Introduction: Below is a comment on this page of the Westberry story (opens new page). I really don’t want to over-egg the story but there are a number of comments amongst many that need highlighting because they may prevent this happening again. Ruth’s comment is supported by a number of other comments which remarked on the culpability of other people who supplied Julianne Westberry with cats.
By Ruth (a visitor to the site) commenting on the Julianne Westberry tragedy
Friends of Harnett Animal Shelter, In light of recent incidents in which numerous deceased cats were found at a local rescue, I am compelled to express my concerns. This statement concerns not only your organization, but the numerous other shelters organizers involved in transporting cats to Julianne Westberry. I realize there are numerous shelter animals with limited options.
The available fosters/rescues and animal advocacy groups are minimal compared to the need. Oftentimes, time is limited and there is an urgency to get animals out of high kill shelters as quickly as possible. As I am sure you realize, the need is ongoing and there is a desperation to save as many lives as possible.
Unfortunately, I believe that this urgency has had tragic results for many homeless animals and my concern is that this does not happen again. There were many red flags that went unheeded.
First of all, JW insisted on meeting in a public location. Transporters did not deliver to the home. When a rescue does not welcome a home visit, people should be very cautious.
Secondly, with the number of cats in shelters in SC, why did this woman obtain cats from NC, TN, and other out of state locations? That is clearly a red flag. SC shelters are overwhelmed with homeless cats. Why are you continuing to send NC cats to rescues in SC? Clearly, their own shelters are full and overflowing.
Let me get to the point, you actively collect money from your supporters to pull and transport pets to various out of state rescues. How many of these rescues have you personally inspected before transporting these animals?
It is one thing to be fooled by unscrupulous rescue organizations, but quite another to ignore obvious red flags. When you collect money from the public to pull and transport these animals, you must be held to a higher standard. People who pledge and support your organization trust that you are taking these animals out of danger to a safe environment, not sending them on to a life of pure torture.
As an animal advocate, I plead with you, you must do better. The safety and health of these loving animals rests in your hands. If you cannot ensure their safety, do not “rescue” them. I hope that in the future you will proceed with caution and investigate before dropping off animals to “rescue organizations”. They should be able to provide vet references as well as be open to showing you where the animals are living until adoption.
Harnett Friends….I plead with you….don’t let this happen again. These precious animals depend on you and me…we cannot let them down.
“Documentation of transporter” meaning if a paid transporter, are they licensed to move animals? Do they have knowledge of each state’s regulations and the documentation showing the source, vetting, quarantine, and destination moving along with each pet on transport? Nick of Time/ Lee Caswell is right now facing animal abuse charges as well as illegal transport charges in CT, and she has pulled and transported 100s of cats out of Whiteville, SC. Her comments can even be seen in Ash’s albums.
No, moron, the approved vets of reputable, licensed rescues … all responsible rescues seek immediate vet care for cats entering their rescues. What would you expect them to do, not get a vet’s evaluation?
Susan, you just stated “But do be aware that the Friends of Harnett facebook page and its admins do not actually place any animal. The page networks the animals and community volunteers liase with the rescues, or the rescues work directly with the shelter.”
Yet, this was posted today.
FOH (Susan- group administrator),
It appears that you are making great effort to distance yourself and your group (Friends of Harnett Animal Shelter) from your volunteers and rescues. So you do not personally place animals? I find that statement questionable in light of all that has occurred. By your own admission, you are directly involved in transports. There are even screenshots and photos circulating in which you personally (along with trusted volunteers) are shown to transport animals to rescues out of state. You cannot set up a group, solicit funds, actively engage in pull-transport, then distance your group and deny any culpability with regard to what happens once these animals leave the shelter. So you state that you stopped placing animals with Azrael’s Ark and that those involved in that are no longer part of your group. Good for you. So when she threatened to place the cats in a high kill shelter if no donations were fulfilled, you lied. Unfortunately, you damage your own credibility when you lie to serve your own self-interest. Just what else would you lie about? With regard to the number of cats you placed with Julianne Westberry over the last year, I have counted quite a large number that came from Harnett alone based on the pictures posted. I have correspondence from JW indicating that she was pulling 5-6 cats from Friends of Harnett weekly. If that is not true, just how many cats did you send to this lady? From what I have observed, far too many. It is hard to determine just who to believe since you have already admitted you are not always truthful. I am hopeful that your group will actually reexamine your procedures with regard to out of state rescues. Hopefully, you are not just lying to appease public outrage. These animals deserve so much better.
The page Susan comments about is not a “bashing page” it was created to share information about the truth behind poor animal rescue practices and to eventually help the public find quality rescues they should be sending funds to instead of being duped. Friends of Harnett has decided to take no responsibility for their actions. Currently, their policy states that pledgers are entirely responsible for researching the rescues where money is sent. This makes it possible for them to say “not us!” They fool the community into thinking they are sending pets to quality places and they are all “safe” with their posts and page manipulation. Such as instantly deleting Ruth’s post after she posted it. Several of their main admins do not even live in Harnett County or the state of North Carolina.
For the record, I was banned from their page for asking a question (were you there when that happened?) was the question to a woman posting on their page and the admins jumped all over the post. I have screen shots of that and an admin posting on my personal page after deleting my comments and banning me. It was one of the first times I had ever posted on their page. I am a volunteer for an organization in our area who helps the community with low cost spay and neuter (in it’s 2nd year) with a goal for sustainable and targeted spay and neuter following the guidelines used in New Hampshire to eventually elimiate overpopulation. It is not a quick fix and Susan and other who claim it isn’t working obviously must not be aware of northern states with no kittens or puppies….(oh wait, she is….stated it herself) and I am also an volunteer of the shelter and our local school system. FYI The shelter has nothing to do with the Friends of Harnett Page. Over the last two years, our shelter is slowly improving and myself and others have been working with them along the way. They have been attacked often over the years and are leery of working with groups due to lies, cruelty and deceit. The shelter staff do what they can for the animals in their care and hold over pets whenever there is space to do so. Harnett is a very poor county and change will take time and hard work. The shelter is overwhelmed with animals every single week. There is only so much anyone can do. Susan and the rest are so afraid of euthanasia that they willingly sent animals into another area who euthanizes thousands more per year than Harnett ever has and of course to hoarders. Make it someone else’s problem because it hurts too much to accept it as our own.
I have attached a file of a response by Susan above in in a conversation about checking rescues and our repeated plea to have a rescue credentialing program in our county. The full conversation can also be located here:
https://www.facebook.com/HarnettAWC/photos/pb.253307168027201.-2207520000.1404325692./721733771184536/?type=3&theater
I do not believe for a moment due to their “check your own rescue” policy that they check the rescues who pledge to their page as Susan claims. How in the world did a volunteer (Susan is not being clear if these volunteers are their volunteers or someone elses who checks rescues) who checked as she claimed above miss a major hoarder with hundreds of dead cats? So all “credentialing” is based on word-of-mouth by others. Really?? In addition to searching for and retrieving some of the cats they sent to SC they have now pulled another undisclosed number and are begging for two week fosters. One hour before closing they stated there were no rescues or pledges for these cats. Where are all of these pulled and re-rescued cats being housed? I have also seen the information Ruth mentioned above, and I fear this this only the tip of the iceberg as to what horrible things have been going on behind closed doors.
Ruth, I responded when it was published here because this is where I saw it.
Re: Azrael’s Ark: the volunteers who established a relationship with and initially took animals to Sue LeBright are no longer involved with Harnett shelter animals. I did write a suck-up email to her after I learned she had lost her 501. We never placed any animals with her after that. I also did not post for more donations even though I told her I would. I lied to her. My bad.
JW did not take 5-6 cats per week from the Harnett shelter. Where did you see that?
Not all of the HCAC cats she took had pledges. Some had nothing at all. Lots of rescues cherry-pick, take only the cutest animals with the most money. JW did not.
I said that “liking the volunteer” was a possible scenario, that’s all.
I do not claim that we have no culpability, and of course we will be examining our practices. But do be aware that the Friends of Harnett facebook page and its admins do not actually place any animal. The page networks the animals and community volunteers liase with the rescues, or the rescues work directly with the shelter.
I responded to your posts because you obviously are considering this tragedy thoughtfully and thoroughly and I appreciate that. With all respect, I will not be posting further. Thank you.