SHELTER RESCUE ANIMALS FED TO REPTILES!
250 bunnies, guinea pigs & mice vanish
ANIMAL shelters in California and Arizona are being accused of reducing their populations of small pets like bunnies, guinea pigs, hamsters and mice — by having them fed to snakes and other reptiles!
According to sources, 318 of the cute critters were shipped from the San Diego Humane Society to Tucson’s Humane Society of Southern Arizona in August so they could be adopted into forever homes.
But nearly four months later, about 250 of the animals seem to have vanished into thin air, with no records, and society officials say an investigation has come to the horrifying conclusion — the critters were fed to reptiles frozen or ALIVE!
“A Hollywood horror writer couldn’t write something like this,” says Gary Weitzman, CEO of San Diego
Humane Society (SDHS). “I desperately wish we hadn’t done this.”
SDHS rehomed the pets because its facility was overflowing — at 160 percent capacity — and doesn’t euthanize animals.
Weitzman says the Tucson facility’s boss Christian Gonzalez assured him the critters would be adopted.
Instead, the little animals disappeared with no records, Weitzman claims.
Investigators say the Tucson shelter shipped the pets to Colten Jones, who claimed to run a family-funded rescue, but was really operator of The Fertile Turtle, a reptile breeding business that also sold food for reptiles.
The day after the 318 animals were shipped to Tucson, investigators say Jones texted a Phoenix reptile breeder, asking:
“Do you have the ability to freeze off a bunch of guinea pigs and or rabbits?
“I don’t have the manpower or labor to be able to do it.”
When he learned of the text, Weitzman says: “It dropped me to my knees. I don’t know why I had such a visceral reaction to that, because it’s not like I thought this was going to be a fairy-tale ending.”
Now, he admits there’s little chance of criminal charges or even a civil lawsuit. Jones has denied all allegations — and even returned 62 animals to the Tucson facility.
Weitzman’s also mystified as to why this happened, saying; “Nothing makes sense. There is no gain here.”