I would have posted this as a comment, but it is too long for Blogger to accept as a post.
From Leo:
Okay - - I have to go but I read some of the blog.
Wow they are heated and I don't even know them.
Some errors, don't know how they get this stuff ....
"You'll see something very different. He takes animals from people who give him a donation. Then he warehouses them. That's why he doesn't let people visit normally."
We NEVER take animals from the public -- even donors!!! Where do they get this stuff?! We have members-only tours for insurance purposes. Otherwise we'd have to put in an infrastructure of many hundreds of thousands of dollars -- and impossible to get county tours.
"It sounds like he exceeded zoning over the years and has large building sq. footage, and has run into problems there. But it is a done deal and he is trying to fix it. The judge agreed he was making progress and acting in good faith."
Absolutely not so!!! WE have 94-acres. We can put tens of thousands of animals there legally. In fact, Antonovich's deputy sent us a letter a few years ago asking us to voluntarily limit ourselves to 3000 dogs! It's not a size limit -- it's a trap play having removed our need for a license, and then demanding a new one the day after we took on the rendering industry -- of which LACAC is a part.
"Even though he says he has 1,500 animals he is still collecting more. He just picked up 200 more!"
She might be referring to our satellite desert rescue. This is not "collecting" -- this is rescuing animals with mange, tick fever, transmissible cancer, distemper and starvation to boot. We are the only ones there to help these abandoned animals in the desert. Her logic is beyond me. If this is wrong -- then what about all those "rescuers" who flock to adopt animals form the pound when a bad-rescue shelter gets raided? Isn't that collecting?
"If Leo Grillo has problems with county, it's because he caused the problems. Why didn't he maintain his permit? He didn't "think" he didn't have to. What a lame excuse."
Not so -- I was told by the director at the time that I didn't need to any more, and they didn't ask for a renewal in all those years!
"He knows he has too many. He could easily ask a few rescue groups to say they house their kennels on his property."
This is so illogical. It has nothing to do with our numbers! We can have ten times, fifty times, as many animals as long as we have infrastructure to care for them. County has 4x10 foot runs and a filthy inside area for multiple dogs who have to fight for food. Our yards are MINIMUM 24-32 for two dogs only. Mostly larger and some extremely larger. We even have exercise yards -- if needed -- over 1/2 acre each. so this rumor of TO MANY is just wrong.
"Leo has a bad reputation making and keeping promises. Didn't he offer to help you once? Leo is flakey and a liar."
"This guy has a sordid history. Beware. Lori is right."
Again -- so wrong. After 31 years of rescue -- and not kissing ass and going to parties with the rest -- there are lot of rumors and stories floating around. I don't listen though -- I only care about the animals and not people or their opinions of me. Nobody likes anybody anyway -- haven't you noticed?? Flakey and liar?? Hardly. Hardly. LOL. They wish!
My wish has always been that there would be no more need for us -- that there would be no more abandoned animals -- so I could go on with my life and career and stop bleeding myself dry over all this -- but that has not come true. I didn't WANT to become an animal rescuer -- it just happened, 31 years ago.
If you saw a three-year-old child in the woods, crying under a tree, dirty, cold, wet, shivering and sobbing ---what would YOU do? That's what I see when I find an abandoned animal. So my deepest, most sincere wish, from the bottom of my heart, has always been this: just everyone leave me alone so I can help these animals ... the county, the detractors, the "competition" that is out to discredit me to make more money for themselves.
Thanks Ed
Good for him! Too many people just turn their backs as tho animals are second-class creatures. They deserve love, caring and respect just as much as you do. They are dependent on mankind to help them, just as any child would be.
ReplyDeleteChose to leave my pets if we are both deceased first with donations and money from my Trust to Best Friends. Had a negative experience with this man's assistant or receptionist in 2006 when a dog was dumped, living under a bill board sign on a hill with trees on La Brea in LA with 6 lanes of highway. Katrina was her name and I called with the problem. I was new to animal rescue and the animal shelter in the area would only try to get this dog (now our pet 9 years) if they came by and saw him. He was scared and hid a lot. So I called them and Katrina would tell me she would tell Leo and I would call back and she would say he is only one man and cannot help them all. Then she offered to lend us a trap, but we had no truck or SUV. Mixed messages and no real help or suggestions at all. Then read lots of sketchy things about him. Hope he is not a hoarder. Our long time trusted vet recommended Best Friends as an alternative to finding friends or family to take on our pets if we should die before they do. So Trusts made with lawyers and done. We ended up getting a dog trap from a local rescue group and still could not catch our boy in a month of trying. He left the hill and ended up at the nearby shelter within 48 hours, police got him and we went to him, he then knew who and what we had been doing for a whole month, we adopted him and the rest if history and wonderful. However I was new to this and had grown up with 4 dogs, but never saw a dumped dog like this. Katrina was not super helpful and I realize Mr. Grillo rescues the dog he wants to rescue, so calling for help in that area will get you nowhere. Maybe I should have offered money/donation, but I was new to this. I just hope the animals he rescues and takes on when others die and leave them to him with donations are treated well and not lonely neglected animals. No way to know, no way to visit. I would think if one is leaving a lot of money to the place and their pets if they die first he would let that person visit? Just don't know enough and what I did learn when I needed help was not good.
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