Reptiles rescued from rescue!

[prettykttkat]

Hi everybody, some of you know I work for a reptile rescue here in Colorado Springs, CO. I have worked for them for about a year taking in sick reptiles and rehabbing them. I also would do educational programs with them around CO where they would receive donation money in return. In recent light of events I no longer work for them. Apparently a call was made to DOW and when they went there it was such a horrible scene they contacted the Humane Society and they went in and seized many reptiles that were sick and dying. What was found at their house was truly horrifying. I heard first hand what was found and I am not sure I am allowed to speak of it because they are still under investigation and animal cruelty charges are pending. What I can say is that there were many dead reptiles in different stages of decomposition. Conditions were filthy with no UV, heat, food or water for the animals. Many sick and dying. There are so many animals the humane Society could not take them all or the shelter would have been overwhelmed. The animals in ok condition were left there and will probably be seized at a later date as the investigation continues. There was a vet on scene to assess the animals and some are at her vet clinic. I know this vet personally because I was taking not only my reptiles there but also the reptiles I was rehabbing for the rescue(BTW I was never rembersed for anything). What is most upsetting is that some of the animals I rehabbed and gave back to them so they could be put up for adoption are now dead. I also had given them a baby White Lined gecko that was bred and born at my house that they asked me for. This gecko is now dead. I have just been bawling my eyes out thinking of the horrible death they most likely had. I do not understand how they could have taken all that donation money and not taken the reptiles to the vet or given them proper care. I saw the animals taken and almost all were dehydrated and starving not to mention many had medical issues on top of this. How could anyone be around them everyday and ignore their hunger,thirst and need for a vet. Meanwhile go around everywhere and teach people about reptiles and lie about how they were living at their house, and get money for it! Taking in people pets, telling them they would be fine and then letting them starve to death in horrible conditions. I have probably said to much but I thought everyone should know what is going on. Please do not give them any animals and tell everyone you know about this. They are called Mountain Aire Reptile rescue and Sanctuary. It was on the news here last night and if you want to view a short report here is the link to their website KOAA.com - Reptiles rescued from rescue

[lance]

such a sad story ^

lance

[prettykttkat]

It truly has been an eye opener for me. I will never again be so trusting and if I ever foster/rehab for anyone else I am going to demand I see where the animals are being kept and how they are kept. This is why I posted what I did to you the other day about rescues. I knew this then but couldn't talk about it until it went public.

[Naz&Taz]

Thank you for enlightening us on the situation. I think many of us naturally assume that rescues do what they do out of love for animals and it is really an eye opener many people need to have. We as a community look down on the negligent pet stores but I believe that most of us don't take the time to sit and think that there are those claiming to rescue and rehab animals only to condemn them to a fate as bad or worse than they were in to begin with. It really is a shame that so many animals have to die tragically in the name of greed and someone's love of money.

[Zookeeper Gabe]

Unfortunately this is more of a common occurrence than people think, I got my keeping experience start at a big cat sanctuary in TX. While the sanctuary I worked at was very responsible and the only AZA certified facility of it's kind I got to see lots of others and learn a lot about the sanctuary world. Many many people start out in the sanct world with the best of intentions and there seem to be two main ways they veer off when they go bad. One is that there is money to be made in the sanct field and many people start off with good fund raising in mind and end up embezzling and or misappropriating funds. The other is that they "love" animals so much and they try to save every animal they can they end up taking in way to many animals and can't care for any of them properly. It was heart breaking at the sanctuary when you have to turn away 1-10 exotic cats a week , but if that's what you have to do to properly care for your animals you already have. The people that started the reptile rescue probably had good intentions, they just got in way over their head. Also just to be clear I am NOT defending these people, I just have a good amount of experience with this world.

[prettykttkat]

What I and other people think is that they were hoarders and did it a little for the money. They only ever adopted out a few that I have seen, (given them to other volunteers not the public). They also kept buying reptiles on top of getting in new rescued ones. The money aspect is that they received about $4200 just this summer and never took any animals to the vet. Didn't use that money to care for them either as they were living in little plastic rubbermaid containers, cat carriers and bags with no UV, heat, water, food or clean living conditions. This is what angers me because I worked out a deal for them and my vet where they would be given a very big discount on rescue animals. They still never took any to the vet. I did though. I spent my own money and never asked for it back because I thought they were spending that donation money on the animals at their house. So where did that money go? They spent it on themselves. They would go out to eat almost every day. The wife would get her hair done and nails done all the time, etc. The husband would buy all these little model set ups as that was his hobby. And everyday they would go home and ignore the dead and dying reptiles all over their house. The husband did not work, stayed home all day except when doing a show and he could have cleaned cages, built cages(he bragged he built cages all the time but this was a lie) and taken care of the animals, taken them to the vet too. He always told me his wife made good money and that's why they were ok financially as long as they got in donations to care for the reptiles. Yeah right. Makes me sick and very sad when I think about it.

Zookeeper gabe that is sad that this happens more than we think. I wish there were laws that would regulate this kinda stuff and prevent it from ever happening. I do understand how it would be hard to turn away animals. Breaks my heart but you can only do what you can do and I understand that very well. Thanks for telling me about your experience.

[Zookeeper Gabe]

Yeah, the laws are there it is just hard to enforce them sometimes. Even if you call animal control sometimes they don't really know what they are looking for. Thankfully these people got shut down.

[Kale Stallaert]

I agree with Gabe. Regrettably this is an often occurrence. Its very difficult to enforce some pet laws without installing video cameras in every home, but then wouldn't they be breaking privacy laws? Its never going to be perfect, we just have to spread awareness of these situations so that people know the signs, spot these kind of operations and shut them down before it reaches these stages. I am glad these people were caught, and hopefully they will be properly punished.

[Gecko Ranch]

I feel fortunate to know many competent rehabbers here in Northern California. So sorry to hear of this.

[prettykttkat]

Hey thought I'd give an update. They are done taking animals and the count is around 90. Some had to be euthanized, big snakes, a big nile that I last saw on the 4th of july was paralized in the back legs(I'm really upset over this one because he was nice), and others. I do not know how long it will take for them to go to court, get charged and sentenced but I'll give more updates as I know them. I hope they get the max sentence because what they did is horrible.