THE FOLLOWING IS MY PENDING REBUTTAL TO THE ACCUSATIONS AGAINST KRISTIE CORSON AND HER LITTLE MIRACLES RABBIT RESCUE.
MY COMMENTS ARE IN RED ITALICS.
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http://www.ripoffreport.com/directory/Christine-Corson.aspx
Christine Corson of Little Miracles Rabbit Rescue LMRR, Bunny Rescue, Little Miracles, Little Miracles RR, Kristie Corson, Kris Corson donation fraud, animal abuse, tax fraud, lies, scam, exploitive animal hoarder. Atco, New Jersey *Consumer Comment...
Verified
Author: North Port Florida I want to make the public aware of the animal abuse, neglect, and donation fraud perpetrated by the president of Little Miracles Rabbit Rescue, Christine "Kristie, Kris" Corson. I was a former volunteer in one of the higher positions at LMRR when it was located in Northport Fl. I saw first hand many things the public needs to know.
Rebuttal Disclaimer: I am a rabbit care professional (as the owner of a large rabbit care and behavior forum). I also rescue rabbits. I have never spoken with Kristie Corson nor have I had direct communication with her over this matter although I have seen almost all her posts on the Internet and I have seen the posts from her detractors and researched the accusations. Iâm posting a rebuttal as an expert in the field.
The Animal Abuse:
-The "rescue" building was a detached 2 car garage in poor condition.
It was indeed a ârescueâ, no need for quotations. Most rescues run on limited funds, are housed in older buildings, garages, basements, sheds and warehouses and are rarely pristine.
-The ONLY running water was a hose outdoors. There was no hot water and all bottle were filled there.
This may have been abusive to the volunteers who needed to use the hose, but I assure you, the rabbits really didnât feel abused by this.
-The air conditioner was often broken or not properly working. In the SW Florida summer heat, with no AC the temp would rise to around 100 degrees F. A cheap fan shifted air but that was it.
Rabbits are âair cooledâ, like an old Volkswagen. They release body head mainly through their breath. A fan to dissipate the hot air so they donât re-inhale it is just as efficient (and many will argue preferable) to air-conditioning.
-It was ALWAYS dark unless a volunteer was there. Corson did not allow lights on, even during the day and had the small windows covered so that the public could not look in and see the horrible conditions on the inside.
The domestics found in US rescues are European rabbits, which live in underground burrows. They will come out for an hour or two usually twice a day to eat and frolic. Assuming the volunteers come in once or twice a day and turn the lights on, this was not a hardship for the rabbits. (For the record, no rabbits in shelters and few in rescues have regular access to sun and grass, neither does the average very spoiled house bunny).
-Dead animals were thrown into the freezer and later buried in the back yard.
Not sure what the alternative is here? Stuff them? Leave them in their cages? Even if a rabbit is being sent to a veterinarian for a necropsy, they need to be refrigerated or frozen. Cremation is expensive, burying them in the yard is a viable option. Necropsies are not needed if the cause of death is already known, and often inconclusive.
-Food was often not available, and Corson would become cross and berate all volunteers who repeatedly questioned her until the volunteers bought food themselves.
This sounds like a personal disagreement, but not abuse. If the rabbits were truly starving, this would have been at the top of this list. Reading between the lines, I suspect Ms. Corson was hoping for or expecting support in this area from the volunteers, who in turn thought Ms. Corson should be responsible for this on her own. (For the record, the volunteers traditionally supply at least some of the food with my rescue).
-The animals were NEVER given fresh produce at the Fl location unless a volunteer brought it, or there were cameras and Corson getting attention.
Produce is often donated by produce retailers and distributors and having volunteers picking it up is a duty often listed on rescue âto doâ lists. And bunnies munching on greens is a great photo opp. Pellets can be quickly consumed before the shots are done, and getting them to eat hay on cue isnât as easy.
-Rescued animals frequently escaped and bred one another, some who were there for months. Nearly all babies DIED who were born at LMRR.
This may be irresponsible (which begs the question, did the volunteers not keep them secure, either?), but hardly abuse. (The word âfrequently Iâm sure would be argued, I seem to recall the rescueâs blog alluding to two or three litters over many years). The mortality rate can be high for babies, especially if theyâre not intentionally bred and the pregnancy is unexpected.
-Corson BOUGHT her Flemish giant "mascot" rabbits from a breeder but lied and said she rescued them and took public donations for them. One of whom, Maya, was impregnated by a rescue rabbit months later and gave birth, yes your donations paid for the needs of all of those baby rabbits.
A long-standing argument in rescue is whether rabbits being kept in poor conditions should be purchased in order to ârescueâ them. This is one of those agree to disagree differences that can never be called right or wrong. It is certainly not abuse. Neither is choosing to pay for a rabbit you're fallen in love with. Rabbits pregnancies in rescue are not uncommon because they are really only old enough to be spayed and neutered when theyâre old enough to breed. Sometimes the realization theyâre old enough comes just a little too late! They are also often mis-sexed, even by vets. (For the record, my rescue mascot is a mis-sexed Flemish bought from somebody who was selling him for meat. Sue me).
-Corson PURCHASED many pure bred animals who the volunteers were charged with caring for. Some actually lived in the rescue garage. They included a goat, chinchillas, lops, 3 small rabbits, 2 rats, 2 Akitas, a cat, and a Flemish Giant, Hailey, who lived in a dark filthy back room alone.
Ms. Corson likely thought these animals all needed help. If they didnât need help but the volunteers resented caring for them, this is grounds for being âdisgruntledâ, but again, nothing even remotely related to abuse.
-No matter how many animals were in the rescue garage, sometimes in cages stacked 3 high, Corson kept bringing animals in. Among ourselves we often said these animals needed rescuing from the rescue.
Shelters and rescues routinely stack cages, Iâm sure the rabbits really donât care if theyâre stacked. Yes, Iâm sure the disgruntled volunteers talked among themselves. A lot.
-At one time all of the rabbits had horrible flea issues, bald spots and all from the irritation. There were also many animals with worms. When asked to treat them she yelled about money and belittled us for not buying the medication.
Key words, âat one time.â It only takes one animal coming in with fleas to infest the herd, and they will show signs of the infestation before theyâre gone. (Even the Four Seasons can get bed bugs). Worms are found in almost all rabbits rescued outdoors. Most are not an immediate threat and can wait until meds are donated or funds are on hand for purchases. Rescuers and volunteers donât always agree on treatments, common argument in rescue.
-The total number of rabbits in the garage was between 80-100.
Most main rescues here have this same number.
-Later Corson took in a bunch of guinea pig, hamsters and need supplies to sell. She refereed to them as "pure profit"
Not sure what this means, maybe they were cheap to feed and/or easy to adopt out for a decent adoption fee? Canât think of a scenario where this would be abusive or criminal.
-When I first started many animals, including Corson's own pets had severe urine scalding, nails so long the animals couldn't walk, mats, fleas, wounds, eye and ear infections, and were scared and unsociable.
Rescued rabbits very often come in with such ailments. The photo posted falls under the milder end of the scale, a rabbit can look like that two or three days into a urinary tract infection. Rescuers can fall ill or have family or personal emergencies. Rescuers depend on volunteers to help with their care and suffer through periods when nobodyâs available or theyâve walked out in a huff. Sometimes disgruntled volunteers show up when asked but instead of helping, they take pictures.
-Corson would purposefully deny special care or help or good ideas for the rescue if it was the good idea of another.
This sounds personal, differing opinions. Bruised egos, not bruised rabbits. Not abuse.
-Corson threatened to kill all of the rabbits when she was upset with personal issues.
The rabbits were probably up for euthanization before Ms. Corson rescued them. Being overwhelming/sick and threatening/whining about not continuing with the rescue would mean taking them to a shelter where theyâd likely be put down. Itâs a short surrendering = killing them leap. But weâve all threatened to kill someone or something in our lives. (My rabbit just are my phone charger, sheâs been subjected to all manner of death threats).
-There is FAR more, but these are important notes.
If these are the important ones, itâs Corson by a landslide. There is NOTHING about rabbits starving, injured or dying, no emaciated rabbits. The photos posted shows full litterboxes, mild urine scald and a urine-soaked floor outside the cages â the latter a sign that the rabbits are getting run time and not always cooped up. (They will always urinate in front of the other cages to establish territory, Twenty cages on the ground = 20 puddles x 10 rabbits loose between clean-ups = 200 puddles = a urine-soaked floor. The pictures show that the white rabbits paws are white and not urine stained, a sign that the cages are kept clean. Continuing exposure to urine will quickly stain their feet. The photos also ook like the majority of rabbit rescues in terms of rabbits, cages and space in spite of captions about hoarding.
Donation Abuse:
-Many times I witnessed Corson use funds from the "rescue card" to pay for her own things. Food, party supplies, supplies for her own pets, and personal bills. She was shameless and always had a crafty way of explaining it.
Iâd hazard a guess youâre not mentioning instances of Ms. Corson using her own funds to pay rescue-related costs. Party supplies can mean event supplies, a common fundraising expenditure. (Isnât a âcraftyâ way of explaining is a good thing?)
-Corson would raise tons of money for a project that never came to be. She just kept the money, never refunding or giving the people what they wanted. People calling about their memorial brick, tee shirt, sponsored bunny or other undone contribution would be berated and blocked from calling her or emailing.
Rescues will attempt to raise funds for an idea or project all the time and if not enough funds are raised, the idea isnât implemented and the funds are redirected to another project. If the donors have a problem with this, itâs up to them to complain, and not a group disgruntled ex-volunteers. After reading the voluminous material presented by this group for years, I donât recall seeing a complaint from a third-party donor.
-When given cash, Corson put it in her pocket or purse, did not record it and never put it to the rescue. Often in the same day, you would see her purchase something totally unnecessary with the same cash.
When somebody hands me cash, I put it in my purse or pocket, I think this is pretty common! In a statement below, you say Ms. Corson was the only one with access to the books, so how do you know it wasnât recorded? âNecessaryâ is subjective.
-Corson often told people and advertised being a 501c3 non profit, she NEVER has been, but collected funds as such.
Again, people expecting a tax-deductible receipt should be the ones to complain and there is no evidence of any such complaints. The IRS doesnât take these things lightly thus I doubt your version of these events.
-Corson took donations at least 2 times that I know of for the 501c3 filing cost but they were never filed.
There is a note on Ms. Corsonâs site or blog that references the rescue having to reapply for a different level of tax exemption that has a higher filing fee. I suspect this is another normal procedure youâre trying to twist into a âcrimeâ.
-Corson instructed us to "lie" and "make up" info asked for in the 501c3 application.
Iâm sure had the details been anything more than âfudgingâ, this person would have noted this âcrimeâ as well.
-Corson had many people donate items for yard sale benefit sales and kept what she wanted for herself.
How do you know she didnât pay for them? I have yet to see a rabbit rescue or shelter at this level capable of having more income than output.
-Corson raised money to pay her mortgage saying the rabbits needed it because she had spent too much money on a large tattoo.
This is the mortgage on the rescue building I assume? If all you can muster in a âspending rescue funds on herselfâ accusation is paying for a tattoo, however large, it sounds like youâre REALLY scraping the bottom of the barrel.
-Corson has many different fundraisers going at once, in an effort to defraud the public
Just maybe the different fundraisers are to fund the rabbit rescue? This is the usual MO for a well-run non-profit.
-NO ONE has access to the books and money in the account except for Corson and every now and then a few close friends are given the card to buy stuff.
Then, as above and again below, how can you accuse her of not logging all the funds and cheating on her taxes? You canât have it both ways.
-Corson has a small store at the rescue where she sells items, she claims none of them and gives out no receipts.
See above.
-Corson lies on her taxes, and NOTHING you give can be written off.
See above.
IN SHORT, I want to ask that you PLEASE donate to a reputable rescue and report to the IRS any suspicious dealings that you have had with Christine "Kristie" Corson, her parents, or the boyfriend that helps enable all of this, Justin Evans.
It sounds like Ms. Corson and the rabbits have a good support network with her parents and boyfriend giving her a hand. There is absolutely nothing here to indicate abuse by Ms. Corson.
