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My name is Danni Croker.  Many of you may know me by my rescue, Toe Beans Kitten Rescue.  Please know I put this out there at potentially great personal cost in the harrassment I may receive from speaking out.  But I will not be silent, and neither will many others.  We are a small, all-volunteer foster home network who try to serve the Calhoun, Cleburne, Talladega and surrounding communities.  I am one of several area rescuers big and small trying to do our part to fill the need left by cities and counties who are not humanely addressing the stray, homeless, and overpopulation problem of our pets.  There are MANY good people who do this all over the state.  We rescues and rescuers help each other and lift each other up when one is struggling.  I initially counted Heather Wilson among them, until I started paying closer attention.  Corners cut.  Red flags.  Animals never seen again.  Money raised for vet care but no record of that vet care being done.  And often the animal just disappears.  When it is discovered that one of our own is actively harming animals despite numerous offers of help, networking and FAR more funds coming in from a trusting community of longtime donors than I have ever seen in my own rescue......WE HAVE TO ACT.  We tried to act last year.  Here is what happened:

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On July 12 I received these images above as well as several videos (please see "videos" section) from a whistleblower INSIDE THE LEAGUE FOR ANIMAL WELFARE..  I have been in that building MANY times over the years so I immediately recognized the room(s) in the footage.  I asked them when these images were taken.  They replied "1 week ago, after the 4th of July weekend".  They said it looked like no one had bothered to come in over the 3-day holiday weekend.  Every food/water bowl dry.  Every litterbox overflowing.  A missing kitten, whose mother later threw up part of an ear.  That's when staff searched more carefully and found the kitten's uneaten tail.  They then told me every cat in the building was sick and not receiving care despite them asking numerous times that Heather take these animals to get help.  I immediately contacted someone attached to the Calhoun Co. Sheriff's Office.  

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On July 13, I entered The League during business hours to see if these kittens pictured here were even still alive.  Miraculously they were.  Barely.  One could not even hold its head up.  The Director was not there, but 3 employees gladly assisted me in loading up every kitten in the building I could find.  13 pulled from 2 rooms.  Most of these kittens, including with the eyes rotting out of their heads were located loose in the ADOPTION ROOM.  Most of the adult cats were very sick.  Some were defacating pure blood according to staff.  Also according to staff, others were being impregnated at The League because they were not being separated by genders, and they do not spay/neuter the vast majority of their animals.  I counted at least 25 cats in terrible condition remaining in the building, though there could have been some I missed.  I did not have a chance to view the dogs in the back.

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The kittens were immediately assessed and provided emergency critical care by myself and my rescue volunteer who was a former vet tech.  We frequently encounter cases such as these in the community and on the streets, but never from another rescue, who had been in possession of the kittens for weeks according to staff without providing them ANY vet care or antibiotics.  What little medicine a few received was brought in by underage staff trying to save them because Heather would not take them to the vet.  Most could barely eat.  They suffered from EXTREME dehydration from constant diarrhea just pouring from their backsides as they walked.  Fleas were crawling all over them.  They had wormy bellies.  Fleas and worms are among the CHEAPEST things someone can treat, without even going to a vet.  But The League and Heather failed to do even that for them as the parasites literally ate them alive, inside and out.  And the eyes......the eyes speak for themselves.  It is one thing to receive a kitten in this condition.  It is another to provide no antibiotics for it for weeks, or get a vet assessment and recommendation.    We stabilized them overnight with subcutaneous fluids, nutrients, antibiotics, and dewormer & flea meds.....and took the kittens in to the first available vet appt next day. 

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Here you will see the photos of those kittens we took once we got them somewhere safe.  There are also videos in the videos section of the kittens as we assessed them prior to beginning their treatments.  Fleas.  Diarrhea.  Lethargic.  Untreated eye infections.  Dying.  

 

The vet assessed them as 2 or 3 out of 6 on a body condition scale.  "Anemic", "Eyes That Need To Be Removed", "Dehydrated", "Needs antibiotics, enucleation, & fluid therapy. 

 

"Kittens were in a HOSTILE ENVIRONMENT & SERIOUSLY NEEDED REMOVAL.".  Those were the vet's words on a signed official vet statement.

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I was contacted the day after I removed the kittens by an officer from the APD who claimed jurisdiction and I was asked to go in for a lengthy interview which I did.  He said he would investigate my claims and asked that I send all of our evidence as well as witness statements to him.  We did so.

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Oh, and the 13 kittens......they ended up having PANLEUKOPENIA.  This is the cat version of PARVO.  It is DEADLY.  It can take sometimes days to weeks for symptoms to show from the point of contraction of the virus.  Once symptomatic, death is often RAPID.  And it is HIGHLY CONTAGIOUS.  It is also EASILY PREVENTED with a standard yearly shot that any rescue can obtain and give ourselves (legally) for about $4 apiece.  Despite all of our best efforts and veterinary care, we still lost 4 of the 13.  Without our intervention, there is no question they would all have been dead within days.  Hours for some.  The other 9 were returned to health, though it took loving, dedicated foster Moms & Dads months to accomplish this, they were in such terrible condition.  But eventually they were VACCINATED, FIXED and ADOPTED OUT to real homes and families.  And while the black kitten with the eyeball rotting out of her head did not survive the panleukopenia, the gray & white baby with the infected eyes did survive and was named RAY.  He had to have the worst eye removed but we were able to save the other one and he does have partial vision.  He grew up to be gorgeous and does not know he is different from other kitties.   They are all loved now.  

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To this date, as far as we can tell, the APD have done NOTHING substantive but a handful of inspections if you can truly call them that.  Last July they gave the League 30 days to "clean up their act".  Many of the cats that were there who I witnessed as being very sick allegedly vanished so that the APD "inspections" would find things in good order.  You don't have to explain away sick, dying and dead cats if the sick, dying and dead cats aren't in the building anymore, right? Were they dumped somewhere?  Euthanized?  We later learned of at least 6 who were quietly put down.  We have proof of this.  Perhaps there is a brave local vet who will soon shed light on how regular an occurence this is and how many over the last 3 years.    

 

Many of the dogs are not in much better shape than the cats.  Most aren't fixed.  Fights occur sometimes daily.  Sometimes deadly.  Numerous ex-employees and volunteers have attested to this.  There is a reason most volunteers/employees do not stay very long.