Plausible Deniability

So, re: The Debe Bell Debacle:

I contacted Colorado Crime Stoppers, complaining about the way the Debe Bell case was handled. This is the response I got:

larry wieda

To jansgiants@hotmail.com

Good Morning. Not sure why you sent this to Colorado State Crime Stoppers? We do not pay rewards or reveive tips. What Crime Stopper program are you talking about? Please advise.

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From: jansgiants@hotmail.com
To: board@coloradostatecrimestoppers.com
Subject: rabbit seizure in Colorado
Date: Thu, 28 Jul 2011 07:03:22 -0400

Hello,

I'm emailing you to voice my concern about how your program was used to falsely accused a successful and highly respected breeder of show rabbits in Jefferson County, Colorado.

First allow me to introduce myself. My name is Janet Gruber, and I am President of the United Angora Rabbit Club. I am also a Director of the National Angora Rabbit Breeders Club. I am also someone who has in the past been falsely accused of animal abuse myself. Fortunately for me, my local sheriffs are farmers and know proper animal care when they see it. Nothing ever came of it for me.

Unfortunately that was not the case for Debe Bell. When the House Rabbit Society (which is not an animal welfare organization, it is an animal rights organization, entirely different goals altogether) showed up at her property and were allowed entry by a roommate, the first thing they did was to turn off the air conditioning to her barn. Then they started removing perfectly healthy rabbits, in fact the 'technicians" involved even remarked about how healthy they seemed. A neighbor called Debe at work when she saw what was going on, and Debe rushed home. Upon arrival, she was threatened and intimidated into signing the rabbits over to HRS. After a couple of hours of no air conditioning, they then took the temperature with a faulty thermometer that Debe had lying around, and it showed 84 degrees. Not only is this not too hot for the rabbits, but witnesses say that it was actually not that warm at all.

The long-haired rabbits have since been shaved down to the skin, supposedly because HRS says they were matted and dirty, witnesses say they were not, At any rate, the evidence has been tampered with and now Debe can't prove they weren't. They are now in totally inappropriate conditions, double up in dog crates, sitting in shavings and their own excrement instead of on wire floors like they should be. They are also being fed an entirely inappropriate diet, which will sicken and possibly kill them, and the HRS will use that as proof that they were sick to begin with. The media took the HRS' word for the "deplorable" conditions, which did not in fact exist. Debe's rabbits were housed in spacious cages with wire floors, all their droppings fell into pans under the cages, they were not present int he cages themselves, contrary to the news report. Those of us familiar with the situation are pretty sure she was 'turned in" by a jealous fellow rabbit breeder, we know who it was but we just can't prove it. This person has been trying to make trouble for Debe for years now.

In short, no crime was committed until Crime Stoppers created one. An innocent person's right to unreasonable search and seizure was violated, she was blackmailed, her rabbits stolen from her, and her good name maligned. She now has to screen her phone calls and is being harassed.

I understand that you were warned this would happen. Well, shame on you! I wonder, how much did you pay this anonymous tipster? Now that this has happened, what are you going to do to prevent it from happening again? And why on Earth did you get the House Rabbit Society involved?

Needless to say, I think you should be sued. I hope Debe pursues this, and I wish her luck. There is talk about creating a legal fund for her. She is not in this alone.

Sincerely,

Janet Gruber

I responded that this was given to me as the address responsible for the program, and got no further response.

Today, I contacted the Colorado Attorney General because clearly, Debe's Constitutional rights had been violated. Here is the result, I have yet to hear back from my response:

The local DA is ignoring the violations and is pressing charges based on illegally obtained evidence. Who, then can she turn to if not the CO Attorney general? Are you essentially saying that there is no oversight of local law enforcement?

Funny, CO CrimeStoppers also denies any responsibility, even though it was an anonymous CrimeStoppers tip that started all of this. Funny how no one wants to help the little guy here.

Janet Gruber

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From: Attorney.General@state.co.us
To: jansgiants@hotmail.com
Subject: RE: Violation of Debe Bell's Constitutional Rights
Date: Tue, 23 Aug 2011 22:21:06 +0000

The Office of the Attorney General has no authority over local law enforcement or Colorado’s locally elected sheriffs. You need to contact your local district attorney’s office.

From: Janet Gruber [mailto:jansgiants@hotmail.com]
Sent: Tuesday, August 23, 2011 4:09 PM
To: Attorney General
Subject: Violation of Debe Bell's Constitutional Rights

Debe Bell, a long-time and well-respected rabbit breeder in Colorado, had her climate-controlled barn raided because of an 'anonymous tip'. It seems her barn was '4 degrees above the ideal' and she had some butchered rabbits in the freezer. OH MY!

http://www.9news.com/news/article/209235/339/200-rabbits-seized-from-deplorable-conditions

Sheriffs entered her property illegally, she was not there to give them access, and proceeded to trample all over her rights. Yes, 4 cages out of 184 were dirty, but she and her 4-H kids were going to address those cages that weekend, I believe this, because if she wasn't keeping up with things, there would have been a lot more than 4 dirty cages. The House Rabbit Society, a notorious ANIMAL RIGHTS organization, led the raid. The HRS is allied with PETA, a group that has been placed on the terrorism watch list by the USDA.

This has gotten national attention, and needs to be investigated. The sheriffs involved need to be disciplined. Animal Rights organizations cannot be allowed to dictate what proper livestock care is.

Janet Gruber

I also emailed (via a website contact program) the governor's hotline and the local Jefferson County Internal Investigations. I have heard nothing back from either.

It seems that nobody wants to take responsibility for the violation of Debe's Constitutional rights. I guess Debe, an ordinary citizen simply living her life and wishing everyone else would do the same, is somehow unworthy of protection? If so, how would the rest of us fare? This makes me very sad, and very fearful for our country.

Pics of Six Bells Rabbitry

Try this Facebook link to an open group and see if you can scroll through the pics. One of the Jefferson County pics is there, of a dirty cage with a litter in it, also there is the one pic they let Debe take before they threatened to ‘haul her away’, and the rest she took after the raid. Notice in all but the one JeffCo pic, the cage floors are clean.

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=129276657167682&set=o.125157017579447&type=1&theater

Now I understand that there are those who might not keep that many rabbits, who might find even these pics objectionable, but you’d also find most dairies objectionable within a hour after milking and cleaning. Personally, I find it remarkable that 184 cages look this good. I think it’s a testament that Debe is a good caretaker and her 4-H kids do a good job helping her out. What a shame that all their rabbits were stolen, and 30 years of Debe’s work has been for nothing, all for 3 dirty cages, when a simple warning and follow-up inspection would have prevented this.

This Means War follow-up

I am simply amazed at the willingness of some so-called rabbit breeders to accept at face-value a VERY FEW photos taken by the HRS, claiming to be representative of Debe Bell's rabbitry, when Debe herself was threatened by deputies from taking her own photos. Why would they prohibit Debe, and the local news station from going in and taking photos, but not the HRS, an un-abashed Animal Rights organization?

And why did the local news stations ignore a subsequent invitation from Debe to take video footage?

Debe did not have access to her own barn until late that night, after all the rabbits had been seized and everyone left. So, people who wonder why she didn't clean the food and water bowl out have, and have had, the answer, she wasn't allowed to, but they ignore that. WHY??!!

I am simply flabbergasted that some people actually think that because 3-5 cages out of 184 had poop piled up in them, that this makes the breeder abusive. Never mind that the rabbits in question had the entire rest of the cage to hang out in, never mind that the rabbits inhabiting those cages were happy, bright-eyed, and healthy. Never mind any of that. Those very few cages were not in perfect condition, so therefore she must be guilty.

I'm ashamed, embarrassed, and fearful for my hobby.

This Means War!

http://www.khow.com/cc-common/podcast/single_page.html?podcast=fullshow_boyles&selected_podcast=08172011PETE6A.mp3

Above is the link to Talk Radio 630's Peter Boyle's interview with Debe Bell regarding the recent raid of her rabbitry. There are 3 parts, and I believe discussion and calls continue into the next show. Anyway, it's very educational, and it points up the fact that the animal industry is in danger of being outlawed, and if we don't do something, we are all at risk.

What we need to do, collectively as rabbit breeders and enthusiasts, is to educate the public regarding PROPER rabbit care, and to educate our local law enforcement as to Constitutional Law. Yes, it is a challenge, but the alternative is to give up our hobby/livelihood.

This goes beyond breed loyalties. We ALL need to band together and declare war on all those Animal Rights idiots who seem to loathe Humanity's very existence, and make it clear that Humans have the right to breed and harvest animals to feed and clothe our families. There is nothing illegal, immoral, or unethical about it, and those who try to make it illegal are in direct violation of the Constitution of the United States of America, which guarantees an individual's right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Not to mention protection from illegal search and seizure.

I have taken my website down. I'll still keep my blog, but from this point forward I will not, under any circumstances, ever sell any rabbit to anyone I don't know personally. No one I don't know personally will ever visit my barn, which has been moved to a secure location away from my home. So don't even ask.

It's a dirty, rotten shame that I have to go to such lengths to protect my animals from people who claim to love animals. But look what happened to Debe's babies. Sickening. Disgusting. Wrong. Then there's the fact that 12 of the animals seized, spayed/neutered, and being sold, actually belonged to 4-H kids. Then photos were posted, narrowly cut to show 3 cages in their worst possible light. No information on if those cages was occupied by, say, litters of 8, no mention that litters like to poop and pee in their food and water dishes. Those of us who breed rabbits know this, the public doesn't, and that's what these folks are counting on. Lack of knowledge and experience. No mention that some of the rabbits shown were recent rescues, dropped off on Debe's doorstep. No mention that a white angora can look like that after one night in a transport cage (or in a dog crate sitting in its own urine and feces, like these rabbits were kept in after their seizure). No way to know when or where these photos were actually taken. No redness, no matting shown that prevented urination and/or defecation like the authorities claim.

We're being sold a package of goods, and those of us who lack knowledge, experience, and/or skepticism are falling for it.

About so-called 'Rabbit Rescues'

I don't know about you all, but this has been bothering me for some time now. These so-called rabbit rescue groups, who literally steal perfectly happy, healthy rabbits from breeders, then beg money from the public and ultimately 'adopt' (read: SELL) them out to the public - assuming for one moment that these rabbits actually did need 'rescued' (and from recent events that is indeed a pretty big assumption); wouldn't the money that is begged, borrowed, and stolen in order to support said rabbits in even worse conditions from that which they were 'rescued' from, be better spent on hungry children? Wouldn't the humane butchering of these supposedly 'thousands' of homeless bunnies, and the distribution of the extremely healthy meat thereof to hungry children, make a lot more sense?

Or are bunnies more important than children?

"Spenditol"

http://youtu.be/dBoYYc1APr8

HSUS conflicting with USDA-APHIS? Say it ain't so!

http://www.kennelspotlight.com/HAS_HSUS_HIJACKED_APHIS.pdf

Another target

Apparently Bunny World Foundation (an Animal Rights organization, as opposed to animal welfare) has targeted my good friend Franco Rios.http://www.facebook.com/index.​php?lh=a782d73e668414b3cb60f6b​20894d6d0&#!/pages/Bunny-World​-Foundation/125339407504490

A success story

I've been getting a lot of emails, some of them very surprising, all positive, regarding my posts on the HRS and the plight of Debe Bell. One of my friends gave me permission to pass this story along:

"I am so shocked to read the report. They are accusing her of being a hoarder and stuff. That is horrible. Thank you for posting on this situation. I tell you, I am afraid now. Just early this month, I had a person that lives few blocks away from our new property go into my acre and intimidate my youngest son, J-----. Luckily, he left a card so I called him and he told me that my two horses were "emaciated and dying". He then said, "I am willing to help you, my wife and I are vet technicians, give them to me and I won't call SPCA on you." Well, I freaked out, told him, let me think on it and I'll call you back. The next day I went to the Sheriff's office and filed a complaint on him and he is barred from coming into my property--he will be arrested. They checked my horses and said they are NOT emaciated and they know that I have hay, feed, and bread, water, and other stuff and my horses have good weight. One of them is a thoroughbred, so keeping weight on him is tougher, but he is doing well. "

Fortunately the sheriffs where my friend lives, like my own local sheriffs, know livestock and what constitutes good care. The problems start when law enforcement officers, for whatever reason, buy into the idea that animals require the same or better standard of care as most humans. When this occurs, those who are sworn to serve and protect us wind up serving and protecting the wrong people.

Responsible Animal Owners Legal Defense Trust

From my friend Joyce:

We have received many inquiries as to how people can help Debe Bell with her legal defense bills in fighting her animal cruelty charges with Jefferson County. This was an attack on all rabbit breeders and it could happen to any one of us at any time. Debe intends to fight the charges and takes particular issue with the way the rabbits were seized and taken from her. The House Rabbit Society has been given too much power and is now "the voice" for responsible rabbit ownership with animal control and the DA's office. We as rabbit breeders from the show community need to take a stand with Debe in setting the record straight and protecting our rights to own and breed rabbits as livestock. Any amount you can give is greatly appreciated and will be paid directly to Debe's attorney, Liz Kearney.

I have set up a trust account with Chase Bank and can receive donations by paypal https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_donations&business=7YMB43ZDLELQS&lc=US&item_name=Responsible%20Animal%20Owners%20Defense%20Trust&currency_code=USD&bn=PP%2dDonationsBF%3abtn_donateCC_LG%2egif%3aNonHosted

or by mail;

Responsible Animal Owners Legal Defense Trust

c/o Joyce Holliday

PO Box 1287

Berthoud, CO 80513

If you have any questions or concerns or want to know further details you can respond to this email address. Please forward to anyone you think may be interested in donating.

Thank you,

Joyce Holliday