Caring for the Spindletop Refugees

Since last July 17 when Leah Purcell called to announce her joint was being raided, Reunion Rescue has hit the deck running. We had four dogs boarded at Spindletop, BeBe (formerly known as Batgirl, Amber, Stella and Angel (who is now called Skinny Dennis.)

Life on the fast track would be an understatement of the first degree. It took four trips back and forth to Conroe to get our dogs back. Amber, Skinny Dennis and BeBe are safe here at the sanctuary and refuge soon to be the Reunion Rescue No-Kill Refuge. Stella is suspected of being one of the 38 killed dogs in Spindletop's Morgan Building.

We ended up with two more along the way. Nolan was literally en route to Spindletop with at least $450 in donations pocketed by Leah Purcell when his driver heard about the raid and turned her car around. Feo was illegally pulled from the city of Alvin shelter by Spindletop last winter by fraudulently using Reunion Rescue's federal EIN number.

Feo is boarded in Houston while we raise the money to transport Skinny Dennis to his new home.

Nolan

Nolan is undergoing major veterinary care due to past abuse and being nearly starved to death by his former owners.

Our ability to raise funds for these and other dogs in the care of Reunion Rescue has been seriously impeded by Zandra Anderson, the Texas Dog Lawyer who represents Spindletop. Based on false accusations, Anderson has manipulated the Examiner in pulling all of the articles to try and help Reunion dogs, articles that tell the true story about what happened at Spindletop.

Reunion Rescue depends on these articles to help fund boarding fees, food, medical bills and care for the dogs. Amazingly, Spindletop and the dog lawyer had no problem cashing in the almost $10K paid out in boarding fees since May, 2011.

We have re-published the articles on this blog, Pit Bulls and Other Animals, but still need help to care for the ones still alive who survived the horrors at Spindletop and the other dogs in our care. All of these dogs can be accessed on our website. Some of the crossposted ones like Izzy, the Spindletop girl we tried to help, have been reunited with their owners and will soon be written up in a happy ending article.

Stella thought to be killed by Spindletop

Several of the trolls who populate the Spindletop camp have raised issue with Reunion Rescue raising money to pay for the animals needs. This is how rescue works. Reunion Rescue, unlike Spindletop, is a 501(c)(3) federal non profit in excellent standing. All monies raised go toward the care of animals without salaries, without meals, without house payments, no rum and no fireworks.

We will be getting a vet report on Nolan today with information about his situation and care.

To donate toward Skinny Dennis's transport, please visit our website http://www.reunionrescue.com and click on the donation button.

Feo boarded in Houston

Feo is still in boarding in Houston and will need transport to Austin.

The bills for Amber, BeBe, Nolan, Feo and Angel Skinny Dennis's care, spay/neuter, vet and food total 1661.76 which does not include the monthly boarding for our California dogs at $875 per month.

Reunion Rescue has always kept meticulous records in order to care for the animals in our charge. A concerted effort seems to have been waged to stop Reunion from being able to financially care for the dogs and continue our work in saving animals. Not only have the articles been removed by Zandra Anderson, but the effort to help other animals in need by writing articles has been severely halted.

We have created a page to try and care for our Reunion Rescue Spindletop Refugees:

https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Reunion-Rescue-Spindletop-Refugees/133786356764302

Spindletop dog

Please stop by and 'like' our page.

The Spindletop followers have attacked me personally for filing bankruptcy. This has never been a secret as the information is public knowledge. I would like to add that rescue work is debilitating and exhausting both financially and physically. Reunion Rescue continued to save animals no matter what hurdles we faced. Never in our almost fifteen years of rescue work have we ever stopped helping animals or turned any animal in our care over to a shelter or to another rescue group.

Skinny Dennis

We are not going to question why anyone would applaud people who run a place that was raided and in which almost 300 animals were seized from urine, feces, vomit-stained filth and attack a rescue trying to help animals. Some of the incredulous statements made by these individuals are astoundingly inaccurate and downright cruel. Personal comments aside, the attacks against Reunion Rescue will not be tolerated.

Our complete history is documented in Pit Bull Nation along with some wonderful resources about raw feeding, homeopathic treatment, detox and training even the most difficult dogs. Should anyone have a realistic complaint, why not do the research first and buy the book? All proceeds like all donations to Reunion go 100% to the dogs.

We would very much appreciate the ability to carry on our mission to save animals.

Truth be Told...last reprint 'Texas Nightmare Recap...What Happened to Nolan?'

The following is the last reprint of the articles Zandra Anderson had removed due to falsified information.

"June 22, the American Pit Bull Examiner covered a story about a dog almost starved to death outside Dallas, Texas.

http://www.examiner.com/article/picture-of-a-living-texas-nightmare

Nolan is safe no thanks to Spindletop

He was relinquished to a rescuer by the couple who abused him and allowed him to reach the state in which he was found. Renamed Nolan, he was taken to a local vet and boarded with the kind donations from his story's readers.

Nolan, like many of the other dogs featured in the American Pit Bull Examiner stories was on his way to entering the Spindletop Refuge board to rescue program. The proprietor, Leah Purcell, was busy arranging the chip in funds to be delegated to her Paypal account shared by Spindletop treasurer, James Brewer. One of the readers who'd commented on the article was bilked for $450 by Purcell apart from the chip in. Nolan had not yet even entered the Spindletop program, for lack of a better term. How many other dogs and their supporters have fallen prey to the Spindletop con game?

When news broke about the July 17 Spindletop raid in which 298 dogs were confiscated, Nolan was en route with his rescuer to Willis, Texas. When Nolan's rescuer heard about the seizure, she turned the car around and drove back toward Dallas.

Typical dog from Spindletop 'refuge'

Nolan was one of the lucky few who barely missed becoming one of the dogs who have been described by HSUS as some of the worst abuse cases encountered. Dogs were found stacked in crates, some welded shut, lying in their own feces, vomit and urine. Nolan, heartworm positive and as starved as Patrick, would not have survived Spindletop.

Yesterday, Nolan arrived here in Austin at our dog foster care facility which has been likened to doggy Disneyland. He's already transitioned and friends with Benny, an extreme abuse case from Turlock, California.

Nolan is eating a raw diet and will slowly put on good, healthy weight. He is currently so thin, he is not a candidate for traditional heartworm treatment or neutering. Lucky for Nolan, he is undergoing the Reunion Rescue herbal heartworm cure featured on the site's Nutrition Page.

Life is good for Nolan. He is a gentle soul, part Great Dane and part American Bulldog. He will be undergoing long term treatment until he's fit, completely healthy and ready to join his forever family.

To donate for Nolan's care, medical, neuter and upkeep, please visit:

http:www.reunionrescue.com 

and click on the donation button.

To send a snail mail check for Nolan, please contact: doggirl1@earthlink.net

Please keep up with the American Pit Bull Examiner for updates on the Spindletop refugees and other stories.

Cindy Marabito of Reunion Rescue writes the American Pit Bull Examiner stories to save lives.

Every click on a story donates to the animals at Reunion Rescue:

American Pit Bull Examiner:

http://www.examiner.com/american-pit-bull-in-national/cindy-marabito

Please subscribe to and keep reading the American Pit Bull column where this and other pit bull stories are followed and the truth, made known.

Join National Examiner's American Pit Bull on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/American-Pit-Bull-Examiner/119043764844618

Check out Pit Bulls and Other Animals blog:

http://doggirlpitbull.blogspot.com/

Author - Pit Bull Nation

Pit Bull Nation is a tell all book about rescuing pit bulls from death row for over twelve years.

Order Pit Bull Nation:

http://www.pitbullnationonline.com

Now available in e-book and print."

Amazingly, the people who continue to try and plead the case for Zandra Anderson, Leah Purcell and Spindletop continue to protest the animals entrusted there were well cared for. The few which have been returned to rescuers bear harsh remnants of the abuse suffered there. These same people are attacking the rescuers instead of the abusers. Hopefully, justice will prevail and all concerned will meet with punishment whether that be jail time for fraud or disbarment for using legal status to manipulate what should be a federal case.

Zandra Anderson used false information to have articles removed from the Examiner. They have been reprinted in full with commentary in these blogs. Unfortunately, the time spent republishing the truthful pieces could have better been delegated by saving other animals, including the ones unclaimed due to the Spindletop raid.

Anderson continues to sling untruths about Reunion Rescue and our work to save animals. Maybe her slurs are a misguided attempt to drive attention away from Purcell and the atrocities which occurred at Spindletop, but to try and stop a qualified rescue group in excellent standing from helping the animals in our care is beyond comprehension.

Reunion Rescue is a 501(c)(3) non profit with impeccable records. Every penny ever collected has been spent to help support the many animals Reunion Rescue has saved over the years and whose stories are told in the book Pit Bull Nation.

We will continue to search for the dogs still missing from Spindletop and the truth about what really happened there, painful as that might be. Anderson, still calling herself the dog lawyer, published a 7 page epitome on No Kill Houston's Facebook page declaring her's and Leah Purcell's innocence along with that of their colleague James 'Cowboy Mind' Brewer whom many of us paid thousands and thousands of dollars via Paypal to board our dogs.

After reading all that wordage, we still have many many questions starting with where are our dogs?

Cindy Marabito Where was the climate control for the Morgan Building?

Yesterday at 10:18am ·  

Cindy Marabito Which dogs were 'buried' or whatever you want to call it, Zandy? And why were the owners not notified?

Yesterday at 10:21am ·

Cindy Marabito RE: Rescue restarted? Where is Abigail, the pit bull puppy you pulled under Treat 'Em Right from BARC and hid with a foster for Spindletop..who collected the board to rescue fee for the dog from at least one unsuspecting donator...and was never turned over as part of the seizure? Where is she now? Is she still alive? Lots of questions.

Yesterday at 10:23am ·  

Cindy Marabito RE: Collecting money for dogs. Where is the money she collected for Nolan, the dog almost starved to death outside Dallas and who never set a paw on Spindletop? Those are only the $$ we've heard about with statements from those affected.

Yesterday at 10:24am ·  

Cindy Marabito James Brewer: So why is almost $10K in Reunion Rescue money paid to Paypal account James Cowboy Mind Brewer? I bet a couple of others out there have siphoned hard earned money to this upstanding law official as well.

Yesterday at 10:26am ·  

Cindy Marabito Brandon Louth....so because he was late to work, that makes him a liar? He positively id'd Stella from the Morgan Building as a dog he'd walked and liked very much. He buried her in whatever you want to call it. So who am I supposed to believe? A guy who didn't show up for work at a place where his job was to bury dogs he'd walked? Or the person who is defending one of the most horrendous animal abusers in history? I think I'll go with the young man who is at least trying to help us find our missing dogs....out of the goodness of his heart.

Yesterday at 10:30am ·  

Cindy Marabito Finally, Zandy, thanks for your own heartfelt consideration about locating the missing dogs. You and your client have had a month to id the dogs missing that were entrusted to Spindletop. Are you so inept that you cannot locate them or is it that you just plain don't give shit?

You bring absolute shame on the justice system. I said it once on your Facebook comment you deleted, so let me repeat...if I have one breath left in my old body, I'll use it to see that your fat ass is disbarred and you are never allowed to practice law in our great state of Texas again.

Yesterday at 10:34am · · 2

Austin Pet Expo 2012

Boy, oh boy...was the Austin Pet Expo a fun fest or what? Reunion Rescue had a blast meeting tons of pit bulls and other beloved Austin animals at this year's event. Whether we needed help hanging signs, taking a quick break or an announcement made, the Expo girls Courtney R., Courtney H., Jessica, Patti, Tiffany and Savannah were right there with a big smile and a helping hand.

We were right next to Austin's Love-a-Bull who are taking in five of the Spindletop unclaimed dogs. Love a Bull could really use some help with foster care in the greater Austin area. If you know anyone who might open their hearts and homes to one of the sweet dogs already in the Love-a-Bull program, it would open up a much needed space for some of these unclaimed Spindletop dogs affected by the raid and seizure in July.

Love-A-Bull's Nutty Brown and family

A big perk in the day was getting to meet Nutty Brown, the dog Love-a-Bull saved from Log Cabin, Texas. Nutty Brown used to be Macky Mack.

He was saved by Love-a-Bull and renamed Nutty Brown. He came to the Expo yesterday with his new family and we got to meet them. This is what rescue is all about...people helping people helping dogs. What a treat for us to meet this wonderful family and their beautiful and beloved Nutty Brown.

One of the most amazing perks at the Austin Pet Expo was meeting so many people in rescue. Right around the corner from us was Heather Morris and Don't Bully Me Rescue. Heather and I both write for the Examiner and she is a tireless rescuer and advocate for the breed. I don't think she sleeps.

Don't Bully Me Rescue's Sampson

Don't Bully Me is right around the lake in Lago Vista from Reunion Rescue, but we both have very long arms and try to save dogs in need from more than our overpupulated zip codes. Don't Bully Me is also trying to help out the Spindletop unclaimed and could certainly use some good foster homes. Take a look at the adorable availables at Don't Bully Me Rescue.

We got a look at Sampson last week and boy, is he a lil' heartthrob. Lucky us when we got to sample some of Sampson's smooches at the Don't Bully Me Kissin' Booth. Yummy! Who needs candy when you've got a sweetie like Sampson?

We met Amanda at Bullyvard Rescue from Driftwood right outside Austin. Grateful Pets Rescue from Georgetown. We didn't get a card, but a brand new group from Killeen stopped by...please get in touch so we can link your info.

Hey, does anybody notice a trend here? With Mariah's Promise in Blanco, Ebby's Dogtown in Elgin, Reunion Rescue, Love-a-Bull, Don't Bully Me Rescue and trying to lure Amy Adams of Midland's Bully Beds to town, the Austin area might soon be home to the biggest population of pit bull rescues in the US! Stay tuned. There will be some good news coming from Austin. Let's all show up at Love-a-Bull's 2012 Texas-Sized Pittie Pride October 28 and show 'em how we roll!

We petted dogs, kissed cats, hobnobbed with petlovers and had an all around wonderful day...but pictures tell the best sturry, even if they're kinda blurry...