Kimi Peck hides her, what many people believe, hoarding addiction behind websites that paint a picture of a wonderful rescuer with a beautiful ‘sanctuary’. Here’s another victim duped by Ms. Peck’s websites and lies.
Women spar over puppies Story Updated: Nov 12, 2009 at 12:20 PM PST By Carol Ferguson, Eyewitness News Video BEAR VALLEY SPRINGS, Calif. — An angry woman wants two puppies back from the animal rescue run by Kimi Peck. Julie Feiner went to Peck’s facility near Bear Valley Springs this week, but Peck called police and refused to give up the dogs. Feiner said she turned over the tiny puppies to a Chihuahua rescue volunteer this spring. She said the agreement was the rescue would let the puppies nurse with a mother dog, and she could have them back when they were weaned. Feiner said the rescue went back on that agreement. Peck said she didn’t know about this agreement. Feiner said she tried repeatedly to call the volunteer. At first, the volunteer said the puppies were fine, then when Feiner wanted them back, her calls were not returned. She eventually got a call through to Peck. But she couldn’t get the dogs back, so she went to the rescue. When Feiner got there Tuesday morning, several young workers were outside the house and warehouse on Bear Valley Road. They were waiting for Peck to return and unlock the doors. One girl reached another worker by phone, and they apparently forwarded a message to Peck, who then called police. Peck came back to the house, along with an officer from the Stallion Springs Police Department and Kern County Sheriff’s Department. The officers got statements from Feiner but said the situation was a "civil matter." Feiner insisted she had an agreement to get the puppies back, when she took them to a shopping center in Santa Clarita and handed them over to the volunteer. "I gave her two puppies from a litter that my mom had," Feiner said. "Under the agreement, I gave her $200 so that they could nurse off a lactating female dog." Feiner said she’d call the volunteer every couple weeks and got details about the puppy and the foster mother dog. After a couple months, she thought it was time to get the puppies back, but the volunteer stopped returning her calls. Then she got a call through to Peck. "She said, ‘If you give me $3,000, you can have the puppies, if you give me $3,000,’" Feiner said. When Peck returned to the rescue facility with the officers, she refused to talk to Feiner and insisted she leave the property. Asked if she would return the puppies, Peck said no. "It’ll be a cold day in hell before I turn over two healthy, innocent puppies to somebody who killed the mother," Peck said. "It’s not going to happen." Feiner said it was her 73-year-old mother whose 9-year-old Chihuahua had the litter this spring, and it died soon after the puppies were born. Feiner called her mother an "irresponsible" pet owner, and that’s why she removed the two surviving puppies. Feiner said she asked the volunteer to call her elderly mother and "lecture" her about the situation. But, Peck doesn’t believe that. "We get all sorts of stories, we never get the truth from these people," she said. She called Feiner a "stalker" because she continually tried to call the rescue volunteer. Eyewitness News called the volunteer to ask about the number of contacts by Feiner, but there’s been no response by the volunteer so far. Peck brought out the tiny, gray Chihuahua puppies after she made Feiner leave the property. Peck said she personally bottle-fed the tiny puppies for weeks. Feiner wonders about the nursing mother dog she was promised. Peck said the dogs needed medical care, and she provided that, too. And, did Peck at one point say Feiner could get the dogs back, if she paid the vet bill? "I was making a point," Peck told Eyewitness News. "It was rhetorical." Feiner had looked around the house and warehouse at the rescue, and she was not satisfied with what she saw. "All I see are empty bowls down there," she said, pointing to the warehouse. "I don’t see any water bowls." The girls who had arrived to work at the facility defended the conditions at the rescue, saying the dogs were well cared for and insisting some animals had been taken to the Los Angeles area to be adopted out. Feiner said she had given the puppies to Chihuahua Rescue, impressed by its Web site. But, she’s seen more reports on Web sites that worry her. "I did all this research about her," Feiner said. "Horrific facilities, and what she puts them all through." Peck countered that those reports are lies. Peck did have her rescue facility with nearly 200 dogs in a large home in Tehachapi for a couple years, until Kern County Supervisors ordered her to move from that site or get a permit. They ruled the operation violated zoning laws in that location. That was February. By June, Peck had moved herself and the dogs into the property on Bear Valley Road. It’s the same home where accused animal hoarder Cynthia Gudger was found with dozens of animals in filthy conditions in July 2008. Peck said an adoptive home has been lined up for the chihuahua puppies. "The dogs have a wonderful home already," Peck said. "They’re just waiting to be spayed and neutered. When my vet says they’re big enough, then that will be done." But, Feiner doesn’t believe that. She’s convinced Peck will keep the puppies. Feiner said she’s looking for an attorney who can help her get the puppies back.