KIMI PECK YET AGAIN STIRS UP DRAMA, OPERATES AN ILLEGAL KENNEL, AND HARASSES AND STALKS HER NEIGHBORS

People shocked that 60 year old Kimi Peck is yet again causing problems in her neighborhood? Many wish this old lady would just retire from ‘rescuing’. It’s like a broken record…’rescuer’ Kimi Peck is charged with operating an illegal kennel again. Instead of taking responsibility for her wrong doings and making them right, she’s focused her attention and her negative energy on stalking and harassing her innocent Tehachapi neighbors. The same neighbors who have to deal with hundreds of dogs barking day and night – dogs yelping – disgusting smells – the list goes on. In addition, instead of Kimi Peck taking responsibilty for her own negligence, Ms. Peck is doing what she does best. Blaming others and claiming that she is innocent and that all of this has to do with the conspiracy that has followed her since 1997. Hoardingchihuahuas says ‘KIMI PECK…GET HELP…’

GET HELP! GET HELP! GET HELP! Kimi Peck is also blaming Kern County officials. Yes, Kimi Peck has been operating an illegal kennel since she moved to Tehachapi back in 2005 after legally being shut down in Burbank, and lying to Kern County officials claiming she is no longer a rescuer… WHEN KIMI PECK NO LONGER DOES RESCUE AND STOPS COLLECTING MONEY FOR AN ILLEGAL KENNEL-THIS WEBSITE WILL BE TAKEN DOWN! HOWEVER, AS LONG AS KIMI PECK IS A NON-PROFIT 501C3 ANIMAL RESCUER WHO HAS HUNDREDS OF ANIMALS AND NOT ENOUGH RESOURCES…THIS WEBSITE WILL STAY UP…

First Hand Accounts Regarding KIMI PECK’S ILLEGAL ‘Sanctuary’…Why do they allow this Elderly Woman to keep animals in INHUMANE

E-mail this site received: i went there about maybe 6 months ago or so and it was ridiculous. i would say she had more than 250 dogs both inside and outside her house, some chickens mixed in with the dogs, 5 or 6 billy goats confined in a barn, and at least 10 cats confined to a basement room, and i remember a litter of kittens out on a balcony… yeah.. a balcony. upon walking up to her house not only was the stench of feces and dirty conditions unbearable, but the noise as well. the dogs outside were large breeds, like pyraneses and pitbulls, and they were all in kennels a lot of the time maybe 5 dogs in one about 6 x 10 ft in size. that’s an alright size, but not for living in! there were a couple bigger ones, but mostly that size. some large dog breeds i saw confined repeatedly in crates not big enough to turn around in. one visit i saw a pyranese, full grown, stuck in the crate. he couldnt stand up all the way and had a raw spot on his back where the crate was rubbing him. some of the bigger dogs were sweet, but most were very skittish and fearful. i was even bitten by a few but nothing more than fearful nips. the "workers" there would powerwash the cement but the drainage system wasnt particularily good so the dirty water didn’t drain well. there were simply too many dogs that they couldn’t be kept cleaned up after so many were left standing in their own feces. they had dirty water if any and kibble was left out in the weather to be rained on and then fed to the dogs. all of the dogs, and i mean all, were dirty and some had very apparant medical problems ranging from skin issues to ear problems to eye problems. and then comes the inside. that was a terrible mess. i was speechless when i went inside. you open the door and immediately you are inundated with dogs biting at your feet and legs. these are small ones, mostly chihuahuas. they are in terrible condition, much worse than the outside dogs. you walk inside and they come out from everywhere, i was bitten in the back when i backed up against a bookshelf. all of them are terribly fearful and they surround you like pirannas. the smell is indescribable. there is no way that she can adequately feed and water those dogs, let alone clean up after them every day, or even every other day. your eyes burn with the acidity of urine. baby gates have been put up but fall out of the walls from what i believe to be urine soaked. she has spider webs all over the house. most of the dogs inside are running free but she does have crates with dogs on tables. unfortuatly i found two dogs mating in one crate together one time. on one of her balconies there are some chickens randomly mixed in. most of the dogs are missing hair and some missing eyes. they are malnourished to the extreme. she claims she gets all the misfits and they have a great life now. the woman doesn’t have any furniture for her in the house and there is no more carpet, which no doubt has been torn up by the dogs. further down, all the while trying to get through a bunch of dogs, the basement holds a few, maybe 10, cats, most hissing and hididng when your too close. they have one small window in the basement for the cats. I cannot tell you how devasted i was when i first went into this house. i cried and cried but now i am angry. this is animal cruelty to the extreme,

This was on the Tehachapi news website blog: "My daughter worked for peck for two weeks and she will tell you just how bad the conditions inside that house is………..She would have to wear knee hi rubber boots and she would still come home covered in dog shit because all the dogs would have to walk through all the shit and piss until some got around to clean it up………….With that many dogs in the house there was a lot of dog crap and dog pee that was trampled all over the place for hours and according to my kid sometimes for days………Some dogs lived in kennels and were so mean that they NEVER had their cage cleaned out for the entire two weeks that my kid worked there. Upstairs is a room full of cats and my kid said that no one but here ever changed the water dish or cleaned out the litter box that was always nasty and over flowing …………The first day my kid opened up the door to the cats she couldn’t believe how bad the conditions were in that room.It had been many days since some one had cared for these cats………..In the Garage she kept some pit bulls that never got any attention……………….My kid was never allowed down stars because she was told that the dogs down stairs were to vicious and dangerous…….My daughter was told that down stairs was nothing more then cages upon cages stacked upon each other……..each cage contained a dog ………….Nome of these dogs ever saw day light and all were confined like criminals…………It’s important to note that at the time my kid worked there kimi was notified that an expection from the county was coming and that was why kimi hired EXTRA workers to clean up the place of all the neglected dog poop and piss that usually sits for days before some one picks it up………My kid is working now at a new job but if you would like ill ask her to blog a little about the horrid conditions inside that dogie hell hole………….kimi Peck is a crazy old nut job that is not only harming the aminals that the county doesn’t have room for or care about but is also infringing on here neighbors fights………crazy kimi most go.

UC DAVIS PROGRAM SLAMS KERN COUNTY ANIMAL CONTROL

Article by the one and only, JAMES BURGER, BAKERSFIELD CALIFORNIAN…

UC Davis program slams Kern animal control BY JAMES BURGER, Californian staff writer e-mail:jburger@bakersfield.com | Wednesday, May 21 2008 5:40 PM Kern County’s animal shelter is critically underfunded, disorganized and incapable of humanely dealing with the growing number of animals coming into its kennels. The result is illness, suffering and death, according to a report developed during "informal animal consultations" done in 2007 by the UC Davis Koret Shelter Medicine Program. Animal Control officials have not previously made the report public. "We only got it three or four weeks ago," said David Price, director of the county’s Resource Management Agency, which oversees county Animal Control. Animal Control Chief Denise Haynes said the county received the report on April 8. Price has not yet read the report, which was requested by county staff, he said. "We asked for this because this is part of the process that is going to help us improve," he said. The Californian obtained a copy of the document on Wednesday from Marilyn Stewart, of ALPHA Canine Sanctuary in Bakersfield. Stewart said the most dramatic section of the report relates to the treatment of feral cats in the shelter. The report states that feral cats are stacked in cages in inadequate space. The cats are carried into the cages dangling by the neck from catch poles. On two occasions, the report said, the whole population of the feral cat room has been killed to avoid the epidemic spread of "horrible" infections caused by the cramped treatment of the animals. Stewart said the situation has been exposed to Hayes by repeated staff and veterinary reports made since 2005. She has asked, in a letter to the Kern County Board of Supervisors, for Haynes to be removed from her position. "Anyone that can condone this for that length of time doesn’t belong there," she said. Haynes said she and her staff have been struggling to deal with the feral cat issue — fixing it in small steps over time. The shelter has many issues that need work, she said. "We can’t fix everything at the same time. We can only put brain power into a few things," Haynes said. "It was not as if we were being callous. It was ‘How do we fit this into my fix it pile.’" Aside from that cruel treatment, Stewart said much of the problems at the shelter are not the fault of shelter staff. "There is a lot in there that is disturbing due to animal overpopulation," Stewart said. In general, the report states that the shelter is dramatically underfunded, staff remain overwhelmed and under-trained and systems and procedures need a number of significant improvements. It also says dramatic levels of animal intake — indicating an animal overpopulation problem in Kern County — are a major factor in the shelter’s problems. "Although many staff members were clearly dedicated and caring, and in some cases were exerting heroic efforts to provide for the animals in the shelter, it was evident that the capacity of programs, staff and facility was exceeded in almost every area of animal housing and care. The result was a breakdown in care leading to illness, animal suffering and likely unnecessarily high levels of euthanasia and death," the report states in its overview. Price said the report confirms the pervasive truth about animal control problems — there isn’t enough money to run the department. "It’s a resource issue," he said. "It always has been." Chances are that even the report won’t change that. The report becomes public just as Kern County Supervisors, facing a $47.7 million shortfall in their 2008-2009 budget, have publicly rejected the idea of spending more money on shelter programs. Their reasoning: People are more important than animals. It also comes as the Kern County Animal Control Commission makes a final recommendation as to how supervisors should address animal overpopulation with new programs — and funding.

THE MEDIA IN BAKERSFIELD…WHO UNDERSTANDS AND WHO DOESN’T? TEHACHAPI NEWS? THEY JUST DON’T GET IT!!!!!

Some reporters understand legitimate animal rescue…Kiyoshi Tomono, James Burger…You read and see their pieces on animal rescue organizations in Kern and Bakersfield, and you can tell these two top notch reporters UNDERSTAND. Kimi Peck has a VERY VERY LONG HISTORY OF NEGLECT (unsanitary conditions, NO records, not enough space, operating illegal kennels, etc.)…she’s been legally forced to shut down every single ‘sanctuary’ she’s operated since 1997. Then there are the reporters like Tina Forde from Tehachapi news.

Tehachapi news reporter,Tina Forde, has just written an article that makes Kimi Peck look like a saint. Kimi Peck a saint? That’s what Kimi Peck wants people to believe and obviously, Ms. Forde fell for it. Ms. Forde mentions NOTHING about the fact that Kimi Peck has been operating an illegal kennel since 2005 in Tehachapi. That Ms. Peck has been lying to Kern County officials from Day ONE. Ms. Forde said very little about 23 of the neighbors SERIOUS complaints – it’s very obvious in the letter they sent. Ms. Forde says nothing about Ms. Peck’s history that can be confirmed on Los Angeles’ Court website: Ms. Peck has been legally forced to close ‘sanctuaries’ in 1997, 1999, 2001, TWO in 2002, 2005 and now this. Reputable rescuers, Ms. Forde, are able to stay in one location for YEARS. She mentions nothing about Ms. Peck’s many charges and convictions stemming from her rescuing efforts. She doesn’t even mention that Ms. Peck is on Los Angeles Do Not Adopt List (this, too, can be verified). Ms. Forde says nothing about the fact that Ms. Peck does not have the proper resources to take care of so many animals. Also, people who see Ms. Peck’s animals see them under her condition. Everybody gives her ample notice before an inspection and this gives her time to ‘get ready’. Even news reporters – sometimes they get in – most of the times they don’t. She uses all kinds of excuses not to let them in. When she lets them in, they only see one part of the house. When the one reporter from Bakersfield paper was able to see the whole house, you better believe many animals were ‘missing’. Anyway, Ms. Forde wrote a one sided article and obviously wrote exactly what Kimi Peck wanted her to say. That’s it. We highly recommend that Ms. Forde do her research on animal hoarding, especially considering she’s writing for a paper that is in an area where there are MANY of them. Maybe Ms. Forde believes Ms. Peck’s theory of being a victim of a conspiracy… *MARCH 10, 2009 – UPDATE: Tehachapi News has filed another article re: Peck, this time giving the other side of this story (sort of). Though we were told Ms. Forde misquoted Dr. Steve Benedict. In addition, after reading the article, it appears that Ms. Forde missed other important issues regarding Ms. Peck’s closures in Burbank. In any event, hoardingchihuahuas will continue to follow this story because we care about the animals…

ANIMAL HOARDER KIMI PECK’S HISTORY OF OPERATING ILLEGAL KENNELS AND LYING…

Kimi Peck convicted of operating illegal kennels in 1997 and 1999. In 2001, Kimi Peck’s landlord filed eviction papers and she therefore was forced to close that ‘sanctuary’. In 2002, TWO separate landlords legally forced Kimi Peck to close ‘sanctuaries’ she was operating ILLEGALLY out of the homes she was renting. In 2005, Kimi Peck was legally forced to close her Burbank Sanctuary…NOW IN 2009, KIMI PECK, AGAIN, is being accused of operating a kennel without the proper permits and is forced to apply for such permits. THIS WOMAN’S HISTORY SPEAKS FOR ITSELF. PLUS, she’s being fined 5,000 for being a nuisance! Ms. Peck’s history? LYING. She lied profusely during her hearing yesterday. One of the lies? Who exactly told her she was allowed to operate a ‘kennel’ without acquiring a kennel permit. Last week, Kimi Peck told NBC that Animal Control told her she could have that many animals without a permit. Yesterday, however, she blamed her real estate agent. We’ll be posting the minutes for the hearing shortly.

KIMI PECK ORDERED TO PAY A $5,000 FINE AND GET A KENNEL PERMIT

Animal rescuer fined, ordered to get permit BY JAMES BURGER, Californian staff writer jburger@bakersfield.com | Tuesday, Mar 3 2009 6:22 PM Last Updated: Tuesday, Mar 3 2009 6:22 PM Animal rescuer Kimi Peck lost her case before the Kern County Board of Supervisors Tuesday. Supervisors declared Peck’s violating county zoning law for keeping more than 170 dogs in a home in the hills south of Tehachapi.They fined Peck $5,000, but said they would delay an additional $500-a-day fine for more than 30 days if Peck agrees to start the process of getting a permit for her facility.A tearful Peck agreed to make the effort to obtain a conditional use permit. But after the hearing she said she would put the animals down Wednesday.Supporters and opponents of Peck flung insults at each other as they exited the supervisors’ chambers.County Code Enforcement boss Chuck Lackey said Peck’s property is a kennel or animal shelter and is in violation Kern County zoning ordinances.Peck argued that her property is not a kennel and therefore does not violate zoning laws.“We looked for a place where 200 dogs could live out their lives,” she said. “I made every effort I could to keep it quiet.”But county attorney Bruce Divelbiss said Peck did not fully address the definition of an animal shelter."I believe it definitely fits animal shelter," said Supervisor Don Maben.He called for Peck to get a conditional use permit to allow her to come in compliance with the law.“Asking me to get a CUP is a ploy to get me, to get Kimi Peck out of Kern County,” Peck said. Her neighbors would oppose the approval of the conditional use permit.Maben said there would have to be compromises, but the process could end up with Peck’s home becoming a legal animal shelter.Supporters and detractors of Peck argued both sides of the issue before the board.“She has made a very unfortunate and gross misjudgment about where to put her shelter,” said nearby homeowner Steve Benedict.He argued fines won’t change Peck’s ways.Peck friend and supporter Janet Wingfield said Peck’s rescue groups are not adopting animals out of the Tehachapi home.Lackey pointed out a photo of the Tehachapi home is the main art element of the rescues’ Web site and that dogs offered for adoption on the site seem to be sitting in front of a fence on the property.