Libelous Article Found in ACTION MAGAZINE!

This has truly been an interesting day!  First, I learned the Asvestas lost the Leslie Road property case against the WAO and then I found this libelous article written by SAM KINDRICK (never heard of him), printed in ACTION MAGAZINE (never heard of it), December 2010 (page 7) issue.  I've include this "magazine" at the bottom of this LIBELOUS article. 

If you have been reading my three blogs from start to finish, then you know that just about everything written in this libelous article is a COMPLETE farce. 

Gee, I'm shocked!  Shame on SAM KINDRICK for writing this  article without obtaining the facts either from myself, the OAG, USDA, TCEQ, or OSHA.  And shame on ACTION MAGAZINE for printing this "article" without verifying the facts.  Yes, the truth will be known.  But not from SAM KINDRICK or ACTION MAGAZINE.  I believe this article will undoubtedly harm me in the future, as this so-called article is still on the Internet and any future researcher, employer or creditor may find and read this "trash," thereby harming me financially, not to mention causing me great personal pain.   This article was obviously made without adequate research into the truthfulness of the statements made by the Asvestas. Therefore, I may have to take legal action against ACTION MAGAZINE for defamation of character once the WAO case is finally over.

If ACTION MAGAZINE has any ethics left at all, it will immediately publish a new front page story, starting off with a sincere apology to me for the libel comments made against me in the December 2010 "article" and then continue with what really happened at the WAO and who truly caused its eventual demise.

Perhaps SAM KINDRICK should find new "friends" and ACTION MAGAZINE should hire truthful, ethical writers.  Just a thought.

To read this "article" on line visit:  http://www.actionmagsa.com/sites/default/files/issues/ActionMag-DEC2010%20LO.pdf 

Wild Animal Orphanage is a shattered dream for founding couple

By Sam Kindrick

For many years, Action Magazine has supported Ron and Carol Asvestas, the couple who founded and developed the Wild Animal Orphanage on Leslie Road.

The sanctuary is closed now, result of long and bitter infighting which saw the Asvestas couple pushed out by board members of the non-profit organization they helped to create in the early 1980s.

Animals are now being moved from the original orphanage property on Leslie Road, as well as from additional orphanage holdings on Talley Road, and Carol Asvestas said many of them are probably being returned to the same deplorable environments from which they were rescued.

“Itʼs a sad time for us,” Carol Asvestas said. “You can recall how we started in 1981, first caring for raccoons, squirrels and other indigenous animals in our home. It was our love for animals which started it all.”

In 1983, the Wild Animal Orphanage was incorporated as a non-profit organization. Since then, other board members, including the Asvestas coupleʼs oldest daughter, Nicole Asvestas Garcia, have shoved the original founders out of the picture.

Accused of bad management, animal neglect, unnecessary euthanization, misappropriation of funds, and other yet-to-be substantiated offenses at the orphanage, Ron and Carol Asvestas were first targeted by Kristina Brunner, a former WAO board member who Carol Asvestas says was removed from the board after Ron Asvestas ordered her off the property because of inappropriate behavior at the facility.

In short, the orphanage founders believe they have been the victims of a personal vendetta fueled by misinformation and outright lies. They deny the charges hurled against them.

They have been investigated by agencies ranging from the Bexar County sheriff to Texas Parks and Wildlife, without a single charge ever being filed. And Ron and Carol Asvestas say they have been slammed and vilified in the daily press, on public radio, and in the weekly Current Magazine by Kristina Brunner and others of her ilk.

“The stuff we have been confronted with has bordered on the unbelievable at times,” Carol Asvestas said. “A helicopter flew over the orphanage and a mass animal grave was reported. It was a mulch pile which had been out there for years.”

I have been a friend and supporter of Carol and Ron Asvestas from the gitgo, and I damn sure wonʼt turn my back on them at this sorry twist of the game.

Truth should eventually win out, and thatʼs what this article is all about. So we will let Carol Asvestas state her case. None of the journalistic Lilliputians involved in this anti-Asvestas campaign have bothered to hear from the couple they marked for attack. It is time for their side to be told.

“In 1981 we started caring for indigenous orphaned animals in our home,” Carol Asvestas said. “As time went by, the demand for help grew tremendously, so in 1983 the Wild Animal Orphanage was incorporated as a nonprofit organization. Ron and I and our children moved eight times over the next few years in order to facilitate animals in need. We eventually purchased nine acres of land at Leslie Road, and 102 acres at Talley Road in the name of the orphanage.”

I was around in those days, and I distinctly recall that Carol and Ron both worked without salary. For the first 15 years, the orphanage was personally funded from the Asvestas private company, Aaronger Services.

Trouble first hit in 2005 while Carol was in New Orleans rescuing animals from the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

“During this time, Kristina Brunner, another board member, showed up at the sanctuary,” Carol said. “Against WAO policy and bio safety level 2 procedures, she entered a quarantine area, which at the time housed potentially herpes 8 infectious macaques monkeys.

“Ms. Brunner tried to physically move one of the primates out of the area. She believed it was cold because it was shivering. I spoke with her on the phone and told her she needed to leave the quarantine area. Ron then told her to leave the premises after she became combative.”

As she left the property, Carol Asvestas said, Kristina Brunner vowed to shut WAO down. And the Asvestas people believe that Brunner might have had an axe to grind from the outset, result of her approach to the care and confinement of wild animals.

Carol Asvestas was extremely active in the passage of laws prohibiting what she calls “the appalling activity of exotic animals being kept as pets.”

She says Brunner aligned herself with breeders and exotic pet owners, specifically Rexano, an organization that promotes the sale and keeping of wild animals for pets.

The rest is history.

“An emergency board meeting was held when I got back from New Orleans,” Carol Asvestas related. “The board basically dismissed all of her (Brunnerʼs) complaints and she was removed from the board by majority vote.

“Over the next five years, Kristina Brunner went on a vindictive witch hunt and filed over 500 pages of complaints with the Texas Attorney Generalʼs Office against Wild Animal Orphanage. We were also investigated by OSHA (Occupational Safety Hazard Association), USDA (United States Department of Agriculture), U.S. Fish and Game, Texas Parks and Wildlife, U.S. Labor Board, Department of Transportation, Bexar County Fire Marshal, SAPD, Bexar County sheriff, TEQC (Texas Environmental Quality Control), Bexar County cruelty officer, Bexar County Humane Society, and code compliance.”

Carol continued: “She also interviewed with San Antonio Lightning (an online scandal sheet which is a journalistic joke) and San Antonio Current (her biggest supporter), San Antonio Express and News, and appeared on channels 4, 12, and Fox 29. None of these media outlets ever contacted us for our side of the story, except one time with San Antonio Current after it had already printed damaging materials. In November of 2008, Ron was rushed to the hospital for emergency open heart surgery. He was in the hospital for 30 days and in recovery for 90 days-plus. During this time, our oldest daughter Nicole, who was working at the orphanage, teamed with Kristina Brunner and Michelle Cryer, a current board member, and employee Terry Minshew (Nicole always said she was the rightful heir to the orphanage).

“A hostile takeover and smear campaign was initiated to discredit us. It included false e-mails and news articles, and false accusations concerning day-today operation of the orphanage. Ironically, Terry Minshew was also instrumental in the attempted takeover of Primarily Primates years ago which also involved the attorney general.”

These developments, Carol Asvestas said, turned another board member against her and Ron, who, on September 29, 2009, were put on administrative leave.

“The very next day, we were fired without explanation,” she said, “nor were we afforded the right to respond to whatever the allegations were. Within one week, two more of the board members resigned, along with the CPA of 15 years and the WAO attorney. They also fired an employee of 15 years who refused to join in the ruse.”

Ironically, the Asvestas daughter was recently booted from the board of a troubled non-profit which is spiraling downward into bankruptcy. If the Asvestas couple are directly responsible for the decline of the ruined sanctuary, then the question remains which none of the loud-mouthed boo birds have bothered to address:

Why didnʼt other members of the WAO board do something about the situation long ago? There were enough of them on hand to overrule Ron and Carol Asvestas at any time they so wished.

“If any of them had any suggestion for improving the way we had been running the orphanage, they never came to us with it,” Carol said.

To date, six years later, not one investigative agency or media outlet has produced any evidence supporting any of the unfounded allegations. No charges have been filed against Ron and Carol Asvestas, or the Wild Animal Orphanage, by the attorney general or any animal care agency.

The demise of the Wild Animal Orphanage is a stunning loss for the Asvestas family, the community in general, the wild animals who need rescuing from deplorable human captivity, and decent people who seek justice for beast and mankind alike.

After years of struggling, and with what started in a bedroom with a few birds, raccoons, and squirrels, Carol and Ron Asvestas built what became one of the most recognized sanctuaries in the United States.

Wild Animal Orphanage was the home to more than 500 animals. National Geographicʼs Big Cats inCrisis and Animal Planetʼs Growing Up Lion were just two of the many programs that featured animal rescues implemented by the Wild Animal Orphanage of San Antonio.

The orphanage survived the devastating floods of 2002, and has, on several occasions, survived negative effects from a poor economy. Carol Asvestas said the current state of affairs is not due to a poor economy, lack of funding, or any mandatory decision made by a regulatory agency.

“Itʼs all about greed and egos,” Carol said. “People who care more about their own agendas than they do about the wild, domestic, and exotic animals that we rescued from throughout the United States. Like any human, Ron and I made our mistakes along the way. But we learned from them, and we would never do anything to harm the animals or jeopardize the sanctuary. We didnʼt provide the wild animals with play toys as some ignorant people would have had us do, but we gave them good food, veterinary care, and safety from harm that was visited upon them by human captors.

“This was our lifeʼs work. The sanctuary. And these people destroyed it in less than one year. They took 30 years of hard work, dedication, and sacrifice and threw it to the wayside with no regard for the animals which had only Wild Animal Orphanage for a real home.”

Ron and Carol Asvestas now live on the original two acres that was part of the first seven acres that comprised the Wild Animal Orphanage in the beginning.

“This is the land where our home sits,” Carl said. “The original agreement called for us retaining the homesite. We still live in the old 3-bedroom mobile home we have always lived in, and we donʼt even have a good vehicle at this time. To suggest that we have taken money for personal use is a ridiculous lie.”

And what now for the Asvestas couple? “Ron intends to open a special camp for children, something he has always wanted to do,” Carol said. “I will work with animals in some capacity, even if it is only for the love of the animals. I even offered to help out at the orphanage for no pay during these troubled times, but they wouldnʼt even accept this. Working with animals is my lifeʼs work and love. I donʼt know anything else.”

ActionMag-DEC2010 LO