07/02/2022
**THE UNBRIDLED TRUTH**
In July 2021 – 6 staff members (mostly management) left a certain shelter at the same time….quit, gave up their paid positions, because sometimes morals are more important than money.
It is strange how quiet everyone was about it…..every staff member (that was there longer than 3 months) left at the same time, and no one asked why? They were there for between 6 months to 12 years. Every manager left, at once! Every single one. People you know!! If you think about it, people who were the face of this shelter for many years…who ran the events, who contacted you regularly, who were the point of contact. People who were passionate about animals and animal welfare. People who clearly had a love for animals. People who stayed the length of time they did, because they felt they were making a difference.
These people witnessed many heart wrenching things during their time at this shelter….as do people who work in any aspect of rescue, however some of these things were so horrific, they have many symptoms of PTSD, even 6 months after leaving. Some of these things will haunt them forever.
In the rescue world, animals die. Every day, in different ways…disease, neglect, abuse, age – however at this shelter, animals that should not have died, did so every single day. Greed led to overcrowding, staff BEGGING the owner to stop taking animals…overcrowding led to more disease and mismanagement leading to animals dying in cages. A VERY common occurrence at this shelters clinic. Clinic staff were very hard to keep, for this reason. The ones that did stay were incredibly overworked and undervalued and expected to do veterinary work as well as shelter work. Not one foster carer or volunteer who attended this clinic could not have noticed the neglect, the smell, the dirty cages, the screaming animals…… animals were kept sometimes for a week with no food, due to the sheer number of animals waiting vet care. They would be required to hold off feeds “just in case” they can fit one more surgery in that day….and this would turn into days. Chubby, healthy kittens in from foster care who were at weight and ready for desexing, would wither until they were underweight and required further foster care to be ready again for desexing.
Most of us (if not all) are ashamed of the things we hid from foster carers, volunteers, co-workers and the public. Due to a sense of loyalty and assuming we were doing more good by staying…..but that would soon change. People may feel sorry for the owner due to her “mental health issues” however, nothing has changed, she has always had these issues and always hidden and encouraged her illegal and underhanded practices. Due to the sheer number of animals being brought in every week, she would insist on them being adopted, sometimes within hours of stepping off transport. Unknown temperament, unknown health, unknown animal! They were sent out into the community, to spread Parvo, Cat flu, Distemper, Ringworm, MASSIVE flea and worm burdens and to attack other animals in the community. In fact animals were put into foster care that did the same….giving diseases to your pets, ringworm to your children…..your pets put at risk with aggressive dogs and your foster coordinator was the only one trying to protect you. But at the end of the day, she had to pick her battles. It was not her lucrative business and she was always reminded about how much money she needed to bring in to “pay for the clinic”. In fact, the adoption of animals, has been paying everyones wages at this shelter and clinic for many, many years.
Here are some more truths…..the owner was paid a VERY generous CEO wage for many years….although she still claims to have “never drawn a wage”……really? Come off it….ask the accounts person.
She was the sole reason the shelters charity status was lost also.
She was witnessed by staff physically abusing (kicking) a puppy, throwing animals, euthanizing animals herself and was the focus of a fairwork case where she was accused of physically restraining and abusing a staff member. She is universally HATED by pretty much every single other person in the rescue world in Victoria….why is that? It isn’t just because she is hard done by…..she once called a pound, screaming at them because the dogs they had in care for months (and were great with other dogs when they were in the pound….) were apparently dog aggressive and she insisted these poor pound staff paid for the euthanasia of these 2 dogs. Then wondered why no pound in Victoria would work with the shelter??? The only pounds that did, had no contact with her, ever. They were in contact with another manager ONLY. Strictly!! She would refuse to take adult medium or large dogs, unless they gave her puppies and “desirable” small dogs as well….it became allllll about the money. The adoption pack was even forced to be purchased by long term foster carers….this was argued by the other managers ALL THE TIME. It got to a point that the managers felt they were the only thing standing between an absolute s**t show and this person….but this was not the case, which they soon found out.
There was no after hours emergency vet care, ever. If a puppy was dying of parvo, it had to wait until 8am to attend the clinic. Foster carers often had to pay for emergency vets themselves. They are not provided with food, bedding, leads, collars, kitty litter trays etc……like every other rescue group and shelter does. Even though the clinic is FULL of donated items. And even though the owner herself used donated or shelter animal food, for her own animals. As did various staff over time…encouraged by the owner. Some ex staff were even allowed to come and help themselves! Ex staff and friends of the owner also received free veterinary care (paid for by the shelter). This is just one of many ways she made people feel like they “owed her”. Just before the charity status went through, she purchased (with shelter money) several large screen TV’s and gifted them to various long term volunteers. Also Ipads and phones were regularly given out to people.
If a foster carer had an animal in care that had behavioural issues……too bad! There was no behavioural assistance….they were even forced (prior to the foster care management we all knew and loved – who argued constantly and insisted on the foster carer being supported) to keep animals that were a danger to their children or other animals until “room was made” at the shelter or clinic.
Her daughter claims to have worked at the shelter her entire life….she did not. She worked casually (Sundays) when she could be bothered coming in, for the last year or so. She took over the foster coordinator role when that manager handed in her resignation…at her own insistence, no one asked, begged or chose for her to do so. In fact, she was one of the deciding factors in people leaving. Her behavior, work ethic and attitude leave a lot to be desired. She was also ringing pounds, foster carers and staff “bitching” about the new owners and ex staff members once she took over the role! She is just a mouth for her mother, nothing more. MANY of her posts on the foster page are written by her mother. SO MANY!
Managers were told that animal euthanasia was being hidden from them. The owner would put “fake owners” on the system, so it looked like they were adopted. She did the same with foster animals that she had killed…. Foster animals that staff loved and cared for….that had access to the back end system. So they did not know. At the time of leaving, one of the managers was asked to audit the system……more than 36% of dogs that came in, in the 2020-2021 financial year were euthanized (on the system)….more of cats. That is the ones she did not hide….the figure could be 50% for all we know. We were not making the difference we thought we were! We were quite literally HORRIFIED to learn this….along with quite a few other truth bombs! What were we protecting????? We THOUGHT we were making a difference….but we were sickened to learn otherwise.
This woman is a narcissist who is a master manipulator. She plays on people’s emotions and plays people against each other…just ask ANY EX STAFF MEMBER. ANY OF THEM- that are not still friendly with this person. I am sure every staff member has been bi***ed about, to every other staff member at one stage or another. Ex staff members have had breakdowns from this woman’s behavior! This place, was the most toxic workplace, anyone has ever worked at. It was draining to be around this woman! There is so much more…..you are welcome to ask, we will answer. They say the truth has many sides…..let us be clear…this page is not just one of the ex staff. We will tell you what we saw.
Remember also…this woman SOLD the shelter and clinic to the current managers. She was not in hospital at the time, she was in fact working AT THE SHELTER and trained the current management. She pocketed a million bucks, then spent the next few months contacting people still associated with the shelter and clinic and bagging the new owners…….that she CHOSE to sell to! She contacted pounds and told them not to send the lucrative animals ($$) to them and told them how awful the new owners are. It is also rumoured that she has started a rescue group (in her daughters name because she signed a contract with the current owners saying she could not start her own group for a number of years as part of the sale)…..god help those animals! Because she will not!
