Marion County Humane Society/Animal Cruelty Division (long)

Ok, I really doubt any of this will get back to them, but hey, you never know.

Here is some backround info on what has recently happened, and the Humane Societies involvement.

I have a retail store located in Ocala, Fl. Our business name for the retail store division is B & T reptiles. At our prior location, our landlord (I will keep everything private until criminal investigation is over) shut off the relay to our A/C outside and locked it. The reason for this according to him, was because he thought the a/c was running too much with a door open to the back room (which is uninsulated).
To say the least, when I finally got an a/c company to the store, (hours after it had warmed up for the day), I had already lost a jackson's chameleon, and four baby snakes.
After calling Florida fish and game, they directed me to the humane society animal cruelty division.

I explained what happened to the lady at animal cruelty and she responded by telling me that I should be charged with animal cruelty if the landlord was.
I asked her what she was talking about and she said that I was at as much fault as the landlord, if not more.
I told her she was wrong, and asked her how she figured this. She said that it was my responsibility to move animals out of the location. When I inquired as to where I was supposed to take them, she said simply, "outside." When I pointed out that the heat index was over 110 degrees, and placing them outside on hot blacktop was not really the right thing to do, she said I could put them in my car.
I realized at this point that I was encountering the humane societies stand on no reptiles as pets.
I told her that that was about the stupidest idea I have ever heard, since I have too many cages to do this.
I then told her that I understood now, and told her that I understood she didn't care for reptiles, that if it was a fluffy little poodle in my car I would get arrested, but since it was reptiles she didn't care. ( I must say that my words were not this nice at this point.)
She told me that I could call whoever I wanted. Whether it was the county, or the city, that I was in as much trouble as the landlord.

I pretty much told her where she could shove it and told her I would go to the state if I had to.


I can't believe that this is still where we are at.... We are in the midst of a multi-billion dollar a year industry, with cutting edge technology, captive husbandry techniques which are better than any other pet industry, and yet the humane society still ignores us.
I am in the process of writing a letter to the editor of the local paper, but since I have a criminal case going with the owner, I have quite a bit going on.

I have since moved stores, and am now being sued by the old landlord for the rest of july's rent.

I had necropsies done on the animals and all had coagulated blood due to hyperthermia. I don't have the reports rightnow as the police have them. I will get my vet to write up some more so I can post on here.

I guess maybe we should get some letters going to the humane society...anyone game?

Hopefully I will nail this guy, I will keep everyone updated.
TOM

Tom, I don't understand. Are you saying that your landlord just came over and shut off your air conditioner? Who was paying for the power, you, or was it included in the rent? Why was an air conditioner company called in, to have it turned back on, or to install something new? I pay for my electricity in my store, which I do believe is common practice in a rental shop, and the idea of ANYONE trying to mess with my store makes me want to explode. Air conditioning is near and dear to my heart, being in Vegas and all. If the power was part of the rental fee, did he at least come and consult with you before turning the air off? Perhaps offering to pay a bit extra for the extra power would have been needed? I'm not sure of your situation, which is why I'm asking the questions I am. Good luck in your fight and good luck at your new location.

a lease agreement? How about an attorney before I would get involved with the Humane Society of all people. This post is ridiculous.

Tom,

I can tell that you are very frustrated, even angry, but I'm not sure what posting this on the BOI will accomplish, or that it is even appropriate. Maybe the the "Sound Off" or "General Business" sections would have been better choices.

As for letter writing, to whom and about what?

Originally Posted by KNOBTAIL

a lease agreement? How about an attorney before I would get involved with the Humane Society of all people. This post is ridiculous.

Ridiculous? There was a lease agreement, I paid the power, and until the criminal investigation and lawsuit is finished I can do nothing to my landlord.
He came in and shut off the a/c for no reason, even though I pay the power bill.

Ridiculous???? The humane society post was made because of their reaction to the situation. It is a bad guy post for the humane society and their stance on reptiles as pets. They disregarded every piece of evidence I gave them.

Jerry, you have been in the industry a long time and it is unfortunate for you to ignore something like this when you have made your livelyhood in this industry.

Anyways, I feel that this post should be in the boi, as I am complaining about the humane society, just like someone complains about a deal gone bad.


TOM

Originally Posted by Ken Foose

Tom, I don't understand. Are you saying that your landlord just came over and shut off your air conditioner? Who was paying for the power, you, or was it included in the rent? Why was an air conditioner company called in, to have it turned back on, or to install something new? I pay for my electricity in my store, which I do believe is common practice in a rental shop, and the idea of ANYONE trying to mess with my store makes me want to explode. Air conditioning is near and dear to my heart, being in Vegas and all. If the power was part of the rental fee, did he at least come and consult with you before turning the air off? Perhaps offering to pay a bit extra for the extra power would have been needed? I'm not sure of your situation, which is why I'm asking the questions I am. Good luck in your fight and good luck at your new location.

I pay the electric, I paid the rent. I called the a/c company because the thought he shut it off outside was never in my mind, especially since the shutoff was locked with a padlock. I actually cut the padlock off after the a/c guy told me the outside unit wasn't getting any power. I do not have a reason for him doing that other than his own words, which were something to the effect of, you were gonna burn out my ac unit, and I wont allow that to happen.

As far what the post was about, I kept it about the humane society because of their actions. I have a criminal and civil lawsuit underway for my ex landlord. So hopefully Jerry won't jump to more conclusions and act the way he was.
TOM

Originally Posted by KNOBTAIL

a lease agreement? How about an attorney before I would get involved with the Humane Society of all people. This post is ridiculous.

OK, I have some questions about how everything transpired here too, and agree that this may not be the correct forum to post it in, but sheesh, I think it's a bit harsh to call the post "ridiculous". I would be pretty darn upset if I had lost some of my animals due to the actions of someone else.....and then called someone whom I thought would be helpful and sympathetic turned out to not give a chit too.

Tom, maybe if you give us some more info, and what the intentions of the post are, someone can be of help. And maybe one of the mods can move the thread to a more suitable forum?

OOOPS.....you posted while I was typing, lol.

Unfortunately, it seems a lot of Humane SOcieties have that attitude about reptiles. Not all, I'm sure....but waaaayyyy too many. It's a sad thing when they pick and choose which critters they care about instead of protecting ALL of God's creatures as they are supposed to do.....

I am sure that some of my anger and frustration over what transpired misguided my first post a bit, but it should be obvious at this point what my post here is about.
I refrained from posting against my landlord, because to me there really doesn't seem to be any use in it. The humane society however, should not have treated me the way they did. If I would have listened to them, i wouldn't have filed charges at all for worries that I would be arrested as well.
Just doesn't make sense to me.
TOM

Living here in a hot state as you are in a hot state, I can't imagine anyone in their right mind suggesting that any living thing be left in a car. That's patently ridiculous. As you mentioned I believe, if you left a dog or a cat in the car, you would be on the evening news and brought up on animal cruelty charges.

I'm guessing if you complained to the boss at the Humane Society and said: "One of your employees advocated leaving an animal in the car when outside temps were 98* (or whatever the temp was), you might get a different response. Any place that purports to care about the welfare and humane treatment of animals and then advocates roasting your animals in the car on a hot summer day is hypocritical on the face of it.

The worst part about it, however, is that the more stink you make about reptiles, the more anti- they are going to be, the more they'll try to use any/every thing you say as fuel in their campaign to remove snakes from the realm of pets. Any campaign is only likely to add fuel to a fire we, as snake and reptile lovers, want to put out.

As far as the appropriateness of this thread. Jeepers creepers guys, if the mods think it's in the wrong place, they're quite capable of moving it without a bunch of drivel being posted about how it's in the wrong place. I am not sure it's in the right place, but that doesn't make the issues of this thread less valid topics of conversation. If you think it's not in the right place, you are welcome to send a rep point with a one-line explanation of your feelings to the perpetrator of the *gasp* crime.