Animal Politics

The WAO continues to play games with the animals’ lives. I was told by a person working with Dawn Smith (IFAW contract employee) that the WAO required fruits and vegetables. I was told by this same person that Dawn was expecting to hear from me so I could help her acquire free fruits and vegetables.


So I sent her a quick email that day:

To: smithdawn@comcast.net
Sent: Wed, September 22, 2010 8:57:13 AM
Subject: WAO Produce

Greetings Dawn:

Does the WAO require fruits and vegetables this week?

Regards,

Several hours later I received this email:

From: Dawn Smith
Sent: Wed, September 22, 2010 2:45:29 PM
Subject: WAO produce

Hello Kristina,

We are ok at the moment as people are donating money direct to our produce supplier, allowing us to pick up only what we need when we need.

This serves two ways as it also reduces our waste situation.I'll be in touch if our needs change.

Best,

Dawn

Hmmm. That was strange, but I figured she had everything under control. I did send her a reply email:

To: Dawn Smith smithdawn@comcast.net
Sent: Wed, September 22, 2010 3:44:37 PM

Subject: Re: WAO produce

Greetings Dawn:

If you'd let me know who is your direct produce supplier, perhaps I can assist in providing additional donations directly to the company.

Please keep in touch in case your needs change.

Best

To which I never received a reply. I figured the first email was a kiss-off email. Turns out I was right (read on).

So I figured animal politics were in play and decided I would stay out of Dawn’s way as she appeared to have everything under control. I let my friend know of Dawn’s email and he told me not to take it personally—chances are she was just busy and didn’t realize it was “me” who wrote her offering assistance.

On Thursday, I asked my friend if the WAO required produce as this was the day to set up a produce order from a friend of mine.

Here is the email exchange:

Sent: Thursday, September 23, 2010 11:08 AM
Subject: Re: WAO produce

No word yet regarding the produce? Must order today if they need fruits & veggies.

Sent: Thu, September 23, 2010 11:17:45 AM
Subject: Re: WAO produce

They have a full supply as of now.

I mentioned you and she now realizes your previous efforts.

She is getting 100 emails a day and all receive a short reply. Please don't feel a short reply was personal.

So I told him I canceled plans on obtaining the produce for the primates.

Then…..on Friday, I received another plea for produce from my friend. He told me the animals would be out of produce by Wednesday and that Dawn requested my assistance to obtain more fruits and veggies.

What the heck is going on?? Who is running the show over there?? The chimps (no, can’t be the chimps for they wouldn’t be this incompetent over their own food supply)??

Apparently attempts to secure fruits and veggies from various produce companies were unsuccessful because someone from the WAO (Dawn? Jamie?) called and made a scene over the phone with their main suppliers. Turns out this produce companies was still owed money for past delivered produce and wanted payment first before it would resume shipping produce to the WAO. This just happened to be the company I was able to obtain fresh produce last Saturday. In any case, the owner said no more produce, period, until the bill was paid. Well, there went my contact to score fresh fruits and veggies at a low price! Not only that, but produce companies apparent talk to one another and so now no produce companies in San Antonio wants to help the WAO.

I spoke to my friend who has connections to various produce companies and he told me that the WAO turned away a large delivery of produce on Wednesday, after responding to pleas for produce. This was the second time the WAO turned away this same company’s produce deliveries, so now the owner of this company is ticked off.

My friend tried talking the owner into giving the WAO one more chance. The owner stated over the phone that if the WAO wanted produce, they can go dumpster diving behind their building. Great. Just great.

So, my friend gave me the names and locations of three other companies that would probably donate free produce, if we went there in person and explained the situation.

So, I let my friend know the latest on “operation secure produce”:

Sent: Friday, September 24, 2010 4:05 PM
Subject: Re: WAO produce

Houston we have a problem....

There is more to the River City story that you have not been told ...

And yes, the word has gotten out about what transpired between this company and another company that apparently tried to donate produce this Wednesday and was turned away. The produce people are not happy with WAO ...

I think I have found three places that may donate, but I will need help from the IFAW volunteer. I can explain when I get home tonight....k

Sent: Friday, September 24, 2010 5:55 PM
Subject: Re: WAO produce

Free produce and fruit would be awesome. Why was produce turned away? Was it rotten?

If all else fails, I called and talked to {name removed} at {sanctuary removed}, and he will get back to me after he talks to {name removed}. He is fairly certain we can order through them if push comes to shove. They have a huge number of primates and has a pretty decent volume discount. He indicated they could do it through xxx.org and not through WAO. WAO can pick it up though, no problem.

Again, free would be about 1000 times better :)
River City didn't go into detail, but Catalani Produce was quite friendly until I mentioned WAO. I even offered to pay in advance and have them pick it up. Their entire demeanor seemed to change when I mentioned WAO. I explained we weren't associated with WAO, and was just helping the animals. Didn't seem to make a difference. Saying "WAO" killed the conversation

Sent: Saturday, September 25, 2010 8:59 AM
Subject: Re: WAO produce

I can get free fruits and veggies - so hold off on ordering anything from {sanctuary removed}. May need them later if the companies gets tired of giving away free.

Nope, the fruits and veggies were all good - whoever told the driver to leave didn't even look at the produce! Just told the driver that they did not need the donation. This is the second time this has happened and so now I have to try and make nice nice with the owner.

I can give you more details later this afternoon - right now it's time for grocery shopping! Talk to you later -

Sent: Sat, September 25, 2010 9:37:40 AM
Subject: Re: WAO produce

I will tell Dawn. They will be out of fruit and produce by Wed.

That afternoon, my friend told me Dawn was expecting my call and that she and I could work together. He encouraged me to call her right away. He said she was a very nice person and that we would probably hit it right off.
So I called her. When she answered the phone, I identified myself and asked if she still needed assistance in acquiring produce for the animals. There was a pregnant pause and then she hemmed and hawed for a few seconds, saying she was just emailing my friend to let him know that she did not need produce.

She claimed she received a grant that was to be used specifically for animal care, such as food and paying the animal caretakers.

I was stunned that despite receiving the grant, she was still turning down FREE produce. After working with grant projects for years, I know how important it is to show that grant recipients to demonstrate fiscal responsibility. So I asked her, “You don’t need FREE produce after all?” And she said no, now that she had this grant, she didn’t need my help after all. No apologies offered for the jerk-around. She tone towards me was not friendly—she sounded chilly to me.

Okay, so now I have to go back to my contact a second time to say “never mind, they don’t need produce after all.” I know when I do this; I’ll lose every opportunity to ever get FREE produce from the San Antonio community for the animals.

I do wish Dawn good luck in scoring low cost or FREE produce for the animals as she and the WAO have effectively cut me out of helping the animals.

In my opinion, animal politics is once again interfering with animal care. Just goes to show that IFAW only wants “certain people” to help them and God forbid if the person who tried to warn them in the first place back in 2006 about the WAO’s dismal situation, wants to continue to help the animals today, well they just have to keep me away from the WAO! It appears I have been labeled the enemy even though I was the only one who stuck with the animals for the entire 4.5+ years the WAO was under investigation. And where was IFAW? Where was Dawn?

MIA.

****************************************************************

Later:

Sent: Monday, September 27, 2010 5:16 PM
Subject: Re:

I'm not so sure it was Dawn being wishy washy as it was WAO BOD people being buttheads. Dawn is pretty frustrated there, and has no real decision making powers.

Sent: Monday, September 27, 2010 2:36 PM
Subject: Re:

Well, when I told my contact that the WAO did not want free fruits and veggies after all, he immediately called the produce company and told the owner that the WAO changed their minds--again.

But it was too late as a truck was just dispatched to the Orphanage. I could hear the owner yelling at my friend over the phone telling him never to call him again. My friend told him, don't worry, I won't call you again and hung up.

I don't know if Dawn turned away this truck. I pray she did not, but regardless, the produce companies in San Antonio will certainly know about what transpired today. Thanks to Dawn's wishy-washy attitude regarding free produce, the WAO will probably have to pay full fare for all produce orders. No free goodies for the animals.

Now my friend is upset with me. Today was not a great day after all.

*********************************************************************

Later:

Turns out the workers had trouble finding the WAO (the sign was taken down from the building), and so they did not deliver the produce until the following day. The workers, not wanting to throw away a truckful of produce, attempted the produce delivery one more time (their boss said this was the last delivery since the people at the WAO "cannot seem to make up their minds") and met with success. The drivers were told to take the produce to Talley Road, where we know the anmials there received at least a weeks worth of free produce.

Animal Politics

For years I have been aware of how animals are used in politics. There are three main factions – those who believe only sanctuaries should be allowed to possess exotic wild animals; those who believe responsible owners should be allowed to possess exotic wild animals; and then there a group that does not support the ownership of exotics at all (not for private owners or sanctuaries).

Most people are not aware of these warring factions. And God forbid if you are caught consorting with the "enemy," for you will be cut-off from any support.

There are a lot of emotions and MONEY behind the controversial subject of “exotic ownership.” I have tried my best to stay out of the way of politics; simply because saving the WAO animals should NOT be a political subject. It should be about what is right and wrong. Legal vs. illegal. Moral values vs. chaos.

But, like most things in life, what I believe really does not matter in the grand scheme of things. Politics have taken over this case and now everyone is trying to “cover their royal asses.” The USDA FINALLY wrote-up the WAO for issues that plagued the facility for YEARS. The OAG is FINALLY getting off their collective asses and doing more than simply “monitoring the situation.” Why, because in July 2010, there was no food for the primates or the big cats. And it has become quite apparent that the current board of directors has no idea on how to raise funds for the animals—they have simply given up the ghost.

So, this meant either the OAG or the USDA had to take action and responsibility for the animals, which I believe the Cryers intended all along. It would not surprise me if the representatives for both offices were in the back room together flipping a coin to see who would be the one to take ownership of this mess.

What’s even more interesting is the various animal groups, whom I first contacted for help years ago, suddenly want to “help” the WAO animals today. Where were these same groups when I needed their help 4 ½ years ago? Hmm?? Hmm?

Case in point:

Last week I was contacted by Don Elroy, who used to work for a Texas sanctuary. In 2006, I was directed to speak with Mr. Elroy regarding the situation at the WAO. I needed help with finding enough people willing to take “tours” and bring back information regarding the health and welfare of the WAO’s Leslie Road animals. After a 15-minute conversation, Mr. Elroy said he would “get back with me.” I never heard from him until last week.

Our conversation last week started off very well. We spoke for about two hours until I made the mistake of saying something like, “thank goodness for the Rexano.org/WAO web page for if this site did not exist, then we would have a lot more animals to place.”

Apparently, I made a major faux “paw” when I brought up the Rexano.org site, for there was this l-o-n-g pause, and then the words “do you know what the Rexano.org site represents?” was uttered. Here comes the politics.

I explained that I understand what the Rexano website represents, but in this case, Zuzana was the only person who reached out to me, offering to help the WAO animals. Several years ago, there was so much information fragmented on the web regarding the WAO that it was difficult for anyone to learn more about WAO and its alleged fraudulent business practices. Today, folks can read the complete history of the WAO investigation process on the Rexano site. The Rexano.org website was instrumental in saving lives as we were able to stop the relocation of primates from two well-known universities, a bear, and five tigers to he WAO. What a blessing!

Unfortunately, this explanation was ignored when I was told I should distance myself from the Rexano people. This statement was followed with a lengthy explanation regarding the reasons why I should not be working with Zuzana.

This really irked me! The website was not put up because of politics, but in an effort to save lives. Isn’t that what all good animal people strive for—saving animal lives? Is this not one thing all the animal factions can agree upon?

Over and over again, Don kept saying, “I don’t know if I can work with someone who works with Zuzana.”

After his Rexano lecture, I lost a little of my cool. I brought up that I went to all the big animal rights/rescue groups – HSUS, ASPCA, Houston SPCA, San Antonio Animal Defense League, SPCA of Dallas, WSPA, IFAW, and Voices for Animals (San Antonio branch). Not one single group offered to help me. These groups either ducked my calls, refused to call or email me back, or simply poo-poo’d my concerns. So when an animal welfare group extended a helping hand, I reached out and grabbed this life-line for the sake of the WAO animals.

How dare anyone associated with these AR groups have the audacity to criticize my methods of saving animals! I was working with a group that wanted to save the WAO animals, not close it down. Exactly what did THEY do to help save the WAO animals? Why didn’t they help me when the animals needed help the most? It was at this point Don reminded me that he and I spoke about the WAO animals while he still worked for another Texas sanctuary. I replied “That’s right, we did talk about the WAO in 2006, and you said you would get back with me. You NEVER did.”

Needless to say, I have not heard from him since. I sent him some information he requested and I offered to send him additional information about the WAO case, but thus far, he has not responded to my emails. I guess I have been cut-off once again! No loss there since he was uncooperative the first time.

I just do not understand how anyone can allow politics to cloud important issues such as saving the WAO animals. One animal welfare group put aside its political agenda to help save lives. Why couldn’t the animal rights groups done the same? I know, I know, it’s all about money and power. Just for once though, I wish both groups could come together over this one issue. I’d bet they would find they have more in common than they thought.