WATCH: Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey Delivers Remarks About ‘Misleading Video’ Surfacing Online

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ABOVE VIDEO: It’s time for “Truth Be Told” regarding a misleading video that was released yesterday by Furever Home Animal Rescue. I hate to have to do stuff like this but when people wrongly attack our team I will always set the record straight, said Sheriff Wayne Ivey.

BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA – Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey took to social media to address a video about a ‘misleading video’ about the animal enforcement team and code enforcement.

Below is a transcription of the video the sheriff’s department released Monday night:

“I’m Sheriff Wayne Ivey of the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office. And tonight, I’m unfortunately having to do a live truth be told in response to a very misleading and untruthful video that was released yesterday by Forever Homes Animal Rescue.

Sadly, the video that was posted by a team member is littered with misleading information and several untruths as to why they are closing their doors.

Even worse, the video goes as far as to blame our animal enforcement team and code enforcement for making them shut down their rescue.

Folks, I hate having to do stuff like this, but as everyone knows, I’ll tolerate it a lot when it comes to someone talking smack about me because that comes with the job. But when you start wrongly blaming my team with untrue and misleading statements, that’s where I draw the line, and the truth must be told.

So while the video released yesterday by a team member on their Facebook page was designed to tug at the heartstrings of compassionate people within our community, what it didn’t do was tell the truth about their issues and why they are taking the action they are in closing their doors and going out of business.

For example, and to be clear, no one, including our team or code enforcement, has told them they have to shut down or even move out. They are not being evicted or harassed, and in fact, just the opposite.

Our team has been trying to help them, and even at times, defended them as we know their hearts are truly in trying to help homeless pets. Furthermore, their lease has not been terminated, and the only deadline given to them was by Titusville Code Enforcement, with a deadline of March fourth to avoid being cited.

Not closed down, not evicted, but cited for continued code violations. And trust me, there are a tremendous amount of code violations that are not only unhealthy for the staff and pets, but are unsafe on top of it with exposed electrical wires, strong ammonia smells, feces clogged drains, and even dead rats.

In our video, they suggest that this is all happening because someone wants the building and is doing all this to get them out of it. What a crock. Folks, in my opinion, they should have never been granted permission to use the facility in the first place, as it is in extremely poor and dangerous shape and was as far back as 2014 when we first took over animal control.

In fact, I personally closed the facility way back then because it was not safe for the animals, staff, volunteers, or potential adopters. At that time, it was infested with flees and ring worm among the many other structural concerns.

When the county approached me about leasing it to them, I shared my deep concerns about the facility and actually recommended it be condemned. Trust me when I tell you that no one wants that building. For them to suggest that or even imply it is just a blatant lie. The only reason they are facing any difficulty is for their gross negligence and failure to keep the animals in their care safe. As part of the lease agreement, they agreed to perform upkeep and repairs on the building and have done nothing of the sort.

In addition, the conditions the pets were being housed in were at times not only disgusting, but as of recent, the word that more closely applies, horrific.

Take a look at these photos taken by our team at different times from the point we start trying to help them until even as recent as of today. Dogs in small crates on nasty floors, multiple dogs in one crate, cats housed in storage rooms with cleaning supplies, rats alive and dead throughout the floors of the facility, and so on and so on.

Heck, just recently, a visitor to the facility found children there with no adult supervision and contacted law enforcement as a result. Let there be no doubt, our agency has received dozens and dozens of complaints and even photos concerning the conditions of care for the animals, complaints from past volunteers, potential adopters, and even vets who all shared their validated concerns with us about the health care and well-being of the pets in that facility.

As far back as two years ago, we continually got complaints about cleanliness, poor pet care, and even lack of heat in the building. Repeated complaints of parvo and other issues led me and our team to meet with their staff to see how we could help them, help them succeed, help them improve conditions in the facility, and even increased adoptions. We met in my office conference room, listened to their needs and mission, and worked to create a strategy for them to follow so they could be successful.

Unfortunately, the complaints have continued and are validated by visits to the facility by our animal enforcement team, and photo after photo has captured the exact conditions of the facility which had recently started to further deteriorate.

As the pictures you’ve been viewing clearly represent, they did not follow through on any of their commitments, and now they want to blame my team for their situation. Their failure to maintain the facility, and quite frankly, a quality standard of life for the pets in their care, are what led them to where they are. Not code enforcement, not animal enforcement, and certainly not politics or someone wanting a piece of crap building on them. That’s where the blame lays. Trust me when I tell you that we work with numerous rescues and adoption facilities, and none of them have had any issues of this sort because they all maintain a healthy standard of life for the pets in their facilities and their staff as well. My job is to protect pets. And even though they’re doing what’s in their hearts, the actions they were taken were putting pets and, quite frankly, their staff at risk. And they want to blame their issues on us. Shame on them and anyone else who actually bought into that crap that we were targeting a rescue for political reasons or because we wanted the old building back. Well, hopefully, this sheds some light on what is really happening.

And while there is no doubt that the staff and volunteers of Forever Homes Animal Rescue had their hearts in the right place, it doesn’t change the facts of the situation or make it any less hazardous inside the facility for the pets in their care.”

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