Whispering Willows and Alternative sanctuary

[Chinchilla]

That’s really sad.
Is some sort of personality disorder that attracts people to set up ‘rescues’ but then for what ever reason lose the plot.

What the hell....I hope this about personality disorders is some kind of sick, decidedly unamusing 'joke'. Sorry but saying things like that is 1) completely irrelevant; 2) does nothing to help the animals; and 3) stigmatising and horrible for people with PDs who look after their animals just fine.
Again. Apologies for going off topic.
My view on the whole sorry mess though is that all rescues should stop acting like exclusive white knight clubs saving the day, and pull together for the good of the animals....

 

[Tiddlypom]

Chinchilla, you’re overreacting, I’m sure that hp wasn’t making any sick joke about anything.

 

[Chinchilla]

Chinchilla, you’re overreacting, I’m sure that hp wasn’t making any sick joke about anything.

Yeah maybe but it shouldn't have been said anyway. Not following WW Saga really so can't comment further but thought that particular remark was unnecessary and hurtful.

 

[exracehorse]

Apparently Sandra has a lovely set of new teeth.

I’m not sure if they are false teeth or very expensive veneers

 

[honetpot]

more quickly than I expected too.

What the hell....I hope this about personality disorders is some kind of sick, decidedly unamusing 'joke'. Sorry but saying things like that is 1) completely irrelevant; 2) does nothing to help the animals; and 3) stigmatising and horrible for people with PDs who look after their animals just fine.
Again. Apologies for going off topic.
My view on the whole sorry mess though is that all rescues should stop acting like exclusive white knight clubs saving the day, and pull together for the good of the animals....

I am always interested in why people do things, so no it’s not a sick joke, because by understanding why perhaps you can stop it in the future.
Charity law in the case of small animal charities is not fit for purpose as the scutany of the accounts is basic. Anyone who has ever bought or been given a horse knows that’s the easy bit, the hard bit is finding the money to keep it, it’s rent, fodder and basic vet fees and farriers x what ever number you have. So perhaps small animal charities should have to prove they have the money to cover those expenses for at least six months.
The not for profit company is the other way of getting around things, where company directors can pay themselves wages. If you look at Hillside animal charity accounts they are interesting.
I support several small charities , I like to support ones that I can actually go visit so I know how the money is being spent and that they pay their bills. One I know of would never pay farmers for hay, and I would say she has a personality disorder as she ‘saved’ farm animal but her sheds we so full of s***, that the sheep housed in there heads touched the ceiling, which at least shows a lack of insight as farmers have inspections from EHO and would be fined if They allowed that to happen.They often seem to think that their way is the only way of ‘saving’ them and when people question how money is spent they turn on them and accuse them of being haters.
I have withdrawn my support from one charity because of this, the abuse wasn’t aimed at me but the questions asked seemed reasonable, the response was not.
I do not know how to stop this happening, the charities commission can not even keep a close eye on the bigger ones and there are plenty of cases of fraud with large sums of money being misappropriated.
You talk of ‘exclusive white knights clubs’ an perhaps that’s how you judge any sort of any sort of welfare organisation, is it open to scrutiny, and will tell why and how money is spent. But when you see the appeals it’s hard to be so dispassionate.

 

[Chinchilla]

I am always interested in why people do things, so no it’s not a sick joke, because by understanding why perhaps you can stop it in the future.
Charity law in the case of small animal charities is not fit for purpose as the scutany of the accounts is basic. Anyone who has ever bought or been given a horse knows that’s the easy bit, the hard bit is finding the money to keep it, it’s rent, fodder and basic vet fees and farriers x what ever number you have. So perhaps small animal charities should have to prove they have the money to cover those expenses for at least six months.
The not for profit company is the other way of getting around things, where company directors can pay themselves wages. If you look at Hillside animal charity accounts they are interesting.
I support several small charities , I like to support ones that I can actually go visit so I know how the money is being spent and that they pay their bills. One I know of would never pay farmers for hay, and I would say she has a personality disorder as she ‘saved’ farm animal but her sheds we so full of s***, that the sheep housed in there heads touched the ceiling, which at least shows a lack of insight as farmers have inspections from EHO and would be fined if They allowed that to happen.They often seem to think that their way is the only way of ‘saving’ them and when people question how money is spent they turn on them and accuse them of being haters.
I have withdrawn my support from one charity because of this, the abuse wasn’t aimed at me but the questions asked seemed reasonable, the response was not.
I do not know how to stop this happening, the charities commission can not even keep a close eye on the bigger ones and there are plenty of cases of fraud with large sums of money being misappropriated.
You talk of ‘exclusive white knights clubs’ an perhaps that’s how you judge any sort of any sort of welfare organisation, is it open to scrutiny, and will tell why and how money is spent. But when you see the appeals it’s hard to be so dispassionate.

Reading this I basically agree with you except for the personality disorder bit 😂
The problem is anyone can say they 'rescue' but even charities commission can't get involved unless they're registered charities which a lot of small 'rescues' aren't , this doesn't (or rather shouldn't!) mean they can't act scrupulously in regards to publishing where donations and animals go. It's hard not to be taken in by appeals etc though as you say.... After reading this thread I looked up the 'alternative sanctuary' mentioned and came close to downtown to disbelieving this thread but stopped short at a page saying there was some (a fair number) of species they wouldn't ever entertain rehoming as many people couldn't provide a suitable environment so those species all stayed at the 'sanctuary'. That's what I mean by saying "exclusive white Knights club" - that attitude that they are the only people who can ever care for the animals 'properly', which is hoarding obviously. And rang serious alarm bells.
Not sure all welfare organisations are like this of any size but the simple fact is, it's problematic that anyone can call themselves a 'rescue' and appear to be able to take animals off their legal owners. Particularly when they're potentially taking them to a worse situation ie a hoarding situation.

But I have no idea what the solution to this problem of the lack of regulation is; government licensing, maybe, but then there would undoubtedly be calls for gov involvement/licensing in breeding in the first place which probably wouldn't be feasible. Particularly as even existing animal welfare laws are painfully vague and badly/or at least inconsistently reinforced.

 

[Cinnamontoast]

Re personality disorder: I’m a sucker for watching programmes such as Animal Rescue USA and Hoarders. The staff regularly rescue dozens of animals from ‘rescuers’ or hoarders. These people often appear to be suffering from some sort of disorder and the houses are sometimes demolished. I don’t know if hoarding is classed as a disorder, but I’m guessing it is, given the living conditions.

We see horses being rescued from appalling conditions far too often, people being prosecuted etc, you only have to consider the latest news report about such occurrences to believe that those ‘rescuers’ aren’t thinking straight and have issues at play.

 

[Cinnamontoast]

Re the South Wales ponies, a lorry load were transported to a sanctuary in Herts a couple of days ago, coloured cobs etc. From WW? I’m not seeing anything on the RSPCA page, has it all been removed? Is WW being exposed as a massive fake?

 

[AmyMay]

And if what this woman is saying is true, are the RSPCA involved?

 

[meleeka]

Interesting that one of her followers said something along the lines of “Their care might not be perfect but they are better off than where they came from”. Are standards so low that that’s acceptable? Being in a situation just better than total neglect and hunger is hardly a good advert for a rescue.

 

[Leo Walker]

Interesting that one of her followers said something along the lines of “Their care might not be perfect but they are better off than where they came from”. Are standards so low that that’s acceptable? Being in a situation just better than total neglect and hunger is hardly a good advert for a rescue.

Interesting that one of her followers said something along the lines of “Their care might not be perfect but they are better off than where they came from”. Are standards so low that that’s acceptable? Being in a situation just better than total neglect and hunger is hardly a good advert for a rescue.

They have no water some of the time but thats ok. Its better than where they were. They are now selling those coloured cob foals for £250 each. When you times that by the number of them thats a tidy sum made for chucking some slop in a trough once a day!

 

[Sandstone1]

Where did all those foals come from in the first place? There were loads of them and too young to be away from mum by the looks of them.

 

[meleeka]

I’ve just seen the live post from last night. The best comment was “I’ve followed you and stuck up for you in the past, but you go to hospital with a chest injection and come back with new teeth! Wtf!” 😂

 

[HEM]

They have mentioned the dead foal as if it is a common occurrence! They have had those foals for a good couple of weeks if not months now, surely they would be out of the woods by now and any sudden death should be a complete shock!

The admin that has commented about it on FB also seems to now be back tracking. She's an admin of the group and seemed to know everything but now is saying "whenever I have been at willows the horses have been in good condition"

It's all a bit bizarre but we all called it from the beginning!

 

[ester]

HP this isn't even a not for profit though, it is just a Ltd company.

 

[ester]

Where did all those foals come from in the first place? There were loads of them and too young to be away from mum by the looks of them.

they were nurse mare foals.

 

[Sandstone1]

they were nurse mare foals.

Thank you. I've not heard of that before. What does it mean please?

 

[ester]

mare has foal, mare gets leased to (usually) a thoroughbred operation that needs a foster mare, the mare's original foal is hand reared.
I did think that over here most ££ breeding operations kept their own nurse mares and often they will use a fairly nice stallion so the offspring are actually quite nice and worth something anyway. These seem to just be cob foals though.

Though actually these might actually just have been dumped, with 'Tom Price' being a name bandied about, I'm not sure they were terribly open about the full circumstances.

 

[meleeka]

they were nurse mare foals.

So if that’s the case these foals will be at least a yearly occurrence? She’s done the breeder a favour by taking them so that’s not really helping to stop the industry at all. The breeder will no doubt have a other 40 by next year. There are plenty of sickly coloured colt foals available to anyone who wants one so I’m not sure it’s in anyone’s best interest to keep saving these and turning them out for £250.

 

[ester]

I think it might not be the case now, I know it was discussed around the time but frankly there is so much rubbish on the page and I can't watch the videos, they creep me out!
Said Tom Price (hampshire) has a ban on keeping horses and apparently doesn't keep the colts.

 

[Peter7917]

I have not seen the video yet as am at work but am not surprised and am pleased people are finally seeing her for what she is.

 

[honetpot]

The foals look too small to be nurse foals, the mares tend to be over 14.2 and to be fair most of them are now covered by decent stallions or the studs teaser TB as there is a market now for these foals. I have one and he is by a registered ID stallion, they are no longer cheap.
There seems to be areas where colt foals are dumped in groups, they are usually looking at their tails from about 2 months to 3+ months, so they are obviously dumping them when they are still cute and it cheaper than paying the knacker man.
I have a pony I got through a rescue organisation, it was an a colt with no passport and I paid nothing.

If people are being charged for the animal they should be clear what they are being charged for. When I got the vet out to passport, do a health check etc a basic passport, chipping, tetanus, health check and advice cost me £200, so if it has had all of that £200 is a fair amount. I doubt if they have had that spent on them. The coat take ages to come out when they have been malnourished, mine didn’t loose his till June so he did look a bit of a mess, but he had been feral and he was not keen on being close to people.
There are enough people buying these foals already which is just makes a market for them and they will breed more. Bangs head against wall.

 

[Ddraig_wen]

There's a post of the truth group where she was supposed to have been seen collecting / buying a group of 9 or so from a yard

 

[Sandstone1]

I didn't know nurse foals was a thing. Thank you for explaining. Although I would have thought that they were indeed nurse foals they would look better bred?
I don't know the ins and outs of this so called sanctuary but find i t a bit strange that someone looking after so many horses can keep nails like that of afford them!

 

[honetpot]

Hope this link works
https://bromsgrovestandard.co.uk/ne...es-after-horses-found-without-food-and-water/
If you read this a women who rehomed horses for the RSPCA, didn’t feed them and turned the water off.
The RSPCA inspector was upset with the abuse he received but says himself he was sympathetic at first.
How the hell does this happen, again.

 

[Velcrobum]

This

Hope this link works
https://bromsgrovestandard.co.uk/ne...es-after-horses-found-without-food-and-water/
If you read this a women who rehomed horses for the RSPCA, didn’t feed them and turned the water off.
The RSPCA inspector was upset with the abuse he received but says himself he was sympathetic at first.
How the hell does this happen, again.

This was the subject of a long thread on here last year
https://forums.horseandhound.co.uk/threads/thor-the-rescue-horse.765021/

 

[stormox]

It seems that dodgy Irish "rescue" AHAR have spoken in support of WW now

 

[ester]

two peas in a pod

 

[rascal]

Saw a post on the truth about WW on facebook, where someone was saying they feed sugar beet and fast fibre but do not soak it, poor horses.I hope it is not true.
As for the idiot at AHAR speaking in support of them,well really not much of recommendation given the awful things that one has done.

 

[popcorn1]

Saw a post on the truth about WW on facebook, where someone was saying they feed sugar beet and fast fibre but do not soak it, poor horses.I hope it is not true.
As for the idiot at AHAR speaking in support of them,well really not much of recommendation given the awful things that one has done.

as incompetent as they appear to be, surely everything would be dead if they were doing this