26/07/2024
RIP Rooterville Animals D-Day is Reportedly Aug 15th!!
Heavy on our minds today are the Rooterville animals who we worked so hard to save over the years has now proven futile for some, not all, but some and that's a number way too high for us. We want to begin by thanking the upstanding folks at CJ Acres Animal Rescue Farm for a job well done ensuring a head count which revealed a far less number of animals than what Rooterville was claiming to care for. In our humble albeit educated opinion we feel Rooterville was purposefully inflating the number of their pigs, in part, to blame us for causing their euthanasia despite knowing full well they had already put those animals down.
Of course, we followed up CJ Acres' count by making a request to Putnam County for an official count but the Ag officer we spoke to initially declined to do this saying how Rooterville could put down their animals if they wanted to. However, our president made the argument that Rooterville falsely claiming to care for more animals than they truly were was seemingly going along the lines of fraud and, well, considering that Rooterville's president was recently charged with 7 felony counts the request for an official head count would be warranted for the public's protection and that of the donors who financially support Rooterville's animals.
We are unsure if a recent official head count was ever made and, if so, if it was a fair and accurate count. As we know, Rooterville is a very popular tourist attraction for the county they are located in and so on and so forth. Sadly, according to several reports that have come our way Rooterville's "count" is allegedly 60 pigs who will be euthanized on Aug 15th if not rehomed-- again, this is just hearsay and any additional intel would be much appreciated.
Until then, we'd like to THANK Useless Animal Farm Sanctuary for reportedly taking in the majority of Rooterville's ducks-- please see a link to their post below. We'd further like to thank CJ Acres Animal Rescue Farm and all the other sanctuaries who have been open and willing to take in some of the Rooterville animals.
Last but not least, we'd like to share what we've personally done to try and help the Rooterville animals both currently and throughout the years:
#1. Three years ago we requested an official head count from Putnam County which showed Rooterville was caring for only around 100 animals instead of some 300 animals as they were falsely claiming on social media at the time in what appeared to be a fraudulent effort to bolster their donations. From there, Rooterville had to publicly admit the truth.
#2. We spent three years reporting concerns to the State of Florida regarding Rooterville's animals such as those relating to Moonpie the horse who was killed by two gunshots and those relating to the culling of 10-12 pigs whereby they had one of their workers group bury, something he reportedly found to be both repulsive and traumatizing.
#3. Our president went to Putnam County in person, a 5 hour round trip, to ask the authorities keep Rooterville from killing 20 pigs set for euthanasia as per a leaked email and to inform them that cows Holly and Tinsel were also reportedly set for euthanasia. Sadly, Rooterville reportedly went on to kill the 20 pigs. They apparently decided to keep the two cows alive due to what we believe was fear of Farm Sanctuary discovering their plans as this was where the cows originally came from.
#3. Regarding the two cows, Holly and Tinsel, that have thus far escaped Rooterville's reported plans of euthanasia, we reached out to Farm Sanctuary hoping that they could take them back from Rooterville and further provided them with contact information for a wonderful potential forever home willing to take in both cows due to their being bonded.
#4. Our president wrote several emails to the State of Florida asking for an official head count of animals at Rooterville and informed them that Rooterville appeared to be falsely inflating their number of animals yet again for nefarious purposes.
#5. Our president has spent many countless hours on the phone discussing these matters with other rescuers and the list goes on.
With the aforementioned being said: we’ve worked tirelessly on the Rooterville case for three years now whilst caring for our own large rescue and thank you for helping us to recuperate some of our enormous expenses. As always, Blessings to those who bless the voiceless innocents!
Our GoFundme: https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-litigation-against-rooterville
---The Pig Patrol
Useless Animal Farm Sanctuary's post:
https://www.facebook.com/uselessanimalfarmsanctuary/posts/pfbid02Am73fU74wBecz7qr13ojQgjzfKfSXKT1gFy6qXYbUNkfAYHGTRDqaHF5Y3fWcU8Ml
CJ Acre's post:
https://www.facebook.com/CJAcresAnimalRescueFarm/posts/pfbid02kiP7qD8F8eMXvSWaxqr4QWkMYvbJjRF3kzrVbhwZvLR6zty9QZFfAfSZVCceWaMml
As one of the longest-running farm animal sanctuaries in Florida, we've had the opportunity to help hundreds and hundreds of in-need animals in both the Sunshine State and across the country. We've also witnessed several other great sanctuaries (some new and others established) such as Another Chance Ranch, Critter Creek Farm Sanctuary, EPIC Outreach, Kindred Spirits, SAGE Sanctuary And Gardens for Education, Useless Animal Farm and others do the same.
Sadly, over the past 26+ years, we've also witnessed a few "false rescues" that, due to unethical leadership and illegal activity, ultimately failed the animals in their care. In addition, these animal charities' actions tarnish the image of the animal rescue community as a whole and harm the reputations of the sanctuaries that will have to clean up their mess after the offenders have been shut down.
Over the past few years, Rooterville Animal Sanctuary has been under investigation by two separate county animal control organizations. The Chariperson, Edna "Elaine" West, has been investigated for fraud, identity theft and misappropriation of charitable funds (nearly $350,000) which has resulted in being recently charged with seven felony violations. In addition, under her "leadership", the number of Rooterville's residents has dropped from 300+ to less than 60, primarily due to unnecessary euthanasia.
Within the past week, our volunteers toured Rooterville to verify animal counts. They covered the grounds extensively and saw no more than 55 total animals. In addition, countless witnesses (past employees, vendors, veterinarians, visitors and volunteers) have shared horrific situations while on Rooterville's grounds. Some of these accounts are detailed on The Pig Patrol's page at The Pig Patrol
In the past, CJ Acres Animal Rescue Farm has assisted Rooterville by volunteering...to taking in animals they couldn't care for...to promoting their fundraising efforts. During the pandemic, we reached out to accept in animals they wanted to surrender. Our offer was first ignored and then flat out refused.
Recently, they have suggested - as their donations have dwindled due to mistrust of how gifts will be used - that no one will take their remaining animals and Elaine has been playing the victim card. This is absolutely NOT the case.
So, here's our request. Surrender your residents rather than kill them. CJ Acres Animal Rescue Farm will provide a lifelong home for your one hog, three goats, five turkeys, and all remaining poultry. Other sanctuaries will accept in your remaining cows. That leaves only the roughly 25 potbelly pigs and two dogs which we are in process of finding homes for.
Elaine...the ball is in your court. Do what's best for the animals.
