Johnny, Walter, Zach and Chance's Story PART TWO
Sending dogs to someone with prior animal cruelty charges, soliciting donations and denying any responsibility
If this story does not make you fear for the safety of every dog Humans and Animals United “rescues” than nothing will. You’ve seen signficant proof of HAAU’s involvement with arranging the adoption of Johnny, Walter, Zach and Chance. The following is what this rescue has tried to bury from coming to light.
A well respected transporter was called upon by Broward County Animal Control in October, 2022, to transport four dogs all the way to Detroit, Michigan. We’ll refer to this transporter as “Michael” as he wishes for his identity to remain confidential. Michael was informed by his shelter contact at Broward AC, Emily Wood, that the rescue who coordinated the transport and adoption of this out of state adoption for Amy Bongiorno was Humans and Animals United. Michael was tasked with transporting these four dogs from Miami to Detroit and what followed is incredibly disturbing. By his and other’s account, HAAU solicted pledges for these dogs – something we’ve shown proof of. The exact amount is unknown, however, estimates based on available records show in excess of 7K. When things went terribly wrong, Humans and Animals United attempted to deny, deflect and absolve themselves from any and all wrong doing. Here’s what happened to four innocent dogs that didn’t deserve any of this.
When Michael arrived at the adopter’s home he was horrified with what he saw. The property was in shambles and the inside was in even worse condition than the outside. It was filthy, in major disrepair and certainly did not appear to be anywhere near the “good home” that Rosa Fond claims her rescue places their dogs in. By Michael’s account, there were seven (7)dogs in crates inside.
Michael simply could not in good conscience leave the dogs there so he called his contact at Broward and explained the situation, describing the deplorable conditions of the property and sent pictures and a video of the inside of the home. Once the shelter saw the pictures and video, they quickly agreed that he should not leave the dogs there and gave him the go-ahead to leave with all four dogs.
Besides being a transporter, Michael was also a licensed rescue, so Broward County Animal Control arranged for the dogs to be transferred to Michael’s rescue.
Michael assumed responsibility for all four dogs and was able to get three dogs to safety, transfering them to other rescues, but sadly one (Johnny) was euthanized due to a bite incident. The other three were eventually adopted out to good homes – all due to Michael’s efforts.
Fast forward to the news of this botched adoption getting out – Rosa Fond denied any knowledge of this adoption despite Michael having irrefutable proof that Rosa and her rescue were 100% behind it and had arranged for Amy to adopt all dogs. Afterall, he was the transporter. He was privvy to the health certificates. He knew precisely which rescue was involved from the beginning and it was unequivicably Rosa Fond and Humans and Animals United.
Enter Barbara Ranberg Smith AKA”Barbara Queenbee” – adoption coordinator for Humans and Animals United. She dutifully took the blame claiming that she was the one who coordinated this fiasco of a rescue, a claim that is dubious at best. As much as Barbara was willing to fall on her sword for her bestest friend in the world, Rosa Fond, the ultimate bearer of responsibility is Rosa Fond. Rosa played the ingnorance card and allowed Barbara to take the blame as this appears to be the relationship dynamic between the two.
Shouldn’t the owner of the rescue (Rosa Fond) know what adoptions are taking place within her organization? Shouldn’t Rosa have known that Barbara had placed these dogs in this house with someone who it turns out has a criminal history of animal cruelty? How did Amy Bongiorno pass a home check? How could Rosa Fond be so asleep at the wheel of her own rescue? According to Rosa, she had no knowledge of this adoption and according to Barbara, she acted as a lone wolf. Are you buying this? We aren’t. Rosa sure knew about things when she was pushing for pledges and donations for these dogs, as you will see.
If you are concerned at all with where the dogs that Rosa Fond pulls end up, this should send chills down your spine. The odds of all four of these dogs going on to live a happy life had they been left with this adopter, a convicted animal abuser, was slim to none considering that Amy went on to be charged with numerous animal abuse charges, includind “Torturing/Killing” dogs and “Cruelty/Abandonment of ten or more dogs”.
Rosa Fond has a very well deserved reputation for not doing much if any due diligence on the people she sends dogs to and playing very fast and loose with their safety. This was the reason she was banned from Miami Dade Animal Services and Palm Beach Animal Services for a while but sadly was reinstated when there was a change in management.
Here are messages that Michael sent a concerned advocate. He has no reason to lie about any of this, however, Rosa Fond certainly does.
This transporter/rescue has absolutely no reason to lie about the events that took place regarding Johnny, Chance, Walter and Zach. He simply could not in good conscience leave them in such deplorable conditions.
Michael recently saw a post on social media tagging Humans and Animals United to help a shelter dog and made this comment:
Michael’s concern for these dogs is the only thing that saved them. He drove around for several days with all four dogs trying to work out a plan for them all. In the end, Michael was able to transfer Zach, Walter and Chance to other rescues who stepped in to clean up HAAU’s mess but sadly, Johnny was reported to have bitten someone and was humanely euthanized.
We can’t help but wonder if the circumstances of this nightmare “adoption” were different and Johnny was not placed in such a stressful situation in a car full of dogs, thousands of miles from where he started from, would he still be alive today? We think he would be. The thousands of dollars HAAU made off of his life, as if he was nothing but a mere pawn to be used to pad their personal bank account with, is utterly reprehensible and sadly, just another day at the office for Rosa and Anthony Fond.
We shudder to think of all the cases that fly under the rardar and all of the hundreds upon hundreds of dogs that are unaccounted for to this day.