You may have been reading this week about the arrest of Caboodle Ranch owner Craig Grant. Mr. Grant operated a cat sanctuary in FL and was featured in a satirical piece on the Colbert Report about a year ago. You can see the very funny clip, which shows many of the cats and their environment here.
Local law enforcement, working with the ASPCA, have seized all of Mr. Grant’s cats (about 700). Mr. Grant intends to fight the cruelty charges. If he is ultimately acquitted, will the ASPCA give him his 700 cats back?
PETA has posted an “undercover expose” clip on its website about Caboodle. I’m not linking to it but if you are interested, you can Google it. It shows footage, obtained over a period of several months, of sick and suffering cats. The thing I have never trusted about the PETA “undercover expose” videos is that they compile them over months. This bothers me for a couple of reasons. How could any compassionate person watch a pet suffer for months – if that’s what’s happening – in order to document cruelty? Furthermore, if you stay at any sanctuary for an extended period, you are bound to see all sorts of things crop up and there is no way for viewers to know context once PETA has edited down months of footage to 5 minutes. For example, the place may take in one sick/malnourished/whatever cat a month and if you film for six months – BOOM, you’ve got 6 cats in bad shape for your video and you don’t have to disclose that they came in that way. Also it’s PETA so…
What are your thoughts on this case?
Mr. Grant always seemed sincere but I know there’s a few activists down there that have been trying to close him down. I know some of that cats are owned cats that are from people who maybe are out of the country, like Army folks. I’m sure if those people knew what was happening they’d get thier cats out of PETA’s grasp before they kill the. And I think we all know PETA will kill them.
PETA is like a drive by shooting. They hit and run, and leave others to clean up their damage, with no thought to the lives they have destroyed. With the amount of cats at Caboodle Ranch, and people constantly dropping cats off, it is not surprising that some cats are not in the best condition. These cats were not caged and kept in unsanitary conditions, starved, or abused. They seem to have had a good life compared to the alternatives. I hope Mr. Grant wins his case, but unfortunately it will be too late for many of the cats.
http://www.floridarescueact.com/
I know nothing about Mr Grant nor his cats. I do know that Lee is in Madison county which is right outside of Tallahassee our capitol. Tallahasee itself is in Leon County.
Madison is a very rural county, some of the prettiest land in all of Florida if you ask me. Farmland, rolling hills, forests, itty-bitty little towns where you’d expect Aunt Bea and Andy to be wandering around. Cotton, wood products, tobacco, pecans … and seriously not a lot else for industry.
It find it interesting that this area has made it onto PETA’s radar so soon before FARA’s final committee hearings.
Leon County HS is rumoured to be both a pet of HSUS political drones and agst FARA. I guess that HSUS and it’s lies which even made it to our Senate’s website weren’t working well enough so they called in their BFF’s ASPCA and PETA.
It’s also rumoured that all of those pics are from his sick house where surprise, surprise there are sick cats. Throw a few handfuls of kibble around, dump the kitty litter here and there and ta-daaa! Instant neglect and abuse.
One thing that I have learned about Florida for those tht might be listenting is that tourist dollars speak volumes. Often much, much more than resident voices. So if people aren’t so disgusted with this entire fiasco and has been a Florida visitor or would like to be one someday; if you would like to help us get past this and onward to saving more animals please call our legislators and ask them to support FARA.
Maybe someone can provide a few more links to enable that. It’s time to show Florida that we are sick and tired of the killing and that a PETA mindset just doesn’t cut it here anymore.
Thank you.
I’m a FL resident and I believe this is PETA’s attempt to block FARA.
You all might want to check out this Facebook page: Caboodle Ranch: Save the kitties – http://www.facebook.com/caboodleranch.savethekitties
Make sure to read this: Horrific Eye Witness Accounts – http://www.facebook.com/caboodleranch.savethekitties?sk=app_190322544333196
So who is behind that Facebook page? When I go to the “Info” tab to see, I get the anonymous email addy “www.caboodleranch.savethekitties@gmail.com.” Why should I trust this anonymous person or organization? Who exactly are the one-named “witnesses?” I’m a pretty good writer and very imaginative. I could probably make Mother Teresa seem like a demon if I wanted to.
the thing about the internets is that it’s really easy to fake stuff, blow it out of proportion or take it our of context. That Facebook page gives off a whiff of fakery to me. Why are the proprietors and “eyewitnesses” so completely anonymous.
Also, I see that PETA is listed as one of the “likes” …
I’m not doing this to defend caboodle ranch–I had never even heard of them before. But I have heard of PETA and I am very familiar wityh their tactics, trickery and lies. That facebook page looks exactly like the sort of thing they do …
thank you lisa for noticing how suspicious this page (Caboodle Ranch: Save the Kitties) is! i posted on there to say that the caboodle ranch owner is not a monster altho i feel he had more cats than he could care for and no end in sight and i thot i was being very fair in my criticism of PETA as well — the page admin told me that the vicious things being said on that page about the ranch owner were ‘criticisms’ and should be published whereas my criticisms of peta were ‘bashing’ and would not be allowed! so then my comments were deleted and now im blocked from that page… in short i believe this fb page is far from objective!
This whole “expose” stinks to high heaven. First, there’s this page http://www.negotiationisover.net/2010/12/02/caboodle-ranch-an-nio-florida-investigation-update/ which reports (in 2010) after a full investigation of Caboodle Cat Ranch, made after complaints were made by a couple of (reportedly disgruntled) individuals, the Ranch received glowing reviews. FYI The CEO and founder of Negotiation is Over is Camille Marino, who sits on the advisors panel of the North American Animal Liberation Press Office. Has Craig really turned into an abusive and neglectful hoarder in the space of a year? Next there’s this from John Ovenden http://madisonfloridavoice.net/?p=26188 Now, I don’t know who John is but his concerns that PETA focussed entirely on the infirmary and that they allege they witnessed neglect and abuse over many months without reporting it, seem reasonable. In addition, John has spent time with Craig on the ranch and seems to genuinely believe that Craig loves the cats and is committed to treating ill cats instead of killing them. Knowing what I know about PETA’s own dismal statistics and their penchant for killing cats, I honestly don’t understand why the people of the US haven’t brought charges of animal abuse against PETA. It seems to me that killing healthy or treatable cats should certainly be classed as abuse. Some of the reports I’ve read mentioned that many of the cats were suffering URIs, but anyone who has worked in rescue knows this is a common problem where many animals are living in a shelter. The difference is that kill shelters love to kill animals with URIs, it’s one of their favourite excuses but anyone with half a brain knows URIs are easily treatable and don’t need to be a death sentence. If a doctor killed a human patient because they had a cold there would be an uproar! Last but certainly not least, the Florida animal rescue act is currently being promoted by the No Kill community. Anyone who has been following the politics knows that No Kill Nation has been an embarassing thorn in the side of the ASPCA and PETA and I don’t doubt that the bad publicity and NKN’s determination to educate any would be financial supporter about their not so animal loving stance has been hurting both organisations where they really feel it- in their coffers. Therefore it’s in both the ASPCA and PETA’s best interests to convince the general public that No Kill advocates are really monsters or crazy hoarders that want to keep animals alive so they can prolong their torture and abuse. Anyone can edit footage over a period of months to tell a particular story- for example, I could go to my local beach and video people over months then edit out anyone who wasn’t wearing a bikini. Then I could use my “evidence” to convince people that everyone in Australia who goes to the beach wears a bikini. Frankly I think that my bikini tape would be just as reliable as PETA’s “expose”. This has nothing to do with PETA or the ASPCA caring about the welfare of cats. The simple truth of the matter is they don’t! I know this because they actively campaign against policies and procedures that result in cats living long healthy lives. This is about money. If the No Kill Equation becomes the accepted standard in animal welfare in the US then animal lovers are going to start directing their donations to organisations that practice No Kill and PETA and the ASPCA will be dead in the water. No more taking donations with one hand and killing animals with the other.
YES
This seems like a good idea, but I can understand where the issue would be if cats were not properly “organized” for lack of a better word at 7 am. These cats seem to be just running all over the place without separate pens or even areas to keep track of them. I do not believe this is any abuse close to keeping fifty cats in a diseased and moldy house, and they should not have been confiscated without letting owners know. Somebody could have just stepped in and implemented a new routine to identify and separate sick cats, perhaps even taken over from Craig Cant, if he is as crazy as Joni’s facebook link makes it seem. Taking them all way to probably euthanize them seems like taking action just for action’s sake without any solutions.
Thank you for saying what I have been saying to people since this story broke. What many people may not know is that PETA sent out an email about the raid on Caboodle Ranch. In that email, they revealed their real intentions. Here is what they said:
“But there is still more work to be done! A dangerous bill is currently making its way through Florida’s legislature that would force animal shelters to hand over animals to self-proclaimed, unregulated animal “rescues” like Caboodle if the misleading “Animal Rescue Act” (S.B. 818 and H.B. 597) becomes law. Don’t let this pass!”
The “dangerous” bill that PETA refers to is the no-kill bill in the Florida Legislature. The whole strategy behind PETA’s raid on Caboodle was to derail the no-kill bill. They cared nothing about the cats at Caboodle. These cats were simply a pawn in PETA’s effort to keep the massacre of thousands of animals in Florida’s shelters the law of the land.
By the way, who are these “self-proclaimed, unregulated animal rescues” that PETA refers to in their email? They are animal rescuers like you and me. In PETA’s professional opinion, our animals would be better off dead than in our homes and rescues.
Don’t be fooled! This was all staged to derail the no-kill bill in Florida. PETA cares nothing for the animals, as evidenced by their 90% kill rate in 2011. They are as dishonest as you can get and I trust nothing they put out or say.
Exactly John!
I don’t know…it looked to me like Craig’s heart was in the right place, but he lacked the skill/organization to run an operation of that size properly. I think he got overwhelmed. The logistics of the place do not lend themselves to easy observation of health/behavior of animals that tend to hide illness to begin with. A nice idea, but in the end, not practical…at least not on that scale.
PETA is definitely NOT to be trusted, though.
I do hope that people who had owned cats there are able to get them back…
most of these “raids” have an agenda.. the HSUS “downer cow” video was held for months to coincide with the vote on Prop B..regardless of our thought on the bill itself this was an obvious attempt to sway voters..this is the same.. PETA is an atrocious group that does nothing but KILL.
Someone on another list I am one stated this:
How can the cats be in “overcrowded conditions” when they live outdoors..
wher is the HELP for people trying to do the right thing? there is NONE.. rather arrest, seizure and killing.. and of course the ruination of people lives
PETA/HSUS/ASPCA.. same groups.. different suits.
Here’s the ASPCA’s press release on this case: http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/features_lifestyle_animal/2012/02/aspca-rescues-hundreds-of-cats-from-site-in-madison-county-in-florida.html
From this, PeTA appears to have done the initial investigation, turned over its evidence to the courts, & then handed the case over to the ASPCA. Who, to their credit, are naming the people who are actually doing the work.
As to the condition of the cats … so far, I’ve only seen mention of one cat euthanized. Lots of mentions of URIs & ringworm, for which the cats are being treated – so the kill rate shouldn’t be as bad as it would be if PeTA were in charge.
Our family has visited in October and November of 2011 and saw NOTHING remotely like what was in the PETA footage…and do know every single building on-site was inspected and checked during those visits. Mr. Grant let everyone wander without restriction because he had nothing to hide.
Yes, there were sick kitties in the infirmary because, big surprise…that’s where sick kitties belong. Yes, there were skinny cats (but there were far more healthy weight and chubby cats). Yes, there were unspayed/unneutered cats present.
Placing cats requires a fee, vet documentation of current vaccinations, and verification that the kitty’s been spayed/neutered.
DUMPING cats bypasses all those conditions and it happens too often, but Mr. Grant takes them in anyway.
Shooted biased video footage as ‘evidence’ of abuse is super easy.
I could visit my grandkid’s preschool and gather snippets of snotty noses, dirty faces, garbage on the floor, dirty diapers, hitting, and teacher disinterest if I hung out for months and edited like crazy. Would it be real? Nope.
Would it look terrible and be inflammatory? Absolutely!
Shown to the ‘right’ people, I’m sure I could get the school shut down, the kids displaced, and the faculty charged with child-abuse if that was my agenda.
PETA had an agenda when their “investigator” went to Caboodle. I used to think the group had some value, but having seen first-hand the difference between what IS versus what they “report”…no more.
I seriously hope the official investigation into what Caboodle is and does will be unbiased, non-agenda based, and fair.
I sincerely, sincerely hope Craig and the Caboodles survive this, are reunited, and the facilities allowed to continue to improve and evolve.
AR videos are all compiled this way – hundreds of hours of shooting to produce 5 minutes or so of horror.
Mr. Grant is unlikely to get his cats back, however, even if he fights the charges and wins in court. By that time many of his cats will have been killed, and the rest dispersed over the country. The stress will take its toll on many of those cats, too, and more of them will be killed no doubt as the dispersal continues.
I hope he does fight, though, because only by fighting can these ugly raids with their ugly accusations and unnecessary killings be stopped. In most of these cases, either the prosecutor can’t find cause to indict or the owner wins in court. Eventually these outcomes will result in someone noticing the utter waste of resources to accuse caring animal owners, only because they are *saving* animals, and caring for them well.
Animal rights activists don’t want any animals saved. To them, all animal ownership IS animal abuse, and they have been working overtime to pass ‘animal protection’ laws which allow them to seize and kill healthy, well cared for animals. It is very sad that so many animals have to die to expose the AR activists for what they are, but since we have allowed them to do things *their* way for so long, animal lovers – and in particular, the animals – are paying the price.
With all PETA’s wealth and influence, I can imagine them as a force for good if they used their resources to work tactfully with local groups and pitch in if a sanctuary needed help. For example, they could have teamed up with local rescues and Craig Grant to have on-site spay/neuter as often as needed, bring in extra vet care on a regular basis, and mentor him in operations if there was a lack of everyday management expertise. They could even have done this without seeking publicity, just to help the cats.
But helping is not what PETA does, and we all know that. PETA made this raid happen in order to derail FARA, just as John says. PETA hates sanctuaries because they bring animals into prolonged contact with humans. Since humans love to run sanctuaries and take care of animals, the sanctuary movement means there are more sanctuaries for PETA to attack. But PETA didn’t select a sanctuary in the middle of the country, or in the Southwest, or North Dakota or California to attack this week. They selected one in Florida . . . specifically so they could issue the press release/action alert that John cites above in order to attack FARA. The results? A sanctuary that could have been helped has now been crushed — and the battle for FARA has been made harder. I’ve rarely seen anything more deliberate or more cruel.
I also hold the other participating groups responsible for not speaking up about PETA’s real intentions. For example, as I understand it, RedRover has a good reputation . . . they used to be United Animal Nations. What does it mean that RedRover is participating in this operation? No doubt they would explain that they are one of the groups focused simply on animal care. But they have said nothing about PETA’s political goals. Instead, by not speaking up, they are helping PETA derail FARA. There’s a lot of complicity by a lot of people in this operation.
It goes without saying that the ASPCA is happy to do PETA’s bidding here. It serves their political purposes.
I’ve not once seen Red Rover take a position against any of the big animal rights/animal welfare organizations, and they tend to be reticent even in the face of obvious legislative failures – such as, for instance, their work on the big puppy mill seizure in Quebec last year. Their silence has been so consistent, I think it must be organization policy. Lately, they’ve even shut down chatter on cases – they used to regularly post unexceptional comments & photos as they worked, but that’s just about shut down.
It’s also long been a pet peeve of mine, this silence, since most of the nationals also fail to give them any credit – and often as not, they’re the boots actually on the ground for temporary shelter maintenance, not only for seizures, but in disaster situations.
“It goes without saying that the ASPCA is happy to do PETA’s bidding here. It serves their political purposes.”
Thank you and I hope everyone takes away the message that all those assisting in this raid have their ulterior motives and the cats are just their disposable tools.
ASPCA dumps cats it wants to kill at NYC ACC shelters despite the millions of dollars of resources it has. PETA spins everything their way. I think they are both corrupt and fail to live up to what their cultivated image to the public is. Animals, especially cats, don’t have a good chance of coming out of shelters alive.
As far as animal suffering is concerned, take a look sometime at the cats on Pets On Death Row and Stop the Slaughter FB pages. You’ll see suffering at the NYC ACC shelters, animals in pain and untreated. Aborting kittens and puppies very close to their due dates and then killing them because they were viable, and no record of it anywhere. The NYC ACC lies like crazy and they’re in bed with ASPCA. Everyone knows that and it doesn’t seem like it can be stopped. I honestly don’t understand why. Maybe someone needs to ask Julie Bank….
700 cats, well, that’s a bit much, but I can understand the whys and wherefores behind it. They have a much better chance of having a decent life with him than in the hands of those who have confiscated them. I won’t call it a rescue, more like a death march because we who cross post all know that a hiss or a growl or a cough or a sneeze means it’s all over.
I don’t trust anything PETA says. I read the reports/news releases but did not view the video. The video should have been made on one day-the day that the raid occurred. That video would have shown the condition of the animals and if there was a reason for the raid based on animal neglect!
I’ve been reading through the latest news stories – so far the list of illnesses actually encountered: URIs, ringworm, eye infections, cats who are FIV+ and FeLK+. PeTA’s materials on it claim that cats with ‘fatal contagious diseases’ were allowed in the general population, I assume this was the latter two.
I also ran across a letter in support of the facility, which states that there was hospice care offered there, and that there were separate areas maintained for cats with health issues.
On the whole, I’m gaining the impression that this place really wasn’t all that bad, but had too many cats with too many issues for the owner, staff, and volunteers.
I don’t know Mr. Grant personally. But I do know that caring for 700 animals can be a huge strain on any number of people. And he may have stretched his establishment too thin, causing some neglect. But I don’t think it as bad as it’s being hyped up to be. SO there is my two cents…
I think Mr Grant is probably a kind hearted person who got in over his head. PETA is spotlighting this in order to defeat the florida no kill bill. If PETA had their way, they’d be bragging on their website about killing these poor cats, “doing them a favor” or a “kindness”.I have owned several FIV positive cats. Iggy is 15 and going strong, Weazel died at the age of 17. I hope Mr grant fights this and wins. PETA always has an ulterior motive, helping animals is never their concern.
Here are my thoughts. When I see that a father, son and daughter are the only 3 voting members of a non-profit, I have to question how the organization has checks and balances to prevent issues that may arise. When I see pictures of animals suffering, regardless if they are in a kill shelter or a no-kill shelter, they deserve the same scrutiny to prove their authenticity.
i agree roger, caboodle ranch had this and other problems and needed help or reform, but that wasnt done – instead the owner was arrested and the cats were confiscated; the really scary part to me is that law enforcement relies on peta, aspca, and other national orgs for expertise in these cases – i hope their supposed ‘expertise’ is challenged in court
MADISON COUNTY, Fla., March 2, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — A task force from the ASPCA descended on Caboodle Ranch cat sanctuary in North Florida this week and found perhaps hundreds of cats living in what investigators called “deplorable” conditions. As the teams collect and treat these animals, we have to ask, “Could this have been prevented?”
The answer is YES.
The Florida Animal Rescue Act (FARA) will provide clear measures that would have averted this tragedy. Under FARA, all animal rescue organizations will, for the first time, be required to meet certain minimum standards, including background checks and financial certification. Further, FARA will specifically authorize Animal Control agencies to follow up on each and every animal transferred to a rescue––public or private. In addition, FARA will prevent anyone involved in animal cruelty, neglect, or hoarding from involvement in any “rescue.”
In the case of Caboodle Ranch, FARA’s mandatory reporting requirements would have warned Animal Control, the public, and donors to this organization that cats were coming in but were allegedly being stockpiled. Such early warning should have allowed the placement of oversight and eliminated untold suffering.
Help us prevent another Caboodle Ranch. Tell your legislators to support SB 818, the Florida Animal Rescue Act. Take a stand to protect shelter animals and save lives.
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/lifesaving-legislation—the-florida-animal-rescue-act—could-have-prevented-needless-suffering-at-caboodle-ranch-141162683.html
Oh wow- I am overwhelmed with the level of knowledgeable writing on this site. Thank you for allowing me to be a part of the conversation.
After decades of work in The animal welfare cause, I didn’t realize so many young people -got it – and as an added bonus -can express the issues so well in their writings. So I am honored.
Susan, Mel, Mike Thomas just to name some of the excellent writers here- could you perhaps write a letter to the editor that we can send out to all our contacts and get published- as an exposé on what went down@ caboodle and why- to stop the bill. And to ask all our citizens to contact their legislators and voice support of the bill because we want to save more animals lives?? That as citizens who love animals we will not tolerate their murderous disregard for life.
I believe if we can defeat PETA etc perhaps they will think twice about killing hundreds of animals just for their political agendas.
Maybe we can get them run out of FL – and the next State and the next state with the bare necked truth!
PS – in PETAs video a cat named Lilly had a horrible eye infection. Then it showed her dead a couple of mos later- did you notice in her death picture the eye infection had healed? It didnt jeal on its own.
I’ve had some of these terrible corneal infections come in and with vet care/treatment it takes about 3 mos to clear.
A recent article mentions that the PETA person who did the filming was actually the person responsible for cleaning the sick ward. So of course the video shows sick cats, and if the conditions were unsanitary, she was the one responsible! I don’t know the facts of this case, but I’m giving Craig Grant the benefit of the doubt until I hear from a trusted source (not PETA or ASPCA) that conditions truly were as bad as they’ve been reported. http://m.jacksonville.com/news/crime/2012-03-02/story/embattled-caboodle-ranch-operator-says-confiscated-records-detail-his
Gee, spending all her time filming instead of taking care of the sick cats? Sounds like cruelty to me!
It seems Greg gave up after a good start and someone had to step in & do something. Who else could of stepped in? Still, the cats are the ones who end up paying with their lives for man’s failures.
I remember this from the Colbert Report. Love Stephen.
Anyway, part of me says that its way too many cats and that he cant keep up with all of them medically and what not. And Im also going to assume that most of them arent S/N which will lead to more cats. On the other hand, if PETA or someone takes them in, they will just be killed. Its not like they are going to try to find homes for 700 cats. Or even one.
This is a toughie.
As much as I distrust PETA and ASPCA, there are some unrefuted facts that are hard to ignore:
-One man mostly single-handedly caring for 700 cats is suspicious.
-His “no adoption” policy is suspicious. He had many young, pretty, cats that could easily have been adopted out to make room for others who actually needed ‘sanctuary’. This makes me worry that he has a hoarding condition which calls his other decisions into question.
-He himself admitted he didn’t even know how many there really were, AND that he didn’t have all the free-roaming ones spayed/neutered/vetted. He blames that on people dumping cats on his land, but that’s not a valid excuse. A well-organized rescue with staff and volunteers would have a file on each cat and should immediately catch and quarantine new arrivals.
-He allowed cats with URI’s and ringworm to free roam with healthy cats. I HATE when shelters/rescues say that URI’s are “no big deal”. Yes, it’s not a good reason to kill a cat, but it’s also wrong to simply let them co-mingle and spread the disease.
I’m sad. This sanctuary had such promise, and with a little help and some more staff and organization really been what it was advertised to be. Instead, the man never asked for help, and PETA and ASPCA did what they do best and made a chest-thumping fiasco of the thing and now have to find homes for 700 cats. The money that went into this operation could have been put to better use.
Very very good points, Suzanne.
Well, of course he could have done better. The man clearly needed more staff and at least a second vet on hand. He also needed better logistics at running the place (although he was trying to get every cat s/n and chipped for tracking purposes, which was a start). I think about all the money that the ASPCA has and how much they could have helped him instead of what they did and I am ill about it.
But PETA is freaking evil on this one. They even took his assistant’s personal cats (even though they live in another state!) as “evidence”. There’s simply no excuse for that except vindictiveness.
Caboodle Ranch have posted some info on their Livejournal account about conflicting ASPCA accounts of the current welfare of the cats involved
http://caboodleranch.livejournal.com/44111.html
I wish these organizations that took in so much money from unsuspecting people would actually use it to HELP animals. PETA could have easily helped this man out with all of the millions of dollars they receive in donations, but they’d rather confiscate all of his animals and make him look like a monster.
Even if many of the animals were being neglected, is it that worse than what PETA does – killing healthy adoptable pets? At least this guy was trying to help.
I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the cats were in bad shape because the undercover PETA member was in charge of them.
Another AR group, Mercy For Animals, had a member working undercover at the Conklin dairy farm. Another employee was abusing the cows, but the MFA member never informed the owner or anyone else. He continued to let the cows be abused so he could get good footage for his video. I believe the report I read said he even joined in on the abuse so he would fit in and not arouse the suspicion of the other employee.
I come from NJ to volunteer at Caboodle. It is not as presented in the PeTA undercover video. Cats have shelter, ample food, water. The Ranch has been fulfilling all requirements for an Excess Animal Habitat permit required by the county. It had favorable Animal Control and vet reviews. The raid was a travesty. Check the ASPCA web site for a quote from a field investigator who said the majority of cats were NOT in need of medical treatment. Also another raider said the cats did not look at all like the cats in the video. The undercover PeTA agent was hired to clean and care for the cats. The frig in the video was not used and in a locked trailer. Do you know if a vet was on his way to the cats? Had left meds for the cats? A moment in time tells nothing. If you want an accurate depiction of the ranch, go to Madison Voice and look for John Ovenden’s editorial. He videoed hours of footage and was never limited in where he could go, nor was I. To see Craig sit on the ground and call his “babies” was a treat for me. He was always making improvements. As for the other site mentioned that is against Caboodle, I went to the ranch a month after one of the principals, and did not see any of the conditions she claims she saw. A Caboodle Fan Page on FaceBook has been set up. Please join us. By the way, to answer another falsehood, I pay my own way, pay for my own meals and lodging when I go. I will be going back for one of the hearings and will do whatever I can to help right this wrong.
Sometimes I really wonder about PeTA. I always hated them because of their stance on domestic animals, but its the undercover stuff. For ex, my friend posted this to FB and as an Avon/Estee Lauder user I was very concerned because this video is pretty horrible and disturbing but now that I think about it, couldnt it just be bad acting? How do we know the truth? What does everyone think?
http://www.peta.org/b/thepetafiles/archive/2012/02/16/3-companies-booted-off-cruelty-free-list.aspx
We just completed this documentary regarding the Caboodle massacre. It will be shown at several film festivals but mainly it is intended to inform. Feel free to send the link wherever you think it will make a difference. http://howieandsheila.com/video_caboodle.html
Thank you
All cats are being housed at the old Jacksonville animal control building on 1st street.
It’s a bit late for this discussion, but evidence from the civil and criminal trial against Caboodle Ranch and its directors is being posted at http://www.caboodleranch.net as it becomes available.
The evidence so far is horrific, and any cat lover would be appalled by the abuse and neglect documented. More information is pending with the upcoming felony trial against Craig Grant and an unnamed co-defendant (who is most likely Nanette Entriken, the property manager who lied day after day on the Caboodle Ranch blogs).
Nanette caused a stir recently when she falsely accused the ASPCA of operating on all 39 of her cats. The ASPCA denies this, and when Nanette was asked by supporters to prove it with a simple photograph or copies of her vet records, she refused and withdrew from the Caboodle Ranch online community.
View the evidence and draw your own conclusions.
I really don’t know who to believe, but I surely do not trust the ASPCA. They are not known for exactly being on the side of the animals.
I do not know which side is telling the truth, either. But I do know that so many cats in “open” conditions would be extremely difficult to maintain properly. It would require a huge amount of staff/volunteers as well as supplies and veterinary care. It is disturbing that no one knew how many cats were on the property and that most of them were never seen by the vet (according to the vet’s testimony of how many cats he’s treated).
The whole situation is very disturbing – you’re right. Regardless, it’s clear from the photographs that a large number of cats paid dearly for wherever they were. No animal deserves what I saw.
HERE IS A POST FROM DALE SWISHER, WHO WAS IN THE COURTROOM ON MAY 29TH AND HAS RECOUNTED EVERYTHING THAT OCCURRED… http://caboodleranch.livejournal.com/45889.html
How do you explain the very disturbing photographs?