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Friday, April 29, 2011

Horrible Bill HB251 Made in Out of Committee!

I cannot believe this Bad Bill is leaving the Culture, Recreation & Tourism Committee!  So I wrote everyone that is a part of this Bad Bill letting them know they may end up killing the WAO animals if this horrible Bill is passes! 
From: Kristina Brunner
To: todd.hunter@house.state.tx.us; dennis.bonnen@house.state.tx.us; dan.branch@house.state.tx.us; garnet.coleman@house.state.tx.us; byron.cook@house.state.tx.us; charlie.green@house.state.tx.us; james.keffer@house.state.tx.us; tracy.king@house.state.tx.us; lois.kolkhorst@house.state.tx.us; allan.ritter@house.state.tx.us; eddie.rodriquez@house.state.tx.us; burt.solomons@house.state.tx.us; vicki.truitt@house.state.tx.us; john.zerwas@house.state.tx.us

Cc: Craig.Estes@senate.state.tx.us; Carlos.Uresti@senate.state.tx.us; Glenn.Hegar@senate.state.tx.us; Juan.Hinojosa@senate.state.tx.us; Mike.Jackson@senate.state.tx.us; Ryan.Guillen@house.state.tx.us; Gary.Elkins@house.state.tx.us; Joe.Deshotel@house.state.tx.us; Dawnna.Dukes@house.state.tx.us; Tracy.King@house.state.tx.us; John.Kuempel@house.state.tx.us; Lyle.Larson@house.state.tx.us; Four.Price@house.state.tx.us; Todd.Smith@house.state.tx.us
Sent: Fri, April 29, 2011 6:00:22 PM
Subject: Please Vote NO on HB 251

Texas House of Representatives
House Committee of Calendars
Austin, Texas 78711

Rep. Todd Hunter
Rep. Dennis Bonnen
Rep. Dan Branch
Rep. Garnet Coleman
Rep. Byron Cook
Rep. Charlie Geren
Rep. James Keffer
Rep. Tracy King
Rep. Lois Kolkhorst
Rep. Eddie Lucio III
Rep. Allan Ritter
Rep. Eddie Rodriguez
Rep. Burt Solomons
Rep. Vicki Truitt
Rep. John Zerwas

April 29, 2011

Dear Honorable Representatives:

I urge you to vote NO on HB 251 authored and filed by Rep. Hilderbrand on Feb. 18, 2011 as this Bill does not enhance public safety, but rather places an undue financial burden on wild animal sanctuaries.

As it is, Sec. 821 and Sec. 822 of the Health and Safety Code contain provisions that are unconstitutional, void of due process, and conflicting with other statutes, including Government Code and Rules of Civil Procedure. The amendments proposed by this Bill would only serve to make it more confusing, more arbitrary, and more onerous for existing and new wild animal sanctuaries.

As an example, this Bill proposes to subject wild animal sanctuaries to registration requirements—the fee for which this Bill raises tenfold ($50 raised to $500)—even if the animal is only being cared for temporarily.

At the same time, it leaves intact the provisions of Sec. 822.102(a)(8), allowing any college or university to keep any number of “wild and dangerous” animals as mascots, with absolutely no restrictions.

Also, the requirement for $100,000 of liability insurance is replaced with wording that essentially gives the Commissioner carte blanche to set whatever level of insurance he wishes, and owners would have no choice but to purchase that amount, no matter how safe their facilities may be.

And finally, should the application for registration be denied or revoked for whatever reason, this Bill proposes no hope of appeal or review. The denial or revocation is final and the sanctuary must wait one year from the date the original application was submitted prior to resubmission. During this “limbo” period, while the sanctuary is waiting for the anniversary date of the original application to pass, the animals may be seized and in all probability, destroyed.

Therefore, what remedy will the Senate put in place in the event that a:  
  • Non-profit animal sanctuary does not want to join ASA or GFAS, if made mandatory to join, either because the non-profit corporation does not want be a part of a political animal organization (which may or may not represent their political views) or cannot afford the yearly membership or inspection fees;
  • The sanctuary cannot meet the accreditation standards set forth by ZAA, ASA or GFAS;
  • An accreditation sanctuary fails to meet any additional standards imposed on the sanctuary by either ZAA, ASA or GFAS at some future date; 
  • A sanctuary, that meets accreditation standards for ZAA, ASA and GFAS, but all accrediting organizations choose NOT to accredit the facility due to political or personal reasons; and
  • New accreditation non-profit organization would like to compete against ZAA, ASA and/or GFAS in Texas—would the Senate Bill be modified once again to include the new accredited organization?
If the issues raised above are not addressed in HB251, then many sanctuaries will be forced to operate illegally in Texas—once more. Therefore, what governmental body will be directly responsible for seizing and destroying exotic wild animals residing “illegally” in various wild animal sanctuaries throughout this State? The Sheriff’s Office?

In Texas, there are over 300 USDA exhibitor licensed facilities alone, not including various non-USDA regulated animal sanctuaries (classified by the IRS as exempted non-profit 501(c)(3)) which currently cares for thousands of displaced or abused exotic wild animals. This Bill’s unintentional outcomes would ultimately be the destruction of innocent animals (to include tigers, lions, cougars, bobcats, servals, caracals, bears, wolves, non-human primates, chimpanzees, etc.) and the possible elimination of jobs throughout our State.

Interesting enough, coyotes and non-human primates are mentioned in the body of the HB251 (page 3), yet neither species are listed in the list of predatory animals (page 1). If HB251 pertains to big cats and (1) species of small cats, then why are non-human primates and coyotes still mentioned in the body of the Bill?

I am also curious as to why chimpanzees, all species of primates, wolves, coyotes, and bears are missing from the predatory animal listing. These animals are considered dangerous to the public and are commonly housed in Texas exotic wild animal sanctuaries, yet the focus appears to be on big cats and (1) species of small cats. I would like to know the rational as to why the focus is only on cats when injuries or property damage may occur from any dangerous wild animal housed in a zoo or wild animal sanctuary. This Bill appears to be targeting only those sanctuaries who care for unwanted, abused, or displaced big cats and one species of small cats.

This Bill has all the earmarks of a personal agenda fostered upon Texas citizens by just one Texas Representative. It was hastily prepared and it does not address the unintended consequences of what will happen to displaced animals. At this time, there is NO room (at wild animals sanctuaries located throughout the United States) to accommodate displaced animals from other sanctuaries, if seizing and re-homing animals becomes necessary.

For instance, in San Antonio, the “world renowned” exotic wild animal sanctuary, The Wild Animal Orphanage, closed its doors in 2009 due to misappropriation of funds by its Board of Directors, violation of the Deceptive Trade Act, and numerous documented violations of the Animal Welfare Act. The WAO was a USDA/APHIS licensed exhibitor and was inspected regularly each year by a USDA inspector.

Even though the WAO is now closed to the public, there are still about 200 animals still not placed at other sanctuaries, and based on their current health conditions and ages, it is doubtful they will ever leave San Antonio. If these three Bills (HB251, HB1546, or SB958) are signed into law, it will greatly hamper efforts to save the remaining WAO chimpanzees, monkeys, tigers, lion, wolfdogs, and feral cats. Efforts are underway by Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) and Global Federation Animal Sanctuaries (GFAS) to find a willing sanctuary to assume control of the remaining 200 or so animals but thus far have been unable to find a credible sanctuary willing to take on the additional financial burden of funding two wild animal sanctuaries at the same time, especially with the threat of these three Bills circulating throughout the Texas Legislature. The WAO animals that found homes elsewhere were the lucky ones for animal sanctuaries nationwide are now at capacity and unable to take in additional animals due to monetary and/or space constraints. Add to that all the new legislation purposed this session, and you can bet it will take a miracle to save the WAO animals.

So, when sanctuaries close down because they cannot fully comply with HB251, where will the animals go? The proverbial “Inns” are full. That means lives may be lost due to this Bill.

Instead of hampering the sanctuaries’ abilities to care for displaced or rescued animals, I ask the Texas Legislature to encourage the Texas Office of the Attorney General – Charitable Trust Division to crack down on illegal activities occurring at wild animal sanctuaries.

Again, despite the WAO Board of Directors publically declaring on television and in media print (after a four-year long OAG investigation into the WAO financial and animal care management in which no prosecutorial case was filed against the Board), that the organization was guilty of misappropriating donor contributions (over a 20-year period), the assistant attorney general elected not to pursue legal action against the WAO’s board directors because the OAG attorney had “more important cases” to pursue. If you want to "weed out" the good sanctuaries from the substandard sanctuaries, then the OAG must prosecute all cases equally, thereby sending a message that Texas will not stand by and allow illegal activities to ocur at publically funded non-profit corporations housing and caring for exotic wild animals.

Therefore, based on the information above, I encourage you to let this Bill die in committee as this is truly a bad Bill for Texas and its wild animal sanctuaries.

Thank you for your time and consideration to this most important matter. If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me by return email at kbrunner@xxxxxxxxxxx or by telephone (210) xxx-xxxxx.

Cordial Regards,


Kristina Brunner

San Antonio, TX 78251
Bill: HB 251


Legislative Session: 82(R) Council Document: 82R 8108 NAJ-D Add to Bill List
Add to Alert List
Last Action: 04/28/2011 H Reported favorably as substituted

Caption Version: Introduced
Caption Text: Relating to the regulation of dangerous wild animals.
Author: Hilderbran

Subjects: Animals (I0035)

House Committee: Culture, Recreation & Tourism

Status: Out of committee

Vote: Ayes=6 Nays=0 Present Not Voting=0 Absent=3

So what ever happened to this atrocous bill not making it out of Committee?

From: Representative Lyle Larson
To: State Representative Lyle Larson District122.Larson@house.state.tx.us
Sent: Thu, April 21, 2011 9:00:14 AM
Subject: RE: HB 251

Hello,

Thank you for your correspondence regarding HB 251 by Rep. Hilderbran. We heard a lot of testimony on the bill during the Culture, Recreation, and Tourism Committee last week, and I have received emails from across the state in the last month. We do not foresee this bill passing out of committee, but I will be sure to keep your concerns in mind if this bill comes before me for a vote. It seems that this is a local issue that should be worked out at the local level instead of mandating from the state level.

Again, I appreciate your correspondence. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any other concerns.

Sincerely,
Lyle
So, did Rep. Lyle Larson vote AYES or was he absent when this Bad Bill came up for a vote in Committee?  What in the world is going on at the Texas House and Senate?  Have they all lost their minds?

Below is the Bad Bill going to the Local and Consent Committee for approval:

CSHB 251 Final - 042811

God, please do not let me lose hope in saving the WAO animals.  Please.

Thursday, April 28, 2011

It's Official -- WAR is Back

Just when I thought this horrible piece of "drama" was gone for good, it resurfaces again.   
Wild Animal Repo

Bears/Capuchin Monkeys/Roadside Tigers
TV-PG (L), CC

Exotic animal repossessor Scott Lope heads to Texas to rescue 22 bears from a financially troubled sanctuary, a troop of capuchin monkeys from a soon-to-be-demolished roadside zoo, and six tigers in flimsy cages.  http://dsc.discovery.com/tv-schedules/series.html?paid=1.403.26271.40288.x 
Again, Discovery Channel is lying to public in regards to where the capuchin monkeys actually came from -- NOT a roadside zoo as WAR and Jungle Friends would like you to believe, but rather from a 401(c) non-profit exotic wild animal sanctuary licensed by the USDA called the WAO!

HB 1546 Goes on the Consent Calendar

Here is the latest on HB1546:

Last Action: 04/27/2011 H Comm. report sent to Local & Consent Calendar

Caption Version: House Committee Report
Caption Text: Relating to the regulation of dangerous wild animals.
Author: Larson
Cosponsor:
Subjects: Animals (I0035)
House Committee: Culture, Recreation & Tourism
Status: Out of committee

Vote: Ayes=6 Nays=0 Present Not Voting=0 Absent=3

H Comm. report sent to Local & Consent Calendar 04/27/2011


H Committee report distributed 04/26/2011 05:40 PM


H Comte report filed with Committee Coordinator 04/26/2011


H Reported favorably as substituted 04/18/2011


H Recommended to be sent to Local & Consent 04/18/2011


H Committee substitute considered in committee 04/18/2011


H Considered in formal meeting 04/18/2011


H Left pending in committee 04/13/2011


H Testimony taken/registration(s) recorded in committee 04/13/2011


H Committee substitute considered in committee 04/13/2011


H Considered in public hearing 04/13/2011


H Scheduled for public hearing on . . . 04/13/2011 595


H Referred to Culture, Recreation & Tourism 595  03/02/2011 595

From: Emily Eppright

To: Kristina Brunner
Sent: Thu, April 21, 2011 8:32:09 AM
Subject: RE: HB 1546

Hi Kristina,

The bill as amended and passed out of committee (attached) includes the following changes from the original:
· Provides a more comprehensive definition of "wildlife sanctuary;"
· Narrows exemptions related to veterinary and rehabilitation care;
· Requires accreditation by the Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries or a successor organization, or an accredited member of the Zoological Association of America.

Rep. Larson has requested an additional amendment that would allow an organization accredited with the American Sanctuary Association to be exempted from the Act. This amendment will be presented on the House Floor. Please let me know if you have any other concerns.


Thank you,

Emily

Emily Eppright
Legislative Director
Office of State Representative Lyle Larson
E2.816 o) 512.463.0646 f) 512.463.0893
emily.eppright@house.state.tx.us
Below is the Bad Bill that was approved out of Committee:

CSHB 1546 by Larson[1]

Should be interesting to learn whether or not Rep. Larson will keep his word and propose yet another amendment to this Bad Bill to include ASA when it reaches the floor.

Ahh, To Be a Fly on the Wall

If there was ever court hearing I'd like to attend, it would be the next two upcoming bankruptcy hearings schedule for next month.
 
First we have a short notice case scheduled for May 9, 2011:

Hearing to Consider and Act Upon the Following: (Related Document(s): 54 Motion to Incur Unsecured Debt Outside of the Ordinary Course of Business Pursuant to 11 U.S.C. Sect. 364(b) and For Approval Nunc Pro Tunc For All Advances on And After March 1, 2011 (21 Day Objection Language) filed by William R. Davis Jr for Debtor Animal Sanctuary of the United States (Davis, William)) Hearing Scheduled For 5/9/2011 at 10:30 AM at SA Courtroom 1 ***SET ON EXPEDITED BASIS, WILLIAM DAVIS SHALL BE RESPONSIBLE FOR NOTICE*** (Elizondo, Lisa)
This particular hearing deals with the issue of IFAW "loaning" the WAO $5k per month, thus incurring unsecured debt each month until the bankruptcy case is settled.  Plus IFAW is seeking reimbursement dating back to March 1, 2011!  Needless to say, Ron and Carol Asvestas and their friend, the newsletter printer, objected to this motion to incur unsecured debt dating back to March 1.   Now this should be an interesting hearing. 

Then there's the hearing scheduled for May 24, 2011:
 
Hearing to Consider and Act Upon the Following: (Related Document(s): 58 Motion to Dismiss Case filed by Lance Geppert for Creditors Carol A. Asvestas, Ronald Asvestas (Attachments: # 1 Exhibit A-last meeting prior to suspension# 2 Exhibit B-Bylaws# 3 Exhibit C-Amd Bylaws)(Geppert, Lance)) Hearing Scheduled For 5/24/2011 at 09:30 AM at SA Courtroom 1 (Elizondo, Lisa)
This is the hearing where Carol and Ron Asvestas wants the judge to dismiss the WAO bankrupcty case as they believe they were wrongfully terminated and therefore entitled to resume operating the WAO!  Again, another hearing I'd love to attend as a fly on the wall.

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

More Accounting Problems at WAO - March 2011 Operations Report Filed

Finally, the now defunct WAO posted its March operations report with the bankruptcy court.  And as ususal, Kim Myer, the WAO's bookkeeper did another "cracker jack" job in compling the monthly expenditure report:

Bankruptcy Court - Small Business Monthly Operating Budget - March 2011

Can someone please explain to me why Myers, who is in charge of payroll, cannot complete this report correctly?  For instance, page 1 shows five entries where Myers has no idea who the checks were written out to, but she identifies them all as "payroll" checks.  Hmmm.  Interesting.

On page 2, there are two more checks written without payees or check purpose!  Take a look -- checks #1110 and #1152 both are missing important information, like who the checks were made out to and why. 

The March report was sent to the Bankruptcy Court on April 22, 2011, so there is no excuse, once again, not have a complete and accurate report submitted to the court.  So, this still leaves me wondering, whatever happened to the missing money totaling $270.69? 

Good news, Walgreen and gas purchases are down this month.  Oh, and the primates received a little bit of produce too.  I'm willing to bet only the chimps received the produce since so little of it was purchased this month. 

Again, I have the usual gripes, why are the animals paying for the office's coffee and cream?  If the workers want to drink coffee, shouldn't they bring their own in or start a coffee fund paid for by the workers that actually drink the coffee?

And what's this about paying for the worker's drinking water?  If they don't like the well water, then why can't they bring in their own water cooler each day?

Then there are the chimp snacks, no doubt purchased by Cryer so she can give them out each week to the chimps (juice boxes, dum dums, cookies, etc) listed on this month's report.  First of all, what about all the other animals?  Where are their "enrichment" items, hmmm?  Don't the 100+ monkeys deserve "snacks" too?  And the tigers?  Lion?  Wolfdogs?  Feral cats?  And why doesn't the WAO purchase healthy snacks for the chimps instead of all the sugary stuff?

And I just noticed, no cat food was purchased. this month  Just dog food.  What's up with that?  What happened to the 20+ feral cats living on the property?

Interesting enough, there was only one vet bill listed in the amount of $418.86 on the March report and a second vet hospital entry made where gloves and animal medication were purchased.  This confirms my belief the WAO does not pay for a regular vet to come out and treat all the animals on a regular basis.  Many of the WAO animals were either sick or injured when I left.  I have a hard time believing there were no additional illnesses or injuries in the last several months.  So, is Mary and Michelle Reininger treating animals without a vet license again?  Or are the animals just left to "fend for themselves" once more?

Well, it looks like for the month of March, IFAW contributed $18,100 towards the anmals' care.  Donation checks deposited this month brought in $23,202.75 and based on the low amounts received towards the end of the month, I'd say next month's report will show less monies contributed by private donors.  This does not bode well for the animals, especially since IFAW only wants to "loan" the WAO $5k per month starting whenever the court agrees with this latest expediture idea.

As in all the previous months, no tax returns have been filed with the IRS, nor do I expect to see any tax forms filed by Cryer.  I guess the one "unexpected" expense this month was repairs on the Talley Road meat freezer--although it should not have been unexpected since the freezer breaks down every year, especially as the weather gets hotter. 

Yippee - the USDA renewed the WAO's exhibitor's license, but thus far has not inspected the property.   Gee, I wonder why.  But you can be sure, the paperwork will be in order!

Oh, and the attorney representing the WAO during the bankruptcy process was not paid in March.  Oh joy. 

But hey, at least the chimps got their dum dums and juice boxes this month -- now I'd say that's quite an accomplishment, would you?

When Did Titan Die?

From: Kathryn Bertok
To: Kristina Brunner
Sent: Wed, April 27, 2011 8:46:52 AM
Subject: RE: Titan's Healh Issues
Kristina,
Sorry for the delay in getting back to you. Things have been incredibly busy here. I am preparing for interns, spring break groups and other spring time festivities. Seems like we used to have periods of time when things slowed down, but not as much anymore. Now we just have new and different things to keep us busy.

We are still in a holding pattern with Titan. The X-rays showed no signs of tumors or degenerative hip disease. There was a possible fracture line in his pelvis, but it seemed suspicious given that there was not a mirrored fracture on the other side of the pelvis (normally you see a fracture on both sides and not just one). There was some inflammation around the hip joint. We gave him an injection of anti-inflammatories and will see if those help. He’s really sensitive to drugs and gets really sleepy on things like gabapentin so we can’t use those. We have separated him from Bali so that he can rest that hip. Bali tends to play pretty rough. Titan’s been up and walking more but not using the leg any more than he was before.

We still see no indication that any of this was caused by mismanagement of his care. Given his age, joint issues are not unusual at all. It certainly could have been caused by an old injury that is not flared up, but we would never be able to confirm that.

Let me know if there is anything else that we can help you with.

Kathryn Bertok
Curator of Animals
Carolina Tiger Rescue
CarolinaTigerRescue.org
919.542.4684 ext 32

Okay, this is where this story gets really weird...  according to Carolina Tiger Sanctuary's own website, Titan died on  April 13, 2012:




I find this situation very disturbing and it makes me wonder why I was lied to in the above email regarding Titan.  Not good.  Not good at all.

Later:

Just found Titan's Tribute on Facebook...  Wow what a bunch of liars.  "We are still in a holding pattern with Titan" my ass!  He's dead!

God Bless you, Titan
Titan ~1996 - 2012~

Updated over a year ago · Taken at Carolina Tiger Rescue
Carolina Tiger's medical team sedated Titan on Friday, Apr 13th, to evaluate the status of his hips which had been impairing his mobility for some time. Titan had not been responding to various treatments to manage his pain. Given our lack of additional options for treatment, the decision was made to euthanize him. Titan won the hearts of many by being a talkative and friendly tiger. He loved to come to the fence and chat a while with anyone that was willing to come over for a visit, even when the attempt was clearly painful. His gentle soul will be greatly missed.