AHAR Animal Heaven Animal Rescue Exposed.

Its crazy to think this has been going on for so many years and only now the charities regulator is stepping in. One person having total access to bank accounts and withdrawing half a million in cash over 3 years with little record keeping. You just cant do that as a charity.
Not to mention rehoming horses to the uk that were unfit to travel... oh and recorded on tape requesting tgat somebody does a driveby and throws a brick in someones window?!
 
Cases of dogs being rehomed that really weren't well enough, one was pts emaciated dehydrated etc 5 days after rehoming, dogs sent to uk without passports or rabies jabs.
Horses rehomed that had no passports and some only had a body score of 1/5.
Continually stating it was all volunteers but the 'owner' was paid as was her accomadation also at times another two staff were being paid, thousands of euro withdrawn at atms and no records to say what the money went on.
Appeals launched to 'save' animals, mainly horses, that were in fact not at risk of slaughter or cruelty as the public were led to believe also appeals to buy animals that were already at AHAR.
People that disagreed with AHAR had stories put around accusing them of being drug addicts scumbags etc.
Accounts not made available and general dealings had no transparency.
They have 4 weeks to get an accountant in and ensure records are properly kept and the committee must act as a committee not just be in the background allowing the 'owner' to do what she wants.

I think that covers most but if I've missed anything hopefully someone will fill in the gaps.
 
The manager was invited to contribute but refused, they have issued a statement this morning saying they will allow more transparency whilst deleting anyone who asks questions, same old same old. The committee as I understand it are a relation of the manager and their girlfriend.

Ahar are complaining it was a very one sided programme as they showed no success stories, that depends on what perspective you are looking at when you see how much money is unaccounted for.
 
Really do not understand WHY so many people support this dump.
If the programme was so one sided, why did they not go on it and put their side? Have something to hide do they? They refuse to answer any questions, so obviously they do have something they are trying to hide.
 
http://www.rte.ie/radio/utils/radioplayer/rteradioweb.html#!rii=b9_10672431_53_17-01-2017_

Last nights programme was also covered on the Joe Duffy show, after the Ahar bit if you scroll along to 56 minutes there is more.

I dont understand how anyone can continue to support this charity but reading on their page from some of their supporters they are saying they do not want to watch the programme and totally support Ahar, blind faith eh or utter stupidity.
 
Not me, a family member does some fundraising for animal charities and we've all hear stories for years about the place. Nearly every charity refuses to deal with them. Like the lady said yesterday on Live Line you have to keep visiting the place for weeks to see that the same animals are still there and still in the same condition. They were speaking about sick and weak horses in supports at the time.
 
Cortez said:
Has anyone on here ever been to AHAR?
Click to expand...

I know you have been one of the success stories but you still can't explain all that money being spent buying animals from dealers and saying they are rescued. No one knows how much she spends BUYING Animals because it's all just cash withdrawals for thousands of pounds.
 
There's a lot of places I haven't been or things I haven't done but as with everything that doesn't stop me weighing up the evidence and forming an opinion. And before It gets said no the evidence is not all one sided, there are certain practices they are quite open about which I am against before we get to the rest of the debacle. Of course if you act as middleman for enough animals you might stumble upon a few successes but that doesn't mean you have been following any sort of good practice.
 
One thing that stood out for me in the live line show was they don't have enough resources and people so animals not getting water and food. To me that is cruelty and enough to get them shut down. Also their supporters saying people should support them.....
 
I dont get the whole thing about giving them notice before an Inspection, if I know Im having visitors my house is spotless, visit unexpectedly and its pot luck, it wont be A1 but not bad either. Even after these pre-arranged notices though the dept have still found problems just imagine what they would find with a spot inspection.
 
Cortez said:
Has anyone on here ever been to AHAR?
Click to expand...

Yes Cortez. And a lot of my friends here in Kerry have. The manager and her sidekicks have given people a lot of abuse when theyve helped them I helped with their collections at times and all I got was rude and obscene words from the manager because I stood and waited for people to put money in, I was told I should be knocking on car windows when they were in the traffic queue at the lights, and actually go up to people and shake my tin under their noses.. Thats why they dont have local volunteers- shes alienated them all. I had death threats against me, and was called poisonous, bitch and viper because I bought a puppy at a fair after I lost my old 15yr jack russell, she bought the rest of the litter (at 11am straight after Id bought mine, she didnt wait until the fair was ended to see if they hadnt been sold, no one else got a chance to buy one) and she thought she should have mine as well. She had her ones sent to UK and rehomed through Allsorts Dog Rescue. I found pic on FB of them at Allsorts a month after she'd bought them with a rehoming fee of £200-250.
 
Last edited:
ycbm said:
As long as it is true that they buy horses from a meat man, I don't feel I need to visit to know that this organisation is not serving the interests of horses on a general level.
Click to expand...

I don't think purchasing animals (not just horses) from the meat man or at fairs is a good idea either and just serves to perpetuate the cycle of overbreeding and neglect. I have a dog from AHAR, I collected him before xmas, I paid the fee for Sammy's castration & innoculations directly to the vet practise. A lot of the more lurid allegations are unlikely, and certainly when I was there the place was clean, organised and open - actually better than some of the other rescues I've seen. I saw some things that were not what I would have done, and it was full up, but there was nothing that would have me contacting the authorities. I have no doubt that Suzanne Gibbons is not easy to get along with, she's obviously totally immersed in the whole animal rescue experience - passionate people are often a little nuts, but it makes me uncomfortable when things progress to a witch hunt, which I feel is happening.
 
Any set up which responds to any genuine query about the set up/what has happened to a specific animal/group of rescued animals (as opposed to ranty witch hunting type) is immediately deleted and blocked I think says a lot. She also seems to have gotten through a lot of 'fans' that then are blocked because they query something.

The saga of hero the pony was terrible :( and because of the above behaviour I fear the top of the iceburg because although some animals will end up with great people like I suspect you are Cortez the checks don't seem to be there/cannot be there for the volume they are dealing with.

I know why you say witch hunt but the other side seems so evangelical/can do no wrong which isn't right either.
 
I don't know how many other rescues are out there but ask yourself how many of them have these types of stories like hero hanging over their heads. There will always be 1 or 2 cases that slip through but there are so many with AHAR. What makes them so different to everyone else that they get "targeted". As they say there is no smoke without a fire
 
Cortez said:
I don't think purchasing animals (not just horses) from the meat man or at fairs is a good idea either and just serves to perpetuate the cycle of overbreeding and neglect. I have a dog from AHAR, I collected him before xmas, I paid the fee for Sammy's castration & innoculations directly to the vet practise. A lot of the more lurid allegations are unlikely, and certainly when I was there the place was clean, organised and open - actually better than some of the other rescues I've seen. I saw some things that were not what I would have done, and it was full up, but there was nothing that would have me contacting the authorities. I have no doubt that Suzanne Gibbons is not easy to get along with, she's obviously totally immersed in the whole animal rescue experience - passionate people are often a little nuts, but it makes me uncomfortable when things progress to a witch hunt, which I feel is happening.
Click to expand...

Bit more than a witch hunt when half a million pounds is missing from the accounts and the purchasing of puppies and horses is systemic, though. I don't believe the stories about them starving dogs to raise pity money from their photos, but they do seem to need investigating.

I'm glad your dog got a great new home, are there any cute photos please ?
 
Cortez said:
makes me uncomfortable when things progress to a witch hunt, which I feel is happening.
Click to expand...

I dont think this is a 'witch hunt', more of a 'truth hunt'. The charitys trustees and Suzanne Gibbons are responsible for a LOT of money - 16k to 32k a month in donations alone, then there are the grants etc. A lot of this money comes from the public and therefore the public have a right to know how it is spent.
I think it entirely right that the charities regulator ensures that funds are correctly accounted for, and being spent wisely - and if there is any reason to think the accounts are in anyway suspect it should investigate thoroughly.
 
Yes, it's a lot of money, yes their accounting is rubbish, but I have heard people making accusations of impropriety as if someone was making a fortune out of "selling" animals. An operation of this size will need an large amount of money to run, so the amounts going "missing" are entirely feasable, it's the accountability that needs to be addressed. I believe that the department getting involved and forcing them to sort out the organisation is entirely a good thing. It appears that allowing one person to run AHAR like a personal fiefdom is the problem, and now that seems to be on the road to being remedied. If nothing else they will have some input and help via the oversight of the department. They need to scale back, become more professional and address the deficiencies, perhaps then the emotive reactions - on both sides - will die down.
 
i don't think anyone demanding transparency for public money is doing a 'witch hunt'. i run a company and if i was dealing with public money then it would be no bother to me at any stage to provide audited accounts and folders of receipts and statements. You don't get to hide stuff if people are trusting you with their money in good faith. In fact if my company was under scrutiny like her you'd actually be PUSHING to prove your innocence.
 
The present investigation is not what I was referring to. Cute picture of Samwell as requested:

Sammi_zpsz1pl4geo.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top