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On 8/7/23, Jessica Des Lauriers, COO at the San Diego Humane Society (SDHS) irresponsibly transferred 323 small pets to the Humane Society of Southern AZ (HSSA). Hundreds of small pet carriers were unethically loaded on to a refrigerated Enterprise rental truck at 5:30 am and were said to arrive in Tucson at HSSA around 5:00pm, where it was 106 degrees. Upon arrival, they never went into the Humane Society for wellness exams but instead loaded onto vans and taken to a rescue in the Phoenix area arriving around midnight, making the total driving time 18 1/2 hours.
Several weeks later around Aug 30, animal advocates noticed that they had not seen any postings for adoptions for the small pets on the HSSA website and local rescues knew nothing about it, soon after a reward was posted in the news by AZPM News.
On 8/25, HSSA then claimed that the animals were taken to a “private family run, family funded rescue” in the Phoenix area and refused to disclose the name of the rescue stating they wanted to remain anonymous. On 9/2, after a lot public pressure, HSSA went and retrieved 63 of the 323 animals from the “rescue.”
9/23, CEO Steve Farley continues to refuse to provide info on the “rescue” where 323 animals went and remain missing.
9/27, Animal advocates protest outside office of HSSA BOD Robert Garcia.
9/29, With information from animal advocates, AZPM news broke the story that HSSA sent the animals to the Fertile Turtle, an unregistered business in Mesa, AZ owned by Colten Jones. The Fertile Turtle is a snake breeding business which sells small pets as live and frozen feeders. Jones claimed that 254 of the pets had been “adopted out,” but had no record of any adoptions. 260 small pets remain missing, including 162 guinea pigs, 72 rabbits, 24 rats, and 2 hamsters.
October 5th, HSSA fired their CEO Steve Farley. COO Christian Gonzalez, who is a snake breeder and is friends with Colten Jones, resigned. HSSA “exonerated” SDHS after the two had a public exchange of strongly worded attorney letters. SDHS continued to claim no responsibility.
10/8, Animal advocates protest at SDHS Fur Ball.
Both facilities continued to drag their feet on starting a search for the animals. HSSA began an internal investigation. In late October, over 2 months after knowing the animals were in danger, SDHS hired a private investigator whose name they will not release to the public.
On 11/6, Chorus Nylander, investigative reporter at KVOA, obtained a text from a reptile business owner he reached out to. The text read, “Do you have the ability to freeze off a bunch of guinea pigs and or rabbits? I don’t have the manpower or labor to be able to do it in time for the show and it’s too much for me.” The show he was referring to was the Reptile Super Show he was vending at in Pomona, CA.
HSSA has said they opened a case with the Tucson Police Department. When asked, the Pima County Attorney said the case was not being investigated. San Diego Humane Society continues to say since 9/28 that they are looking into legal options.