For my second post this morning, I’d like to give some BIG kudos to Barbara Hoffman and Fred Lulling who are being persecuted by Marion County, TX, at this very moment but have declined to be silent during the process. It takes an enormous amount of courage to speak out when you’ve already been defamed via the media and internet spam.
I’ve told you about the nonsense in Edinburg and I now understand that before that, they all survived Hurricane Dolly as well! Barbara, Fred, and these animals are clearly fighters and survivors. I encourage you to visit Barbara’s blog to see her personal perspective.
Many of their animals were killed within moments of being seized and, of course, they demand exorbitant fees for caring for the animals post seizure. As we’ve seen before in asset seizure, the government demands a hefty hostage price for caring for animals (see Barbara’s post below). Like most would need, they need your help with that so I include this from Barbara: “we need to raise money to pay their boarding fees so here's our address: 950 Lewis Chapel Rd, Jefferson, TX 75657. The money WON'T be tax deductible.”
I am also including Barbara and Fred’s comments here as they deserve more prominence.
From Barbara
Please go for the daily updates:
http://topcatsroar.wordpress.com
We are working on a warm room
Creating dog runs out of the cat compound...
Turning arena panels sideways to form a coral for the ponies and horses and
errecting the canopies for shelter
Not the plan but all the chainlink is still in the Valley...
Hearing next week will continue and what do they care at $10 a day per animal
and will continue to add up...for the rats?, each one?...the tarantula?...the
snakes? YEAH!
I was asked which of the animals I was willing to give up? My first response
was none and then I changed my mind and told them Ms. Wedding could have the
rats (snake food) and the trantula, lol! The _____!
If anyone wants to help finance their safe return to us please send money, even
the smallest amount will make a difference towards closure.
The torture of animal owners...look in the page DandyLion may he rest in peace.
From Fred #1
You don't know how close to the truth you came on ALL your assumptions, PJ! Doesn't surprise me that RJ's brother was here.
Seems like everybody and their brother showed up -on our PRIVATE PROPERTY, admitted by none other than our men in blue. And get this, despite USDA rules of establishing a perimeter of at least 3' and our attempts to make it more like 5'-10', those pix you see of the cats were NOT telephoto pix. The cameras were actually stuck right up to the cage bars! Besides the "exercise cage" that Mr. Pitts refers to, they make no mention -nor show any pictures- of the permanent caging, under construction but prevented by them from finishing -which I had welded in movable sections before the move, and which we were not allowed to erect in Edinburg. This after much of our equipment had been lost to Hurricane Dolly. Yes, everything was distorted to make THEM look like heros and us like super-villains. At least one of the commando raiders carried a military assault rifle -for two old people and a bunch of caged animals? When I attempted to close our gates to hold off the media, I was threatened in no uncertain terms with handcuffs if I touched my gate again. Oh, and the media "forgets" to mention that we both spent a week confined in orange and white pajamas, so we couldn't build our defense. Horrible ammonia stench? Yet nobody said a word, pulled out a face-mask, or came out staggering -including a friend who went in to fetch Barbara's coat for her.(Yes, PJ, it was bitter cold that day!) Of course the small animals in the trailer were in small transport cages. That's how they travel, and had not yet been unloaded. It was freezing outside when we arrived, and then several days of cold rain before their surprise "inspection" visit from 8 till past midnight on a Sunday night.
From Fred #2
Impatient is right! Just got word that Big Cat Rescue is
coming this afternoon to transport the cats to Wisconsin.
And the second phase of the hearings has not even been held yet. They say we
are welcome to have our transport cages back -provided we go up to Wisconsin
and fetch them ourselves. Meantime, they are using some of MY tools and
equipment they just helped themselves to on my property after the sheriff took
me away. You wouldn't believe the trash and garbage we've been cleaning up here
after them. Also found an empty liquor bottle outside.
It HAD been on a shelf, an unopened memento of Barbara's late husband. Also
found a tequila bottle of ours inside with the cap missing. Does a search
warrant give them the right to eat your food and drink your likker too?
Barbara and Fred, Keep fighting! I am getting your personal messages and will write back. It’s been a crazy couple of days and tomorrow I’ll be urging all to help get the ACLU involved in these animal seizures. The other property seizures are already on their radar so it’s barely a stretch to include these.