Suzanne Dragan of Aberdeen, an animal rights advocate who wrote the letter, said she became suspicious after the volunteer, Gretchen Rell, 54, declined to allow her to see the birds during a visit to her home.
“Have you seen Gretchen’s home facilities?” Dragan wrote on Feb. 24. “Have you ever visited unannounced? Are you aware of the actual number of birds (and other wildlife) taken in by Ms. Rell?”
The SPCA forwarded the letter to Rell’s supervisor, planning to follow up on the allegations this week. But over the weekend, officials got a second tip from her brother, said Jerry Rosenthal, the organization’s executive director.
On Sunday, investigators found more than 300 dead birds and the decomposing bodies of other animals in homes in Little Silver and in Ocean Township, where Rell lived. The SPCA says it is now reviewing its own oversight of volunteers and the Department of Environmental Protection is investigating a Toms River wildlife rehabilitator’s role in the case.
Rosenthal declined to say if the SPCA acted quickly enough on the initial tip or on whether the lives of more animals could have been saved had investigators gone to the sites sooner.
“It’s not like it just sat on my desk,” Rosenthal said of the letter. “We were going to follow up on it this week.”
SPCA plans to review how it oversees its volunteers and how it follows up on tips of abuse, Rosenthal said. He does not recall other instances of volunteers being accused of animal neglect to the extent of Rell’s case.
“We’re going to look at procedures for all rehabbers,” said Rosenthal, referring to those who take care of injured animals. “Hopefully, we can prevent something like this from happening again.”
Victor “Buddy” Amato, MCSPCA’s chief law enforcement officer, said he plans to charge Rell with animal cruelty once investigators can tally the number of dead creatures.
Amato said he never received a copy of the letter from Dragan.
“To this date, I haven’t seen the letter from Miss Dragan,” Amato said. “I don’t understand why Susan Dragan didn’t call me directly as she has in the past with animal cruelty complaints.”
Amato said investigators responded to the Little Silver house within 30 minutes after getting a call about the birds on Sunday.
“If she had notified me two weeks ago with a simple phone call, I would have been there five minutes later,” Amato said.
Amato’s investigation is continuing.
“We are still examining everything,” Amato said. “There’s a lot to go through, unfortunately.”
Investigators found boxes and crates stacked in the homes’ basements and garages, Amato said. The crates and boxes were stacked up to 5 feet in places, he said. Many of them contained feces and dead bodies, he said.
Among the dead birds were pigeons, loons, wrens and sparrows, Amato said. Authorities also found dead rabbits and other mammals, he said.
The smell was horrific, Amato said.
Rell lived in the Little Silver home with her 95-year-old mother, Amato said. She had told the mother to “never go into the basement,” he said.
DEP looks into rehabilitator
When people brought birds to the SPCA, it was Rell’s job to transport them to Don Bonica, the owner of Toms River Avian Care and a licensed wildlife rehabilitator, Rosenthal said.
Investigators are trying to determine whether Rell simply was not taking the birds to Bonica or whether she was hoarding others she found on the street, Rosenthal said.
He said he asked Rell about the letter’s allegations three or four days ago.
“She told me she didn’t have a single bird in the house,” said Bonica of Rell, who volunteered for him for more than five years. “She’s been a fine person. I’ve never had an issue with her.”
Bonica is one of several people in the state licensed to rehabilitate wildlife, said Bob Considine, a spokesman with the state Department of Environmental Protection. Rehabilitators typically use sub-permittees to provide temporary, off-site care for animals requiring around-the-clock attention, he said.
“Division of Fish and Wildlife will be speaking to Don Bonica regarding what he knew or didn’t know about his sub-permittee in this case,” Considine said. “We typically require our rehabilitator to keep tabs on their sub-permittees.”
Depending on the investigation’s outcome, Bonica could receive a violation notice, Considine said.
Bonica, who currently has no other violations on his record, could have his permit revoked were he to accumulate two over a five-year period, Considine said.
Behind the home, they said, were piles of empty cages. One neighbor said she caught Rell chasing sparrows across her front lawn. She also witnessed Rell bringing home an owl inside a cage.
Dragan, who said she has known Rell for many years, said she hopes the incident can prompt reform for the system.
“I’m not interested in blaming people, I’m interested in accountability,” Dragan said.
(Coloradoan - March 12, 2014)
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