Have you seen those crowdfunding websites for animal rescues that have proliferated on social media? Every day I see a couple of dozen fundraising requests from rescues that need money for unanticipated emergencies like a dog that needs immediate life-saving surgery or expensive treatments for viruses like parvo and distemper.
These crowdfunding sites are an incredibly valuable tool for smaller rescues that don’t have tons of money. It allows them to quickly collect contributions from hundreds of donors to save dogs in emergency situations.
Unfortunately, some rescues post funding requests that are at best misleading and at worst fraudulent.
Washington Animal Rescue Falsely Claims It’s in California
Recently someone alerted me to a questionable fundraising request for $4000 by Horn Creek Rescue in Fiddletown, CA on Cuddly, a crowdfunding site for animal rescues.
The funding appeal appeared on Cuddly on August 20. It said the rescue needed to evacuate and find temporary boarding for its animals from the rapidly spreading Caldor wildfire.
The rescue said it had “multiple animals in their care; not just cats and dogs but pigs, hogs, chickens, goats, and birds.”
That sounds legit, right?
But upon further investigation, I found a small problem with this fundraising appeal – there is no Horn Creek Rescue in Fiddletown, CA.
Horn Creek Rescue does exist, but not in California. The website opencorporates shows that the organization was incorporated in February 2019. It’s located at 35413 37th Avenue S in Roy, WA, not Fiddletown, CA.
Two Animal Rescues Registered at Same Washington Address
Coincidentally, another animal rescue is incorporated at that exact address: Purrsons United for the Rescue, Rehabilitation, and Relocation of Animals (PURRR).
I’ve written about PURRR several times over the last few years.
I first heard about PURRR and its owner Diana VanDusen in an article in the Tacoma News Tribune in early 2015 entitled, “The dog rescuer: Lakewood woman faces criticism for adopting out dangerous animals.”
Here are some of my posts about PURRR:
Dog Adopted from PURRR Rescue Mauled 6-Year-Old in 2013 (January 2015)
Another Dog Adopted from PURRR Rescue Kills a Cat (March 2015)
Dogs from PURRR Rescue Still Live Outside in Kennels (December 2017)
Horn Animal Rescue isn’t just located at Diana VanDusen’s address. She is also on the group’s Board of Directors.
Animals in Fundraising Pictures Are From Different Rescue
Horn Creek’s fundraising appeal has several pictures of farm animals that apparently had been evacuated or needed to be evacuated to escape the fire. You’ll find no pictures of these animals on Horn Creek Rescue’s Facebook page. In fact, you won’t find ANY pictures of farm animals there.
So whose animals are in the pictures on Horn Creek Rescue’s fundraising appeal?
Eventually I found the pictures on the Facebook page of an animal sanctuary in Volcano, CA called Kevin Petunia and Friends Hog Heaven. Volcano is about 10 miles from Fiddletown. I can’t give you the link because the page blocked me soon after I “liked” it on Facebook.
I posted more pictures from Horn Creek’s Cuddly fundraiser with corresponding pictures from Kevin Petunia and Friends at the end of this post.
Horn Creek Rescue and Animal Sanctuary Connected
Kevin Petunia and Friends doesn’t appear to have any active presence on social media other than a Facebook page. It doesn’t have a website, it isn’t registered in California, and it isn’t recognized as a 501c3 charity by the IRS.
A woman named Dawna Scheda is the connection between Horn Creek Rescue and Kevin Petunia and Friends Hog Heaven. Along with Diana VanDusen, she is on the Board of Directors for Horn Creek Rescue.
Also, some of the fundraising appeals for Kevin Petunia and Friends listed Ms. Scheda’s email as a contact. And bills for medical treatment and supplies on the group’s Facebook page show Ms. Scheda as the contact for the group.
The most obvious connection between Ms. Scheda and Kevin Petunia and Friends are the pictures of her husband Steve on the group’s Facebook page. He clearly does a lot of work on behalf of the rescue, so it’s reasonable to assume that both he and Ms. Scheda run it.
Both Ms. Scheda and Diana VanDusen personally solicited donations to Horn Creek Rescue on Facebook.
In case you’re confused trying to follow what I’ve detailed, here’s a summary:
- In late August Horn Creek Rescue posted a fundraising appeal on Cuddly for $4000 to help move animals out of the path of a California wildfire.
- The appeal claimed Horn Creek Rescue is based in Fiddletown, CA, but it’s actually located in Roy, WA at the same address as the animal rescue PURRR.
- Diane VanDusen, who runs PURRR, is on the Board of Horn Creek Rescue.
- The pictures of the animals on Horn Creek Rescue’s fundraising appeal were actually taken at a place called Kevin Petunia and Friends Hog Heaven.
- Horn Creek Rescue’s Facebook page has no pictures of animals other than dogs and cats. I found no records showing that it saves farm animals.
- Dawna Scheda is also on the Board of Horn Creek Rescue. Posts on Facebook list her as a fundraising contact for Kevin Petunia and Friends, and the groups vet/supplies bills list her as a contact as well.
- It appears Ms. Scheda and her husband Steve run Kevin Petunia and Friends.
Fraudulent Fundraising Appeal?
Based on the evidence I’ve found, I think Horn Creek Rescue posted a fraudulent fundraising appeal on Cuddly.
Horn Creek has no facility in California, it used pictures from animals at another organization (Kevin Petunia and Friends) in its funding request, and at least one of its board members is closely connected that group.
At this point I still have several unanswered questions:
Why would Diana Van Dusen create another rescue (Horn Creek) based at the same address of her other rescue (PURRR) that has virtually the same mission?
Why did the funding appeal on Cuddly claim Horn Creek had to evacuate animals from a nonexistent facility in Fiddletown, CA?
Did Horn Creek Rescue give the money from the funding appeal to Kevin Petunia and Friends? If not, where did it go?
Why did the funding appeal for Horn Creek contain pictures of animals from Kevin Petunia and Friends Hog Heaven?
I hope Cuddly investigates this funding appeal.
I have no reason to doubt that Cuddly is a legitimate funding platform that provides critical financial resources for small animal rescues; but the organization should take quick action to ban rescues that try to raise money using demonstrably false information.
Here are more pictures from Horn Creek Rescue’s fundraising appeal on Cuddly paired with the identical pictures on Kevin Petunia and Friends Hog Heaven Facebook page. The pictures on the fundraiser are obviously misleading because Horn Creek Rescue has no facility in California.
Horn Creek misled potential donors by using pictures of animals from another rescue to claim it needed money to move the animals away from the fire.
I LOVE what you do! Thank you for all your hard work.
Thank you!
Don’t non-profits have an annual report where they have to show funds? Would that be the solution if they are fraudulent?
They do but if they have funds it doesn’t necessarily mean they are fraudulent.
Diana in a Facebook post said she was asked to take over horn Creek by the founders. Personally I don’t think someone over their head already should take on more. “Rescues” need to start to think logically and not with a save them all mentality, that just breeds animal suffering. A lot of people in rescue have a savior complex I’ve noticed and no self awareness.
I can’t believe you still have this FRAUDULENT information posted publicly. You are a stalker and have been attacking Diana for over 5 yrs now You’ve never once spoken to or met her. You have called her landlord, Cuddy & AC multiple times now with zero action taken because everyone is sick of your bullshit. You just called Ac again this week and guess what ? Passes with flying colors. I will be doing a warning post in regards to your behavior and to warn others of your harassment and stalking. When will you stop ? Ever ? You’ve been served and you ignored that too. People have a right to know the damage your are doing to a rescue without ANY just cause. I can only pray legal action will be coming your way. Move on to a real scamming rescue. I can supply you a list if needed. Stop stalking Diana dude. Your a grown man. At least grow some balls and talk to her in regards to your BS facts you post.
Please specify exactly what I wrote that is fraudulent.
For the record, I have sent messages to Diana multiple times and she has never responded. The last time I sent a message to her lawyer told me to stop contacting her, so I did.
Also, I have never received a legal subpoena for anything. It is illegal to ignore a subpoena, so if I ignored one I would have been subject to legal action. If you have any information proving I ignored a subpoena, feel free to post it here.
I have been accused multiple times of writing fraudulent information about PURRR, yet I’ve never been taken to court over it. If Diana has a proof that I wrote something fraudulent about her or her rescue, she’s welcome to take me to court.
Again, please specify what in this report is fraudulent.
Well we show HCR is registered in California as a foreign Nonprofit. Could it be that they were in process of doing this process and it just came through? Seems you’re grasping at straws here to find something wrong when there is nothing.
There is plenty wrong here in my opinion. Thanks for the heads up. Could you please provide a link that shows they are registered in CA as a foreign nonprofit? Not sure why they would be listed since they claim to have a place in CA.
Still waiting for you to tell me what I wrote that’s fraudulent.
Show proof of a single time in 8 yrs that you have tried to contact her. You stalk everyone in her life. No one ever said anything about a supeona. You were sent a cease and dissist to stop talking about her rescue. You continue year after year harassing her. You have NEVER had any proof about anything you say. You just run your mouth. Stop stalking & harassing her rescue. FYI you have been doing this to other rescues who never even knew you were publicly slandering them. Well they do now & they will be subpoenaed !! Get a life. Stop harassing rescues publicly without ANY proof. You write whatever you want but can’t back it up. Who calls someone’s landlord & AC. I just got a copy of the report. Your so stupid. You already know Lisa received a judgement against her for the same thing. You are next. What you do and have done & continue to do is a crime & illegal .
I couldn’t post the screenshots here so I emailed them to you. You’ll see I contacted her 3 times and she never responded at all.
FYI, when you say someone has been served, which you said in your original message, it means they were served with a subpoena. As I said, I’ve never been served with a legal subpoena.
All the proof backing what I said is in my post. Read it.
You still have provided no proof that anything I wrote was inaccurate. Your nonstop accusations prove nothing.
I’ve never gotten a cease and desist order. If think someone sent me a legal cease and desist order post it here.
And stop with the empty threats of taking me to court. If what I’ve written is a crime then take me to court and I’ll prove it’s true.
Just saying …..
Why can’t any of the ‘wrongful attacks’ be addressed and shown ,in court, to be false ?
It’s like the rescues argument is, aww c’mon , stop it !!
Exactly. Every time I write a story like this the subject threatens to sue me. Nobody ever did because they can’t sue for slander/libel if it’s true. In addition, if they ever actually sue they’re going to have to produce all their records to prove what I wrote was wrong, and they don’t have them.