Wagmor Pets
Husky Halfway House learned this week that Wagmor Pets, https://www.instagram.com/wagmorpets/... , has been claiming to be associated with, and soliciting donations for a pull of huskies from CA shelters in June 2023 and a sweep of all huskies from San Bernardino County, California's Devore shelter in August 2023. Wagmor, which has 227,000 Instagram followers, asserts on its website that it is well-loved by "Ellen DeGeneres, Jennifer Aniston, Sandra Bullock, Miley Cyrus, Sarah Hyland, Jenna Dewan, Chrissy Tegan, and more celebrities." https://www.wagmorpets.org/.../ellen-degeneres.../...
H3 is deeply concerned about this because of the following facts: 1. In early June 2023, H3 pulled 11 at-risk huskies from California’s Riverside, Avenal, Hesperia, and Victor Valley shelters. H3 employees transported six of the dogs to the rescue’s site in Eufaula, Oklahoma. H3 paid $250 to a private transporter to transport the remaining five dogs. Some of the dogs are featured in this post: https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=558876733107229&id=100069547202800&mibextid=qC1gEa
2. On June 12, 2023, Wagmor owner Melissa Bacelar gave an interview to NBC LA’s Michael Brownlee. Mr. Brownlee stated on air that Wagmor Pets had told him that it “saved 11 huskies from California shelters.” https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cw5shPsvu7x/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
3. On June 22, 2023, H3 agreed to take eight huskies from California’s Stockton and Hesperia shelters. H3 hired a private transporter to transport these dogs to Eufaula, for which H3 paid a $975 transportation fee. 4. On June 25, 2023, Ms. Bacelar posted an Instagram video stating that she was raising $7,000 to “save 18 dogs off the EUTHANASIA LIST!!” and transport those California dogs out of state. Her video included photos of H3’s Stockton dogs. H3’s transporter has confirmed that she (the transporter) took the photos in question. Ms. Bacelar’s voiceover when displaying H3’s Stockton dogs stated, "Look at these faces! Every single dog in this video was about to be killed at the shelter . . . These transports are insanely expensive. We have the rescues to take them . . . we have to raise $7,000 to get them from California, get them health certified, get them vetted, and get them out of state. I need your help, guys - we have been asking for donations for weeks, we are so overwhelmed with medical bills and everything else but these lives matter . . . We desperately need for you guys to support us in this. These dogs deserve to live. They deserve to be able to get to some place where people want them. The cost of transport is really high, and that's why more people aren't doing this." https://www.instagram.com/tv/Ct7wNgWo_WZ/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
5. On June 26, 2023, the eight Stockton and Hesperia dogs arrived at H3. https://www.facebook.com/huskyhalfwayhouse/posts/571063715221864
6. On June 27, 2023, H3 posted a video of the Stockton huskies in the rescue’s quarantine yard. Clearly visible are dogs Alaska, Willow, Bella, and Scout, each shown in Ms. Bacelar’s June 25 video. As stated above, H3 was the sole source of funds for the transport of its Stockton dogs, including Whitney, Willow, Bella, Scout , Alaska and Luke, from California to Oklahoma. https://fb.watch/mWWkzhzlbO/?mibextid=HSR2mg 7. H3 does not know how much money Ms. Bacelar raised based on her assertion that she was involved with a June 2023 interstate transport of huskies from the Stockton shelter. However, H3 is unaware of any donations made by Wagmor or Ms. Bacelar to cover any of H3’s costs (which have stretched well into the four figures) associated with the rescue and transport of H3’s Stockton huskies. 8. On August 13, 2023, H3’s owner, Jenni Dietsch, personally pulled and transported 13 huskies from Devore to H3. H3 then hired the same private transporter involved in the June 2023 Stockton and Hesperia pulls to bring the remaining three huskies from Devore (who had still been on stray hold on August 13) to the rescue several days later. https://www.facebook.com/huskyhalfwayhouse/posts/597304539264448 https://www.facebook.com/huskyhalfwayhouse/posts/597862049208697 https://www.instagram.com/p/Cv-8041MYHw/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA%3D%3D%20 https://www.instagram.com/tv/CwLjiMloT8e/... https://www.instagram.com/p/CwHR-8-riG7/...
9. On August 20, 2023, Ms. Bacelar posted a video to the Wagmor Pets Instagram stating that she was fundraising for (among other things) the transport of Devore huskies and “raising money to get these dogs off the euthanasia list.” She included a screenshot from H3’s transporter stating that she was “picking up huskies from Devore” because the transporter’s “Oklahoma rescue just cleared every single husky from Devore.” Ms. Bacelar also stated that she was “$5,000 into a $23,000 rescue.” She continued, "The transporter has left California, she picked up the dogs at the shelter, the huskies. She is driving them out there. And if you can, if you can Venmo, even 5 dollars helps, there's so much of you guys. If 200,000 people donated five dollars each, we would be in SUCH good shape right now." https://www.instagram.com/tv/CwLjiMloT8e/... https://www.instagram.com/p/CwHR-8-riG7/...
10. August 21, 2023, H3’s transporter delivered the final three Devore huskies to Eufaula. https://fb.watch/mX0mr-10dP/?mibextid=qC1gEa
11. H3 does not know how much money Ms. Bacelar raised based on her assertion that she was involved with an August 2023 interstate transport of huskies from the Devore shelter. While unclear, Ms. Bacelar may have paid a modest (3-figure) transportation fee for the transport of H3’s huskies directly to the transporter—without informing H3 that she was doing this. If Ms. Bacelar raised funds associated with H3’s Devore huskies in excess of any transportation fee that she paid on H3’s behalf without authorization, those funds should be provided to H3 for the care and placement of the Devore huskies. If Wagmor was fundraising for the transport of California huskies pulled in June and August 2023 by rescues other than H3, we invite them to provide the name(s) of the rescues, the names and A numbers of the dogs, and the dates of the pulls. If they do so, we will verify the accuracy of their claims by (1) submitting requests under the California Public Records Act to the relevant counties to confirm the dogs and rescues involved; and (2) speaking directly with the relevant rescues. If any such claims prove accurate, we will post an update to that effect on H3’s page and modify this post as needed. Because Wagmor conducts fundraisers publicly on social media with hundreds of thousands of followers, any potentially unauthorized fundraising activity is of public concern. Given this, we encourage both our followers and Wagmor's followers to request Wagmor to clarify its above-described activities.