Thursday March 27, 2008, 10:57 am
IMPORTANT STATEMENT FROM FORMER LCA INVESTIGATOR ABOUT TIGER RANCH

The statement below was released yesterday by Mike Winikoff, former Investigator at Last Chance For Animals, who left the organization after the initial evidence on Tiger Ranch was presented to LCA and ultimately rejected with no clear explanation given.

Voices For Animals can only question how a California-based organization, whose founder Chris DeRose had never heard of the establishment until recently, and who had never visited the property when the animals were present, could possibly be in a position to judge the conditions at Tiger Ranch. VFA does not wish to enter into a conflict of opinion with another animal rights organization, notably since we do not know the position of all remaining LCA staff on this issue. Once again, we would ask everyone to wait and judge by the evidence as it is presented.


"I was working for Last Chance for Animals when the initial complaints about Tiger Ranch came in to the office. I was assigned to conduct a preliminary investigation, which I did. I concluded that there was evidence of horrible suffering at Tiger Ranch, and requested authorization to conduct a more thorough investigation. My request was approved but then abruptly withdrawn. I’ve never fully understood why LCA pulled me off of that investigation. After I left LCA, I continued to look into Tiger Ranch and became more and more convinced that the allegations were valid. As a 20-year veteran of the animal rights movement, including a decade as an undercover investigator, I remain convinced that Tiger Ranch deserved to be closed and investigated for animal cruelty. I believe that our mission as animal advocates is to prevent and alleviate suffering wherever it occurs, even when the suffering is created by those who may be trying to do good things for animals.


I do not believe that good intentions absolve us of the consequences of our actions. That applies both to Tiger Ranch and the people who dumped cats there without fully investigating their likely fate."


Mike Winikoff

Thursday March 27, 2008, 10:57 am
This post was originally earlier so it was not released yesterday but about a week or so ago.

Saturday March 29, 2008, 10:00 pm
A letter from Chris DeRose found on Best Friends site

"I feel compelled to tell you the truth about Tiger Ranch from my
perspective. I have been doing investigations now for over 30 years into
every type of animal issue you can think of. LCA has been responsible for
putting the first people in State and Federal prisons, had the first
government licensed dealer to have his license permanently removed, as of
today got the first dogs [11 of them] out of a laboratory and into a
sanctuary to be placed in great homes, and the list goes on and on. LCA’s
SIU [Special Investigations Unit] and I are extremely meticulous about
acquiring the proper evidence for a case. We don’t shoot for 100% but for
150% so there is NO question about the case. We are the only organization
who can say they have worked with the US Attorney’s office and 6 other
Federal Agencies to get an indictment and conviction and sentencing on the
most notorious USDA Class B dealer in the country - CC Baird. This also
extends to several of the largest cock fighting busts in the United States
as well as many other cases. We have been termed the "FBI of Animal Rights"
by media. LCA represents thorough and careful examination of every case. We
will not get emotionally involved so we can keep a clear perspective on the
objectivity of the investigation. This is very hard for many people -
myself included - to separate their emotions from their intellect. However
if one is to come up with an unbiased conclusion of guilt or innocence they
must "separate their emotions form their intellect".
Everyone who has seen this video automatically assumes that Tiger
Ranch is an evil place or "hell hole" for animals and that Lin Marie is a
horrid cold callous person who would allow these animals to suffer and die
the way it has been portrayed in the video. After so many years of doing
investigations and being extremely thorough I can tell you without a doubt
these accusations are not only misleading and false but they couldn’t be
further from the truth. I wouldn’t stake my reputation or LCA’s on
something I know is FALSE and trying to change it unless we knew "150%" that we were right.

There is an ole saying from the thirties -[paraphrasing] "if you
tell a big enough lie enough times to enough people they will think it’s the truth". That was by Joseph Goebbels the Minister of Propaganda for the Nazi party. People have been jumping to conclusions because of this video. You can go into the best sanctuary or shelter in the country and if you wait long enough and look hard enough you will find something that is not up to speed and capture it on camera. Lin Marie admits "she is not perfect but they do their very best to give these animals a second chance at life".

It is not only sad what has been done to TR and Lin Marie but a travesty to
take away such a facility and then euthanize [another word for kill] many of these animals who may have been saved. Anyone who has gone out to this
facility as I have would see that these people really care and that the
facility itself is in very good shape. Most of the housing is relatively
new buildings or at least they look new. I have dozens of pictures from
people who have visited this place at the time of this video and couldn’t
rave enough about its operation. If it were such a bad place LCA would have
taken on this case and put them out of business as we have done many times
before!

It is true that LCA was contacted back in October of 07, but it is
not true that "we were unable to take on this case". It was LCA’s clear
decision to "refuse this case" on the grounds that the evidence gathered was inflammatory and not portraying an accurate picture. Our preliminary
research showed a whole different side of TR and Lin Marie. It showed that
they were indeed helping many animals from certain demise. So we "refused"
to go after one lone woman with her small band of dedicated volunteers who
were doing there very best to help the community with their discarded, sick, dying, and feral cats. The same people who have just dumped their cats off at TR are now so concerned over their welfare. There is something wrong with that picture. These few individual also have jumped on this band wagon or should I say witch hunt to bring down TR. They are caught up with
emotions not reason! I wish they would have been so caring before they
discard their companion animal.

I will say that I was very pro euthanasia before this case and to
some extent still am but I have learned much in the process and that is many if not most of these animals with these virus’s [such as the Calici virus] and illnesses look really horrible but most of the animals can make a full recovery. So why kill them? What I see here is nothing more than an
extremely different point of view between the PSPCA, my former investigator
Mike Winikoff, and others who would rather see these animals "euthanized"
than have a chance at recovery. When I first saw some of these conditions
my first instinct was "these animals were better off dead than suffering
like this". Well if we all shared that reasoning many of us in car
accidents or have cancer or some other disease would be "euthanized" on the
spot. Maybe we all need to take another look at this and weigh out the good
vs. the bad. I have walked away from this case with a little different
perspective.

It is appalling to see the PSPCA and others involved in hurting TR
who has done so much good and not go after the puppy mills right in their
back yard. When PSPCA says "this is the worse case they ever saw" they
should be ashamed of that statement since the state of "Pennsylvania is the
Puppy Mill Capital of the Nation" and is riddled with horrendous conditions
at the mills where countless thousands of puppies and adults suffer horribly every day. Why isn’t the PSPCA doing something about them? It’s always easier to go after the small sanctuary and blow it out of proportion and potentially make a lot of money from donations and who knows that maybe
another new TV show will emerge out of this.

One of the reasons we were first to be asked to investigate TR by
the informant is that they needed "LCA’s expertise in the investigations
field and legal issues." If the conditions of the facility are so horrible
as the media states then why has it taken so many months to get so little
video when LCA got 76 crucial hours of incriminating video as well as
hundreds of photographs and data in about 5 months of undercover
investigation putting the largest USDA government federally licensed dealer
permanently out of business? If our investigations weren’t so thorough then
why did HBO do a 75 minute documentary Dealing Dogs? And why have so many
Federal Agencies work with us on this case?

If this so called investigation began seven months ago as the media
reported, they must have started in August, two months before the Western
Pennsylvania Human Society did their investigation and saw nothing wrong
with the facility. PSPCA Director Howard Nelson labeled Lin Marie a
"hoarder" and stated that "this facility is a classical hoarding situation!" Does a hoarder work tirelessly to spay and neuter many hundreds of animals per year at a lower cost than most local vets or shelters? "If she is a hoarder, why is she so courteous, patient, compassionate, and non judgmental of others?" says one supporter. TR is a sanctuary that has become home to cats in poor health and cats that no one wants or would help. The descriptions by PSPCA’S Rogers, Nelson, Winikoff, and the informant are so inflammatory they are deserving of legal action.
I can only hope for everyone’s sake these individuals come to their
senses and drop this case immediately, stop the killing of the remaining
animals, and return them to TR where they belong and can live their lives
out peacefully.

Chris DeRose
President and Founder
Last Chance for Animals - LCA
www.lcanimal.org

Link to LCA photos of Tiger Ranch:
http://www.lcanimal.org/alert/tiger/index.html"

Monday April 7, 2008, 6:40 am

Check this out as well:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8071430095669987435&hl=en

Anyone can read that statement and watch that video and know that this was NOT a well intentioned woman in over her head. Any decent human being would have at least admitted the place was screwed up. But, Linda Bruno only wanted to say there was nothing wrong with it and the video above was a lie. Well, the evidence doesn't lie. Anyone supporting Tiger Ranch needs to wake up and remember that cats are the ones suffering in the center of all of this, not people. The more Bruno is supported, the more cats will suffer in the future. But, a stronger case that will soon be presented will only yield less favorable results for her I'm sure.

Monday April 7, 2008, 8:59 am
Anamalia, your disrespect of Chris DeRose and all the good work LCA has done looks to me like a desperate attempt to cloud this issue. I don't know Mr Winikoff but but that statement just makes him look like a disgruntled employee trying to discredit his old boss. As far as I know, he was the only employee of LCA who disagreed with LCA's support of Tiger Ranch. Add to this the fact that representatives of many animal welfare organizations have come and gone and found nothing abusive going on since 1994. Local people who have adopted healthy cats from Linn Marie and spent time at Tiger Ranch recently are lining up to defend her. Their opinions and testimonials carry a lot more weight than yours.

Monday April 7, 2008, 12:25 pm
Catresea Ann, did you watch the undercover video?
Here's the url again in case you missed it:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8071430095669987435&hl=en

Take a look at that and tell me how wonderful the place is.

Monday April 7, 2008, 6:55 pm
That "uncover video" is suspect by many, as are the motives of its photographer. Since 1994 Linn Marie and her volunteers at Tiger Ranch have been taking in animals that no else one would, nursing many back to health with veterinary help and adopting out many, many healthy cats every year. Supporters of Tiger Ranch include many people within the animal rescue community, animal protection officers and local people who have recently seen FIRST HAND that these charges are preposterous. It's also a fact that the PSPCA has a contract with Animal Planet and that they were present at the "raid". With all the barbaric puppy mills in PA, doesn't the PSPCA have better things to do?

Monday April 7, 2008, 8:20 pm
So did you watch the undercover video where you can plainly see sick and healthy cats mixed together? Dying and alert cats mixed together? Cats with UNTREATED diseases and viruses that obviously had not received treatment in a while?

I don't care what people saw... they saw what she wanted them to and the rest was behind closed doors. Even the volunteer guy that spoke on the news said he didn't even know the "sick room" aka "death room" existed.

Tuesday April 8, 2008, 3:13 am
Anamalia, stop embarassing yourself vy posting the same thing over and over again. We all watched the propaganda-like undercover video. It didn't "Plainly show" anything. Some of us are just not gullible enough to believe that it was not shot with an agenda in mind and it has been suggested that the photographer planted some of that "evidence" before shooting the video. We have only her word. Do some research on her and see what you find. Just the fact that you say "I don't care what people saw" tells me that you are either arrogantly closeminded or have an agenda as well, and one that has nothing to do with saving cats. Plenty of volunteers helped Linn Marie with sick cats. Read the testimonials in the petition. Or are you afraid to expose your closed mind to the truth as witnessed by "other people"?

Tuesday April 8, 2008, 7:19 am
Charles, the film doesn't lie, regardless of the agenda. The fact that you all are so self-centered to think organizations would travel across state JUST to plant evidence on Linda Bruno's property is so childish. I am not embarrassed at all because I use logic and have actually seen the animals pulled out of there. Every tiger ranch supporter site has either NO evidence or pictures of 4-5 cats on it. The sites that are exposing tiger ranch have video, multiple images of ill/dying cats, and testimonies from multiple people that HAVE been at Tiger Ranch and found the conditions to be deplorable.

So, your only defense is that people planted them there. I know that to be untrue. So, I will continue repeating myself until it gets through your thick skulls that these ANIMALS need help and that L BRUNO should never have animals again. This isn't about me or you. This is about them. They are caught in the middle of this bullshit.

As more evidence is uncovered, you will be very surprised what you have been defending this whole time.

Tuesday April 8, 2008, 2:29 pm
Charges were refiled today thank god. Hundreds of charges.

Tuesday April 8, 2008, 3:50 pm
This is about power and greed and the desire to be an Animal Cops "hero". Everyone who does real rescue work. Anyone that has been to a real no-kill. Anyone that has volunteered at Tiger Ranch knows that there are sick animals, sometimes horribly so, and you see them at all stages of medical issues. Not hard to shoot a video that will tell you nothing about where they are in the course of treatment, how soon you saw them after intake, what condition they came to Tiger Ranch in. The viewer is simply given horrifying visual images and encouraged to believe that what they are watching is the result of neglect and abuse. What Howard and his group of rabid lemmings have done is commit an atrocity against Linn, Tiger Ranch and all its inhabitants, and the rescue community at large - all in the name of glory. Here's hoping they all get their just desserts. Gotta love karma

Tuesday April 8, 2008, 6:32 pm
Yes... karma. Karma will prevail I am sure.

Thursday April 10, 2008, 11:35 am
http://tigerranchrescue.info

Wednesday April 23, 2008, 4:57 pm
I am again late in catching up to the stroies of Tiger Ranch. I'm still catching up many missed stroies due to a family crisis, and still discovering what has become of the
good people getting shut off the origianl posted story by the original member who now ats as a censor and judge, jury and executioner on this issue. Just becuase a group carries a famous name, and lots of investigation tools at their ready hand still doesn't make this a raight issue that has been exploited at the cost of the cats.
Might makes right I suppose, but fame and video isn't perfect either.
This still hints largely of a big blunder gone awry, and getting screwier and convoluted daily.
I honestly believe that if ASAPCA had done the right thing they would have entered the picture earlier for the sake of the animals they claim that were abused and neglected, and not waited for the lights, camera and action of video to lay their claim of "might make right" at the cost of the reputation of wonderful loving hearts and a community that still is not listened to by their own investigators.

And since we now have members here on Care 2 that are willing to persecute before the actual investation is complete, and block all other points of view based on one persons justice, well...I guess that takes the right to freedom of speech rather moot...doesn't it?"
Besides..Dave O. can come and go at willon articles of his own and post under numerous profiles to jsutify his cause all he wants. He still can't force his wown will on everyone. The truth will come out in the end.
Now that will be karma. Universal justice to be sure.

Sunday August 16, 2009, 1:23 pm
Just an update. Lin Marie plead guilty on 12 misdemeanor counts of animal abuse and 2 misdemeanor counts of tampering with documents. Sentencing is October 5. She could face up to 28 years in prison.

Sunday October 18, 2009, 3:22 pm
Update: Lin Marie's sentencing was postponed until December 4th because she failed to submit to a psych evaluation which was ordered by the court. Later that same day Lin Marie was put in jail for breaking the conditions of her bond. As far as I know, she will remain in prison until she is sentenced.

Monday October 19, 2009, 6:20 pm
Amazing as the 2 people who posted on this article have not been active at all on Care 2. Amazing that they comment then run and hide behind whatever rock they cralwed from, yet they do nothing to actually help those thet are so ready to attack. With age comes wisdom, not bandwagons and patting oneself rather than help an ailing animal.

Monday December 14, 2009, 7:01 pm
Update: Lin Marie's sentencing was postponed, yet again. The new date is January 8, 2010. Will this never end?