There’s a scandal rocking the animal rescue world a wee bit south of here. Seems the San Diego County Humane Society transferred hundreds of small furries to the Humane Society of Southern Arizona in August — which then transferred them to “a single, unaccredited, anonymous organization.”
Oops. Now no one knows what ultimately happened to 250 of those animals, which include guinea pigs, rats, hamsters and rabbits. What they do know is that a relative of the man who runs that “single, unaccredited, anonymous organization” owns a reptile farm that sells frozen and live animals for snake food.
“Our leading theory, and most people’s leading theory, is that these animals ended up as food for reptiles,” said Gary Weitzman, the president of the San Diego Humane Society, on Fox5. “We hope it’s not the case, but it’s impossible to think otherwise.”
There are lawyers involved. Investigations underway. The Southern Arizona Humane Society’s CEO and its chief programs officer lost their jobs. San Diego officials are demanding a detailed accounting of the names and contact information for everyone who took custody of those animals, along with “an answer to the question we all are asking — how could a ‘small family run’ rescue group do what virtually no other shelter or rescue group would be able to do: adopt out 250 small animals in a matter of weeks?”
There’s a situation in Orange County that’s not exactly parallel, but has similar story elements.
A small herpetology rescue has taken possession of more than 830 animals from Orange County Animal Control since last year. More than 700 of them were rodents, rabbits and fowl, county data shows.
Those animals did not wind up as snake food, the rescue and Orange County Animal Control told us. But once the rescue — Southern California Herpetology Association & Rescue — hands off the animals to schools, programs, re-habbers, etc., it is no longer involved, “as these animals are…
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