Flynn and his friends at the South Wairarapa Veterinary Services:

Update on Flynn, the horse with nine lives: 

Friends of Caring Communities (the FOCCers) own three horses in Carterton, Flynn is the eldest. He developed a tumour on his sheath a while ago, so of course I contacted the vet, who examined him.  Since arriving in the Wairarapa over eleven years ago I've used the services of South Wairarapa Veterinary Services, and always been impressed by their professionalism.  Peter Morriss examined Flynn, Peter upholds the impeccably high standards set by the great Rodger Gillett, who recently retired.  We established (Peter Morriss confirmed) that although the growth was unsightly, it wasn't causing him any immediate harm, any apparent pain, or any significant discomfort, and that he was in otherwise tip top condition and had a very good quality of life for the time being.  We were all aware that the growth was growing and that action had to be taken in the fairly near future but there was no need to euthanase the horse.  Peter invited his colleague who also specialises in equine surgery to give a second opinion, and after some deliberation it was decided that it was feasible to attempt to remove the tumour.

On 22nd November 2012 Jane, Peter and Emily successfully removed the tumour in a challenging two hour operation, with others observing for educational purposes.  A week and a half later Flynn's doing very well.

The FOCKCers received a lot of complaints recently about Flynn, and our other horses, who have been moved out of their paddocks by corrupt police, etc, many - if not most - of these complaints are false and malicious, this is the first of several posts about recent events.

I received several messages on my phone and an email from Val Ball of the local SPCA recently, Val Ball was instrumental in the removal of a very well cared for horse a few years ago which I was involved with, which was when I first became aware that the SPCA is involved (knowingly or unknowingly) in what amounts to organised thefts of animals.

Other people also received visits, phone calls and general harassment from these malicious parties, which included Emily Brown and various others.

Local Police have been moving the horses from the paddocks they were in in the last few days - Dulcie Routhan would be spinning in her grave if she knew about this outrageous corruption going on over her estate!  Dulcie Routhan cared about children and animals - not the feathering the nests of the likes of greedy lying bullies like George Smith and Emily Brown.
So here's the recent email I received, in red, and my response:

Dear Val Ball, 

Regarding your email of 12 November (in red):

1.  "Kate.  I am on my third concern today with regard to your horse in Belvadier road."  Please provide all information held by SPCA regarding me and my animals according to the Privacy Act, in particular, the total number of complaints you received about this matter.  Sorry to be a nuisance, but the police are now involved and this has got beyond a joke.

2.   "I understand that you have been talking with Peter Morriss about the horse. The horse is in good physical condition but cannot be left like it is.  Sadly it needs to be euthanized by humane methods. Peter has said that the horse is not in pain but has great discomfort and it sounds like it is getting worse."  Peter didn't say any such thing, and I think that he and the staff at the clinic are getting very tired of all this nonsense, it's harassment.

3.   "I went and observed it yesterday and while it was walking around and feeding it was unable to sit down and appeared to be limping  or holding its leg up as if to relieve the discomfort."  This is blatantly untrue, as witnessed by many people and considerable evidence.  Horses do not "sit down", and these claims are simply not true.  

4.  The SPCA will be prepared to assist in costs if this will help you. 

I have also received a concern from my head office so people are getting really concerned.  Val Ball  

Many, if not most of the complaints you received were malicious, people with genuine concerns contacted me on the number on the sign on the gate and were soon reassured.  Please provide contact details of your head office (email).  Your offer of assistance with costs is gratefully accepted.  (I notice SPCA had a collection the other day outside the supermarket.)  Flynn has had his operation and is doing very well now.  How much are you able to contribute to the costs?  Considering the benefit that Flynn and his two fellow Community Garden horses provide to the community, providing riding for the disabled, the bullied, the abused kids, the ones with funny lumps growing out of them, and big scars on their heads, etc, and all the other kids round here who think hanging out with horses is a better idea than going off and committing suicide or something.

Spending time with horses builds confidence, empathy, respect, relationship skills, communication skills, it's a great thing, and Flynn, Brutus and Patrick benefit the kids round here more than they benefit me, it's the kids you'll be helping.  We'd like to establish a fund to enable the SWVS to do other operations in the future that benefit the community (and the SPCA probably), Flynn's operation benefits the work of the SPCA, it really does.  The whole affair has been educational for a lot of people, it's good for kids to learn that just because you're old and you've got a lump doesn't mean you should automatically be thrown on the scrap heap.

If you could let me know as soon as possible it would be good for obvious reasons, I look forward to your response asap.  Also if you are able to assist with helping us to find grazing locally by advertising through your contacts and by writing to the Carterton District Council and formally asking them to allow us to graze some of the land they own, it's the least they can do after destroying our garden, paying their staff to 'perk' our sheds, etc, and making the same sort of malicious complaints about all sorts of things to anyone who will listen.  

You and I share a common intolerance of animal abuse and it would be good to work together in a more positive way in the future, we need support urgently, many of the complaints about Flynn were malicious, this sort of malicious spreading of misformation has cost me my employment, and it's time the SPCA wrote to the Carterton District Council about these matters - there is also the matter of Robert Miller refusing to tell police about the phone calls he received from Lenny Spowart - claiming he was "Mr White" after Spowart released the other horse onto the road for the second or third time.  Police refuse to charge him saying there's no evidence, there is.  It's the phone records, the call WILL be recorded and Robert Miller is obliged under the Privacy Act and the OIA to provide me with this information, all of it, and he is morally and ethicall and legally obliged to give it to police.  Robert Miller admitted he remembered it perfectly well in front of a witness when he came to speak to me recently after Spowart released the horse the last time! That Council sent us a bill for impounding fees is a further slap in the face!  They know perfectly well Spowart should be in Court for it!  Especially after the Council ROBBED us of $400 election deposits they fraudulently refused to return!  Not to mention all the money in the ten Community Centre bank accounts the Council members on the committee ripped off - thousands and thousands!

Then there's the matter of the horse I recently recovered from the property of an employee of the Carterton District Council, I was subject to an attack from a malicious (and drunken) member of the public just this morning regarding the state of its hooves, and had been concerned myself about the fact that it had been ridden from Waihakeke to Clareville in the hottest part of the day with hooves like that and as fat as it had been allowed to get.  I wonder what the SPCA would make of that?  We would be grateful for your assistance, and look forward to your response, thank you for your kind offer to assist with costs, and hoping you will assist with the letter to the Council as well.  

Katherine Raue

There was no response to this email, so I escalated the inquiries and contacted SPCA Head Offices having found their contact details myself, and today I received the following response to that:

"Hi Katherine,

Thank you for contacting RNZSPCA about this matter. Could you please call me or alternatively send me a contact number so I can call you to discuss this further.

Regards,

Lloyd Warren, Regional Manager (Central) Inspectorate and Centre Support"

I advised Mr Warren that because of the blatant lies told by Val Ball I preferred all further communication be in writing, whereupon I received a request for all emails from Val Ball - the onus is on VAL BALL to provide this information according to the Privacy Act NOT me!  In due course I then received this arrogant and dismissive response, which totally ignores the main part of my email:
Hi Katherine,

When an SPCA takes receipt of an animal welfare concern they are duty bound to investigate the matter. SPCA make every effort to obtain the concerned callers name and contact number however for a variety of reasons a large percentage of callers remain anonymous. SPCA endeavour to investigate any animal welfare concern received.

Once an animal welfare complaint has been received it is common for the officer in charge (Animal Welfare Inspector) to contact relevant organisations (Council, Police, veterinary clinics, etc) to attempt to gather additional information which may assist the Inspector in the investigation of the complaint. The Inspector would in most cases visit a property or land to inspect an animal.

Please note that in accordance with the Animal Welfare Act 1999 an SPCA Animal Welfare Inspector (section 124(2)) has the power to enter, without warrant, any land for the purposes of inspecting any animal/s (section 127(1)).

I have spoken with Val Ball and the vet who operated on your horse and I am satisfied that the horse is in satisfactory condition, however please be advised that an SPCA Inspector may from time to time visit the horse.

Regards,

Lloyd Warren
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That's why I've requested ALL INFORMATION from her - she lied about the horse the vet operated on.  The vet operated on the horse "for free" as you put it, partly because many people in the community are aware of a malicious campaign against me and my horses - OUR horses - the COMMUNITY GARDENS horses - a nasty malicious campaign of opposition against our (FOCKCers - Friends of Caring Kiwi Communities) work in the community with local kids, suicide prevention, preventing bullying, etc.  The operation obviously wasn't "free" for the vets to perform was it - it used drugs for one thing and they cost money, it took two hours or so of senior vet's time, and after all the trouble Val Ball has caused and the statements made by Val Ball you need to indeed honour Val Ball's statement that SPCA would assist with "costs" because as I say, it all cost money and SPCA can make a reasonable donation to the vets to cover the "costs" of the medication, the "costs" to the clinic of having two senior vets occupied on other business all that time, travel costs, etc.  The SPCA's hysterical fabrication of a situation that didn't exist because the horse was never in pain or suffering, or anything other than mild discomfort, caused a considerable amount of EXTRA expense for the SWVS - having to examine the horse repeatedly and answer the phone repeatedly, write reports, etc, etc.

Val Ball lied about the horse Flynn when she said "Peter has said that the horse" . . . "has great discomfort and it sounds like it is getting worse." and "it was unable to sit down and appeared to be limping  or holding its leg up as if to relieve the discomfort."  She repeatedly insisted it needed euthanasing immediately and made other such untrue allegations about what the vet said in the messages she left on my phone.  It certainly appears she's involved in lying to the police about this horse and others and I would appreciate you providing me with ALL INFORMATION YOUR ORGANISATION HOLDS ABOUT ME IMMEDIATELY - ALL NOTES REGARDING PHONE MESSAGES, ALL INFORMATION - EVERYTHING ON YOUR FILES PLEASE.

She said she'd assist with costs and you should do so immediately and cease trying to make excuses for this appalling behaviour and trying to make excuses to avoid the commitment to assist with costs - why should the vets bear all the cost of it - and me email also referred to SPCA assisting us with requests for assistance from the local Council, etc - why are you ignoring the substance of my emails and just trying to fob me off with these pathetic excuses?

We've had bills for impounding our horse from the Council after a deluded criminal released one of them onto the main road repeatedly - this individual, Lenny Spowart, rang the Council animal control officer,Robert Miller, and told him that his name was Mr White (a deluded lie) and the horse wasn't allowed in the paddock (of course it was).- Miller refused to tell police about the phone call and provide them with information regarding the date and time of the call so they can get on with establishing it came from Spowart's phone and get on with charging him for putting the horse on the road.
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- Regarding your final comment about SPCA visiting my horse in the future - you are warned that what you are doing is illegal - it is HARASSMENT - it is ABUSE OF STATUTORY POWERS and it it unnecessary, I have had these horses for over twenty years, and other horses, there has never been any animal welfare issues and there are literally hundreds of witnesses - credible, well qualified and experienced witness to attest to that.  Furthermore, I am a MAF Animal Welfare Manager, and was previously employed in that capacity at MAF's Silverstream Isolation Unit and at the National Centre for Disease Investigation - who sold three horses to the meat works in Masterton, which were infected with an unwanted organism which has the potential to cause international trade disruption" according to MAF (against my advice of course).  Further "visits" will be viewed as criminal harassment and will not be tolerated - if you or Val Ball or any other SPCA "officer" has concerns about animals you need to PHOTOGRAPH or preferably make a VIDEO RECORDING of it and you know perfectly well that wasn't done because Val Ball was LYING about the horse "not being able to sit down" and "limping" etc - not to mention what she alleged the vet had said!  A large number of qualified and experienced race horse trainers, vets, huntsmen, etc, all know and will bear witness to the fact that there have NEVER been any animal welfare issues regarding my animals and that Val Ball and her cohorts have a history of making false allegations and failing to produce any EVIDENCE of their lies - where are the photos of Clementina Hall's horse???  Your response is arrogant in the extreme and will be posted on the internet for all to see where their donations are going.  We would be glad if you would "assist with costs" asap because the FOCKCers support the community work that the South Wairarapa Vet's do to educate and enrich the lives of the local children and animals, and your assistance will enable them to do other operations like this in future, that will benefit the whole community.  I have lost grazing to several paddocks thanks to Val Ball's lies and would appreciate it if you and her and the lot of you KEEP WELL AWAY from my horses - they do NOT require your ill informed and outright dishonest and malicious harassment.