10/24/2006
These
are the animals we rescued
The
USDA seized these animals from Animalogic/Joe Merzlak then
turned them over to the US Animal Protection these animals are
now getting the love, care and attention that they have been
deprived of for the last 4 months
Case
Report For Animalogic
147 E 1st ave.
Hendersonville, N.C.
US
Animal Protection Case Notes
On
Monday Sept 25th 2006 at 902am I Susan Bryant received a call
about complaints on the times News Forum copies copied and
pasted
It's
on 1st avenue in H'ville, I tried to take my kids 3 times.
According to the Travel and Tourism website it is supposed to be
open to the public. During their "open" time the doors
are locked, no hours posted and no note on the door. We lifted
the mail slot to look in and damn near fell over. It stunk so
bad my 7 year old asked if the animals were dead. I guess we'll
keep visiting the Good Ole' Nature Center in Asheville. Parents
and teachers beware!!!
22 August 2006
I
went out At approx. 12:30 pm and found no one there and the door
locked , I tried to look in the windows but found them all to be
covered, I lifted up the mail slot in the door and smelled the
odor of dead animals.
I saw someone that worked at The Sanctuary a clothing store
across the street from Animalogic
Asked who the landlord was and was was told that Michele French
who I believe is the owner of a clothing store and she called
the owner of the building.He asked if he could call her back
I waited for 15 to 30 minutes before he called back during this
time I watched Animalogic's and no one showed up. owner was
told of the situation at Animalogics and he gave store
owner permission to try the keys she had for the
warehouses. We tried all her keys that she had been given so if
there was ever any trouble she could get in for him. None of the
keys fit she called building owner back and told him I was then
told that building owner would be coming into town and that he
would try his keys and if his keys did not work he would get a
lock smith out., and then call me.
Tuesday
Sept 26th 06
I called store owner on Tuesday am to find out if building owner
had had any luck with the keys or had to have locksmith out I
was told at that time that building owner had gotten a
hold of Joe Merzlak owner of Animalogic and that he said that he
was going out at night to feed and care for the animals and that
building owner thought everything was ok that he believed Joe.
Complainant was in contact with a snake expert and to
my knowledge he was in contact with someone who had
worked with Joe Merzlak I was given this persons phone
#. At the time I was told that this person had gone
over to Joes house and told him that I was investigating him at
the time he took Joe to Animalogics and Joe went in he
stayed outside because the porcupines were loss inside.
On Tuesday A.M. when I talked to him he seemed to
feel that everything was ok there and I asked him to get a hold
of Joe and see if we could get together so I could try to go
inside with Joe to see what the conditions were, he was to
call me at approx. 4:30 pm and let me know something.
At approx 1pm I received a call from him and was told that
another complaint had been called into the police dept and they
were out there with a Detective and wild life and other city
personnel I called the h'ville police dept and was told that
Lieutenant Detective Adams was on sight and was put thru to him
I explained who I was and that I had received a request from
animal welfare advocate in Asheville that had seen the concerns
on the times news forum and that I had been out there Monday and
had been trying to get a hold of Joe so I could do my
investigation I was told I could come out to the site.
After meeting with officer
of the h'ville police Dept and Detective Adams I was told that
they had received a complaint that dead animal had be thrown in
the trash and Officer told me that when he
first went into the building that there was a strong odor of
dead animals in there and that a lizard was found dead in the
upstairs, and that many of the animals had no water or that the
ones that did have water the water was very dirty. And that
several Volunteers and Joe had come in and started to feed and
clean. That there was fecies in the hall floor from the
porcupines that had been out during the night. Many of the cages
or tanks that held the animals were disgusting .
At that time I asked if I could search the trash and Dumpster I
was given permission .
In the Dumpster I smelled a very strong order of dead animals
after a few minute search of local businesses for a key to
unlock the dumpster I searched it and found in a very large
black bag 1 white hedgehog 1 Sugar Glider, mixed in with some
rotten cantaloupe and some good grapes. In a Clear trash bag I
found what appeared to be 3 animals that could not be identified
they were of what looked to be black fur with small ears and
somewhat of a bushy tails suspected to be chinchillas.
After receiving permission from Joe to enter and inspect the
animals and building I found an strong odor of dead animals in
the building , animals that still had no water, 1 hellbenders
tank to have very little water and green algae growing on the
inside of the tank water was very dirty, as I walked thru the
building I saw many tanks with venomous snakes some of the tanks
were dirty, in the room off to the left of the back of the hall
way was a room that had many various small animals mice , white
European chipmunk, sugar gliders, a prehensile tailed porcupine,
2 macaws, 2 African Grays one of which I asked if it was very
old or young I was told it was not old and was not young this
bird appeared to be showing signs of stress feathers looked
somewhat ruff and some were sticking out as if they had been
plucked by the bird I saw some dirty enclosures that appeared to
be empty and asked what was in them and was told sugar gliders,
There many hard clear plastic containers in this room that had
mice and other small animals in them improper housing for any
animals. There was also a Pig and a Goat in this room. Pig and
goat appeared to be of good weight but was hard to tell because
of the lighting all windows were covered and very little
electrical lighting was present. Birds need more light to remain
healthy. There is a mixture of nocturnal and day time animals in
this room these animals should be separated as to provide the
proper lighting conditions for there needs. this room also
contained 2 kinkajous or bush babies was not sure which they
were the small of the 2 did appear to be lethargic and very
stressed one of the animals of concern. There was also a native
opossum that was light in color with not a lot of dark coloring
this opossum was thin another animal of concern. I was told by
Joe that the opossum had just come in not long ago and it came
in that way.
I have found out that this oppsum had come in in late arril and
was fat and was also shown pictures taken of it shortly after it
came in this same oppsum was also I believe shown on wlos tv and
was fat then. There was also several chinchilas .
To the right of the end of hall there is a room that is much
larger this is where the emus were and the large tortisis were
they were in the same pen. There was a what apeared to be a
black animal with with stripes on its head (not a skunk)
believed to be a Coatimundi, a Genet, and many more animals.
Upstairs I came to a glass door to a very small room with no
ventilation this room had a dead savhana monitor lizard that was
dead on a wire cage top with a brown shirt covering part of its
tail this lizard was hard and non flexible appeared to have been
dead for some time. The stench in this room was so over powering
that I had to leave to get fresh air, I went back in and after
looking around I saw a cage bottom with unidentifiable farly
fresh brown and black smelly substance in it. There was also
many clear plastic cases some with lables on cards and some with
out in this room I found along with the monitor lizard dead 1
sm. Ball python 1 Tericopulo snake ,2 mice ( in case was food
that was old and no water) mice were shriveled up and hard, 2
scoutley Baboon spiders Tarantulas, an olive- keeled Flat Rock
Scorpion.
Many more cases with dead spiders and I found 1 live tarantula.
This building had no ventilation no windows that were not
covered, many animals living in small clear plastic tot cases.
We were told that a fox was lose in the building and had chewed
a hole in the wall and was hiding in the wall I myself never saw
the fox, we also were told that a chinchilla was also lose in
the upstairs room but the hole time that I was in that room
30min or so I never saw or heard it there.
Wed.
Sept. 27 06 12pm
I arrived at Animalogic to speak with Joe after Tuesday him
saying he would assist in anyway and cooperate with us.
The USDA was doing a inspection when I arrived approx. and hour
later USDA left and I was able to talk to Joe.
I wanted to know who the vet on record was and if Joe would
allow us to bring him in to check the remaining animals health,
I was told that vet
clinic was vet on record. At this time us animal protection
offered to provide food , bedding , and any other supplies or
any thing that was needed I was told that they had everything
they needed and I was told by Joe that he had called the
vet to see if he could come out to sign off on the
site so he could get his USDA registration.
After I left I and Melisa contacted Dr. and was told
that Joe had only brought in 2 animals and that the only other
contact that the vet had was an email about fleas and to
prescribe an antibiotic for one of the emus that had an eye
infection. Dr. also said he had no clue that he was vet on
record and had never agreed to be vet on record also he checked
and found out that his insurance did not allow him to go out to
the site to even do an inspection or to vet any animal.
Thursday
Sept 28 06
After
many phone calls USDA did verify that Joe did not have any
USDA licenses to operate as an educational center or as a
dealer.
Post
notes
Former Ex. Director
Has made statements to me over the phone and in person that as
of June the animals were healthy and that she could identify
what animals were there at that time and which ones were
missing, she has pictures of some of them including the opossum
she has also stated to me that Joe does not have a clue on what
he spends for the care of the animals and that the records
keeping with information has not been kept by Joe about the
animals place of acquirement health or medical have been kept.
Many
people have called to stay if help is needed that they would be
happy to help and if Joe had asked for help they would have
helped.
mrs.
called and said she had bought some little exotic dessert type
mice from Joe at Animalogic and that she was waiting on some
Sugar Glider babies to get old enough to leave there mother. And
said that her daughter had gotten to know the fox and that the
fox had been very shy and miss trusting but had gotten better
with her daughter.
WNC
Diagnostic Center on hwy 280 just inside Bumcomb Co.
Us Animal Protection offered to pay for necropsies on what we
thought was a6 animals turned out to be 7 animals 4 chinchillas,
1 sugar glider, 1 savanna monitor lizard, and 1 white hedgehog
all found to be in various states of decay that was so far
decayed that they did not have any organs to necropsy , the
lizard even though it appeared to have its organs and was not
soft and pliable the organs were gone due to decay ,
DR. said in his opinion that what we thought was 3
unidentifiable carcass were really 4 and that to the best of his
abilty that with the state of decay he believed them to be
chinchillas, the sugar glider was nothing but a flat hard shell
of a carcass, the white hedgehog was also in such a state that
the outside of the carcass was identifiable and soft that the
internal organs were gone and it could not be necropsied.
Dr. said that he was sending the carcasses to Reilgh for
further testing for disease.
The
City management made Joe remove all the venomous snakes to
outside the city and we were told by Joe that these snakes were
going to his mothers and his house Diane told us on Tuesday that
she was owner of the animals and that she leased them to Joe
later we find out she owns 1/3 of them she was asked by me to
give me a list of those animals and also the lease agreement
between herself and Joe. She also stated that she had been
coming in to feed the animals at night for about a week and that
every thing was ok when asked about then how come the dead
animals had been dead for so long she did not respond. Also she
was advised by myself and Officer that since she said she
had been coming in to feed at night and that she was the owner
of some of the animals that she could be charged as an accessory
to and or charged with animals cruelty herself because if she
was feeding then how did she not notice the animals that were
dead or that they were sick before they died. and that as owner
then and she was a major figure in Animalogic that it was also
her responsibility to make sure the animals were care for in a
proper manner and in accordance with the laws.
Both
Joe and Diane have my phone # and have been told that they could
contact me at any time if any help was needed ,I>E food
bedding, Vetting were needed.
As
of Wednesday Joe had quit cooperating and was telling us lies My
thoughts on that is so he could move more animals out and to
clean and remove the dead and or dieing this is typical tactics
used by people when caught in this situation. Also I feel Joe
and His mother Diane are also what is known as hoarders.
I
have been informed that at the old site on hwy 280 that there
were 300 animals there all were moved to 1st Ave and then the
many were taken to Diane's house.
At
this time a seizer order is needed and that it includes Diane
Merzlak home if the approx. 75 animals could not be taken care
of then how can they take care of poisonous snakes and the
believed to be many other small animals be taken care of ,
made the statement to me that at one time Diane need money for
bills and and her husband
suggested she rent out a room in her large house and they were
told by Diane that she could never clean the basement of all the
animal mess.
Stench
of dead and of animal waste was present in the Animalogic
building to the point that you had to leave to get fresh air and
dark damp dirty conditions were present .this is an unhealthy
environment for any human or animal the conditions were so poor
that without major cleaning and the windows being uncovered that
many of these animals will not survive for any long period of
time that they are and have been deprived of normal day night
hours food , a constant source of potable water , that
sanitation is so lacking that it could or maybe a health hazard
if left unattended to, that the animals have been cruelly housed
and taken care of that they have suffer unnecessary pain and
deprived of a pain free habitat , that6 many of the enclosures
are inadequate to house the animal in a safe manner that other
animals have been put in danger by other animals being able to
get lose and run around the building when no one was there. It
has been brought to our attention that several bush-babies were
lose and one was found very sick and possibly dieing on Monday
night and this animal was not taken to any vet there was also 2
babies with it one was caught and 1 was not able to be caught
and was up in the rafters on Tuesday while we were in the
building and may have already died. As the First officer was
arriving a white station wagon was leaving with what appeared to
be trash in it.
