Welcome to The Lost Animals - The 'Real Story Why the WAO Failed.' I started blogging the WAO fiasco back in 2007; during the second year of investigations into the activities of the WAO's Board of Directors. 

For years, the Wild Animal Orphanage (WAO) was hailed as one of the largest sanctuaries in the United States with at one time housing a reported 600 animals, to include tigers, lions, cougars, leopards, jaguars, bobcats, servals, caracal, wolves, wolfdogs, foxes, bears, several non-human primate species, chimpanzees, baboons, lemurs, llamas, horses, potbellied pigs, dogs, and cats.

My story is covered in four separate blogs and I recommend you read them in this order:

• Before Blog  (BB) Notebook:  Historical facts to include emails, pictures, videos, audiotape, and some commentary;
• Texas Animal Sanctuary Underworld:  Mainly commentary with lots of pictures and some emails; and
• Let Your Heart Take Courage:  Covers the end of the WAO with lots of pictures, videos, slideshows, audiotapes, and commentary.
• FOIA and Other Government Records:  Historical documents pertaining to records obtained through the open records programs.

My blogs cover five years of investigative work which started after I resigned from the WAO's board of directors (as vice president /treasurer) and conclude with the total dismantling of the non-profit organization.  For many, this blog may be very disturbing.  You may be wondering, why wasn't this story in the national news? Why hasn't the Texas Office of the Attorney General filed criminal charges against those who were responsible for the WAO's downfall?  Why didn't the USDA act sooner to save so many animals' lives?  Why didn't IFAW help the WAO's animals sooner?  Where was the animal community during all this?  Did any of them help during the investigation process? 

As you read the blogs, I pray you will understand why this story did not make national headline news and why the animal "sanctuary" and animal rights groups went to such great lengths to bury this story.

Originally, I created the blogs, in the hopes of helping other animal caretakers or board directors, faced with the same dilemmas I faced so many years ago.  Today, these blogs serve as a testimony to well over 1,000+ WAO animals that lost their lives while housed at either the Talley or Leslie Road facility.  It is also a testimony to the 200+ animals that were relocated to other facilities throughout the United States, and to those animals left behind, unwanted by any wild animal sanctuary, because the animals were too old (like sweet Lance [tiger] who was left behind without his longtime cage mate, Layla who relocated to WCS) or too sick.

All of these animals must not be forgotten.  For to forget these animals would be tantamount to turning our backs on animals in need, right in our own country.  As humans, if we cannot learn from our past mistakes, we are doomed to repeat them and so I pray no other person on Earth goes through what I did -- but if that should happen, I don't want you to think you are alone.  One person can make a difference.  Be a positive voice for change in the life of just one animal and you will change that animal's life forever.  

So, these blog stories are about shock, anger, hope, tears and finally acceptance.  These stories also represent the desire to seek justice for the animals that had no voice--no matter what the cost.  Why did I pursue this case for years?  Simple -- it was the right thing to do.  Ask yourself, how far would you go to save a tiger from a horrible death?  A lion?  A bear?  You really cannot say until you are faced with this challenge. So please, keep an open mind as you read these blogs and understand it took a lot of love and perseverance to see this case through to the end.  

I realize I am going to upset large animal rights groups and their donor bases; the wild animal sanctuary "industry"; and a lot of people who were intimately involved in the WAO fiasco.  My name will certainly be "mud" in the animal world where a lot of people, who obviously have a lot to lose, financially and politically, are forced to answer questions from people like you regarding how exotic animals are treated in the United States by established institutions.  If this blog gets people to question how money is spent in the exotic animal "sanctuary" industry, then perhaps all the heartache and loss I and others went through for the last eight years will not be in vain.

As you read these blogs, I encourage you to question your preconceived assumptions and dig deep into the exotic animal issues.  Don't just take my word on what happened at the WAO--instead seek the truth by requesting documents from the USDA, TCEQ, or the Texas OAG - Charitable Trust Division.  Ask questions -- learn the truth for yourself and then, if you have the courage, make a commitment to positively change the life of an animal in need.

So without further ado, you are now ready to read the blogs.  The direct blog links can be found on the right column and the introduction pages can be found at the top of this page.  Keep in mind, before you begin reading the blogs, you may want to read their introduction pages first, so you can understand why the blog was broken up into three pieces:

And now for the legal considerations for the blogs:

These are my personal accounts and opinions relating to my investigation into the exotic wild animal world.  My thoughts and opinions change from time to time—I consider this a necessary consequence of having an open mind. These blogs are intended to provide a semi-permanent point in time snapshot and as such my thoughts and opinions expressed within older posts may not be the same, nor even similar, to those I hold today.

If you have a disagreement with what I have written, please feel free to comment. But keep in mind; I have the right not to post your comments, especially if you are crude, rude, threatening, or obnoxious. So be polite.

Copyright & All Rights Reserved

All rights reserved. No part of these pages, either text, audio, or image may be used for any purpose other than for your own personal reading pleasure.

Use of Intellectual Property

You may not, and agree that you will not, reproduce, download, license, publish, enter into a database, display, modify, create derivative works from, transmit, post, distribute or perform publicly by any means, method, or process obtained from or through this blog, in whole or in part, without the express written permission of this blog owner, me.

Please Note

I hold no claims of ownership to the referenced material used in the blog such as articles, screenshots, or photos that were obtained from public online webpages or other public media sources. Testimonies from my sources and interviews, comments, criticism, and articles are released without malice (i.e., without intent to harm) to any parties and intended solely for educational and historical purposes and are protected by my First Amendment (US Constitution) right to publicly share my story with you.

Challenge Your Preconceived Notions or They Will Challenge You.

Before Blog (BB) Notebook

Greetings Readers!

The blog you selected was started last year when I realized the media, sanctuaries, and animal rights/welfare groups made the conscious decision not to disclose the true reasons why the Wild Animal Orphanage (WAO) failed.

This blog contains emails, videos, pictures, and audio pertaining to the WAO investigation.  As large as this blog is, it by no means contains all the media related evidence pertaining to the WAO investigation.  The majority of this blog is evidenced based, with little or no comments made by me; some of the evidence just spoke for itself.  If you are looking for proof that the WAO collapsed from mis-management and violations of the Animal Welfare Act  by the WAO board of directors, then this is the site for you!

I do believe this blog will give you an accurate idea of what transpired from November 2006 - 2010 at the WAO as it changed "hands" twice in five years.  This blog ends in May 2010 and the final blog, "Let Your Heart Takes Courage," picks up the rest of the story to the end.

I encourage responsible dialogue.  If you have information which you believe should be added to this blog, or if you believe I did not provide accurate information (as it was known at that time), then by all means let me know by filling out the comment box; please be prepared to back up your statements with factual information and not just conjecture. I will examine the information sent and make a determination as whether or not it is germane to my blog.  

If you just simply disagree with what I wrote, please do not bother to comment unless you can provide supporting evidence to the contrary.  Keep in mind; I have the right not to post your comments, especially if you are crude, rude, threatening, or obnoxious. So be polite and be specific.  No novels, please!

So, without further ado, here is the link to the BB Blog!

Texas Animal Sanctuary Underworld

Greetings Reader:

I created the Texas Animal Sanctuary Underworld blog back in 2007.  Initially, I made this blog public at the time I created it, in the hopes that animal caretakers, from all walks of life, could read and learn from past mistakes made at one Texas exotic wild animal sanctuary. 

At the time I wrote the blog, I did not name names for I did not want to hurt the Wild Animal Orphanage's ability to raise funds.  I did hope that the WAO animal caretakers would read the blog and realize it was their sanctuary I was writing about and then take a positive stand for the animals.

For two years, no one, except my group of supporters, knew about the blog.  Then one day... (you will have to read the rest of the story on the blog).

You may wonder why there is "current" material on this blog, which identifies the sanctuary in question.  Well, information that I believed important, discovered after the fact for the most part, was added to give the blog article context.  This gives the reader the "whole story," so he/she did not have to bounce back and forth to the BB Blog in order to get the "rest of the story."

I encourage responsible dialogue.  If you have information which you believe should be added to this blog, or if you believe I did not provide accurate information (as it was known at that time), then by all means let me know by filling out the comment box.  I will examine the information sent and make a determination as whether or not it is germane to my blog.  

If you just simply disagree with what I wrote, please do not bother to comment unless you can provide supporting evidence to the contrary.  Keep in mind; I have the right not to post your comments, especially if you are crude, rude, threatening, or obnoxious. So be polite and be specific.  No novels, please!

So, without further ado, here is the Texas Animal Sanctuary Underworld Blog.

FOIA and Other Government Records

This blog was started because many of the documents, from various government agencies were rather large and therefore required its own "space".  I will post various historical documents to this site for your reading pleasure as time permits, so you may want to check out this site from time to time for latest information.  Thank you! 

Click here for the FOIA and Other Goverment Records.

Let Your Heart Take Courage!

Welcome Readers to the final blog covering the Wild Animal Orphanage fiasco, titled "Let Your Heart Take Courage." 

I started this blog right after I closed the Texas Animal Sanctuary Underworld blog to the public back in 2009.  This new blog picks up the story from where the WAO animal caretakers discovered my original blog and how they rose up (well most of the workers anyway), and spoke out against the atrocities happening at the WAO.

You will also read how the WAO changed management, not once, but twice -- and then the final chapters of this story cover the WAO's closure and subsequent relocation of its animals.

This blog contains a lot of information to include pictures, slide shows, videos, and audio tapes, plus a lot of commentary made by moi.

Again, like the other two blogs, I encourage responsible dialogue.  If you have information which you believe should be added to this blog, or if you believe I did not provide accurate information (as it was known at that time), then by all means let me know by filling out the comment box.  I will examine the information sent and make a determination as whether or not it is germane to my blog.  

If you just simply disagree with what I wrote, please do not bother to comment unless you can provide supporting evidence to the contrary.  Keep in mind; I have the right not to post your comments, especially if you are crude, rude, threatening, or obnoxious. So be polite and be specific.  No novels, please!

So, without further ado, here is the link to the "Let Your Heart Take Courage" blog.