Little state regulation for canine rescues

Expert: ‘Anyone can start one, and run one’

At one moment, Wesley, a 52-pound bull terrier, was resting peacefully with his head in Ariel Sackett’s lap. A short time later, with little warning, Wesley attacked, biting her right hand, right biceps and right calf.

“My arm is finally starting to look like it doesn’t have a big dent in it,” said Sackett, who was attacked in May after applying to foster Wesley and then adopt the dog

Wesley probably shouldn’t have been eligible for Sackett to adopt or foster. The shelter where he was housed had documented Wesley’s bad behavior and medication. But the dog rescue serving as the middle man in the transaction, Noah’s Rescue, which is based on Fort Lauderdale, was under no legal obligation to share such information with Sackett.

Florida dog rescues, unlike shelters, adoption agencies and kennels, aren’t under much legal obligation at all. Almost anyone can open a dog rescue. Many aren’t even brick-and-mortar facilities.

No one knows how many dog rescues are in Broward and Palm Beach counties.

No one knows how many dog rescues are in Florida.

No one knows how many dogs they receive, how many dogs they send out for fostering or adoption, and whether those dogs are fit to live with other animals or people.

“I think what is a shame about Florida is that it doesn’t require that there be any registration of these organizations,” said Julie Levy, professor of shelter medicine for the University of Florida. “So, we don’t even know where they are.”

And if the rescue meets the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer

Services standard as a nonprofit charitable organization, it can solicit public donations and do almost anything it wants with the money. No one will check how the funds are used unless there’s a complaint and/or investigation, which doesn’t happen often.

“All of the funds that are there can be used for whatever they want to use them for,” said Adam Leath, a board member of the National Animal Care and Control Association as well as director of Volusia County Animal Services.

Whistleblowers claim the donations are sometimes abused, or used for personal purposes such as jewelry and fancy dinners, as opposed to dog rescue business. They point to tax returns that show six- and seven-figure incomes and facilities and resources that don’t line up with such funding.

In some cases, social media videos blur the line between properly using animals to solicit donations and exploiting animals to finance a lavish lifestyle.

“And it’s not an easy thing to prove that,” Leath said.

Still, the majority of dog rescues do honest work that makes dogs’

— Julie Levy, professor of shelter medicine for the University of Florida