Back to article list

YELLOWSTONE COUNTY NOT FOOLING ALL BILLINGS RESIDENTS REGARDING THE LINDA KAPSA CASE
  by MONTANA NEWS ASSOCIATION

From: sondeno@aol.com
To: kritterkare@cablemt.net; charspets@msn.com; clanmother@bresnan.net; jhaniuk@yahoo.com; ty_murphy@yahoo.com; toozie@tctwest.net; con.partyyello.co.chair@gmail.com; russ@laureleast.com; SLee.lla606@Lighting.net; ekemmick@billingsgazette.com; dpaxinos@co.yellowstone.mt.gov; krayton@kraytonkerns.org; senatorbutcher@3riversdbs.net; Hwapx@aol.com; HonakerLaw@aol.com; Montananews@journalist.com;
Sent: Thu, Aug 6, 2009 3:07 pm
Subject: Please forward on and voice your concern


For the last nine months, the public has been asked to open up their hearts and pocketbooks to help care for the dogs and other animals involved in the Linda Kapsa case. The media has made this story so well known to us.......always keeping it in the forefront of our every day lives. Even if the average person couldn't donate much or volunteer with the care of the various animals, you wanted to......to take care of the animals and fix the wrongs that were done to them and most importantly, seek some justice, so this would never happen again.

There is another side to this story.......the side the public has just gotten glimpses of from time to time.......before it was quickly and quietly covered up.

The main reason for this email is concerning a volunteer who has been trying to adopt one of the dogs and not been able to do so. I do not know this volunteer personally and only spoke with her once briefly, but what is happening to her should concern us all.

This volunteer showed Ms Kapsa some mercy and humanity when Kapsa was allowed to see her dogs and then say goodbye to them. This is not about whether Kapsa was right or wrong. Ms Kapsa will be judged in the next week by the laws that are in place. This volunteer also questioned some of the policies and procedures happening with the dogs and other animals which were part of the evidence for this case. Unfortunately, doing this, set her up to be the enemy of all those who were in charge.

The volunteer has asked to adopt one of the dogs she has taken care of for the last nine months and she is being denied for reasons that make no sense.

There is an email attached on here that was given to me a few years ago and after you read it, if you are not as stunned and outraged as I have been.......I do not know what to say.

Please read the email The letter is self explanatory, but I will explain more clearly who these people are. The attachment may have to be printed in order to read it.

The email is from Dr Diana Scollard (who was their vet at the time and to my understanding, no longer works for them) and was sent to Catherine Schaeffer and Mary Ann Wagner. One other person mentioned in the letter is Georgia Peters.

Catherine Schaeffer is the founder and director of the Last Chance Cat Sanctuary. Ms Schaeffer is also the person in charge of the Kapsa rescue operation currently at Metra Park named "New Beginnings". Ms Schaeffer has been the spokesperson for the Yellowstone County and is also being paid for her time with Yellowstone County taxpayer money. She is not a volunteer per se.

Mary Ann Wagner is the Sec/Treasurer of the Last Chance Cat Sanctuary.

Georgia Peters is a current board member of the Last Chance Cat Sanctuary.

I'm am not going to go into a huge rant about the sheer irony of this whole situation except to state what is currently happening.

The volunteer I spoke of earlier is being denied the adoption of any of the dogs she has requested.

Ms Schaeffer is being allowed to adopt two of the dogs. Ms Peters is also being allowed to adopt two of the dogs.

What is the reasoning of the National English Shepard Rescue in allowing any of this to happen? This group, the NESR, could not have seen the email I'm questioning, but with the contracts they make people agree to and sign before allowing any dog adoptions.....it should have raised some questions of whether the contracts were filled out honestly by Ms Schaeffer and Ms Peters by the questions and responding answers on the contracts themselves. The home checks should have raised a flag if the rescue organization even did one. This very situation now questions the creditability of the NESR, wh o stand to make thousands of dollars in donations from being involved.
Then comes the reasoning of the County Commissioners and Yellowstone County to have even signed a contract with a group that operated no better than what they have shown thus far. The NESR has no obligation what so ever to pay any of the money raised from the sale of the dogs back to the Yellowstone County taxpayers.

Ms Schaeffer operates a non profit cat sanctuary. The dogs she has owned previously were rarely ever allowed into the house she calls home. This same house is used as part of the cat sanctuary. Ms Schaeffer's previous personal dogs lived mainly in the garage which had no windows to speak of. This garage was also used as a storage area. The dog's sleeping quarters were blankets thrown in a kiddie swimming pool in the unheated garage with no windows. Some of Ms Schaeffer's previous dogs were rescues given to her from the Humane Society of the United States. Ms Schaeffer is also in charge of 100 plus sanctuary cats. If you add that into what has been stated in the email from the veterinarian, Dr Scollard.......how can this national r escue group possibly feel they are placing these dogs in a better situation?

Ms Peters, to my understanding, has eleven dogs already. According to Dr Scollard's email, she is considered an enabler. Again, why would this national group, if they are a reputable group, knowingly allow a dog, much less two, be adopted into this type of situation and then refuse another volunteer an adoption......especially a person who would have the time to work with a troubled dog?

To go further, why would Yellowstone County hire these types of people and support this type of operation with taxpayer dollars? This is like the pot calling the kettle black.

There has never been an accounting of any of the expenditures spent on the "New Beginnings" operation besides he basic spreadsheet that explains nothing. No one knows the true amount of dollars donated or how the taxpayer money was and is still being sent. What will happen to any of the equipment or donations left after the dogs are gone? If it goes the same way the Camp Collie disbursements went a few years ago, most of the expensive Priefert kennels ended up with the groups in the Billings area who were favored by the HSUS......the Last Chance Cat Sanctuary received many ev en though they had nothing to do with the operation at the time it was happening. Donations poured in from all over the state for that mess.

The reason I bring this up is because of Mary Ann Wagner....the sec/treasurer of the Last Chance Cat Sanctuary. Ms Wagner was convicted of stealing a large amount of money from her attorney employer in Mussleshell County and she is still on probation. Ms Wagner was also in possession of a large amount of cats and made to get rid of them by the courts. Ms Wagner lives with Ms Schaeffer at their cat sanctuary. This is a question that does need to be asked of the HSUS. If they have been willing supporters of questionable rescue groups , then why do they not throw some of the goodwill and money towards Ms Kapsa and help her get her act together.......or is a hoarder only a hoarder if you do not support the HSUS?

It is my understanding that some of the remaining dogs may be leaving Montana as soon as Sunday to go into foster homes approved by the NESR around the country. If any of the foster homes are like the above people, these dogs may be put into a far worse situation than what they were claimed to have come from originally.

This volunteer I've been speaking about should be allowed to adopt the dog she has taken care of the past nine months........especially if the ones I've mentioned above are allowed to adopt.

This county needs to be asked the tough questions and held accountable to why they are not producing a true and accurate accounting of the expenditures spent from taxpayer dollars and donations. Again, what will happen with the excess donations generously given by the Yellowstone County residents.......how long has the county known that the persons running the "New Beginnings" facility were less than perfect and still, nothing was done to correct the situation....just to name a few questions. The elected and taxpayer paid County Commissioners and County Attorneys have known for sometime these people were compromised, and yet, he public is still the one paying the tab.

Last, the HSUS needs to disclose to the public the amount of donations they have received directly from marketing this tragedy. How much has their group donated back to the Yellowstone County or how much has the county paid the HSUS directly? The HSUS made millions of dollars from the Katrina situation and donated very little back to the affected communities down there. It was only after the threat of a lawsuit, from the Louisiana AG after an extensive investigation had been conducted, did the HSUS cough up money for a new animal shelter.......a pittance from what was donated to them.


The question is not whether you want to be involved or not or even about the guilt or innocence of Ms Kapsa, it is about standing silently by and watching a double standard be enacted. We all know the difference between right and wrong, but many of us look the other way for any number of reasons to numerous to mention.

The bottom line is, public support and trust are the backbone of all non profits, rescues, governments, etc..... and if this very public is abused and manipulated as it is starting to look like this has been.....we all pay.

Please....do not sit back and let this happen.....saying nothing is just an affirmation that one is okay with the status quo in charge.

Please call or email or just look them in the eye and question why......

Yellowstone County Commissioners
Office #(406)256-2701
Bill Kennedy (406)245-6051
Jim Reno in the phone book
John Ostlund (406)652-2484 or (406)656-3768

Yellowstone County Attorney
Office (406)632-5651

The National English Shepard Rescue
nesrinfo@yahoo.com

I would appreciate it if this could be forwarded to as many people as possible.

Kelly Sondeno
sondeno@ao.com
(406)598-2287