[FEL-L] Wild Animal Orphanage
Brian Werner
tiger1 at tigerlink.org
Mon Nov 20 11:10:23 CST 2006
I think that I remember recently seeing her on the news in South Texas
about being under some kind of a criminal and civil investigation. Did
you all see this?
Certification of Lilac Alfke
1. I, Lilac Alfke, on the 30th day of August 2002 to the best of my
knowledge do hereby certify, state and allege the following
information;
2. My name is Lilac Alfke; I have been employed with the Wild Animal
Orphanage since July of 2001. Over the course of my employment I
have become aware of unethical treatment of several of the animals
housed at our facility. The first incident I can recall was
approximately a couple of months after I started working there; it
involved a couple of "aggressive" tigers. These tigers were not
abnormally aggressive, they did behave badly only around one of
the owners, Ron Asvestas. This behavior is common with a lot of
our animals when he is present; there is something about him I
have observed that the animals do not like. They unfortunately
were also provoked to "charge" by a former employee that would
deliberately get them to "charge" by placing his back to the cage
to show people on tours how they react to exposing your back to
them. This is not a condoned behavior and was the reason the
tigers were supposedly put down. It is actually believed the
reason for their euthanization was to make room for more animals
that were living in our quarantine area and had nowhere else to
go. We commonly take animals for money that we have no room for.
They are the ones that have it worst because they are in small
cages until more room becomes available or until animals get put
down for whatever reason the owner, Carol Asvestas, makes up at
the time.
3. Last fall around September or October 2001 we moved a group of
black bears and a large Eurasian brown bear named Boris out to our
facility on Talley Road. It was said that a new enclosure for them
would soon be completed. They were put in small concrete
enclosures approximately 20 feet by 20 feet with a six-foot long
by five-foot high concrete house and are still to this day waiting
for the new enclosure to be finished. Carol Asvestas has been
collecting money for this enclosure for several years now, via
website and donation appeals. Sumner Mathis (Board Member) and
IFAW also contributed significant amounts of money for the
enclosure to be completed. No work had actually been done until
IFAW, on a routine visit to the facility, noticed that no work had
been done on the enclosure. It still has not been worked on since
their last visit here in San Antonio (approximately in May or
June). The emotional stress has taken a toll on these bears and
Boris has busted pipes to his water bowl on several occasions and
has even destroyed his concrete house. This is abnormal behavior
for Boris who is mild mannered and a very people oriented bear. We
had no prior behavioral issues with Boris until he was moved to
the Talley property. This should be a smoke signal for the owner
that there is a problem, but as everything else, it is disregarded
and I fear if this behavior continues he will be put down as well.
4. There was another incident of a lioness named Hanna that had a
large gaping hole near her tail probably due to a bite during a
scuffle with one of her cage mates back in possibly February 2002.
She never received any kind of vet care or even just basic
cleaning procedures. One of her cage mates also got a portion of
his tail bitten off and also never received any kind of care. Both
of these incidents were mentioned to Carol who said, "They didn't
need vet care that they would heal on their own". She at this
point never even left the office to assess the damage herself.
5. We took in a Patas Monkey named Josh at the beginning of the year
2002. The owner has called on several occasions to see how he is
doing and Carol Asvestas has lied to her stating that he is
adjusting well and has lots of company. This monkey has been alone
since we got him and Carol Asvestas has not made any attempts to
integrate him with anyone else. She does however have us emphasize
on our tours that monkeys should never be housed alone, so why the
hypocrisy?
6. Another incident involved a cougar named Freddy, this began
sometime in March or April of 2002. He was going to be euthanized
because of his inability to be integrated with the other group of
cougars. He was pulled from his enclosure and left in one of our
transporter cages next to our meat cooler for at least two months.
These transporter cages are approximately 6 feet long by 4 feet
wide and barely large enough for a tiger to turn in. He waited in
there until the owner, Carol Asvestas, picked a day to have him
destroyed. My coworker and I questioned Carol's decision to
euthanize without exploring all possible alternatives. It was not
fair to euthanize this cougar due to the fact that he was too nice
and timid to be integrated. We were verbally chastised and told
"how dare we question Carol's decisions, her decisions were
final". That was the turning point in how we came to be harassed
by our employer. Luckily someone from the International Fund for
Animal Welfare (IFAW), which donates a significant amount of money
to our organization, was on a routine visit when they discovered
the cougar and questioned why a perfectly healthy animal was in
the transporter cage. Carol Asvestas, the owner, fabricated a
reason to why he was there and failed to mention that he had
indeed been in that cage for months. This may have been the only
reason Freddy was given a second chance. We have recently tried to
integrate him again with much success this time around; all Freddy
needed was a little compassion and patience. He never should have
been made to suffer to begin with.
7. It was also around March or April roughly when HEB, a grocery
chain, stopped donating as much meat to us for the animals and the
owners Carol and Ron Asvestas began to purchase Hereford
Bi-Product. At first all was well with the animals, no one seemed
to mind eating this meat. We were often instructed to feed out
"green" meat, which is the meat that has begun to spoil. This is
when things started to take a turn for the worse. Some of the
animals began to reject the meat and even became nauseated by the
smell of it, several of them became sick with diarrhea. My
co-worker and I made mention of this on several occasions. We were
told "they would have to eat it or else". I am now dealing with
the "or else". There are two young male lions, and a female tiger
"Milly" that absolutely will not eat the Hereford. There is
another female tiger "Zena" and a male tiger "Seiko" who do not
eat the meat and are terribly thin and have not received any kind
of medical attention. The owners Carol and Ron Asvestas claim not
to have the money to purchase other meat, which is not true, and
also claim that chicken is not nutritious and will not purchase
supplements to go with the chicken they could have purchased for
these starving animals. This week 07/28/02-08/1/02 "Milly" was not
fed at all. She is very thin and I offered to purchase this tiger
chicken out of my own personal money and I was instructed by Carol
Asvestas not to purchase meat for her. The young male lions Kovu
and Ifaw also no longer eat the Hereford meat and are also
dropping weight as well (see pictures of Kovu). Kovu was featured
in the "Big Cats in Crisis" special produced by National
Geographic that featured the South Dakota Rescue in which he was
included. You can see in that footage how he looked when he
arrived as opposed to how thin he now looks (see pictures).
8. Ron Asvestas has claimed to be working on the Talley Road property
on several occasions, but in fact had spent all day frequenting
some area bars with the company welder Mike Escamilla. I had
personally been instructed to go and retrieve him by Carol
Asvestas. Ron Asvestas frequently keeps supplies of beer (18 packs
for example) on the seven-acre facility. Ron Asvestas has sent
employees including myself and other community service workers to
purchase beer for him. Ron Asvestas and Mike Escamilla do drink
alcoholic beverages (beer) while on duty.
9. In June 2002 two of our staff members went to New York to pick up
a group of monkeys, which consisted of some Rhesus Macaques and
Vervets. The Wild Animal Orphanage took them, of course, with a
large sum of money. It was stated by Troy Duplichan that four or
five of them were at our other property on Talley Road when Mary
and Michelle Reininger sedated them. The caretakers left them
unattended while under sedation out in the heat and this small
group of Macaques died. The caretakers and Carol Asvestas are not
fond of Macaques and were not concerned about what had happened in
the least. However Carol and Ron Asvstas did collect the money for
these monkeys and failed to mention their death.
10. In June or July of 2002 there was an incident involving a capuchin
named Dooty. Mary and Michelle Reininger darted him with Ketamine,
for reasons unknown to me. During the darting process he was
apparently darted in the knee bone of his leg. The darting needle
became lodged in his bone and Carol Asvestas had to perform a
minor procedure, using a pair of pliers, to remove the needle as
stated by Carol Asvestas. No vet was notified to my knowledge.
11. We also currently have 4 lions, 2 tigers, black leopards, and
rhesus macaques that are a part of the group that died at Talley
Road, which are housed in our quarantine area in the small cages I
mentioned earlier. These animals do not have real enclosures to
get moved to nor are they building any either. These cages are
approximately 10x10 feet per section. The monkeys are housed in
squeeze back cages with nothing but a water source. One of the
lionesses back there recently had two cubs. Carol Asvestas was
supposed to have had them separated from the males since they are
not fixed. Carol Asvestas claims the lioness came in pregnant but
we all knew they were mating when they got to our facility and
have been there long enough to mate and go through the gestation
period. Carol Asvestas always speaks poorly about other facilities
for breeding these animals; these cubs were not the only births we
have had, the bears mentioned above have also had several babies
that the employees were urged to say nothing about. We are always
told to keep what we see to ourselves.
12. We also house many domestic cats that are not of any priority to
Carol and Ron Asvestas whatsoever. These cats are fed food
infested with weevils and other insects. they all have diarrhea
and many have respiratory problems and they do not receive any
medical attention that they would need to live healthy lives. She
does not neuter or spay them as she is supposed to and disregards
them all together. It is a very rare occasion any of these cats
get to a vet and even then it is to have them euthanized, at least
they don't have to suffer anymore. I do not take it well when an
animal has to die especially due to someone else's poor decisions
and selfishness. I have left work in tears on many occasions. It
is almost as if these animals are disposable. Carol's daughter's
dog just had surgery for breast cancer along with a hysterectomy,
which was charged to the company bill. This was over $1200 spent
for her daughter's dog while nothing gets spent on these other
sick animals. Carol Asvestas allegedly claims that it was money
spent on animals outside on the property, when in fact it was on
their pet.
13. There was an incident involving a sugar glider we had taken from
Island Wildlife Shelter in Washington. She was sent to us with
current vet records indicating her health was good and she had
been given good care. She, along with some other sugar gliders
were moved to a different cage as instructed by Carol Asvestas I
made mention of the fact that the sugar gliders would be able to
escape from the new cage, but was ignored as a common practice.
The sugar gliders did escape and several ended up being eaten by
loose domestic cats.
14. It is also alleged that Carol Asvestas, Mary and Michelle
Reininger often sedate animals using straight Ketamine. It was
suggested by Norma Lagutchik (staff/vet tech) that this was unsafe
for the animals, which would cause severe seizures after darting
and sedation.
15. The primates are fed dog food 6 days a week, monkey chow 1 day a
week and fruits and vegetables whenever they are donated to the
WAO, which is not on a constant basis. Dog food is not supposed to
be the main staple in a primate's diet.
16. Carol Asvestas claimed that our animals were thin and ill because
of the recent flooding here in San Antonio--she stated that the
floodwater is what made them ill. Anyone with common sense would
have to know that "healthy" tigers do not drop that much weight in
the span of a week. She even went out of her way to bring in all
of our local news stations for sympathy and to collect more money.
Carol Asvestas had recently said to me that she and Ron could
leave that place and not think twice about it. These owners have
no shame or remorse and should never have pursued this life of
work if they were not totally committed to the animals' needs
before their own.
17. On 07/27/2002 the WAO had taken in a miniature horse that had been
set up in a small pen behind the gate of the area that contained
our walk-in cooler. I was not aware we had taken in this animal
when I arrived at work that day. I was giving the horse some
apples when I noticed that he had a lot of construction debris
consisting of rusted nails and screws in his enclosure. I had
begun to pick them up when I realized they were everywhere and it
would be difficult to ensure they would all be disposed of for the
safety of this horse. It was at this point when I brought it to
Ron and Carol Asvestas' attention. Carol Asvestas proceeded to
angrily tell me it was my job to pick them up, ignoring the fact
that I was trying to explain that they were everywhere and there
was no way to ensure the horse's safety. When I suggested
temporarily moving the horse in the enclosure that housed a
miniature donkey (Cactus Jack), Carol Asvestas stated that Jack
would kill the miniature horse. Carol Asvestas was apparently
angry with me for bringing it to her attention to begin with and
then proceeded to give me a write-up because the nails I had
previously removed were left in a container outside of the horse's
pen despite the fact that I was pulled from that task to give a
tour of the facility, and was not able to continue cleaning where
I had left off.
18. Several USDA violations have gone unreported. Ron and Carol
Asvestas have lied about septic systems and/or implemented plans
which pertain to biohazardous waste disposal of infectious waste
from primates (infected with AIDS, HIV, Herpes B) containing
diseases that are transferable to humans and animals. Neglect of
animal health and welfare, food storage violations, and safety
hazards such as no sharps containers to dispose of used hypodermics.
19. The above stated information, with the exception of the incident
involving the miniature horse which occurred after I had spoken
with the following, was also brought to the attention of Amy
Rhodes with P.E.T.A., and Elizabeth Pannill of the U.S.D.A. When
I, Lilac Alfke, contacted Elizabeth Pannill of the USDA she made
mention of her own suspicions regarding Carol Asvestas, owner of
the Wild Animal Orphanage, practice of euthanizing healthy animals
in order to provide more space for incoming animals and new arrivals.
20. After Carol Asvestas testified in court in New Jersey (after
January 10, 2002), when she came back to Texas she stated in the
office, "I do not even want Joan's tigers."
21. The following information is in regard to Ron and Carol Asvestas'
alleged mismanagement of funds and/or tax fraud brought to the
attention of the IRS along with some evidence I was able to gather
by myself, Lilac Alfke.
22. I am a former employee (as of 8/06/2002) at what Carol Asvestas
describes as "one of the nation's largest" non-profit animal
sanctuaries, the Wild Animal Orphanage (9626 Leslie Rd., San
Antonio, Texas 78254). Our company has an annual operating expense
budget that is over $550,000.00 This is in addition to receiving
thousands of dollars daily in donations. I have been working there
for a year this July, most of my year was spent working in the
office as the secretary for Ron and Carol Asvestas (Director and
President/Treasurer and owners) of the Wild Animal Orphanage. Over
this period of time, I have become aware of repeated questionable
behavior that should be of concern to this agency.
23. The following is a list of their most blatant alleged violations.
24. Ron Asvestas had asked me and other employees to go to the local
Wal-Mart for the purpose of buying a shotgun for Ron and Carol
Asvestas' minor child, son Aaron Asvestas. He stated in the
office, "Carol could not purchase the gun because she was not a
citizen".
25. The owner's misuse of company money, consisting of grants and
donations, for personal usage. 05/2002, Ron Asvestas used company
money to purchase a swimming pool and deck materials for their
home. He also used their non-profit status to obtain these items
tax exempt. Materials were purchased on company credit cards
(Lowe's and others) and totaled well over $4000.00 on deck
materials alone.
26. Use of company money to pay for the labor of the above said deck.
Company cash and checks were used; Mike Lay was one of the
personal friends of Ron Asvestas that he paid with a company check
along with the Wild Animal Orphanage's own employees such as
Mitchell Mogford and Mike Escamilla Sr. (See photocopy).
27. Use of company money in the form of "petty cash" and/or "advance
on pay" to fund family vacations, which includes Canyon Lake house
rental, boat and Jet Ski rentals. This is the second time in my
year with the company that this has occurred.
28. Checks written in employee's names for us to cash for Ron and
Carol's personal use. A $550.00 check was written in my name to
cash for what Ron said was to be used for a meeting, but was later
turned over to Carol for personal shopping (see photocopy).
29. Company money spent on a daily basis for their breakfast, lunch,
cigarettes, beer and other expenses.
30. Purchase of personal vehicles for themselves and their children
placed in the company's name.
31. I have personally handed over cash made from company tour money
out of the register to their housekeeper, who is also a personal
friend of Ron and Carol Asvestas.
32. Misclassification of "contract labor". Mike Escamilla Sr., and
Troy Duplichan have been employed at the Wild Animal Orphanage for
over five years. They are paid hourly, given weekly schedules, and
are given verbal instruction on what their daily duties are to be.
In employee meetings Ron Asvestas has repeatedly made it a point
to declare them as contract labor and not employees of the
orphanage. He does not take taxes out of their income, but does
from his employees. These are just two of many employees, with the
same circumstances, who have been wrongfully classified.
33. Suspicion that checks written in employees' names that have been
cashed by the named employees, classified as "petty cash" and/or
"mail outs" are being added to our annual earnings. "Mail out"
checks typically start at $1500.00 and are cashed at least
monthly. I am not the only employee that felt that our W-2
earnings appeared excessive.
34. Use of his underage stun, Aaron Asvestas, as an employee to
collect additional paychecks (see photocopy).
35. Never mailed out W-2's or W-4's to former employees. Ron made the
former employees he could contact pick them up and disregarded the
rest.
36. Alleged likely falsification of records by company accountant,
John Savikas CPA. John had asked for any receipts he could apply
to the discrepancies in funds for the petty cash during the 2001
tax year.
37. Use of non-profit status to obtain personal items; deck, household
items and furniture, big screen TVs and vehicles, to obtain them
tax exempt.
38. The following information I brought to the attention of the Texas
state attorney John Cornyn as well as the as the above stated
information that was disclosed to the IRS.
39. Use of the court ordered community service workers for personal
tasks. They are often instructed to do things for Ron and Carol
Asvestas that do not tie in with the orphanage in exchange for hours.
40. Use of community service workers to help build the deck for Ron
and Carol Asvestas' personal swimming pool. Remodeling and repair
work on their personal house. Repairs made to their
personal/company vehicles and running personal errands.
41. Verbal abuse by owners Ron and Carol Asvestas to their employees.
Tactics used to force employees to quit. They often cut peoples
hours down to zero and state there is no work needed to be done in
anticipation that the employee will leave the company on their
own. I believe hostile confrontations are often staged in
anticipation of employee losing one's temper and quitting or
giving the owners justifiable reason to fire the employee.
42. Joe Fury was an employee at the WAO for several years. When I
first started working for the WAO in the office, I observed many
derogatory remarks made about this employee from both Ron and
Carol Asvestas. They were always devising ways to force him to
quit by conjuring up supposed infractions of the rules. It was
apparent after a brief period of time, that Ron and Carol were
indeed singling him out unjustly. I was working in the office the
day that Ron Asvestas baited Joe Fury into an argument ultimately
resulting in Joe Fury's loss of employment. I was requested by Ron
and Carol to write a statement on their behalf to submit to the
Texas Workforce Commission to aid in the refusal of unemployment
benefits. I did submit a statement detailing the events as they
had occurred, which before submitting to the Texas Workforce
Commission, Carol Asvestas took it upon herself with the aid of
Ron Asvestas to embellish my statement. Ron has continually
pursued the indirect harassment by means of giving bad/false
information to prospective employers who call for verification on
Joe Fury's applications. He deliberately seeks Joe out to cause
legal conflicts, which are of no concern to the WAO or Ron Asvestas.
43. Cindy Biela is another former employee as of Sunday, July 13, 2002
that has also been directly harassed prior to her being terminated
for a frivolous reason. She was the unfortunate recipient of
unjust treatment due to the false accusations made by the children
of Ron and Carol Asvestas and often chastised, which I have
witnessed personally, for no valid reasons by the owners as well.
I witnessed on several instances not only unjust treatment but
also tactics being implemented to force her to leave the company.
The owners seem to have singled her out after a relationship
developed between her and one of the companies' supposed contract
laborers. He terminated her on false information from his daughter
Nicole Asvestas, then incited an argument where he proceeded to
verbally abuse her and make false accusations in front of Carol
and Nicole Asvestas, who said nothing at the time, and a community
service worker that was also in the office but left after being
frightened by Ron's anger, and a media reporter. Cindy also is
concerned that Ron and Carol will unjustly dispute her
unemployment benefits as they did with Joe Fury and will also be
unable to obtain a decent reference from the owners of the WAO,
Ron and Carol Asvestas.
44. I, Lilac Alfke, am also concerned that I will be the next one
singled out. It has been brought to my attention that Ron Asvestas
has allegedly related information to another employee that he is
devising a plan to force termination tactics on myself. I have
also been the recipient of the verbal abuse, false accusations,
and countless unprofessional rumors incited by Ron Asvestas. I
have confronted him on several occasions, only to get denials and
excuses. I feel that due to my report to the IRS, which has a
direct effect on me personally, has endangered my job even more
so. I am still employed at the WAO but fear losing my job on a
daily basis, due to the fact that I am not looking blindly on
their illegal activities and am fully aware of the TWC due to the
big flood that caused me to lose a week's salary. It was stated in
anger by Carol Asvestas, "they are after my money", as if it was
coming out of her pocket. Carol Asvestas confronted me the day
before I quit, after an onslaught of harassment, and told me that
Cindy, whom I had confided in, told her that I was the one that
turned them in to the IRS. I did not admit or deny that
information, but I was aware that the harassment would only become
worse until they were able to falsify enough documents and
write-ups to be able to fire me for incompetence. Ron and Carol
Asvestas earlier that day had write-ups waiting for me when I had
arrived at work that morning. I spent over one hour disputing the
legitimacy of the write-ups they were trying to give me. My
co-worker/newly appointed supervisor Norma Lagutchik was present
during this confrontation. Carol Asvestas had my folder, that
previously had only about 5 or 6 documents in it, was now
mysteriously about an inch thick. When I asked to see these
documents in which Carol Asvestas claimed had been in my file for
months, she refused. When I requested copies of the paperwork in
my file Ron Asvestas became irate and stated that since they had
never spoken to me about these alleged violations they were not of
my concern. I had just a month prior to this confrontation seen my
file while I was gathering my evidence fort he IRS and know that
there were only the 5 or 6 documents i made mention of earlier.
The only document Carol Asvestas showed me was a picture of some
bad meat left in a wheelbarrow that usually gets disposed of by
community service workers to our dumpster. I remember the day I
threw the bad meat in the wheelbarrow and I am certain the picture
taken was not the wheelbarrow I had indeed loaded up. they
obviously spent a lot of time doctoring my file to make me appear
as an incompetent employee. I still have never seen these
documents or have any knowledge to what is contained in them.
45. In regard to the bad meat she intended to feed the animals, I
insisted the meat was too green, spoiled, smelly, inedible and
unwholesome. Carol Asvestas initially balked at my disposal of the
bad meat, stating that I should "pick off the bad parts of the
meat and feed them the rest." This was common practice.
46. Alleged suspicion involving Carol and Ron Asvestas influence of
employees, Mary Reininger and Michelle Reininger to perjure
themselves in a court of law and to the public.
47. Lies to the public about animal health and money issues.
48. Alleged collection of donation money on false pretenses, consumer
fraud (example: bear cage on website).
49. Ron Asvestas opened an account with Pitney Bowes for postage
equipment in my, Lilac Alfke's, name. He did this without my
consent or knowledge, informing me after the fact. Ron Asvestas
said he did this because he had "burned" Pitney Bowes before. I
have since called Pitney Bowes and informed them as well.
I, Lilac Alfke, on the 30th day of August 2002, to the best of my
knowledge, information and belief, do hereby certify that the foregoing
statements made by me are true.
[Signed]
Lilac Alfke
8/30/2002
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