01/09/2025
January 8, 2025
To The Town of Hempstead Board Members,
It was brought to my attention that yesterday, January 7th in a Hempstead Town public forum, Mr. John DiLeonardo (Humane Long Island) engaged in frivolous and harmful accusations towards me, just as he’s done to so many others. Mr. DiLeonardo seems driven by a personal fire that disregards the emotional toll his slanderous statements make on others. His irresponsible behavior shows his lack of due diligence, empathy, and professionalism.
This is personal for me and after decades of my dedication and sacrifices to rescuing abandoned animals, the flippant accusations Mr DiLeonardo lodged against me regarding “outdated paperwork” were made with no research on how or why. The answer to that is that I was in mourning for my child who had died. No parent should lose a child and no child should die before their parents. A fact he neglected to find out. He just took what he could get some negative spin on and ran with it.
There was only so much I could do but my focus was always on helping the animals in my care and providing all veterinary care and behavioral training to find them homes. While Mr DiLeonardo plays judge and jury, I suffered PTSD following the death of my son and honestly hearing Mr DiLeonardo‘s attack on me makes me question his integrity because he didn’t even have the decency to ask me a simple question before verbally bashing me and my rescue organization. Mr DiLeonard’s self-righteous behavior and hateful comments on this forum undermine the integrity of animal rescue volunteerism and create a hostile environment for those dedicated to the cause. He has not made one statement about any of the good work done by any of the people he is trying to burn.
The attack I endured on Tuesday, January 7 reminds me that it’s people like Mr DiLeonardo who cause good people to leave rescue. It’s irresponsible on his part to have not done any due diligence by contacting me or any of the people, he is trying to burn at the stake. I can see him as one of the ignorant Puritans burning people at the stake for witchcraft.
I don’t anticipate an apology from him but want to make sure people understand there are always two sides to any story. Mr. DiLeonardo has shown his indifference to the truth and supports his position at the cost of anyone’s reputation.
Grace DeVita
Director
Second Chance Animal Rescue.
