Saturday, January 7, 2017

Maryland: Another 'rescuer' caught abusing animals. Michelle Ingrodi, owner of Charm City Animal Rescue, charged with animal cruelty. Nearly 100 cats seized from "deplorable" conditions

MARYLAND -- The Allegany County Animal Shelter seized nearly 100 cats from a local animal rescue last week - and now, criminal charges have been filed against the owner.

The cats survived what animal control officers are calling "deplorable" conditions. All 97 of them are being kept at the shelter, while veterinarians evaluate them and determine their conditions.

 
 

For now, they're being kept in separate cages to reduce the spread of any illnesses.

“It's added a tremendous burden to the shelter, in terms of resources and the strain on the staff and volunteers who care for the animals,” said Tina Rafferty, executive director of the Allegany County Animal Shelter.

“These always put us in a crisis mode,” said Becky McClarran, president of the Allegany County Animal Shelter Foundation. “It's not something we can budget for, but they happen and we deal with it.”


Animal neglect charges have been filed against Michelle Ingrodi, operator of Charm City Animal Rescue. Authorities said 13 cats were seized from her Frostburg home, while 84 cats were taken from an adoption center on Naves Cross Road.

WHAG has not received an answer to requests for comment.

“It's better to have 97 accounted for, then to have to end up burying 97 because they were left in deplorable conditions,” said John Carden, animal control officer in Allegany County.

 
 

This isn't the first time, either. In 2014, 35 cats were taken from Charm City Animal Rescue's location in Baltimore, because of unsanitary living conditions. Now, authorities hope something can be done to make sure it doesn't happen again.

“Animal neglect is real, animal cruelty is real,” Carden added. “As far as Allegany County, we're not going to tolerate it - and we're going to continue to do what we do.”


The Allegany County Animal Shelter is asking for monetary donations for veterinary care - plus donations of dry and wet cat food, cleaning supplies, blankets and towels. Items may be dropped off at the shelter, located at 716 Furnace Street in Cumberland, or at Barkin' Basement Thrift Shop, Virginia Avenue Liquors and Coney Pizza in Lonaconing.

PLEAS FOR MONEY. NO PROOF OF VET CARE PROVIDED TO ANIMALS

This fundraising page, created in 2013 by Ingrodi, has the typical sad photo and a plea for money. But when you read the details, it becomes infuriating. She says ONE KITTEN has a $2,200 vet bill. Another kitten, according to Ingrodi, ran up a $1,000 vet bill and died anyway. 

Notice though that there is no mention of the name of the veterinarian. Why not have the money donated DIRECTLY to the vet, since you've already run up this bill? That's a red flag right there. Is there really a vet? Is there really a vet who was treating these kittens? Or is this all made up? 

Even if it is true, it is completely and utterly irresponsible for a rescue to spend this much money on two kittens. Yes, it's sad that you would have to euthanize the kittens, but would you rather stand there and let 50 healthy cats and kittens be euthanized because you couldn't take them because you'd spent all your rescue's money on two kittens? $3,200 would have allowed your rescue to care for 100 kittens and cats for a long time while you tried to find them homes. 

In the updates, there are no updated photos. She say one kitten is at the clinic running up a $300/day bill - why no photos? Why no photos of the bills that are ballooning out of control? Why no photos of the vet clinic or staff caring for these kittens? Why no mention at all of the name of the clinic?  

I'm more inclined to believe there never was a vet. There is no vet bill. Because this whole sob story is made up. 



Help the sick kittens from Union County
$785 of $1,500 goal
Raised by 22 people in 43 months
Created May 30, 2013 by Michelle Ingrodi
All funds raised go directly to: CHARM CITY ANIMAL RESCUE

Union County Animal Control is a shelter that has no help from cat rescues. They either euthanize the majority of their felines, or they sell them to laboratories. We've been helping them with some cats/kittens on occasion, and recently offered to pull several litters of kittens. While the majority of the kittens have remained healthy, several have not. The orange, long haired litter has coccidia, and one littermate (Brody) is the sickest. He has been seen by the ER vet once already for a fecal, coccidia, and fluids ($242), and is now back at the same ER vet because he's not breathing correctly and losing weight. He was admitted Wednesday and did make it through the night, but is not good at all. His sister Ava is doing better but still really weak, and the doctor said she will know more this afternoon if she can be released.

A second litter, three of whom died in their cage in the shelter, is doing well except for one kitten who's eye is so infected he cannot open it. He is at a regular vet today for the 2nd time in a week. Hopefully they can figure out which meds are the correct ones to treat him with.

Brody and Ava were estimated to cost around $400 each just for last night. I don't have a quote on the other kitten yet. If we choose to save Brody, this number can go much higher. So we need help!

Update #1:
Ava has improved so much that the vet is confident she will be fine to go home tonight! Brody has also improved, but not enough to go home yet. The vet said that they had a respiratory infection which turned into pneumonia, and in Brody it was so bad that it turned systemic. She said that he was brought in just in time. So it's one more night of antibiotics and syringe feeding him, but he should be able to go home tomorrow. Thank you to everyone who has donated!

Update #2:
This morning I spoke to Brody's vet. He is still holding steady, but needs to remain in the ER for another 2-3 days until he is eating on his own. She estimates that it's going to be $200-$300 per day, which is a little less than before, as he is off the oxygen and a few other things. We haven't even made 1/3 of the original bill, let alone what the rest of this will cover. The vet did say that she will get us set up with the rescue discount, but that's usually only around 20%. If anyone can help, you can do so through this link, or paypal to charmcityanimalrescue@gmail.com Thank you!!

Update #3:
We're sorry to say that little Brody passed away around 2am. The vet called me when it happened, and I can assure you she did all she could. His bill alone is over $1000. Ava is still at the vet, and we need all the help we can get for her.

Update #4: 
Ava is finally able to leave the vet. Her bill is $2200, which we do not have at all. If you can donate, please help!

RED FLAG BACK IN 2011

In a 2011 article for Baltimore Magazine:

"This rescue mission has pretty much consumed my life," [Michelle Ingrodi] says. "I don't date, I don't shop, all I do is rescue. But it's the most rewarding thing I've ever done." 

Anyone who says that has a problem. Replace the words "rescue" with "drink" or "gamble" and everyone would be planning an intervention: 

"[GAMBLING] has pretty much consumed my life," [Michelle Ingrodi] says. "I don't date, I don't shop, all I do is [GAMBLE]. But it's the most rewarding thing I've ever done." 

"[DRINKING] has pretty much consumed my life," [Michelle Ingrodi] says. "I don't date, I don't shop, all I do is [DRINK]. But it's the most rewarding thing I've ever done." 

Can a reasonable person let 'rescuing' consume their whole lives without animals suffering as a result? The answer is NO.

NEWS REPORTERS NOT VERIFYING CLAIMS

This article from 2014 says "Charm City Animal Rescue has found homes for more than 300 cats each year, and eventually expanded its reach statewide.

"To date, the nonprofit has facilitated about 700 cat adoptions in Baltimore City and surrounding counties."

Where is the proof of this? Did the reporter just take her word for it or did she actually look through 100s and 100s of pages of documents that would list names, addresses, phone numbers of adopters? Vet paperwork for all of these animals? Documentation showing the date they came into her custody, how long they were with her 'rescue' and the date they were actually adopted? How much money was received for each animal? 

(WHAG - Jan 6, 2017)

2 comments:

  1. Michelle Ingrodi is an unstable woman who is unfit to be in animal rescue. She is vicious and cruel to people who try to help her and a pathological liar. She constantly raised money and used them for other purposes - this was a well known fact in the local community - there's a LOT of unaccounted money. She laughs everything off and pretends like nothing is going on around her and that her "truth" will prevail. She consistently mixes sick cats with healthy cats, does not know when to euthanize an animal even in extreme cases, allows pregnant cats to come to full term so that she can sell the babies, and has a history of stealing family pets to also "adopt" out for profit. She should have been stopped in 2014 and it must happen this time, or that is a real travesty to the animals in her care.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Michelle Ingrodi is an unstable woman who is unfit to be in animal rescue. She is vicious and cruel to people who try to help her and a pathological liar. She constantly raised money and used them for other purposes - this was a well known fact in the local community - there's a LOT of unaccounted money. She laughs everything off and pretends like nothing is going on around her and that her "truth" will prevail. She consistently mixes sick cats with healthy cats, does not know when to euthanize an animal even in extreme cases, allows pregnant cats to come to full term so that she can sell the babies, and has a history of stealing family pets to also "adopt" out for profit. She should have been stopped in 2014 and it must happen this time, or that is a real travesty to the animals in her care.

    ReplyDelete