Ohio Once Again Stomps on Citizens Rights

On May 4, 2016, the out of control goon squad from the Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA) once again illegally raided the home and property of an Ohio exotic animal owner in their never ending campaign to kill or remove all wild animals from Ohio.  As I have written about previously the ODA has seized and destroyed the Tiger Ridge animals and since then sent their vigilante SWAT teams after Daniel Chambers, Mike Stapleton, and a family who owned an 18 year old bear. 

"And I said goodbye to him and he was licking me and grabbing my finger and stuff ." said Jeff [Fitzgerald]

The state of Ohio has even been wasting taxpayer money to prosecute a domesticated bobcat owner that is in complete compliance with the law since the new ODA regulations do not cover bobcats.  Adam Federer's 26 pound cat, legally permitted under his Department of Natural Resources (DNR) permit since 2003, is nothing more than a large house cat and never leaves his home.  Federer has continued to win in court against these out of control bureaucrats yet Ohio is wasting taxpayer money to fight the way to the State Supreme Court over a single bobcat.  

Now they raided the non-profit educational and rehabilitation center Stump Hill Farm of Perry Township, Ohio, a long time target by the animal liberation fanatics of the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), while a SWAT team stood by, and then trucked the drugged animals to the inhumane animal prison that ODA built at Reynoldsburg in 2013.  

Stump Hill Farm's lawyer immediately filed a restraining order against ODA and the Judge agreed that these desk jockeys had violated the law. This is typical behavior for the ODA. They routinely raid owners who have filed for permits that have not yet been approved, or who are properly permitted through other state and federal agencies. The ODA uses the permit application system as simply a shopping list to find animals to steal. 

"There was no reason to move these animals and put them through the distress until this is resolved," Juergensen said, adding the move was meant to "gain an advantage" over his client. "It was a waste of taxpayer money."

Two baboons and a chimpanzee, in particular, have lived at Stump Hill Farm for over 20 years.  20 years!  Yet just because Ohio passes a new permit law with hoops and hurdles that no Ohio resident can meet, suddenly now the public is in "danger" from these dangerous animals that justifies the use of armed SWAT teams?  

All of these facilities that the ODA has raided and destroyed under the new law had existing state and federal permits in place from beginning.   Huntsman of Stump Hill Farm has an existing permit from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources but the Ohio Department of AGRICULTURE in a power grabbing move wants a chunk of the pie as well and demanded new permits from them.  As is typical with bureaucrats, you can be a licensed and legal business for 40 years and they pass a new law and suddenly run to the media declaring you have no permit to operate.  

A spokesperson from the Ohio Department of Agriculture told Fox 8 that the owner, Cindy Huntsman, failed to acquire a permit or an exemption as required by state law.

See? Absolute and utter lies and a typical move of the ODA. 

"We've been fighting with them (state) for two years," Juergensen said. "She has a permit and she believes it covers all the animals. The state disagrees."

The next hearing on Huntsman's permit fight was scheduled for August but ODA couldn't wait that long to seize animals they wanted.  The Judge agreed that ODA had denied Huntsman her Due Process rights and had wasted a ton of the taxpayers cash.

A judge in Stark County Common Pleas Court has ruled that 10 animals seized by the state Wednesday be returned to the Perry Township woman who owns them.

Judge Forchione ruled that ODA has two weeks to return the animals back to where they illegally took them once the effects of the tranquilizers wear off. You can bet the farm that over the next two weeks, the ODA will do everything in their power to avoid having to return the stolen animals. 

[Judge] Forchione scolded state officials for failing to provide him with information about the ongoing conversations with Huntsman, the upcoming hearing and the quarantine order, and said he would not serve as a "rubber stamp" for the government.

After all in the Tiger Ridge case, the Judge in Wood County ordered the animals to be returned to their legal owner but the ODA stalled and stalled and bombarded the court with motions to delay and obstruct justice and then quietly and illegally shipped the animals out of state. Well all but one.  ODA's poor animal care killed one of the Tiger Ridge animals. 

The state is burning taxpayer dollars by the fist full while they stalk state residents, conduct fly overs of property looking for animals to steal, and send SWAT teams out on the smallest pretense.   After all, they need to justify the budgets of these overgrown little boy's clubs and their tactical outfits and wanna-be military gear.

Nothing here is surprising to veteran animal owners. The State of Ohio under hated and horrible Governor Kasich signed a deal with the number one animal rights extremist organization in America, the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), called the Buckeye Compromise. Under this deal, HSUS agreed to temporarily stop attacking Ohio's farmers and instead concentrate their fire power on exotic owners. The elite Progressives do not believe people have the right to own animals, any animals. Exotics are just low hanging fruit in their campaign to remove all animals from our lives.

Just before despised Governor Kasich suspended his failed and useless Presidential campaign, supporters of Tiger Ridge went to one of his rallies to confront him in person.  When his staff saw buttons and shirts for Tiger Ridge, they forced the people to leave.  

Surprising no one, ODA continues to burn Ohio taxpayer dollars by the fist full and filed multiple frivolous motions to block the return of the 10 stolen Stump Hill animals.

"The state is challenging Forchione's authority in the matter, arguing the Department of Agriculture has the authority in the case, not the county.

"That court patently lacks jurisdiction to act because ... oversight of dangerous wild animals is committed to special statutory proceedings before the Department," according to the motion.

State Department of Agriculture officials and local law enforcement removed the animals May 4 from 6633 Klick Road SW, after obtaining a search warrant signed by Forchione. The animals were taken to the state's holding facility in Reynoldsburg."

There is nothing funnier than a bureaucrat for shear audacity, while they whine, moan and hand wring about "public safety."   Let me explain. These paper pushers went to the courtroom of Judge Forchione and then lied to gain an illegal search warrant.  Once Judge Forchione found out that they lied to him, he issued a ruling that ordered ODA to return the animals.  Now ODA is whining that Forchione has no authority in this case. Really? If he has no authority, then why did ODA go to him to get the illegal search warrant in the first place?

As for public safety, the thugs of ODA are so incompetent at animal care that they not only bungled the Tiger Ridge raid as I covered in this article and several others I've written on the ODA, but they also killed Leo, the beloved lion of Tiger Ridge.  The only people threatening the safety of the public are the employees of the Ohio Department of Agriculture.  

Details coming out of Ohio continue to Horrify the World

Every day more details are coming out about the horrific and illegal raid of the Tiger Ridge animal sanctuary in Ohio.  This isn't the first time I've covered this story but the details just continue to get worse.   You can read my first story on Tiger Ridge:  Ohio Department of Agriculture commits Animal Cruelty here.  Followed by:  Musings on Government Sanctioned Animal Abuse here.   After all the world wide publicity this case has generated you'd think the bureaucrats of the Ohio Department of Agriculture would get their acts together.  You'd think so.  You'd be wrong. 

The Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA) continues to commit animal abuse on the tax payer dime even with the scrutiny of the world upon them. When will Ohioans say enough is enough? When will Ohioans rise up and take their government back?  A recent court released set of photos and the testimony of a fired whistle-blower shows what I've been saying all along. No bureaucrat with a clipboard will ever take better care of an animal than its private owner. Government by its very nature is out of touch, ignorant, and staffed by the lowest common denominators. The people who couldn't get jobs anywhere else. People who wouldn't be qualified to ask me "do you want fries with that?" at McDonald's are the people you find holding cushy bureaucrat jobs. People like this clown, David Hunt.

Court released photo of Leo in the Reynoldsburg Prison

The photos released in court show that Kenny Hetrick's animals are starving and being held in concrete prison cells. They have no food, no water, no toys, no enrichment, no bedding, and no access to the outdoors. The animals went from a pampered life of ease at Kenny's to a life of hell at state hands. 

Leo and his owner Kenny in better days

In addition, a whistle-blower has come forward to testify that these bumbling incompetents didn't correctly tranquilize Kenny's stolen cougar named Cindy and injured her while transporting her to their prison. The witness has testified that, "She was awake and fighting for her life." He should know, he was there. He was at the scene of the illegal state raid of Tiger Ridge. He went on to testify  that she was transported to Ohio's state prison for animals in a small metal box with sharp exposed insides. He testified, "We got back to the Department of Agriculture, there was pretty much blood everywhere in the cage and raw bits of flesh from her nose and her paws, so that was something I had to deal with in the next few days." He went on to say, "I would go in and clean her cage every day and hose out the blood that was all over the walls and the tracks of blood all over the enclosure from her pads being raw." He was fired by ODA for "performance issues" after stepping forward to testify to the animal abuse being committed by ODA bureacrats. What performance issues? Wasn't he cruel enough to the animals to satisfy them? 

This is Kenny with Leo the Lion

Every bureaucrat in charge of the Reynoldsburg facility needs to be arrested and charged with animal cruelty.  Is there any Sheriff in Ohio with the balls to do this?  The ODA of course claims that it is simply a "disgruntled" employee who was fired for "performance issues" that is to blame for all of this. Typical government. Fire the whistle-blower and blame everything on them. Of course the person stating this is proven liar, Erica Hawkins, the ODA spokesperson. She blithely dismisses the blood and gore as an "overblown exaggeration." As if.

If that wasn't bad enough, now the news has broke that ODA has killed Leo the Lion.   Leo is now dead.  They whine that they had no choice because he had trouble moving around and refused to eat. You don't say? Maybe he had trouble moving around because you took him from his grass lined enclosure and stored him on concrete! Any elderly animal with arthritis would have trouble in this situation. And maybe he refused to eat because his heart was broken after being ripped away from the only home and love he'd ever known to be stored in a concrete cell to satisfy some heartless bureaucrat. Is anyone with any brains surprised that he was refusing to eat?   Animals do not have the capacity to understand why they have been ripped away from those they love.  ODA claims it was all Tiger Ridge's fault and that he was in rough shape when he arrived. Do we really believe that? ODA has already been proven to be full of corrupt liars. 

This stunning Lion was killed by the ODA

Now that Leo is dead, ODA refuses to return his body to be buried at Tiger Ridge. They claim they are conducting an autopsy and that's why they can't return his body, ever.  Wanna bet the ignorant corrupt and callous brown shirts at ODA try to press charges against Tiger Ridge for animal abuse once they get the autopsy results back? After all, it's no one's word but theirs what was wrong with Leo. Now he's dead and they control the story.

If the Ohio Department of Agriculture can get away with this, what is to stop the government from coming after you?  As I covered in my recent book, The Art of Terror:  Inside the Animal Rights Movement, stories like Tiger Ridge are happening all across America, right here, right now.  When will you stand up and say no more?  When will you fight back?  Don't let Leo have died in vain.  

Two by Two, Day by Day, the Animals march out of our Lives

These past several days have been a heartbreaking punch in the gut to those of us who love to experience the magic and joy that is interactions with animals.

There has been the ongoing saga of Tiger Ridge in Ohio. I've already covered the illegal raid and state sanctioned abuse of the Tiger Ridge animals here and here.   Since that time a whistle-blower has come forward to confirm that yes, indeed the Ohio Department of Agriculture is full of bumbling incompetents who have injured these innocent animals.

In Chicago, animal rights terrorists recently burned down a horse barn and in Reno, Nevada, they attempted to firebomb a KFC.  The FBI says its investigating but are they really?   After all, they have never caught the terrorists who fire bombed 14 tractor trailers in California.   The FBI is nothing more than a gutless hollow blowhard when it comes to investigating and prosecuting animal terrorists.  They investigate and prosecute less than half of 1% of terrorist crimes committed under the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act (AETA).  I should know.  I filed an AETA claim against a Virginia animal rights terrorist in 2012 and the FBI has never even answered my letter.

Then the heart stopping news that Ringling Bros Circus is ending a 100 year tradition and getting rid of their elephants. Once this happens, they will no longer be the Greatest Show on Earth. They'll be just another show while the animal rights front attacks their other animals.

At the same time I've been reading Killing Keiko, the newly released book about how "Free Willy," died in agony.  Yes, Free Willy died.  Life is not a Hollywood movie.  People are finally understanding that the fraudulent global warming threat is nothing but a money making scam for environmentalists yet they still buy the snake oil the animal rights front is selling when these two movements are nothing more than two heads of the same monster.

Animal shelters and rescues all across America are taking "requests" for dog breeds and once they have enough for a particular breed, they raid a dog breeder, steal all their dogs, make up a fake story about a "puppy mill" and sell off the animals to their waiting lists.  All tax-free profit.  While at the same time, a number of purebred dog breeds in America face extinction.

Then the news this morning that a beautiful Irish Setter was deliberately poisoned at the top Cruft's dog show in England. The same show at which a PETA supporter once again illegally protested in the show ring.  This isn't the first time that dog shows have been attacked and dogs harmed by terrorists.  Instead of outrage over the Setter's brutal death, tens of thousands have signed a petition to express their outrage that the Best in Show winner picked up her dog by its tail.   A completely legal, normal, and acceptable practice.  The tail of a terrier is supposed to act as a handle, that's how it was built.

There's only so much bad news a person can take. Only so many times in which I say enough. I have no sympathy for the "good people" out there who simply don't understand that THEY are the ones responsible for the end of animals in our lives.

The ones who contributed to The Free Willy campaign and contributed to the horrific death of a whale.  You are responsible for Keiko's death.

The ones who contributed to the end of elephants in the circus by passing along an endless $25 million dollar campaign of lies about the Ringling elephants.  You are responsible for the death of a 120 year old business and the unemployment of its staff.  

The ones who are protesting the act of picking up a terrier by his tail for a few brief seconds to lift him off a table instead of protesting the brutal death by poisoning of the setter.   You are responsible for the fact that numerous purebred dog breeds are facing extinction. 

Then there's the Ohio Farm Bureau who deliberately colluded with terrorists to sell out Ohio's exotic animal owners and pet breeders. I hold the Ohio Farm Bureau partially responsible for the tragedy at Tiger Ridge.  When you sleep with the enemy, don't be surprised that you wake up with fleas. 

Author Jon Katz has put out a three part series on the Ringling news and what it means to all of us. I dare you to read his words and not cry.  He says everything that a repressed Minnesotan like me can't put into words and say.  I dare to you start with Weep for the Animals and Orwell, Horses, Elephants and continue on to his Joyless Nation.   He puts it in blunt terms.  

You are the one killing the animals.   Until you stand up against terrorism and the false science of the animal rights movement, the blood of Willy, the horses, the elephants, and a myriad of others is on your hands. 

Stand up before its too late and there are no more animals in our lives.  I dare you.  As for me, I'm going to the circus before its all over.  

Musings on Government Sanctioned Animal Abuse

Seven days ago, uneducated, ignorant and cruel brown shirts from the Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA) committed a massive act of both human and animal cruelty when they raided the Tiger Ridge Exotic Farm in Stony Ridge, Ohio.  I covered the details of the unconstitutional raid here.  I say uneducated because the vast majority of these bureaucrats involved in this raid have no education in animals. They are nothing but paper pushing mini-me's enforcing the "law" on animals they know nothing about and terrorizing the very people who pay their salaries through taxation.

Hitler would so be proud.

There is this funny saying about those who fail to study history are doomed to repeat it and here America is, repeating all the failed policies of dead dictators all across this globe.  How's that working for you folks?  Are you tired of it yet?  Are you ready to take up the Constitution and the Bill of Rights back from those who are trampling on it?

Seven days ago, ODA forcibly took possession of these well kept and loved animals and refuses to return them even after courted ordered them to do so.  Their response, "Nah, I don't think so."   This is not surprising.  All over America, most animal owners never win these cases. The animals are quickly shipped over state lines, hidden, and never found again. But what can we do to stop these events?  My feeling is, we need more Bundy Ranch style confrontations. When the word goes out by social media that raid trucks are on the scene of an American home, patriots need to race to the scene and block the roads.   You paid for it, it's your road.  If the Tiger Ridge Supporters had blocked the road out of the farm and refused to allow the trucks containing the stolen animals to pass.... and video/photographed every raid member and posted their identities to social media on the fly, what would have happened then?   

Here's one of the lead terrorists of the raid, David Hunt of ODA, who has zero education in animals.  Look at this smarmy ass-clown who gets his kicks conducting forced raids on our senior citizens. 

What would have happened if this doughnut stuffing thug operating his unconstitutional raids on the Ohio taxpayer dime had been met with this?

And what about the Wood County Sheriff? While he is on record stating that no complaint has ever been filed against Tiger Ridge, where is his backbone? Why did he go along with this raid? His position is sovereign in his county.  County Sheriff's hold the highest power in this country.  Why wasn't he protecting the constitutional rights of the owners of Tiger Ridge against out of control state bureaucrats? He had that power to say, "you shall not cross into my county." Why didn't he? Taxpayers of Wood County need to be asking the Sheriff this very question.

Listen to what constitutionalist Sheriff Mack says about the office of Sheriff: "Sheriff," he writes in his book, "you are the sworn protector. You cannot shrink from that duty merely because the violator comes to town with a three-piece suit and a fancy attache case."

The Wood County Sheriff had a duty to protect the citizens of his county.  He didn't.  It is time to hold him accountable.

Check out this video of American patriots on the Tiger Ridge Farm repairing all of the damage and destruction that the brown shirts of the ODA caused in the raid so that they can force the thugs of ODA to give back the stolen animals.

Video Post by Quitefrank Productions.

This is powerful, this is America. We don't need these paper pushers to keep us safe from made-up threats.   Every action they take to warn us of "dangers" and keep us "safe" from some bogeyman only strips our liberty away.   The Tiger Ridge animals are best served by being returned to their loving owner who knows best how to care for them.  Wake up and smell the coffee America before its too late.

Ohio Department of Agriculture Commits Animal Cruelty

On Wednesday, January 28th, the State of Ohio Department of Agriculture committed a massive act of animal cruelty. They raided the 40 year old Tiger Ridge Exotics farm owned by Kenny Hetrick in Stony Ridge, Ohio. Tiger Ridge has housed lions, tigers and bears for 40 years without incident and is USDA licensed with the federal government. Never at any time has an animal gotten loose from Tiger Ridge.

"In November, Wood County Sheriff Mark Wasylyshyn told 13abc, "We've never had a problem with any of the animals here. We've never had any complaints or any type of escape." 

First some background, In 2012, the State of Ohio listened to its animal rights puppet masters and passed a massive unconstitutional bill that violates the rights of every Ohio resident and bans the private ownership of exotic animals. Now if you could meet the unmeetable standards written into the law, these un-elected brown shirts promised they'd issue permits for the existing animals until they died. They lied. Anytime some bureaucrat tells you that you have to apply for "permission" to exercise your constitutional rights, you can be sure they will simply withdraw that permission at any time. Many stories abound of owners trying to comply only to have state bureaucrats stonewall them at every turn.

When the law passed four Ohio exotic owners got together and sued challenging the fraudulent Ohio Dangerous Wild Animal Act. That lawsuit was working its way through the courts until March of 2014 when the state in conjunction with animal rights lawyers from HSUS prevailed.

Tiger Ridge was one of those opponents who stood up and said, "This is wrong." As such they were one of the first victims of Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA). In October of 2014, Hetrick received a letter stating he had ten days to give up his constitutionally authorized private property. He kept fighting for his rights to own and protect his animals. In November of 2014, ODA inspected him and then dragged their heels until January 17, 2015 when they sent him a letter denying his ODA permit. During this entire time he has still been licensed under the USDA and complies with all federal standards. The denial process was supposed to include a 30 day time limit for him to file an appeal of the denial of his permit. 

Instead the nation exploded in horror when they heard and saw the brown shirted thugs of ODA descending on the farm in 22 degree weather led by animal rights extremist David Hunt, an agent of the ODA.  David Hunt is another animal rights thug connected to HSUS with zero credible education in animals.  Once there they started seizing the elderly animals in this frigid weather endangering their lives. They woke the bear up from his hibernation, shot him with a dart gun, and beat him with steel pipes. They kept shooting him until he finally collapsed. They went around the farm causing property damage, cutting locks, destroying gates and fencing, and shot the rest of the animals with dart guns wounding them. Not one single veterinarian examined the animals to determine their age, weight and appropriate dosage to dart them with. They dragged at least one tiger on the ground while stealing the 11 exotic animals housed at the farm. They dragged many of the animals across the ground and shoved them into open steel horses trailers for the three hour drive to the state's exotic animal prison. They also tried to stop bystanders from filming the raid not knowing that Kenny had surveillance cameras capturing their every sadistic move. The ODA deliberately raided this elderly man on the fourth anniversary of the death of his wife. A move planned by these brown shirts to cause maximum trauma to Kenny for daring to oppose their unconstitutional actions. 

While this horrific act of animal abuse was occurring at Tiger Ridge, Hetrick's lawyer raced to the courthouse to file an injunction stopping the raid. Knowing what his lawyer was racing off to do, ODA worked quickly to get the remaining animals off the farm, into their steel trailers and raced off down the highway to avoid getting served by the Judge's order. Even so, ODA was notified of the Judge's ruling before they reached the state exotic animal prison built at Reynoldsburg. Instead of just turning around and bringing the animals back before they woke up, they instead kept going. They figured possession is 9 tenths of the law and it will be just that much harder for Hetrick to get them back.

Now they claim they will be "evaluated" before deciding if they will obey the Judge's order and return the animals. How's them apples? What if a Judge issued a written ruling ordering you to do something and you said, "You know what your Honor? I'm just going to think that one over and I'll decide when I'm going to obey." How do you think that would fly for one of us?

Now ODA keeps telling the media that all of this is simply the result of the Zanesville incident. they are lying. This legislative effort pre-dates Zanesville and has its roots in the Ohio Farm Bureau's "Ohio Buckeye Compromise" with the animal rights group, HSUS . Basically the Ohio Farm Bureau threw the exotic owners under the bus to protect themselves from animal rights attacks.

ODA spokesperson, Erica Hawkins has been speaking to the media and saying things like this to justify their failure to obey the Judge's order, "One, we're looking at the security of the cages. We want to make sure that they're appropriate to contain the animals that are in them."

First off, ODA is the one that destroyed the cages. Secondly, Erica Hawkins is a career bureaucrat operating on the Ohio taxpayer dime with ZERO education in animals. None.  She has a degree in political science, not animals.  Here's her lying again. Veterinarians?  Some of the people dragging the animals around looked like people in their early 20's. 

Here ODA is again, lying when confronted with the evidence that their raid was videotaped. 

""While we cannot comment specifically on the video without seeing it, our veterinarians and animal health staff are trained to carefully move animals on net stretchers and did not drag any animal through the snow. Additionally, it is a standard veterinary practice to test the reflexes of an animal that has been aestheticized in order to determine if the anesthesia has taken full effect."

It is a standard veterinary practice to beat a bear with a steel pipe to "test the reflexes?"  In what world?

The animals were taken from their secure outdoor enclosures on the farm to being stored in concrete prison cells at state run Alcatraz at Reynoldsburg with no access to sunshine and light and no ability to go outside. These animals are used to being able to roam at will in their large enclosures only to wake up in a small steel cell with no human interaction.  They have to live, sleep, and defecate on the same piece of cold concrete.  

Now the paper pushing bureaucrats at ODA are pulling every string they can to avoid having to give the stolen animals back.  After they whined and cried a Judge agreed to let them hang onto the animals until a hearing on February 3rd. The brown shirts of the ODA released a statement:

"Today the state filed an appeal in the Ohio Sixth District Court of Appeals regarding the Wood County Common Pleas Court Order to return dangerous wild animals that were seized from Mr. Ken Hetrick in Stony Ridge, Ohio. ODA believes the trial judge should not have ordered the animals to be returned because Mr. Hetrick cannot possess them under Ohio law and because it would be detrimental to the health and well-being of the animals."

Yes, after the brown shirts of the ODA abused them and destroyed some of their fencing now they are all concerned about their "health and well-being."  The problem is, none of them have any formal education in how to care for lions, tigers, and bears.  They are being paid by the Ohio taxpayer to commit these acts against Ohioans.  It is long past time that Ohio stood up and withdrew their tax money from the ODA.