<b>UPDATE
Well, we are ready to move. We are hoping to pick up on Saturday. I simply can't believe that you all have stepped up like you have! I have so many applications and several gliders already have adoptive parents. This is a huge undertaking but you have made it immensely easier. We will be needing some help with railroad to get some gliders from North GA to Myrlte Beach, SC and to Concorde, NC and we will know more once we have everyone approved. So far ALL the applicants are members here!!!!
We are still in need of some more adopters and any help that you can give...railroad, fostering, donations or getting the word out. Email me at TinyToesGliders@gmail.com for any information or an application.</b>


Dear Glider Community,
I know that most of you know that I do rescue. I have dealt with hoarders, impulse buyers and well intentioned but clueless owners. I have a situation that I am going to ask the glider community to help with. I have come in contact with a breeder who has a unique situation. She has gliders in deplorable conditions and can’t be convinced to change her ways. She is willing to sell every one of her gliders at a bulk price and sign a non-compete contract to not breed any more. However, she is not looking for her gliders to be rescued so she is fully willing to continue to breed in these conditions.

My dilemma is this…I am more than willing to put up the money to get these gliders out of there and shut her down. However, there are more gliders than I can possibly house and even with foster homes this is going to be a big undertaking. What I am looking for is to have homes with approved applications ready and waiting when I take these guys from her. I normally ask a nominal adoption fee for rescues in order to deal with vet bills, feeding and to discourage flippers. This situation is different because she is selling them with the thought that they are going to be bred. I have not told her that, but I am also not dissuading her from that notion because if she thinks that we are trying to get her out of business she will not let them go. She also has several colored gliders…Leus and White Face.

I can’t, at the moment, tell you exactly what each glider’s adoption fee will be. I am going to be putting my name on the line for many thousands of dollars to do this and I WILL NOT be getting the majority of this money back. I don’t care. I care about these gliders living in 100 degree + weather with fruit flies, being fed cat food and not being handled. No toys, no stimulation, not being cleaned, and one pouch (if that) per cage of many gliders.

So…I am looking for anyone willing to adopt who would be ready to fill out an application and put down a deposit. I’m looking for anyone wanting to sponsor a glider or willing to help get the word out via Facebook, Twitter or other means that we will have many gliders to rehome. They will be neutered and a contract will have to be signed to adopt. I will CONSIDER shipping but that cost will be on the new owner and it usually runs around $200. We will also have some railroads available and will be able to cover all of FL, GA and AL as well as SC and parts of TN and NC. Anything further than that will have to be done on a case by case basis.

I know that there are going to be those of you who think that this is ridiculous. She’s just one very bad breeder out of thousands. However, my philosophy has always been the story of the starfish…a man is walking down a beach littered with starfish washed up on shore and he sees a little girl picking them up and throwing them back into the ocean. He says to her, “Why do you bother? There are so many that you can’t possibly make a difference.” And she picks up another one and throws it back into the ocean and says, “I made a difference to THAT one.”

Thank you all for all that you do to make better the lives of all gliders!
Lori

Report her.If you just buy all of her gliders, she will just bred something else.

You are a awsome peraon for helping these little ones in need!

No...nothing that she is doing will get her closed down. She is an older lady and is ready to pack it in but will sell these gliders off in singles to other breeders to continue this or just hang on to them and breed them until either she or the gliders die.

Lori,
Keep me informed. I will try my hardest to help with railroading, possible adoption (depending on price, sorry I'm not rich) or whatever you need help with. I'm in SC, so just let me know what you need...

Have you contacted Tammy Miller She might be able to help I wish I could but I honestly can't afford to pay for a glider I rescue as well but I do not flip hence the no money aspect. my vet bills for 12 gliders 3 dogs and a cat are high! but I took on these gliders and I love them so I do what I have to do....I commend you for doing this I know how hard Tammy works for the rail road and I know how hard you are working to help these babies you are an angle!!!

amy, lori doesnt flip gliders, she resuces them and finds them forever homes for the cost of what she does for them. if it cost her 100 bucks to get them and vet them then thats what she charges.

i dont think thats what you meant but i want to make sur eanyone who reads this understands what lori is trying to do here.

lori as always ill do what i can from over here and you know that.

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by joeymum</i>
<br />Lori,
Keep me informed. I will try my hardest to help with railroading, possible adoption (depending on price, sorry I'm not rich) or whatever you need help with.
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This goes for me as well. Everyone should know I am in New Mexico but will go to Amarillo if the gliders happen to make it this far out. If they do I am willing to meet people in AZ and CO.

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Catman</i>
<br />Report her.If you just buy all of her gliders, she will just bred something else.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

One of the main purposes of this arrangement will be to put an enforceable contract in place that prohibits her from breeding. Additionally, she wants out of breeding for good - so it is mutually beneficial. She can sell off the gliders one by one if she chooses and her market/main buyer is a mill breeder. SO, in stopping the breeding with this one woman and stopping her individual sale to the mill...this effort will save COUNTLESS gliders from ending up in bad breeding scenarios and additionally deplorable conditions.

Further, the male gliders will be neutered and all gliders will be adopted out as pets to excellent homes which will also perpetuate the betterment of these gliders and the potential gliders they would have created in a mill environment. I see a TOTAL win in the granular scheme and the BIG scheme.

This wasn't just brewed up over night. This effort has taken a LOT of planning - and our goal was not to target only the instantaneous benefits to the gliders (while drastically important) - but also the long term benefits. Assuredly, there was a lot more cerebral fortitude and foresight that went into strategy before this post hit GG. Nobody wants to "put money" in a bad breeders pockets to instigate and reward bad behaviors. These concerns have been addressed and mapped out to resolution. We now need the community to assist to fully execute that strategy.

I wish there was something I could sue to help but I am in NH, way too far, and short on money.

Does this lady have a website or any ads that we can see who this person is? Just curious...can't wait to help any way I can.

I'm too new at this to offer residence for them, but you and those gliders will be in my prayers. Thank you for doing this.

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by joeymum</i>
<br />Does this lady have a website or any ads that we can see who this person is? Just curious...can't wait to help any way I can.
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No she doesn't...and I am almost 100% positive that her information will be kept confidential until things are complete to keep things copacetic.

Yeah, that's true, anonimity probably would be best for her :)

Oh my goodness...I love your starfish analogy and I 100% respect what you are doing :) Thank you for taking it upon yourself to help these poor gliders! I am not in a prime situation to help these poor babies, but I have faith they will all go to great homes :) Just wanted to say THANKS FOR MAKING A DIFFERENCE :)

i can help adopt one or maybe two depending on price as well im in SC about 3 hrs from joeymum. And i wanted to say thank you for all you do the babies deserve so much better

Lori, I love to hear what you are doing. These babies do NOT deserve this!!! I would love to help if I could but right now I am trying to make a glider of my own that was given to me better. Not too long ago I spent over 600 dollars on a glider that didn't end up making it. So we are still in recovery mode...Please keep updates and I can try to see what I can do.

I can take some as well.

This breaks my heart. Once everything is "settled" and the gliders are in your posession, keep us updated. I'll see what I can do, as far as adopting one. I'd really like a leu or a wfb, but I'll have to try to convince Andrew to let us take in one more. ;) Good luck, this is a great thing you're doing!

Lori- contact Tammy Miller.

Did you have a run-in with her before?

Just added you to the Sugar Glider Rescue Group on FB. www.facebook.com/groups/156606647726462?ap=1 There you can post about needing permanent homes and also railroads.

I have ZERO money until the first of the month - so this week, I can't send anything. But - I'm here if you need to call, and I'm pulling for you.

And how do you enforce this contract with someone who has no respect for animals/life?"She is fulling willing to continue to bred in these conditions." I wouldn't give her a penny!!! If the animals are in deplorable conditions, go to your local animal control and start/file a report.They start their investigation in a day or 2 here and take ALL the animals if they are in danger or if they are not licensed.

Alden, I will contact her. Right now I'm trying to firm up the details to see if this going to happen. Once I have a definite answer I'll get with her.

Scott,
I completely understand what you are saying, however you have been in rescue long enough to know that it is not that easy to get someone shut down. She has been inspected by the Dept of Agriculture and but they continue to extend 30 days to her to get it cleaned up. 30 days + 30 days + 30 days and on and on while those gliders are in cages that are too small, that have not been cleaned, with fruit flies and cat food and 100 degree temps in a room with no ventilation. This has been going on for quite a while. The issue is that she IS elderly and she is tired of it all but it IS her income. So she is either going to continue what she is doing or sell them. But for what she is going to possibly get out of this she won't have the money to go back into business and I completely believe that she doesn't want to. BUT! I am going to have her sign a non-compete agreement with a monetary repercussion so that if she does ever decide to breed again I will be able to enforce a large monetary lien on her that she won't be able to afford...which will then allow me to take her breeders again.
I'm not saying to not report things to the authorities when there is a situation...I am saying that the authorities can and do allow things to happen that are not right. I, for one, do not want to wait on the authorities to seize these gliders. I don't believe that it will happen or if it does that it will happen soon enough. She has been without electricity for close to a month now.

I would love to help however I can.. if we can manage to get some more room(living situation-wise) I'd love to take some in to help out.. I'll talk to you in text or pm, probably.. I really admire you, hun. ): <3 -big hugs-

Well said Lori! AND, the good news is that a non-compete with a monetary repercussion IS enforceable by law via injunctions and stop orders and further the resort to liens as mentioned above. Our rescue HAS carried these to fruition with the law. We have utilized liens, FIFE's, SO's, and injunctions. We have literally gone onsite with police during the investigation and seized any additional animals at the property as well post contract violation. The only reason that the general public feels that these agreements are non-enforceable is because most companies feel the cost and trouble of reputation associated with them are not worth the hassle.

Further, the defense of "this is my livelihood" is often used. In this instance the contract and the general logistics would prohibit or invalidate the use of this defense. In addition to the fact that any litigious arrangement would simultaneously bring any "under the table" income and business to light. She would not be able to re-license as a breeder because that would be public knowledge. There are even more options to ensure closeout but Lori covered that - she really wants out of the business as these gliders are a "money-trap" and she can't afford the care. If given an out she will take it - if not, she WILL continue to breed until either she or the gliders die (as Lori said best).

Sometimes we have to bite down on a bullet hard to stop situations like these...for today and these gliders and tomorrow and their offspring. These situations are incredibly delicate and sometimes do involve financial vesting - however the net benefits to gliders as a whole FAR outweigh the little bit of money put in her pocket to ensure the problem is solved.

I am sorry for the novel - but it is ABSOLUTELY critical that rescuers and animal lovers in general set aside disdain and emotion and view the bigger picture at hand. One last thought - EVERY single option that you mentioned Scott has been exhausted. The initial approach was to utilize local authorities and indicative of history predicted - there was ZERO resolution. In addition, if I could paint you a picture of what the gliders would go through while waiting for complete seizure, investigation, and a court's decision for "property" allotment - you would vomit. They would not just "turn over" the gliders to Lori - or any other rescue immediately. It "sounds" great - but it's just not how things go in commodity driven legalities.

You go girl! OMG. I started reading your post a few posts up and thought you are a biatch but I see you were only saying/doing it to prevent it from happening again. I'm behind you Lori.

WOW. Lori, you are awesome! You are an inspiration to us all! I live in Mobile, Alabama and I will be happy to adopt a few. My family and I have plenty of room available. Keep us up to date!

I'm in Texas so kinda far... but i do have some extra room available and would love to help if i could. Foster, or perm adoption either way. I however do not have the funding available right now to sponsor the re home fee... but if there's anything else i can do let me know please.

Guess I better get busy making pouches for you Lori....

we'd be more than happy to adopt some of these sweet babies if someone can get them to Colorado!

And I'm more than willing to take a weekend to railroad, if they're coming through the Fla panhandle!