Officials removed 56 cats, 10 dogs and 26 birds from the “Troll Keep Kitty Haven Animal Rescue” by police and the Parke – Vermillion Humane Society.
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| Some of the animals listed for adoption. |
Tips led police to the rescue that is operated 62 year old Bonnie M. Hanning and her two daughters 28 year old Shannon Childress and 23 year old Lorene Childress who are all from rural Dana.
The two daughters turned themselves into police Thursday morning.
All are facing animal cruelty charges.
All have posted $7,000 bond and have been released.
THE MYTH
Troll Keep Kitty Haven - Indiana
About Our Rescue Group:
Our family has been doing informal cat rescue for nearly 30 years. We mostly work with a couple of our local shelters to help them place their kitties. We take home many nursing mothers and pregnant kitties so they do not have to raise their children in a cage. We also take home kitties who need more attention -either medically or socially- than they can get at the shelter.
We also end up working with at least a couple of barn colonies or people who have gotten over their head caring for their kitties every year. We help them find homes for the kittens and the adults they do not want to keep and get the ones they do want to keep all spayed or neutered, so they will not have more to find places for soon.
In the past few years we have had people asking us to take dogs as the economy has worsened. We only take in a few dogs or a litter or two of pups at a time and they run loose in our house with our personal pets
Many in our current "pride" are sanctuary, lifetime residents here due to special needs. If you have room in your heart, home and budget for special needs cats, please e-mail and we'll send you info on some of our kitties with special medical needs.
WARNING SIGNS
The problem with these rescues is that they can legitimize themselves via sites like AdoptAPet.com, ebay.com, Petfinder.com as well as getting their 501c3 (non-profit) status.
Just because you obtain a 501c3, it does NOT mean they're verified, legitimate, etc. It simply means they filed for paperwork. Most of these small rescues say they don't make more than $25,000/year so they're not really required to file much paperwork at all. And who's keeping track? If they "sell" aka "rehome" aka "adopt" 75 animals per year at $250 each (about 6 animals per month), that gets them close to that $25k/yr cap. Now factor in donations they receive via GoFundMe, Paypal, etc. as well as donations of food, bedding, leashes, medications, etc.
If they don't declare it, who's to know otherwise? It's not like the IRS is there looking over their shoulder to make sure they claim that $100 donation some animal lover hands them for some supposed animal that needs surgery. Does the animal receive the medical care? Who knows?
Below you'll see that they don't have a facility in which to view the animals. That's a red flag. They will "meet you" somewhere... just like dog and cat breeders who don't want you to come to the property. They put a bow on the puppy or kitten for sale and drive it to a secondary location so you have no idea the horrors and inhumane conditions the animals are forced to survive in. They say (below) that MANY of their animals are "lifetime residents" due to special needs (medical issues, aggression issues, etc.) -- where are they?
One thing you'll notice is how adept they are at soliciting funds online. They have numerous links on many different sites. They will tell you how much money they spend on vet care, but never post copies of the vet paperwork, they will show photos of sickly animals and beg for money but rarely show photos of the animal after it has been treated by a veterinarian.
They also have a never-ending list of animals that were slated for death at a "high kill" shelter or some horror story for a particular animal. It's done to pull at your heartstrings - to get money and donations from you.
Everyone reading this story should do a search for animal rescues in their towns and research them. If they have their 501c3 status, look at the IRS for their filings. If they haven't filed the paperwork, contact the IRS for it. If they aren't registered as a non-profit, do your homework and find out all you can about them and then contact Animal Control to look into them. Just like child protective services, if they are legit, there will be no issues - no harm, no foul in verifying this. However, there are JUST TOO MANY WHICH ARE NEGLECTING ANIMALS. This is an easy thing for you to do and you owe it to yourself and the animals to do this little thing to make sure animals where you live are not suffering.
(WIBQ - Oct 20, 2016)
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