The purpose of this blog is to expose some of the harmful and detrimental things being done to animals in the name of rescue and those responsible for these crimes.
As many of you probably already know, there is a long, ugly history between Amy Verder and Susan Barrett. Amy, as far as I know, never met Susan online until the early fall of 2010, shortly after AV began her rescue, Let Them Live Rescue. Susan was reportedly suspicious of LTL and AV when Sharon Johnson and Bonnie Priddy approached her about their concerns regarding LTL, namely their fundraising via Chip Ins. Amy decided for her own reasons to launch a campaign of malicious and cruel attacks on SB founded by her hatred of Susan. Yet this was (as far as I am aware) BEFORE Amy had any knowledge that Susan was suspicious of her and LTL and was likely already watching her. So what was her motivation that set this whole awful chapter into motion that has been so detrimental to all parties involved? I can’t say for sure but the following facebook private messages from Oct. 2011 are the only thing that I’ve found that may explain Amy Verder’s initial hatred towards Susan Barrett. I do not think it is a coincidence that right after this AV started claiming that Susan was “bad” and that she was involved in terrible things that victimized and exploited animals. There has never been any proof produced by by AV (and later also by Susanna Boyd Fisher aka Cherokee Rayne Wolfsong) that I am aware of to substantiate the outrageous claims made by these individuals against SB. It would appear that these were only malicious lies created by these women for the sole purpose of some sort of revenge on Susan. To be fair, I must point out that after Amy started doing malicious things to Susan, Susan seemed to get serious about trying to expose LTL as a fraud rescue. I do not approve of Susan Barrett’s typical tactics or her own (in my opinion) underhanded and dishonest ways of dealing with people. However, in this case, SB’s motivations might have been at least partly honorable. Allegedly, Susan was contacting shelters, the Secretary of State in KY, PayPal, other agencies, and I know she had contacted at least one reporter, Dena Stapleton, in her attempts to discover the truth about Amy and LTL. I can not fault Susan for this really, and even if her motivations were also personal, LTL really is a very bad rescue IMO, so it’s not like she was trying to set AV up to look bad. In this case, I will give credit to Susan for trying to expose LTL, for that was a good thing. It is my belief that Amy took what happened in these private messages personally and blew the situation WAY out of proportion. She stated several times (4 times if I counted correctly) that Susan threatened Lea but then says "I know you did not harass me or threaten me or my children did not mean you as I stated not you at all.." This completely contradicted her earlier statements. She not only flipped out on this thread, she also attacked her friend Crystal Harley for being diplomatic and not agreeing with her that Susan was out of line, and according to Crystal, Amy brought this incident up quite frequently during the remainder of the time they were associated, which was about 8 months. So it would seem that for whatever reason, this incident was a huge deal to Amy. IMO, that is just further substantiation that AV has some serious issues. She's quite narcissistic among other things, so this was, of course, all about HER. How sad that all of the resulting negative things that happened may have been ignited by something so trivial and minor and fueled by her hatred. Seriously, is this the best way to deal with one’s anger or disappointment in others?
Now here is Amy again, six months later in mid-April 2011, on a Facebook page called *Animals Voice of Hope* BLACKLIST, still complaining about this perceived injustice. Drama? No, never Amy..
The following is what is known about the true nature of the relationship between Seven Star Sanctuary and Sue Croft. Sue Croft was never a part of Seven Star Sanctuary as she claimed multiple times to many people, this was a total fabrication on her part. This was discovered last year during the investigation into the Transport of Death and Suffering that involved the illegal transporters Tim & Sue Croft and Amy Verder of Let Them Live Rescue that was conducted by Crystal Harley and Dena Stapleton. Crystal has written a statement re: these messages (see below) with Mary Thomas and Pam Boyce (the women in charge of Seven Star Sanctuary) and has given me permission to publish them here. I think these messages pretty much speak for themselves but I will say that it is clear to me that Seven Star Sanctuary made some significant mistakes in their association with Sue Croft, in my opinion. Luckily, they claimed that they ended their association with Sue after the truth came out about her and her husband at the time, Tim, as being paid transporters who were operating illegally as they had no business licenses and also apparently were not registered with the USDA (not required but highly preferred in a paid transporter). However, Seven Star Sanctuary has been linked to Amy Verder with Let Them Live Rescue recently so that's a significant black mark against them both as far as I am concerned.
My opinion, based on the information that has been put out about Seven Star Sanctuary in regards to their involvement with others in what is commonly referred to as the CCAC group (a group of people who are involved in rescuing animals from the Columbus County Animal Control facility in Whiteville, NC.), is that Seven Star and the others involved have made some serious errors, resulting in animals being placed in bad situations and that they have been operating irresponsibly. I have not been directly involved in the investigation re: the CCAC group, nor do I have any ties to anyone on either side of this situation so I am certainly not up to date on all of the facts in this matter. There is a federal lawsuit that has been filed against some of the individuals who were investigating and exposing them for what they believed they were guilty of. I also have no plans to get involved in this situation in the future but I will post links below for anyone who might wish to get better informed on this. An excellent resource is the alegalknot site which gives information about the CCAC group, what they are suspected of and information about the pending lawsuit.
"Here are the messages that were between Mary Thomas, Pam Boyce and I last year when I was investigating the Transport of Death and Suffering (June 2011) that Tim and Sue Croft and Amy Verder of Let Them Live Rescue were involved in where a large number of cats and kittens suffered and died due to gross negligence on the part of Tim Croft. All of these parties played a role in this tragedy and it was my goal to try to clarify every detail that I possibly could and so this was my attempt to obtain from Seven Star Sanctuary the truth about their involvement with Sue Croft.
I give you my permission to share these messages with whomever you like and/or to post them anywhere you choose to. I only ask that you also share my post here as well since it protects you and also makes it clear that my communication with Mary Thomas and Pam Boyce was in the context of my investigation, and that my intention was to seek the truth as it related to that, not anything else. I do not support Seven Star Sanctuary in any way, nor have I in the past, and I want to make sure that this is included in any copy of my messages that I have included here.
I also enlisted the help of a contact who visited the Paris, KY. Seven Star Sanctuary location in an attempt to find out if they appeared to be operating responsibly in terms of how they treated their animals. My contact reported to me that all appeared to be in order as best they could tell from the appearance of the rescue and in how the staff interacted with them.
This is what my contact had to say about their visit to Seven Star Sanctuary and of course they gave me their written permission to publish this.
"Crystal - went to Seven Star Sanctuary - I talked to the owners and the farm is really nice - the animals looked great, cats, dogs, horses, chickens and ducks. I did not mention the Crofts, but did go to my vet and asked all kinds of questions and my vet was very honest. She told me that any time any animal showed signs of sickness or anything they brought it immediately to her and she took care of it - she said that they took very good care of the animals and she did remember them ending up with some kittens that Sue Croft brought them and my vet said the kittens were in terrible shape, but that was the only time that Sue Croft was mentioned."
The planned volunteer transport from Ann Bridges to Let Them Live Rescue has been cancelled. Unfortunately, it appears that the dog is still going to LTL. Wondering why the plan was changed but regardless, this dog is still not safe (in my opinion). I challenge all of you to follow this dog after she (or he) arrives at LTL. Maybe if they know they are being watched they will at least attempt to demonstrate some transparency and accountability with this dog.. unlike so many others. Sure would love to see some proof of vetting done, how funds raised are spent and proof that this baby gets the happy life she deserves after she leaves LTL.
Hello everyone. Hope everyone is doing good and doing their part to make this world better for animals in whatever way they can. I just wanted to say a few things since all of a sudden there's been a ton of interest in this blog since the last posting.
First of all, this blog is intended to be about bad rescues, not about any one in particular. However, Let Them Live Rescue inspired this blog with their role in the Croft Transport of Death. They are operating very irresponsibly as I see it and this must not continue. Not when there is zero accountability or transparency in their rescue or proof that their rescued animals truly go on to have happy lives. This should be obvious but anyone can be fooled I suppose. So with that said, I fully expect for many of the future posts here to center around LTL and their many lies and bad decisions. They are never-ending and increasingly outrageous. I only post what I can prove or provide evidence to support, unless it's my personal opinions or my suspicious, in which case it will be clear that that's all they are.
Obviously I got someone's attention and this is a good thing. The victimization of animals should be something that we ALL fight against, no matter our personal issues or alliances with each other. If you are not willing to take an objective look at the people who are being questioned (and there are many of them) because there are red flags (no matter if you thought they were great), then what does this say about YOUR love for animals? I don't know about you, but I care more about the long-term happiness of an animal than I do about just getting him/her out the door of the shelter. No one wants to see animals getting slaughtered in our shelters but there truly are fates worse than death, as hard as this is to accept.
Oh and a big shout out to Ann Bridges for her planned transport to Let Them Live Rescue on March 24th from Gainsville, FL. to Taylorsville, KY. Anyone care about this dog at all? Ann sure as hell does not. I know for a fact that she should know better after her involvement in sending dogs to BUDDIES Rescue (Keith Wandell), not to mention that she was previously warned about Amy and LTL Rescue. Someone should really try to stop this poor dog from going to LTL but I think Ann is the sender so this poor dog is shit out of luck. :(
I will be posting more as I am able. It takes time to compile the facts and present them in a way that makes clear what it all means. Please be patient as I have a busy life with many other responsibilities and animal related endeavors. Thanks for your support, or your keeping watch anyway, lol.
What's new with Let Them Die Rescue? Hmm, did I post that out loud? I meant Let Them Live Rescue. Well, it seems that among other things, Amy is now offering to illegally dispense the anesthetic Propathol (Propofol). She has offered to do this at least once that we know of - to a woman for the purpose of using it on her dog. Amy is not a doctor, in spite of her outrageous claims that she was fully educated as a veterinarian but just never bothered to get licensed. She has no authority to dispense this drug, period. It is highly unethical as well as illegal to do this and I cannot imagine how she is explaining herself for this one. I am sure she has a crazy ass story as usual to defend herself with. How she would even obtain this drug I have no idea nor why she would want it. This drug was meant to be used by doctors and vets in a hospital setting, not at home by laypersons. This would have clearly been a very dangerous thing for the poor dog in question. By the way, Propofol is the same drug that Michael Jackson was using and that was implicated in his death. So sure, it makes sense that you'd use this anesthetic on a defenseless animal at home without a veterinarian present, right?
Soooo... if AV is willing to break the law in this situation, in what other situations is she also willing to skirt the law when it suits her? What crimes has she already committed? Just how much does she love animals? I suspect about as much as the former director at MAS (Memphis Animal Services) cared about the animals there - he only cared about his salary, not the lives or suffering of the animals there. Do you really think AV is any different? You gotta wonder don't ya?
Shame on you AV, you are a danger to all the animals who are unfortunate enough to be anywhere near you!! Stop blaming everyone else for all the trouble that you continually find yourself in - you bring it on yourself - and maybe take up horticulture or something.. at least plants don't have feelings so how much damage could you do?
Propofol does not appear to be classified as a schedule IV drug per the Controlled Substances Act yet, but it looks like the future federal trafficking penalties for illegally trafficking propofol are likely to be the following according to the DEA:
All other Schedule IV drugs
is First
Offense : Not more than 5 years. Fine not more than $250,000 if an
individual, $1 million if not an individual.
This is still very wrong though and still illegal if she were to actually dispense propofol.
So what can you do if you are outraged that AV is offering to illegally dispense the anesthetic Propathol (Propofol)?
You can report her to the DEA in Kentucky (KY is handled out of the Detroit office; see map of DEA offices in the link provided below) and/or to the local LE authorities there.
Here is a link to fill out an online complaint form that the DEA has provided for our convenience.
If anyone has solid info or their own experiences that they wish to report, please comment and share your thoughts. There have been many allegations against this woman, Karen Symons Strickland, she's reported to have many aliases and there are very few people supporting her. She goes by the business name of RKW Rescue and Transport. One of her supporters is Amy Verder of Let Them Live Rescue and that is hardly an endorsement in light of recent events. I will happily include both positive and negative reports or comments as long as they are not threatening. I would love to have input from the rescue community on this one. Thank you!
7-29-11 I cannot find a business license in TN under RKW Rescue and Transport, RKW Rescue or RKW Transport. She appears to be another unlicensed paid transporter! This is so wrong - not only are paid transporters required to have a business license but they are required to be registered w/the USDA and to follow all of the transport laws and the USDA regulations.
THIS IS THE ORIGINAL WARNING ISSUED BY THE PERSON WHO HAS INVESTIGATED KAREN, ALTHOUGH THERE MAY HAVE BEEN OTHERS AS WELL. I HAVE SPOKEN TO DESTINY AND HER INVESTIGATION WAS DONE WITH CARE AND DILIGENCE TO REPORTING ONLY THOSE CLAIMS THAT SHE COULD VERIFY. THERE IS NOT A PUBLIC RELEASE OF THE EVIDENCE AND PROOF IN THIS CASE. I KNOW THE REASONS WHY NOT BUT I WILL HAVE TO GET DESTINY'S PERMISSION TO ELABORATE ON THIS AND I AM NOT SURE THAT SHE WOULD WANT THAT INFO POSTED. HOWEVER, THE CONTENT OF HER WARNING IS STILL WORTH CONSIDERING. I WOULD HOPE THAT PEOPLE WOULD COME FORWARD AND BE WILLING TO PUBLICLY GO ON THE RECORD IF THEY CAN CONFIRM ANY OF THESE ALLEGATIONS. IF THEY DO NOT, THEN (EVEN IF THEY HAVE VALID REASONS NOT TO) THEY ARE STILL ULTIMATELY ALLOWING THIS WOMAN TO REMAIN UNCHECKED AND TO PUT ANIMALS IN DANGER - IF THESE ALLEGATIONS ARE TRUE. I WOULD ENCOURAGE THESE INDIVIDUALS, SHELTERS AND RESCUES TO GO ON THE RECORD AS IT IS THE ONLY WAY TO PROTECT ANIMALS FROM THIS WOMAN IF SHE IS THE DANGER TO ANIMALS THAT THIS WARNING CLAIMS. COURAGE IS DOING THE RIGHT THING, IN SPITE OF FEAR OR UNCERTAINY. PLEASE LET COURAGE WIN OUT FOR THE SAKE OF THE ANIMALS!
Good morning All,
There is a woman, using the names of Karen Strickland, Karen Symons, Or Karen Symons-Strickland that is doing transport for animals. Her facebook page has her set up as as the owner of rescue and transport company. SHE IS A SCAM! SHE IS ABUSIVE AND NEGLECTFUL TOWARD THE ANIMALS! She has willingly admitted that she drugs animals she transports as to not have to deal with them needing to relieve themselves, she also provides no food or water to them for the same reasons. The crates she uses are too small, to prevent the animal from being able to sit/stand up in order, again, to prevent the chance of a mess being less likely. She has been seen hitting them b/c they were whining, puppies and dogs alike, being smacked in the face and told to shut up! One crated dog was stuck in the crate from Tues-Thursday while she was on the road for transport, upon arrival his adopter was mortified to see him covered in his own urine and what little fecal matter he was able to relive himself of in spite of the drugs she had given him! She has agreed to transport dogs that people to this day still have no idea where their dogs or their money went to! One shelter put them on their DNA/F/T LIST after she harrassed an adopter in a wheel chair saying that she wasnt going to give them their dog b/c they obviously could not care for it!!! Another placed her on their list when, two of the puppies she was transporting for them did not make it to them. When asked where they were she replied she had adopted them out along the way!!!!!!!!! My experience with her ended fortunately enough with the dog being returned safely and seemingly unharmed, but there was a span of about 12hrs where nobody could reach her and we did not know where the dog was at! Thankfully he was returned to the kennels and is waiting for reliable and safe transport. I dont know how she has been able to continue this for so long but she has got to be stopped!!!!! These animals depend on us!!!! This makes me ill, to think of those poor animals, and what most have already been through, to be entrusted to someone that will treat them so horribly!!! :(
PLEASE HELP ME STOP HER!! THIS CANNOT BE TOLERATED, OR ALLOWED TO CONTINUE!
Thanks for your time ~ Destiny
KAREN STRICKLAND
POSSIBLE ALIASES
Name
KAREN M STRICKLAND 39
KAREN M BISHOP 39
KAREN M BURGOS 39
MICHAEL K KANE 39
KAREN M SHARPTON 39
KAREN BURGOS 39
KAREN BISHOP 39
KAREN STRICKLAND 39
KAREN BURGESS 39
KAREN MICHELLE BISHOP 39
KAREN MICHELLE BURGOS 39
KAREN STRICKLAN 39
KAREN SYMONS 39
KAREN MICHELLE SHARPTON 39
KAREN MICHELLE STRICKLAND 39
KAREN MICHELLE SYMONS 39
K M BURGOS 39
KAREN BISHOP 39
ALSO: KAREN MURPHY - AS OF JULY 2011
Tim Croft - DNT/DNA/DNR - Cave City, KY 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.
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:
Sue Croft has since changed her website and this is what it now states:
Hmmm... you know that saying thou protest too much? I think it applies here.
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
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.
I can't say that there are clear cut, definite reasons why Sue Croft should not be allowed to foster or adopt although there are some things that certainly sound questionable. Also, if she and her boyfriend are on the road transporting all of the time as I've seen reported, then who would be caring for her animals during this time? I personally would not consider her a good candidate for this but that is because I find her ethics to be lacking where animals are concerned. This is why I have not listed her as DNA/DNR at this time. Should more verified info come in to support this, I would be happy to amend this to reflect such information.
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
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