BAD NEIGHBOURS
A Maple Ridge horse rescue and a group of online critics are embroiled in a long-running feud over the quality of care that horses receive
A Maple Ridge horse-rescue outfit says it’s the target of a long-running campaign of online hate and harassment that’s threatening to derail its work.
Julie MacMillan started J&M Acres Horse Rescue 20 years ago after attending an auction and realizing thousands of horses get sent to slaughter in Canada annually. She acquires unwanted horses, takes them in on her twoacre property and tries to find them homes.
“It’s important what we do. But with people screwing with it, it’s a big ugly shame for these animals,” said MacMillan.
The online campaign, which MacMillan says has gone on for about four years, has been stressful for her and her volunteers. MacMillan said the Facebook page called The Truth is also scaring off potential adoptees and deters people from sending their horses to them.
“The biggest problem we have is how it affects the horses. If people won’t send their horses to us, they’ll send them to auction. If one horse dies because of this, that’s one horse too many,” she said.
The 681-member The Truth Facebook page contains “bizarre lies,” said MacMillan.
It was started in 2012 by a woman identified as Michelle Lori, who used to foster J&M horses until the relationship turned sour.
Lori, who didn’t want her legal name reported, said she started the Facebook page to expose what she called J&M’s questionable treatment of horses and lax adoption procedure. She also accused MacMillan and another of her volunteers of using money donated to the rescue — a non-registered charity — for personal use.
“They use horses for this,” she told The Province. “They don’t give a s--- about the horses.”
Lori said she hasn’t been an administrator of The Truth for over three years.
The Truth page details some members’ negative experiences with J&M, with accusations that workers are “money-grubbers” who “flip” horses. Members question why a horse has a fleece blanket rather than a waterproof blanket, why J&M’s fundraiser involves shirtless cowboys and why MacMillan was riding a horse without a helmet and shoes.
On Wednesday, The Truth Facebook page was pulled down or blocked from public view.
MacMillan said she has contacted police, a lawyer and Facebook, but was told nothing could be done.
J&M operates on private donations and adoption fees of $500 per horse. MacMillan, who has a full-time job, said running the rescue isn’t easy or fun and certainly not profitable. She said she had contemplated registering J&M as a charity in the past, but found the requirements and paperwork too onerous.
“If you guys want to take the horses and you can do a better job, we’ll give you the contacts and help you set up,” MacMillan has told the Facebook group before.
MacMillan’s neighbour Cheryl Stirling said she defended J&M on The Truth website a few years ago and received a vicious message from a member of the group.
“I can’t explain how horrible the things she said were,” said Stirling, who has adopted six horses from J&M and has no complaints.
The Province contacted two other horse-rescue groups in the Lower Mainland. Both said J&M does good work. One said they heard from their volunteers, who also spend time at J&M, that horses appear happy and healthy.
The SPCA said it had attended J&M’s farm in the past to respond to complaints, most recently in 2013. Orders were issued and subsequently complied with. It didn’t divulge the nature of the allegations, nor who reported them. The SPCA doesn’t send horses to J&M because it only works with registered non-profits, said Lorie Chortyk.
“We want to work with organizations that are accountable, but it doesn’t mean that if they aren’t (a registered non-profit) there’s something wrong,” she said, adding from the SPCA’s point of view, the more rescues the better, “as long as the welfare is taken care of and they’re responsible.”
Ch or ty ks aid the SPCA doesn’ t have any ongoing concerns with J&M and anyone with allegations against the group should contact the B.C. SPCA instead of posting them on Facebook.