I personally donated $140,000 and many hours of work to the Forever Wild Sanctuary in Phelan, CA from 2006 to 2009. Along with thousands of members of the general public and the surrounding community who have given so much to what was then a charitable institution.
But in 2009, two other board members and I quit the FW board due to the improprieties and violations we discovered. This left only the two owners remaining on the board. Our issues were:
Operating without regard to nonprofit rules, Forever Wild today is actually a private pet collection, operating for personal enrichment and subsidized by public donations. . In the early days it was a captivating story; a couple struggling to save these great animals through great sacrifice. The owners deserve all the credit in the world for what they did. But so do others. There are hundreds of nameless volunteers who did the heavy lifting without mention or thanks today. In addition, the coming together of thousands of the finest people in the High Desert made the Extreme Home Makeover dream come true.
After 3 million dollars in home and center upgrades the animals remain in the same tiny, substandard cages exposed to weather extremes that have killed several of them. The cage sizes have been a concern for all visitors, but much worse is the open exposure to freezing high desert winds that can take the chill factor below zero, with only a plywood box with an open door. Jungle cats like Leopards don't do well in blowing snow, and we were saddened to hear when the beautiful 5 year-old Oscar had succumbed. Diet concerns have always existed, with one volunteer referring to the facility as "Forever Hungry".
Unexplained deaths. Whenever we heard a cat had died, it was through the grapevine in a hush-hush fashion. With the circumstances murkily or evasively explained, if at all. From volunteers to donors, everyone at FW has a different theory about what cats at FW die from. A commonly used explanation is rattlesnakes. A friend who kept her African Serval at FW was not even told it had died until 3 months after, when she happened to call them on other business.
Poor nonprofit governance and recordkeeping. Although FW is a 501c nonprofit, it's not operated like one. Our board wasn't able to find detailed financial records for previous years, or even taxes. With the two key board members also the owners and receiving a salary from the nonprofit, there wasn't much for our board to do other than sit and shut up. Expansion and improvement of the facility, and outreach to the surrounding public, were off the table - unless there was money in it.
No plan for educational or other community outreach. FW will not invite exchanges with animal care professionals and facilities outside of one vet. And deaths resulted. Outreach programs with schools, veterinary colleges and zoos were shot down every time we on the board mentioned it. We pushed for outside assistance from facilities like Moorpark to give us second opinions on health and husbandry issues. I asked for veterinary students and interns to be able to come, learn and help, but it seems the owners had something to hide.
There can be a happy ending to this story, benefitting Phelan, the High Desert, and the animals:
Credibility?. My views expressed here are shared by several other board members, donors and volunteers who have been integral with Forever Wild. For questions, I can be contacted at todd (at) dunningmarketing.com.
- Todd Dunning, August 2010