Legal battle to survive

Dear supporters,

The topic of this second newsletter was not planned at all, in fact, despite all the problems we’ve had to overcome throughout the years to protect our rescues, I never thought I’d ever be writing anything of the kind nor facing such an alarming situation.

Last month, a representative of a “vulture fund” came knocking on our door to tell us that they had bulk-bought some properties in our building including the apartment we rent and that they were no longer interested in renting. They said we must leave the apartment vacant, threating us with forced eviction, making it clear they’d use all the power such big investors have in their hands to kick us out.

It was an indescribable shattering event that left us numb and out of breath; we couldn’t believe what was happening to us and it felt as if we had gone straight to hell. We spent a lot of days feeling lost and worried, not knowing what to do.

Having to face this event in our vulnerable state of mind and in addition to the difficult situation we were already going through, as I explained in my first newsletter, was too much to bear. But as often happens in life, when it rains, it pours!

During the following weeks, while we were still in shock and not sure of what decision to make, the same person accompanied now by two well-built thugs, came back a few times to threaten us again and again.

A real nightmare that feels surreal for people like Jackie and I whose only purpose in life is to help homeless animals and want nothing to do with violent acts or threats.

I can assure you that not feeling safe at home when one has the responsibility of protecting so many rescue animals in one’s care, is one of the most devastating feelings ever, one of the worst I’ve ever experienced in my life, something I cannot put into words.

Even though we don’t have enough financial means, in such threatening situation we had no option but to hire a lawyer for consultation, to legally represent us and defend our rights as tenants. In other words, we decided to fight against these “organized criminals”.

Our rescues, without a roof over their heads, will soon be dead so to protect them we will put up a fight until the end.

To state our case, we had to pay the lawyer an advance, so we had to use up the funds we had to cover Sanctuary expenses in the next few months (rent, utilities, vets, food, meds, litter, etc.).

We had to decide whether to pay someone who can legally represent us and help us avoid ending up on the streets or keeping the money we had to survive for a few more months. It was a no-brainer; we chose to fight for our rights.

On the streets, we won’t be able to survive nor keep on fighting to protect these poor innocent souls.

But now we are broke, and we can no longer buy food, meds, or litter, pay for electricity and water supply, nor vet care. Most importantly, we have no money to pay rent which is exactly what vulture fund people need to kick us out; failing to pay the rent will give them the power to have us legally evicted in no time.

And that’s why we were left with no other option but to reach out to you and to the world, and appeal to your generosity.

Without any help, how could two ordinary people like Jackie and I fight against these wealthy giant vulture funds?

In my humble opinion, this shattering event is not something that is randomly happening to us, but something greater than us, something that represents the eternal battle between good and evil; and that’s one more reason why we believe we should not let these people win.

Without your help, we’ll be completely out of food and meds for our rescues by next week and won’t be able to pay for rent either which means we’d be at their mercy and our lawyer won’t be able to do anything to defend us as they could have us legally evicted due to non-payment; in other words, it’d be the end of everything!

Today I’m here to ask you to support us during our legal battle against this great injustice by donating any amount so that we don’t lose our home and our rescues don’t end up on the streets again. Please help us!