Sue Croft - DNT - Cave City, KY
Neither Tim Croft nor Sue Croft have a business license in the state of KY for either of their so-called transport companies. It is highly unlikely that either of them are registered with the USDA but we are still awaiting a reply to the messages and info that we have sent to them re: the horrific transport that led to this investigation.
Sue's transport company is Furry Purrs-n-Whiskers Transport.
Tim's transport company is TCTransport.
Furry Purrs-n-Whiskers Transport website:
http://www.furrypurrsnwhiskerstransport.com/index.html
This appeared to be both Sue & Tim Croft's website at the time that this investigation began on June 21st. See the screenshot of this website taken on June 26, 2011:
The Crofts are on USHIP, as of 4-12-11 (prior to my messages with her where she claimed ignorance of the transport laws). The site lists both Sue & Tim as the owners: "My husband and I are a foster home for a 501c3 Rescue/Sanctuary. We decided we would also like to help transport rescued pets to their new furr-ever homes, or for people who need their little loved ones carried for them. Yes, we are new on uSHip; but can provide impeccable foster and transport references. Your pet will have the love and care it would be receiving from you while in our transport." <--- Hmmm... I think this positive rating is about to crash & burn!! The site also lists the # of drivers as 2 and says "Business Type: Independent (with pickup truck/van), Carrier Operation: Interstate."
Tim Croft, June 20-June 21 Transport of Death and Suffering:
Tim Croft transported 47 cats, 12 adults and 35 kittens, per the Greenville, SC. shelter's records, from the Greenville shelter to Amy Verder, Let Them Live Rescue in Taylorsville, KY from June 20th to June 21st, 2011. It is clear that during this transport Tim Croft neglected to provide proper care for these poor innocent cats. There is no proof as to whether or not he ever fed, watered or even bothered to check on these cats during this transport, many of whom were already sick with upper respiratory infections. Tim changed his transport plans on the night of June 20th and decided to stop at his home (and Sue's home as well, at least at that time) to sleep and he reportedly said that he would bring all of the cats inside his home that night and that he would give them food and water and a chance to move around. This never happened as Tim instead left all of these poor defenseless cats in their cardboard carriers inside of his vehicle with all of the windows rolled up during the entire time that Tim was at his home. Tim has written and signed a confession stating this. See his confession below.
When Tim met the receiving rescue, here is where the facts get murky since the receiving rescue, Amy Verder w/Let Them Live Rescue, changed her statements re: many of the facts in this case and it appears that Amy and Sue Croft conspired to minimize the impact of this tragedy to themselves. This is all laid out in great detail in my other report on this matter on this blog. However, it seems to be the case that upon arrival of the receiving rescue returning home from meeting Tim Croft and receiving these cats from him, that the cats were discovered to be in horrible conditions. There were reportedly 4 adult cats and 14 kittens dead at this point and all of the others were in distress, suffering from severe dehydration and possibly urine scald. As of late June, the death toll had risen to 5 adult cats and 19 kittens that had died. Amy stated in her last report to me that she had received a total of 12 adult cats and 32 kittens so comparing that to the shelter's records, that leaves 3 kittens unaccounted for. I have no idea what happened to these poor souls but unless they managed to jump out of Tim's vehicle early on, it is not likely that they could have survived.
Tim Croft is not only an unlicensed transporter but a cruel man who was directly responsible for the deaths and the suffering of these cats on this transport. He is listed as DNT/DNA/DNR as he is a clear danger to animals and he should not be trusted with the lives or welfare of any animals. In my opinion, he has lost the priviledge (from a moral point of view) of ever having any future contact with animals. He is not worthy of this as far as I am concerned.
Please share and distribute the link to this blog far and wide and help to warn all of the shelters and rescues that you possibly can about the Crofts and hopefully by doing so we can protect other animals from coming to harm. For your convenience, here is a list of the links you may want to share:
Articles/publications on this transport of hell:
http://www.examiner.com/pet-advocacy-in-national/animal-transporting-laws-and-common-sense
http://www.examiner.com/pet-advocacy-in-national/animal-transport-gone-bad-by-the-crofts
http://www.examiner.com/pet-advocacy-in-national/the-legal-side-to-the-horrible-transport-by-tim-croft
http://rescueundercover.blogspot.com/2011/07/tim-croft-dntdnadnr-and-sue-croft-dnt.html
http://rescueundercover.blogspot.com/2011/07/croft-transport-of-hell-conspiracy-and.html
Tim's confession:
Sue Croft:
Sue relatively recently changed her name on FB from Sue Croft to Sue Souers Croft. Her Facebook profile url is: https://www.facebook.com/Kittenpurrs
Sue Croft had presented herself to me and to others as a part of Seven Star Sanctuary, based out of Paris, KY. This was apparently not the case but I will be writing a separate article on this topic. It would seem that Sue was merely a foster for Seven Star (up until very recently) but Seven Star also allowed Sue to pull under their 501c3, to receive and handle the donations raised for the two Kaplan rescues that took place in April, and to be responsible for adopting out the cats that she was fostering. This seems to have been done with little oversight by Seven Star and no completed foster agreement by Sue. Mary Thomas of Seven Star also told me that Sue does not appear to have adoption agreements for all of the cats that she claims to have gotten adopted. The role that Sue had in this does seem to be more than what your typical foster would be responsible for so perhaps this is partly why Sue seemed to think that she was more of a partner in the rescue. If Sue wishes to contact me with a statement on this matter, I would consider adding it to the upcoming publication on this topic.
I met Sue Croft in late March of this year and by April 20th, she had proven to me that her integrity was highly suspect where the welfare of animals and the regard for the the law was concerned. I ended all communication with her at this point. Sue was pulling a large number of cats and dogs from the Kaplan pound in LA. when we met (this was her first rescue from Kaplan) and I helped to get the word out about this rescue and to assist her in asking for donations for the vetting and transport of these animals. It was during her planning of her second rescue from Kaplan that she informed me that her transport plans were illegal. She was the transport coordinator, not the transporter, although she may have driven the last part of the transport herself. You can see screenshots of part of the conversation that I had with Sue here: http://rescueundercover.blogspot.com/2011/07/sue-croft-claimed-in-april-to-have-no.html
Sue never indicated to me that she had a transport company or that she had done any transporting previously. I was very surprised to learn in June when this tragedy occured that Sue was calling herself a transporter since she claimed utter ignorance of the transport laws re: health certs on April 20th. It states on her transport company website that her first transport was on March 18th, 2011.
The only thing that I can say with absolute certainty is that Sue Croft is now presenting herself as a paid transporter, yet she is not licensed to provide such services. Paid transporters are required under the law to be registered w/the USDA and to follow all of the USDA (federal) guidelines as well as the state guidelines for the states that they are transporting in. If you want to own a business, then you need a valid business license. If you are being paid for a service, you must report your earnings as income with the IRS. I am not saying that Sue (or Tim) are not reporting their earnings as income because I have no knowledge of this. However, the fact that Sue Croft reportedly insisted to Amy Verder of Let Them Live Rescue that the $300 due to Tim Croft at the time of arrival for this horrific transport in June had to be paid in cash does make you wonder why this was. If someone wants to be a paid transporter they need to do so responsibly and there are many things that make it apparent that Sue Croft has not been operating responsibly. There is also the fact that Sue Croft was involved in this June transport, although she was not directly responsible for the suffering and deaths to these cats. The resulting conspiracy and cover up is just one of many reasons that I believe all of these participants are shady as hell. More info on this part of this can be found here:
http://rescueundercover.blogspot.com/2011/07/croft-transport-of-hell-conspiracy-and.html
written by Crystal Harley
