Bad Guy D&M REPTILE RESCUE

[AGoodwin]

Thank you for the update although I am not surprised that he lied about the results.

 

[rowselki]

Any updates on this situation?

 

[TucsonRES]

Someone has gone and adopted some of the tortoises and snakes. From what we've learned, almost $1000 was spent getting those animals out. Reps from Az Game & Fish went out and removecd some animals that he wasn't licensed to possess. Several, of the sites that had links to him seem to have taken them down.
I have plans to go out there again and take some of the tank, filters and equipment he has.

 

[C.Gillis]

I just spoke to David, he has no intention of stopping running a rescue, he was encouraged by people buying those animals from him and because he passed the inspections. He say's he's doing a good thing saving unwanted reptiles and that PACC says nothing is wrong so nothing is wrong. I'm disappointed with Dr. Jarchow as I was out there 2 hours after he was there with PACC to inspect and still saw fecal mater in the water, metal and plastic in the tortoise food and filthy enclosures. Dr. Jarchow also told the woman who bought the tortoises from D&M last month, that they don't need to be x-rayed after eating all that stuff, even though I offered to pay for it. No one who can do anything about this situation cares. This will blow over and D&M will continue on like they always have.

 

[rowselki]

Wow. I'm speechless. I was truly hopeful that David would have a much more gracious response and have given the animals up for their own sake. The entire situation is appalling.

 

[Ailinea]

I've been following this thread for quite awhile now. I visited this place back in September of last year after he had offered to sell my friend's sulcata tortoise babies for her at the reptile show. When we arrived he gave us a tour and were, to say the least, horrified. She felt so guilty afterwards that she left her tortoises at that place. The smell was awful. We got to the tortoise enclosure in the corner and looked in and saw garbage and rotting food everywhere. He laughed and looked in and said to the tortoises "Yeah, you're saying I just cleaned your cage, now where's your food at?!" and my friend and I looked at each other in shock that he considered that CLEAN. We couldn't even see inside of the tanks with the snakes and lizards, the tank with the aquatic turtles was so green you couldn't see anything, and the animals we did see looked depressed and in poor health.

I admit, I felt that since I don't know a lot about reptiles at all, I thought perhaps I was in the wrong and didn't know what I was talking about, so I let it go without a word except to my friends and family. I felt guilty about it ever since, especially now that I've seen this video from Charlotte and the updates from you guys. What made me the most angry was the tank of dying pack rats given nothing but potatoes to eat and clearly suffering a long, painful death. I can only imagine how the rest of the animals he actually cares about are treated.

He is a regular customer of mine where I work and he brought this whole situation up to me a few weeks ago. He seemed very nonchalant about it and even laughed about how the whole thing started. He claims all of this is practically made up all because some girl wanted a snake he didn't have and couldn't explain its death to her because he doesn't "have hundreds of dollars to perform necropsies on every animal. It just happens!" I didn't say a word. I'm trying really hard not to say anything because I'm at work but I don't know how much longer I can contain myself. He even asked if the 501c(3) I work at for my second job would cash a check for him since United Way "changed their rules and now (he) can't cash the check." Unbelievable!

Is there something we can do since obviously he thinks he's God's gift to reptile rescue and won't stop this insanity? Do you think a local news station would pick this up, like 9 on your side or whatever investigative reporting they do around here? I'm finding more and more that people couldn't care less about reptiles and that makes me sad. This place deserves as much attention as a place hoarding cats and/or dogs in horrible conditions would. I have already passed the word to everyone I know looking for reptile rescue to NOT go there and have shared the video as far as I can. I am also now hesitant to refer anyone to Dr. Jarchow now, knowing he passed that place.

Sorry for the wall of text, been wanting to get this out for a while now. I know he checks this board, and fearing he'd see my response and confront me at work about it... at this point I kind of hope he does.

 

[parrotlady]

Please try to understand, Dr. Jarchow did not "pass" the place it was Pima Co. Animal Control. Jarchow was there to check on the health of the animals. Apparently it was not the death camp as was previously stated. I also agree that changes need to be made at the rescue. Apparently due to the publicity some of the tortoises was adopted, the turtles went to another facility, and maybe some of the other animals found homes as well. So, some good came from this thread. Maybe., with less animals to care for they will be able to improve and make changes for the welfare of the reptiles.

 

[ShadowAceD]

Please try to understand, Dr. Jarchow did not "pass" the place it was Pima Co. Animal Control. Jarchow was there to check on the health of the animals. Apparently it was not the death camp as was previously stated. I also agree that changes need to be made at the rescue. Apparently due to the publicity some of the tortoises was adopted, the turtles went to another facility, and maybe some of the other animals found homes as well. So, some good came from this thread. Maybe., with less animals to care for they will be able to improve and make changes for the welfare of the reptiles.

Correct.

I just moved to Tucson and have been taking one of my male boas to Dr. Jarchow and have no issues with him. He knows what he is doing. However, Dr. Jarchow has no authority to get animals removed from a given area, that all falls on Pima County Animal Control. Dr. Jarchow went there to check to see if animals were in dire need of help and while those of us that keep reptiles feel they are in dire need and while Dr. Jarchow himself felt they needed help, by the way the law operates when it comes to this situation, those animals are being provided with shelter, water and food, and, therefore, not in dire need.

I was trying to stress earlier how rare it is to find animal control that takes the abuse of reptiles seriously or truly understand reptile husbandry.

I've spoken to Orange Grove about D&M Reptiles and all they can do is shake their heads about it. Evidently, they have received a few animals from the rescue themselves they are caring for and they have seen several in recent weeks (adopted or not, I am not sure) from someone that is not the owner of D&M. They expressed a desire to do more but cited the issues with animal control as well.

They have also been getting reptiles dumped on them because people won't take them to D&M.

 

[TucsonRES]

Ailinea, parrotlady, ShadowAceD, it is a very sad situation. I am the one who took in all D&M's aquatic turtles and I am working with them and getting them socialized and ready for forever homes.
Unfortunately, after Charlotte had gone out and made her video, we did attempt to contact all the local media we could think of and none of them including the "Animal Defender" on KOLD (CBS affil) who had at one point supported on air, would touch the story.
I have been told that efforts have gone as far as emailing the people with links to his website and people with link from his site, trying to restrict publicity and having the D&M name as unavailable as possible with little luck.
Unfortunately, after Charlotte's conversations with David, I too had conversations and he is definitely not giving up. Even though several tortoises and a couple of snakes were "sold" (his words) he says that he has taken in other animals and that he has had more "business" (again his words) since this whole story started than he has in years.
The silver lining in all of this gray cloud is that, we are forming the Tucson Reptile Rescue. We have already met with the attorney who is doing all our filings including our 501(c)(3) paperwork. That is in process at this moment. We are also looking to find space for an adoption center and retail store front. We will try to keep everyone updated through another thread on here or you can check out my facebook page- TucsonRedEaredSliders.

 

[TucsonRES]

Ailinea, parrotlady, ShadowAceD, it is a very sad situation. I am the one who took in all D&M's aquatic turtles and I am working with them and getting them socialized and ready for forever homes.
Unfortunately, after Charlotte had gone out and made her video, we did attempt to contact all the local media we could think of and none of them including the "Animal Defender" on KOLD (CBS affil) who had at one point supported on air, would touch the story.
I have been told that efforts have gone as far as emailing the people with links to his website and people with link from his site, trying to restrict publicity and having the D&M name as unavailable as possible with little luck.
Unfortunately, after Charlotte's conversations with David, I too had conversations and he is definitely not giving up. Even though several tortoises and a couple of snakes were "sold" (his words) he says that he has taken in other animals and that he has had more "business" (again his words) since this whole story started than he has in years.
The silver lining in all of this gray cloud is that, we are forming the Tucson Reptile Rescue. We have already met with the attorney who is doing all our filings including our 501(c)(3) paperwork. That is in process at this moment. We are also looking to find space for an adoption center and retail store front. We will try to keep everyone updated through another thread on here or you can check out my facebook page- TucsonRedEaredSliders.

Sorry should read: ...who had at one point supported D & M on air, would not touch the story.

 

[thinkgr33n]

Draft

My Experience With D&M’s Reptile Rescue and Rehabilitation

Needing a place to board Kona for a month while I am visiting family in Europe, I began searching the internet for options. Searching the term “tucson reptile rescue” on google yielded me two main results. One option was Tucson Reptile Rescue and the other was D & M’s Reptile Rescue. Tucson reptile rescue does not charge anything (only donations) and stated on their website that they quarantine their reptiles for at least two weeks. I misinterpreted this statement as them voicing that they give the animals two weeks to be adopted before they are put down. This is far from the actual case as I found out later after contacting Charlotte from Tucson Reptile Rescue.


Unfortunately, I made an impulsive decision to go with D&M’s Reptile Rescue and Rehabilitation solely because of this misinterpretation. I made up my mind in a matter of an hour that I was going to drop my iguana off at D&M to surrender her to them since the website (dmreptilerecue.com) appeared to be what I was looking for. The cost for a surrender is $100 and the website states that it covers a veterinary check-up and food for the iguana. I then made the 30 minute drive to his facility.


Upon arriving there I took a short tour of his facility. As we walked around the house, there were a couple dozen cages around the perimeter of his house. As he pointed to the cages and told me what animal was in there I noticed that a majority of the reptiles were not visible since they were hiding under things. The cages were kept outdoors in 116°f Arizona heat which must have something to do with the animals all looking for shade.


I then took a look at the iguana enclosure which actually impressed me a bit to be honest. The vegetables looked slightly old and the water tub was a bit dirty. I inquired about how fresh the vegetables were and when he last changed to water to which he replied “This morning!” which was reassuring and quite believable since vegetables must rot fast in this type of weather and iguanas do like to poop when they go for a dip in water. I asked if I could put my iguana in the iguana enclosure with the three others to see how she would react and watched for about 15 minutes and chatted before paying, signing the paperwork, handing Dave a couple cage accessories, and leaving.


The next night both me and my girlfriend couldn’t sleep and we both had the Kona on our minds and both felt as though there was something wrong with what we did. I then recalled a portion of a conversation Dave and I had. The conversation started when I brought up the Tucson Reptile Rescue and how chose D&M because I didn’t want my pet to be put down. Dave did not correct me on that misinterpretation I had about TRR (TRR does not put down their recue reptiles) and instead made Tucson Reptile Rescue out to be a bad rescue. He then ranted to me about how the person who runs TRR tried to get him shut down once over a video of dirty cages on his cleaning day. I believed him at the time but it did sound fishy which is why I then did search of D&M reptile rescue on google which came up with the bad history of D&M. I assume a lot you are familiar with the situation already. The fact that no vets in Tucson have heard from him in years made me very upset and felt like I had been lied to because he told me that she would be checked out at the vet that week. Needless to say I couldn’t fall asleep for a while that night.


I called Dave first thing in the morning and left a message. I finally got a call at 6:06 pm from Dave. I told Dave that I made a mistake dropping her off, changed my situation so that I could keep her, and that I just really wanted my pet back. I told him that I am a working college student studying animal science who does not have a lot of cash flow. I explained to him that I do not have the expendable cash to spend on the $95 readopting her. I also told him that I did not expect the $100 surrender fee back, and that I would be happy knowing that he will be putting it towards the other animals there. Dave did not show any empathy and instead referred to the contract, which states that it costs $95 to reclaim your pet. I further pleaded and made it clear to him why I feel as though I should not have to pay $95 to get my pet back when he hasn’t any money on her and I already gave him $100 and it had only been one day. He did not budge so I told him that I would pick her up first thing in the morning before he goes to work at 5am.


I then made a call to Tucson Reptile Rescue and spoke to Charlotte about her rescue and told her about what was going on. Charlotte told me that she would do whatever she can do to help and that she just made a new cage for an iguana with a humidifier and everything else an iguana needs. A few hours later she sent me a text saying she raised the money to help get Kona out of D&M’s reptile rescue.


Kona is now back in my possession and I am bringing her to Charlotte at Tucson Reptile Rescue tomorrow afternoon. I plan on taking some sort of action against D&M to prevent this from happening to other people. I visited a legal advisor at my University and found out that I can file a complaint in small claims court against him for misrepresentation. He states that surrender fee goes toward a vet check yet as I read on here he hasn't seen his vet in years.


This whole experience has been an emotional roller coaster for me and has taught me some lessons on life. Before making a big decision in life (in this case surrendering your reptile), you should always do research and sleep on it before making a decision. The main thing I regret is not taking more time to research and call Tucson Reptile Rescue or D&M before making my choice. I can’t describe the feeling I felt when I got a text from Charlotte saying “We got the money together to get your lizard out of there”. It just makes me feel good that there are generous people out there that really care about the well being of animals that they do not even own. Its just awesome. Well that’s my story and I will keep you guys updated as much as I can and as soon as I can.

-Max

 

[sean]

contact the arizona humane society and show them the pictures. If it is still as bad as the pictures they will take the animals.

 

[sean]

The AZ humane society animal cruelty hot line for surrender and neglect is 602.997.7585 Ext. 2073 They are there 8 0 clock to 7 0clock every day. Tell them everything and they will help. I have worked with them before.

 

[sean]

If that is the wrong number go to their website at www.azhumane.org/ and you can get the right information.

 

[dinosaurdammit]

Humane society wouldn't do anything. They wouldn't even return my calls at the time. I'm not sure of the conditions now but with winter approaching I fear many will freeze

 

[sean]

If its okay with you I can call them. They will respond to me. I have delt with them before. If you could give me your phone number, I could have them call/ contact you. If you can email me the pictures at my email at [email protected] it would help for them to know what they are dealing with.

 

[Helenthereef]

Maybe you can give them the link to this entire thread? There is a LOT of information here.