Marci Biesheuvel, Litl' Bit of Love Animal Rescue and Sanctuary - Capenter, Wyoming

Mar 7, 2010: Animal rescuer operator faces cruelty charges

The operator of an animal rescue shelter near Carpenter faces two counts of animal cruelty after authorities seized more than 100 dogs, cats and rabbits.

Fifty-year-old Marci Biesheuvel is scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday in Laramie County Circuit Court on the two misdemeanor counts.

Cheyenne Animal Control officers seized the animals last week from the nonprofit Litl' Bit of Love Animal Rescue and Sanctuary.

Authorities originally went to the property on Feb. 24 with a search warrant after receiving a complaint about unclean and filthy conditions.

Cheyenne Animal Shelter Director Rick Collord says the seized animals have been surrendered to his organization..." More

Feb 25, 2010: 93 dogs seized from rescue

By Jodi Rogstad

A rural animal rescue facility northwest of here had 93 dogs, 17 cats and several pet rabbits confiscated Wednesday afternoon because officials say they were in crowded and unsanitary conditions.

Sheriff's deputies arrested Marci Biesheuvel, 50, after she allegedly refused to allow them into her residence at 4765 County Road 206 on a search warrant.

The warrant was issued in response to a complaint from a prospective customer who visited the non-profit that Biesheuvel operates there, Litl' Bit of Love Animal Rescue and Sanctuary.

Rob Shank, shelter manager at the Cheyenne Animal Shelter, said there were 45 dogs living inside the manufactured home, and more were living in outdoor kennels.

Officers at the site said the house floor, where Biesheuvel lived, was littered with feces. A foul odor from the house could be detected about 20 feet away.

The dogs, cats and rabbits will be examined at the shelter and kept there in protective custody at least until the case is resolved. Aside from the misdemeanor obstruction charge, other charges have not been proposed yet in connection to the animal case..." More

Maury Swee: 10th Life Sanctuary, Florida

Dec 30, 2009: 10th Life Sanctuary closed for good

One of the largest cat rescues in United States history is now over.

Last month the NBC2 Investigators uncovered pictures of dead and nearly dead cats, some living in inhumane conditions at the 10th Life Sanctuary in Clewiston.

A week after our story aired, pet rescuers from across the state, including veterinarians from the University of Florida, descended on the so-called sanctuary.

Owner Maury Swee, who is now under investigation for animal cruelty, voluntarily surrendered the cats to the City of LaBelle's Animal Control, which has spent the last month placing them.

Out of the nearly 600 cats found on the property, 185 had to be euthanized because they were critically ill or too wild to be adopted; 410 found new homes..." More

Press release: click here

Dec 6, 2009: UF program helps relocate more than 450 cats

By Christine Hawes

SARASOTA - More than 450 cats are being relocated from a South Florida sanctuary to organizations throughout the state after a team led by the University of Florida's Shelter Medicine program declared the sanctuary "unable to provide an adequate standard of care."

"This is one of the largest cat rescues that most of us know about, and probably in the top five nationally, as far as the number of cats that were relinquished and need care," said Dr. Julie Levy, head of Maddie's Shelter Medicine Program at the university.

Levy added that the situation "meets a lot of the criteria we would use to describe hoarding," including "having more animals than you can provide a humane level of care for."

Levy made an unannounced visit Nov. 16 to the 10th Life Sanctuary in Clewiston, along with other University of Florida experts and representatives from the Humane Society of the United States and the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

The team declared the sanctuary's conditions and the animals' care inadequate, forcing owner Maury Swee to relinquish all 540 felines in his care to the presiding animal control department.

While the team found, during its initial walk-through, 13 cats suffering and in need of urgent veterinary care, a closer examination found 93 cats too sick for care who were euthanized, Levy said.

Nov 26, 2009: Cat rescue underway at pet sanctuary

CLEWISTON: Animal rescue teams descended on a cat sanctuary in Hendry County. The NBC2 Investigators were the first to break the story of unsanitary living conditions at the 10th Life Sanctuary.

Rescue teams from around the state arrived at 7 a.m. Monday.

"The main reason they're here is to try and save them," said Doug Morgan, Director of Labelle's Department of Animal Control.

"This is a monumental task," acknowledged Dr. Julie Levy – one of 75 people on hand this week to help Morgan's effort to get the 600 cats off property.

"So we've been working through the weekend to pull the resources together," said John Haven who is leading the effort.

He's the director of the University of Florida's College of Veterinary Medicine and the head of their disaster response team. Haven says during the next three days, they plan to administer physical examinations and blood tests to every one of the cats at 10th Life Sanctuary.

Animal Control officers say the property's owner, Maury Swee, is cooperating, but he would not allow NBC2 on property Monday while volunteers cleaned out pins and rounded up the cats..." More & video

Nov 18, 2009: Pet sanctuary under investigation More & video

Nov 10, 2009: Sanctuary's treatment of cats concerning expert More & video

Nov 9, 2009: Sanctuary for unwanted pets More & video

Bonniedale Farm

Dec 10, 2009: A happy ending is in the works for rescued farm animals at foreclosed Rhode Island sanctuary

The residents of Bonniedale Farm, a recently-foreclosed farm animal sanctuary in Rhode Island, are in good hands today thanks to an agreement reached between the sanctuary's former owner, Dan MacKenzie, and the mortgage company that forced him to leave the property earlier this week.

After MacKenzie's hasty departure from Bonniedale -- he told the Providence Journal that he'd been given only 10 minutes to vacate on Monday morning -- things quickly went from bad to worse for the animals. According to Rhode Island Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RISPCA) President Dr. Ernest Finocchio, he found horses and pigs without water during a visit to the farm Tuesday. More troubling still, animals like llamas and pot-bellied pigs seemed to be going missing, and it was unclear whether they'd been removed by concerned animal lovers or simply stolen.

MacKenzie's concern for the animals' welfare prompted him to seek a court order to ensure they'd be cared for in his absence. A preliminary agreement, in which Finocchio would assume the responsibility for their care for a 24-hour period, was reached Wednesday.

Representatives from both sides of the foreclosure were back in court today, resulting in an agreement that the Bonniedale animals will remain under the care of the RISPCA over the next few days,according to the Journal. After that, the RISPCA hopes to find new adoptive homes for the animals, which number more than 130 and include many rescued from abusive or neglectful owners..." More & video

Dec 9, 2009: Wells Fargo is accused of animal neglect following foreclosure of Rhode Island farm animal sanctuary

Allegations of animal neglect against an unlikely culprit -- Wells Fargo -- prompted a Rhode Island man to take the bank to court today. Wells Fargo recently foreclosed on Bonniedale Farm, a sanctuary that houses more than 130 rescued farm animals; Dan MacKenzie, the sanctuary's former owner, argued in court that the bank had failed to provide proper care for the animals that remained after he was evicted.

Although friends and animal lovers offered donations in the hopes of saving Bonniedale from foreclosure, the effort was too little, too late. MacKenzie on Monday was ordered off the premises, where he's cared for rescued animals including pigs, horses and turkeys for eight years. (According to MacKenzie, the foreclosure itself stems from a simple mistake -- he didn't know his mortgage had been sold and continued to pay the bank that originally held it.) And since the order to leave was unexpected -- MacKenzie said he was given only 10 minutes to vacate the farm -- he had no time to provide for the animals' interim care.

Had he known the eviction was coming, he told the Providence Journal, he "would have tried to place the animals somewhere safe.... Apparently they're not animal people at all."

With MacKenzie gone, who would care for the animals? His attorney, Guy Settipane, told the Journal that the bank claimed the Rhode Island Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals would step in to look after them. But RISPCA President Dr. Ernest Finocchio contradicted this, saying Wells Fargo had declined his organization's offer of help..." More & video

County may shut down High Springs cat shelter

By, TRACEY MCMANUS, Alachua County Today

HIGH SPRINGS, FL – The chorus of purring cats has blended with the routine sounds of High Springs for years, but their song might not be heard much longer.

Haven Acres Pet Sanctuary houses nearly 300 cats on an eight-acre island of county-zoned land surrounded on all sides by High Springs. Steve and Pennie Lefkowitz have been running the pet rescue since 2003 but may no longer be able to operate because of the concerns and complaints of their neighbors.

After the Alachua County Planning Commission’s April 15 vote to deny a permit for the Lefkowitzes to continue operating, the couple will now face the Alachua County Commission in May to hear if they have to close the shelter and disband the cats.

However, the well-being of High Springs residents is not the only matter the County Commission will consider in May. Some say the cat sanctuary is not a shelter but a case of animal hoarding, which ends up putting the throng of animals in an environment of disease, filth and malnutrition.

To Steve Lefkowitz, his shelter saves hundreds of homeless animals from being euthanized every year while helping the community at the same time.

“We arrange for spay and neuter services to people at low cost or no cost, we advise and assist with health and nutrition, and we have even provided food at no cost to those in financial hardship,” Lefkowitz said. “We feel we have provided very valuable services.” ..”  More

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