Let’s Adopt! Global, an animal rescue organization, courting controversy (2022)

Let’s Adopt! Global (LAG) is an animal rescue organization founded in Turkey in 2008 by Viktor Larkhill and Fulya Ulusoy. Since 2011 it has had headquarters in Massachusetts, USA. It is a non-profit animal rescue. Yet for some reason which I am yet to fathom it courts massive controversy. One possible reason, it is said, is that Viktor Larkhill is an outspoken person who has rubbed people up the wrong way.  There is a bunch of women who have publicly claimed on Facebook and perhaps other online media that the owners of Let’s Adopt! Global are acting fraudulently. These are the “LAG haters”.

Update July 2022: His organisation is now called Let’s Adopt International. Their website tells us that the rescue organisation began on January 8, 2008 in Istanbul Turkey. Viktor Larkhill tells us that his desire to rescue animals came when he stood outside a veterinary clinic in the rain while his dog, Simba, died on the operating table when he shouldn’t have. He implies that it was because of a lack of proper care due to a lack of facilities which caused Simba’s death. The next day he embarked “upon a mission that would change the lives of thousands of animals and their families”. He says that over the years his rescue became known for “veterinary excellence at the service of homeless animals”. His rescue started to receive “pleas for help from the world over for animals in extreme conditions, abused animals with impossible injuries”. They say that they are in extreme rescue because “we will go to the end of the earth to save a life. Extreme because we only work with the very best veterinarians, contributing to progress and excellence in veterinary medicine”. And finally, “because we live in a cruel world and aim to be a beacon of hope for animals that are otherwise abandoned to die alone.”

The charity is registered in Amsterdam, The Netherlands by the way. And if you leave a legacy in your will you need to have their tax ID which is on the website.

This page was written on April 10, 2015. That’s more than seven years ago. People have commented and their comments may help us understand the situation. There is a video (date March 30, 2022) in the comments section of his rescue. He is courting more controversy because his rescue center (or one of them) is in a residential area and his neighbour is giving him hell – please scroll down to see the comment and video. I don’t know in which country this rescue is based. His neighbour appears to be speaking in Spanish. I think therefore this is in Spain. It does seem a bit murky but I can’t criticise because I don’t know. His name is a bit strange because isn’t he Turkish? Perhaps he has changed his name?

To be fair there is a lot of fraud in animal rescue because there is potentially, a lot of money to be made in animal rescue on social media, particularly Facebook. There are many animal lovers with some disposable income. You can tap into it if you are smart. I called it the dark side of animal rescue. But I don’t know enough about LAG to make an assessment as to their honesty. From what I see they do fantastic work, genuinely rescuing animals. Here is a video on their YouTube page. Their Facebook page is used to encourage donations.

Note: This is a video from another website. Sometimes they are deleted at source which stops them working on this site. If that has happened, I apologise but I have no control over it.

I’ll write a page later today about a lion rescue that they are involved in. They do present a bold image, perhaps brash and brazen which may upset some people. But if it is effective, who cares?

Things became heated and serious. What appears to be constant sniping and criticism by detractors forced LAG management to commence defamation proceedings in the summer of 2013. I don’t know the outcome, which is strange. There are 38 defendants in the USA, Canada, UK, Germany and Turkey.

One of the defendants is a newspaper: Toronto Pet Daily. Another is Barbara Nemeth who I believe is an American. She counter sued or was prepared to sue in a civil action of harassment against the management of LAG.

LAG state in the defamation papers that they are…

the victim of a defamation campaign led by the defendants against its good name and reputation. According to the claim, some of the most egregious allegations by the defendants accuse Let’s Adopt! Global of stealing donation money for the personal gain of its officers; that Let’s Adopt! Global tortures, murders, and rapes animals; and that Let’s Adopt! Global defrauds its donors.

Also, a website has been created by supporters of Let’s Adopt! Global. Click here to see it.

The authors of the website state that…

a group of women have been trying their best to harass, sabotage and hinder Let’s Adopt! Global in and outside of Facebook with only one goal in mind: to undermine and destroy the work of Viktor Larkhill and LAG.

As there are 38 defendants there are quite a lot of people who are against Let’s Adopt! Global. Why? What evidence is there? Can someone assist in a comment?

Below are some more articles on animal rescue.