansas over the weekend.
The Thomas County Sheriff tells Eyewitness News, a worker stuck his hands into the lion's cage at the Free Breakfast Inn. The owner of the motel keeps three lions and two tigers there.
The motel owner, Jeff Harsh, drove the victim to a Colby hospital. Emergency crews then flew the victim to a hospital in Denver. The sheriff says he's expected to recover.
The sheriff says the Detroit Zoo has agreed to take three of the big cats but zoo officials have to assess them first.
http://www.woai.com/mostpopular/story/Lion-Mauls-Hotel-Worker-In-Western-Kansas/QysxW1MzbUCvwWZ36w12XA.cspx
THOMAS COUNTY, Kansas – Authorities in Thomas County are investigating an apparent lion attack.
An Oakley man, identified as Bradley Buchanan, was staying at a motel off Interstate 70 in Thomas County when he allegedly approached a lion cage outside the property and had his arm bitten by the animal.
He’s now being treated at a Denver hospital.
The county has long been fighting the lion’s owner for having exotic pets and continues to investigate the attack.
http://www.ksn.com/news/kansasnews/40299337.html
Lion mauls man at western Kansas animal refuge
1 day ago
OAKLEY, Kan. (AP) — Authorities are investigating the mauling of a man by a lion at an animal refuge in western Kansas, but no charges are expected to be filed.
The lion's owner, Jeffrey Harsh, told authorities that the man was staying at a motel next to his refuge near Oakley and apparently made his way into an outer perimeter lion cage on Saturday.
When Harsh showed up to feed the animals that evening, he found the man with his arm over the top of a gate on the inner cage. Thomas County Sheriff Rod Taylor said a Barbary lion had grabbed the man's right arm.
Harsh reportedly beat the lion with a steel pipe so it would release the man, then drove the man to a hospital. The victim, Bradley Buchanan of Oakley, has since been transferred to a Denver hospital for more surgery and is expected to recover.
Taylor said photos of Buchanan's deep wounds appear to show that the lion reached the bone.
Harsh previously has faced legal problems for his ownership of exotic animals.
On Tuesday, the Thomas County prosecutor agreed to dismiss a misdemeanor case against Harsh, provided that he transfers three Barbary lions to the Detroit Zoo.
Zoo officials were expected to travel to Oakley within three months to make sure the animals are healthy before agreeing to take them.
Taylor said no charges are expected to be filed in Saturday's mauling, providing Harsh follows through on his promise to move the lions.
But Harsh still has two tigers at the facility.
"I hope we find a home for the other two," Taylor said.
Information from: The Hays Daily News, http://www.hdnews.netIn case anyone wants to contact Jeffrey Harsh about the tigers, (public
searches, if correct show he may be around 66 years old), the below
phone numbers may be how to reach him. Addresses for both match, one appears to be the motel, the other, residential.
Jeffrey J. Harsh (residential) (785) 672 - 3141
Free Breakfast Inn (785) 899-5264 - Blog post
- 1 year ago
- Views: 497
- Not yet rated
Diane Zandman Animal Rescue Ki Diane Zandman Animal Rescue Kingdom
- From: CaroleBaskin
-
Description:
We are trying to make arrangements to take a tiger and a bobcat from Diane Zandman 10561 SW 67th CT Ocala, Fl 34476 352-291-1678 According to the only caregiver left at the property, Mary, Diane Zandman the Class I licensee, has been in the hospital for the past 2 or 3 months and is not expected to live. Her belonging were removed from the house last week. I am copying you on sections of the discussion I have had with our board, so that you know there are two people on the board of the non profit that owns the property where the tiger and bobcat live, Jeff and Barbara Harrod, who also have Class I felid licenses under the name of Vanishing Species Wildlife. Mary says you have been calling her and telling her she had to have the cats off the property by Monday Feb. 23, but I think she has lied to us since you could just require that Jeff and Barbara add the 10561 SW 67th CT Ocala, Fl 34476 location to their license, since it was already a facility that was approved by you. The fact that these cages and the signifcant abuse these cats are subjected to are considered acceptable to the FWC is awful, but that is another matter.
To my board: Because this is a huge commitment, that will cost us 7500.00 per year, just for the tiger, I want you to be fully advised of the situation. Like most of these cases, the people we are dealing with are sleazy and if their lips are moving, they are lying. Much of what Mary told Scott has turned out to be untrue and the rest of it unlikely. The bottom line is that the owner appears to be a rip off artist who doesn't want the cats any more. The only way we will assist such people is by having them surrender their license and contract with us to never own another exotic cat. We will require the same of Diane Zandman, but I do not know if she will refuse when it comes to putting the pen to the line. I can't take it that far until I know for sure that Tigger has a forever sponsor though, because we just cannot afford to take on one more tiger right now. Our first commitment is to the cats we already have and taking on another 7500.00 a year in expenses just makes it harder for us to do the most important work, which is to end the trade in these cats altogether.
I did some research on Anita Diane Zandman who is the owner of the tiger and the bobcat in Ocala.
Diane is a Director of Vanishing Species Wildlife, Inc., along with Jeff and Barbara Harrod. My guess is that this Jeff is the same Jeff that Mary said let the horse starve. They have big cats too and Mary (the only animal caregiver who comes any more) said Diane got her hours from Jeff, so this seems to fit. http://vanishingspecies.net/exoticpets.htm
The 6000 sf house on 6.5 ac that we saw today is owned by Growing Involvement for Teens, Inc. which is a non profit created 5/14/99, just in time for it to have the house deeded to it on 10/99 with no apparent mortgage recorded, so I don't know if the home was donated to the non profit, or if the non profit had a pile of cash to invest. At any rate, one of the Directors of Growing Involvement for Teens, Inc. is Barbara Harrod of Vanishing Wildlife Species and Diane's son, who we saw today, Steve Zandman.
I pulled the 990's for Growing Involvement for Teens and it brings in between $5,000 and $15,000 each year and spends almost all of it on animal feed. It claims a 400,000 asset, and the house and land are tax assessed for 523,000.00, so that is probable the asset. It says Diane is the only employee, working 40 hours a week, but says she is paid 0. They are not claiming the fact that she has been living in the house for the past 6 years (that we know of.)
There is no FL business, nor is there a non profit listed with Guidestar called Animal Rescue Kingdom. There is a website for it here: http://www.animalrescuekingdom.com/html/contact_us.html There is no web site for Growing Involvement for Teens. Neither of these organizations can be found in an online search of the non profits approved in FL for solicitation at http://app1.800helpfla.com/giftgiversguide/ which means they could be fined 1000.00 a day for illegally soliciting funds.
Until November 17, 2008 the house and land appeared to be free and clear, but they borrowed 300,000.00 from Edward J.A. Ohanrahan, Jr. with the first monthly payment of 2250.00 due Jan. 1 and a balloon for the balance is due in 2012. So far no foreclosure appears to have been filed, but they could only be 2 months late, if at all.
The nonsense we were told about some new rescue group buying the place and only wanted to focus on farmed animals seems pretty unlikely. There has been no sale of the property since 1999, so the same non profit who owned it then still owns it now and Diane's friends, who own big cats via Vanishing Species, and son are still the Directors of that non profit. Since Barbara Harrod still has big cats and thus has the necessary license to keep the bobcat and the tiger at either facility, it seems the real issue here is that Diane doesn't want to bother with the cats any more and neither does her son. It is not apparent that Growing Involvement for Teens serves any purpose other than as a non profit entity to hold the house and solicit funds. If they only raised 6000.00 last year, as their 2007 tax return said, it will only pay the mortgage for a couple of months before there is no income. This may be why the son is moving mom out and a tenant in. An incoming temant, rather than buyer, is another signal that this property and business has not been sold.
Meanwhile, Diane owns another house in the neighborhood at 10147 SW 87th Terrace Ocala, FL and her son Steve lists that address as his home address too. She co owns it with Jason and Stella Yates who she thanks on her Animal Rescue Kingdom web page for 5 years of service. They paid 42,500.00 for that house on 3/20/2001. It is up for sale now with a Realtor named David Harden 352.482.1822
There is no way to know if she received any insurance from the death of her husband Marc Zandman in January of 2008. He died of an unexpected heart attack at the age of 52 while visiting his sister in Atlanta. His MySpace page said he had been a cop. There is also no way to know what her hospitalization has cost her, and if that may be why she borrowed 300k on the house. It would be completely inappropriate to take that money for her personal use, but who would ever know given the lack of non profit oversight? By law you cannot shut down a non profit and keep the assets. They have to be donated to another non profit, but by borrowing all she could get out of the house and then walking away from it, she could thumb her nose at the law and count on the fact that they will not pursue such a little fish.
Under the circumstances, I think we should insist that Diane Zandman sign a letter saying she will never own another exotic cat on her own, or with any other group. Otherwise we are just enabling her to go out and get cubs she can use. Mary told us today that there have been a number of cubs who were brought to them by breeders for bottle raising and picked up by "zoos." Her website claims she has had lions, jaguars, cougars, bobcats and caracals to name just the cats. She claims to rescue them and send them to "forever homes." Just 3 months ago Diane was advertising tea cup poodle puppies for sale and it looked like more than half of the animals still in their care are pregnant.
None of this changes the fact that there is a bobcat in a tiny, barren, filthy, rain soaked cage and a tiger in a metal shed, on cold, wet, concrete floors, who has spent her entire six years there.
Note to FWC:
We have taken photos and videos of the deplorable situation there. The is not a USDA facility, but in the two visits we made there, people were constantly letting themselves in to feed the animals and there is nothing to keep people from sticking their fingers into the torn screen window where tiger resides. There is chain link there, but we were able to stick our hands in with no one noticing and most of the time, no one is there. Mary says the cat hasn't been out of the shed in three years. She has never had a cage that gave her sunshine, fresh air or access to walk on the earth. As for the bobcat, the cage was tied shut with a string. The water bowl was filled with feces and the cage floor is made of mulch that has been recently proven to kill pets. The only shelter was a carrier with a grated lid so there was nothing to keep the cat from being soaked. We tried to get Mary and Steve to release the bobcat to us that day, but they said we had to take the tiger too, and that is a huge financial commitment that we couldn't make at the time. We are trying to raise the funds now.
This has to stop. Your rules say people can't have tigers as pets. USDA says you can't exhibit wild cats unless you are licensed. This situation, like so many more, are examples of people playing the FWC against the USDA and circumventing the intent of your rules that would keep people from having tigers as back yard pets. There is no coordination between you, USDA, the IRS and the Department of Consumer Services when it comes to verifying that these entities are acting within the law. If you allow "sanctuaries" as this place touts itself, to escape USDA supervision or that of the public eye, you are just enabling more abuse.
For the cats,
Carole Baskin, CEO of Big Cat Rescue - Blog post
- 1 year ago
- Views: 2376
Charla Nash lost eyes, nose an Charla Nash lost eyes, nose and jaw in chimpanzee attack
- From: TheirVoice
-
Description:
Charla Nash lost eyes, nose and jaw in chimpanzee attack
BY Edgar Sandoval In Stamford, Conn. and Rich Schapiro In New York
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
The shocked family of the chimp attack victim said Wednesday a team of
doctors is working feverishly to save her life as the extent of her horrific
injuries was revealed.
Paramedics say Charla Nash, 55, lost her nose, eyes and jaw as the crazed
simian ate her alive in the driveway of her friend's Stamford, Conn., home
Monday.
His voice shaky, her twin brother, Mike Nash, thanked the four teams of
specialists who performed more than seven hours of surgery.
"The team of doctors and staff battled around the clock to stabilize
Charla," he said inside Stamford Hospital.
Charla Nash was listed in critical but stable condition yesterday, and her
vital signs were improving, doctors said.
She was left near dead when her close friend's 200-pound ape, Travis,
brutally mauled her after escaping the home he was raised in from infancy.
Travis' owner, Sandy Herold, used a butcher knife to stab the 14-year-old
chimp, who was suffering from Lyme disease and had consumed Xanax - but the
rampage only ended when cops shot the animal dead.
Questions emerged yesterday as to whether Travis should have been removed
from Herold's home years ago.
A former Stamford resident, Leslie Mostel-Paul, 52, told the Daily News that
Travis bit her hand in November 1996 when she tried to pet him in the
parking lot of a local doctor's office.
Mostel-Paul says she contacted police, but her complaint was brushed aside.
"If the police had taken care of what they needed to, this woman wouldn't be
lying in intensive care right now," Mostel-Paul said. "He shouldn't have
been in the house."
Stamford Police Capt. Richard Conklin said he had no record of the incident
and could not confirm or deny its validity.
_esandoval@nydailyneesando_ (mailto:esandoval@...)
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2009/02/18/2009-02-18_charla_nash_lost_eyes_nos\
e_and_jaw_in_ch.html - Blog post
- 1 year ago
- Views: 820
- Not yet rated
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