A Retail Rescue Circle in Virginia

It is common knowledge that the Commonwealth of Virginia is an animal rights strong hold. One of the rapid pockets in the state is the eastern shore. From PETA's death chambers in Norfolk to the worlds only "chicken rights" group, to a Peter Singer groupie, to convicted dog thief Tammy Grimes, who now lives in Michael Vick's former home. We got them all. Bring us your tired, your crazy, your every day wack-a-doodles. Animal rights extremists hate it when I tell people that pound for pound, the Commonwealth of Virginia has the most nutbags per square inch of any state. Well, we beat California most times. That's probably because a number of ex-Californians now live here. They brought their madness with them. Don't you love people who ruined their own state, then they move to yours and want to do the same?

Recently I have been covering a situation in which a circle of vigilantes were caught brazenly stealing a dog and then running over a witness in their haste to get out of the crime scene with the evidence. When I published my first article, it was hit with an attack wave by a bunch of angry people. Then I followed that up with another story that into the backgrounds of some of those people attacking me and their friends. But as I was publishing this story, even more information was coming out about this circle of vigilantes.

The first issue you need to be aware of is a term called Retail Rescue. Animal "rescue" groups are today's modern pet stores. Activists have outlawed and destroyed so many dog breeders across America that it is now harder to find some purebred dog breeds. In their place, these same activists have lobbied for exemptions in the law for their activities. They don't pay taxes, they have no accountability and they are exempt from most laws governing proper housing, disease control, food, water, etc. for animals. Every animal they sell off has a fake sob story attached to it and Americans everywhere are falling for it and enriching these people. They say, "But our shelters are full! They are full of animals dumped by uncaring owners. We need your help!" What they don't say is that many of these groups are now importing hundreds of thousands of foreign dogs to resell off. They are also importing tens of thousands dogs from other states, but watch the flow of animals all the way back to its source.

For example: There is a huge pipeline in Georgia that imports foreign dogs, then ships bulk loads of them to the Northeast to be resold as "saved from a southern high kill shelter."  One shelter in particular imports poodles and shitzu's from the Bahamas, everyone of them "saved" from something.  Then they get shipped through one animal rescue group after another, transported across state lines and washed through other groups until the final destination.  Once there, it is impossible to track the origins of the dog.  

There is another huge pipeline in Alabama in which "foster" homes are deliberately breeding mixed breed mutts to be shipped north through rescue pipelines as "saved from a southern breeder who dumped them."  That pipeline from Alabama mainly goes to the north eastern states but it also goes to Florida.  Just two days ago a shipment of 200 small breed dogs and puppies were shipped to Florida for resale.  The pilots donate their flying time and airplanes for free, yet another group of people who have fallen for the same. Yet it is all a scam. All of it. But what does this have to do with Accomack County and the stolen dog case? 

It has everything to do with it. That stolen dog in Accomack has now more than likely been hidden in the retail rescue trade to be sold off for all tax free profit to a new owner with a sad back story hanging around its neck about how it was "saved" from horrific conditions with a cruel and abusive owner in the background.

One of the women involved in this case is Shocky Boyajian. Besides being connected to Wags for Warriors which is operating in Virginia illegally, she is also part of the "Paws to the Rescue" group. She helps coordinate transports of private volunteers around American who drive bulk shipments of animals from unknown sources all around this country to be resold through retail rescue groups. These Good Samaritans think that they are helping "solve" a problem. They don't know that they are being taken advantage of. 

Boyajian is also the Virginia State Coordinator for "Mama's On the Move" yet another Retail Rescue pet shipper outfit with over 1,400 people working for the group. I checked out their Facebook page just briefly and it was filled a dozen posts of oceans of donated goods. Listings of transports to resell dogs as far north as New York and that was just a cursory look. Like I said, massive amounts of money is being made in the Retail Rescue Trade and its all off the books profit. There is a very good chance that the stolen dog from Accomack is already in New York and resold to a new owner.

Boyajian is also a Vice President of "Forever Home Rescue and Rehabilitation Center," yet another retail rescue outlet in Virginia Beach, Virginia. When I checked out their website, they had 16 dogs for sale.

On January 15th, just one day after news broke about the Rodriguez and Boyajian arrests, Marion County terminated it's relationship with Paws to the Rescue because they haven't provided an accounting of their funds for three years now.

"The county has given Paws to the Rescue, which runs the county's animal shelter, until today, Thursday Jan. 15, to provide them with an audit of the shelter's finances."

You see Marion County has done what many localities have done. They outsourced the running of their animal shelter to a private group. Private groups love these arrangements because they get tax payer money given to them to "run" the shelter and they get a never ending source of animals to resale, off the books, to their own friends running Rescue Retail groups around the country.  This retail rescue group came out whining that they couldn't provide them with any information on their finances because the county refused to pay them $10,000 for it.

Of course the news stories were peppered with outraged activists claiming that dogs and cats were going to die if Marion County didn't reinstate Paws to the Rescue. Right. They are just whining at the loss of free income.  Paws to the Rescue is also in trouble with the South Carolina Secretary of State.

"The office says the shelter missed its annual financial report deadlines in 2009, 2010, 2012 and 2013; it also missed its registration statement deadline in 2011, altogether costing the shelter $9,800 in fines. That's money some say could have gone to the shelter's animals."

As for the three wanted in the Accomack County dog theft case, Gordon Shell is still wanted on an outstanding warrant.  Don't worry, he knows there is a warrant for his arrest.  He's just too busy giving interviews, Tweeting, posting on Facebook, and "negotiating" through his lawyer to bother to surrender.  In fact, while he's off pandering to his fan base, one of his supporters has now started a legal defense fund to pay his legal costs over stealing an innocent families dog.