Have you donated to the 'House of Horrors'? - The Déise Animal Sanctuary scandal
When asked about this photo that was captured by the ISPCA, Pat Edwards said: "There's no way. No way would a cat have that on there with us. There’s no way would my cats be left like that not in a million years." Current manager, Pauline Doyle was sceptical that the photo was related to Déise Animal Sanctuary at all. Photo: ISPCA
Over €10,000 has to date been crowdfunded in support of the woman behind what Clonmel District Court judge Brian O’Shea described as a ‘House of Horrors’.
Ms Pat Edwards of Déise Animal Sanctuary made national news headlines last week, following her guilty plea and eight-month prison sentence for multiple animal abuses, which took place at the local sanctuary.
The Waterford News & Star has spoken with various parties involved in the case, including Ms Edwards, Senior ISPCA Inspector Alice Lacey, and Pauline Doyle, the new temporary manager of the sanctuary.
The alleged mistreatment of animals, the length of sentence and the GoFundMe page were discussed.
ISPCA Senior Inspector Alice Lacey outlined to us the multiple inspections which she carried out on the sanctuary in 2023 alongside inspectors from the Department of Agriculture.
The first inspection was conducted on February 23, 2023, where a large amount of welfare concerns were observed with “loads of different species of animals.” Department of Agriculture inspectors returned the following day (February 24) to serve Ms Edwards an Animal Health and Welfare notice.
Returning on February 28, the ISPCA removed 32 animals from the sanctuary and took them into their own care.
A number of these animals were euthanized following veterinary advice, including buzzards and a pigeon, which had “longstanding injuries, broken and fractured wings that had never been vet treated”.
On this date dogs, cats, a rabbit and a chinchilla were also removed.
Further inspections were carried out in March, April, May and June. An additional 17 animals were removed during the May inspection, following the obtainment of a search warrant from Clonmel District Court. These included two fox cubs, a number of pigs with “chronic skin conditions” and a number of dogs.
On June 30, a tame adult fox, well-known by locals as ‘Shadow’ was removed from the sanctuary.
Ms Lacey was asked by the Waterford News & Star if the scale of neglect witnessed at the sanctuary would be placed within the upper tier of what she has witnessed in her career, to which she replied: “Yes, it would be… I was completely shocked.”
“The meaning of a sanctuary is a safe haven, in this case for animals to keep them safe, to provide for their needs. That’s what you would expect from an animal sanctuary and no less. To find animals in a state of distress, injured, living in substandard conditions was awful. As regards to severity, it was right up there at the top.”
She added that some animals at the sanctuary were “never going to be able to perform their normal capabilities again as wild animals and they were never going to be able to be rehabilitated and released. Yet, we found them there, essentially just existing, and that was hard for me to see as a welfare inspector.”
Regarding the fate of the animals that were seized, Ms. Lacey said “any of the dogs and other animals that came into the care of the ISPCA were subsequently rehomed.”
Following a guilty plea, two prison sentences of four months to run consecutively were imposed on Ms. Edwards, as was a 20-year ban from owning all animals and a fine of €1,500.
“I think this sets a precedent,” Ms. Lacey said.
An appeal against the severity of the sentence was lodged after the hearing.
The same day Ms Edward’s received her sentence, a GoFundMe page was created, which at time of publication has raised over €10,920.
The page has set itself a goal of reaching €20,000.
To date, the page has received a total of 302 donations. One anonymous donator has contributed €500 to the page. Another individual donated €220, whilst numerous others donated €200 each.
The page’s description outlines that monies raised will be “for Pat Edwards from Déise Animal Sanctuary because today she received an eight month custodial sentence”.
Aside from this vague reference that funds raised will be “for Ms Edwards”, donors to the fundraiser were not informed where specifically the large sum of funds accrued would be spent.
The Waterford News & Star met last week with the creator of the GoFundMe page and new manager of Déise Animal Sanctuary, Pauline Doyle.
Ms. Doyle was asked to clarify what the money will be used for, to which she explained: “Maybe I didn’t actually say it was for a barrister. For transparency, it has to be the solicitor’s account the money goes into. Not our account, not the charity account. The money is raised for that, and as far as I’m concerned that’s what it goes for.”
The page additionally fails to mention the large amount of animals, which were seized, only making reference to dogs, birds and a fox. In an ‘Update’ comment, which was added to the page on December 5, Ms Doyle said that the courts incorrectly said there were 30 feral cats found at the sanctuary. This update also lists the animals that were still in situ at the sanctuary on that date.
Pat Edwards herself also did not accurately specify to followers of the sanctuary the number of animals the ISPCA, the Department of Agriculture and the courts had raised concerns over. She said in a social media post-dated November 26: “The reason I got the ban was over birds and the state of the place due to life and lack of staff.”
For the purpose of properly informing the large number of donors and supporters of the sanctuary, Ms Doyle and Ms Edwards were asked why they did not mention that a total of 32 animals were seized in February 2023 and a further 17 in May 2023, and that further species that concerns were raised over which were not mentioned on the GoFundMe page, included pigs, a chinchilla, multiple fox cubs and rabbits.
Ms Doyle said that only dogs and birds were mentioned because “these were the main things”.
When asked about the GoFundMe page, Ms Lacey said: “I want to make note of the fact that the case has been heard and in a court of law a sentence and a conviction has been handed down.
“Pat Edwards has received a conviction of animal cruelty and we will be going back for an appeal and regiving all of that evidence.”
Three days after Ms Edwards pleaded guilty to causing suffering to or endangering the health and welfare of a variety of animals at Déise Animal Sanctuary, the sanctuary held a fundraiser in Waterford city centre.
The fundraiser was advertised as follows: “The sanctuary works tirelessly to care for animals in need, and every donation helps provide food, shelter, and medical care for these furry friends. If you're in a position to help, it would be greatly appreciated.”
Both Pat Edwards and new manager of the sanctuary, Pauline Doyle, have accepted that certain standards were not being upheld, saying that the sanctuary was overwhelmed.
Ms Edwards said she does not regret taking animals into the sanctuary despite creating overcrowded conditions.
“I’ve done it and that’s it. If I was such a bad person people wouldn’t donate. I’m not going to make out I’m perfect because I’m not, I’m far from it. I’ve done things wrong. Everybody has done things wrong. But never have I intentionally hurt anything.”
Ms. Edwards also said that during her running of the sanctuary, she was “too soft”.
Pauline said: “I do understand where the Department and the ISPCA were coming from… each time they visited, Pat was still over her numbers. They tried to tell Pat to reduce the numbers, which was easier said than done, when every morning you would wake up to more and more dogs. She had to put up with that on her own.”
Under the new management of Pauline however, the sanctuary has been able to successfully maintain manageable numbers, and is currently keeping under 20 dogs. Pauline said she “picks and chooses” what animals will be admitted to “safeguard” other animals at the sanctuary.
Ms. Edwards also admitted that the reason she could not present documentation for animals was because physical paperwork was damaged when the caravan they were contained within blew away in a storm.
Both Ms Edwards and Ms Doyle disagree that any animal cruelty or neglect was present at the sanctuary.
Meanwhile, Senior Inspector Alice Lacey commented last week that neglect was prevalent and that in deciding to accept a large amount of animals, Ms. Edwards consequently failed to alleviate their suffering:
“Yes there were a lot of animals there, there were many animals there of varying species, but for example some of the physical injuries of those animals were so obvious to anybody to the naked eye and so obvious to the person who should have been tending to those animals and providing for them.
“If you see an animal is injured and you’re operating as a sanctuary, the first thing you would do is get that animal help.
“My own opinion is I know there were a lot of animals there, but there was neglect in regards to those animals and in particular the ones that we removed.”
She added, “You don’t want to turn an animal away, but if you’re at capacity sometimes what happens is the more animals you have in your care, the welfare standard will go down.
“If there’s animals like the ones we removed who were injured and suffering, there is no excuse to turning a blind eye to that. Whatever about the number of animals, there were ones there staring you straight in the face that were seriously injured and there was nothing done to alleviate that suffering.”
In the past number of weeks, the Déise Animal Sanctuary Facebook page has criticized the ISPCA, The Department of Agriculture and the courts for their decision to sentence Ms. Edwards to eight months.
Various posts state that “lies have been told by the department and the ISPCA in court” and that Pat has been “bullied and harassed over the last year and a half”.
Pauline said to the Waterford News & Star: “Society is at fault, Pat is not at fault. She did the right thing, she did everything right. Unfortunately society is to blame.”
Pauline additionally said that the “ISPCA and the Department want her (Pat) gone”. When we asked why this was, she said: “I don’t know.”
Ms. Edwards said the reason she took a guilty plea was because she was advised to do so by a solicitor.
“I wasn’t happy about it,” Pauline said, “I wanted it to go to full trial. Yes, Pat was overwhelmed, but there was never any danger to any animal.”
Pauline issued an apology to Judge Brian O’Shea for what she described as “an outburst” she had during the trial.
A well know animal at the sanctuary was ‘Shadow’ the fox.
During an inspection, the ISPCA seized the animal. Ms. Lacey said that the fox “was living in a dog pen with very little enrichment or any kind of stimulation. Over the course of those inspections we could see that his health and welfare was deteriorating.”
Ms Edwards and Ms Doyle disagreed with this assessment, saying that the fox was healthy. Ms Edwards also said that the fox’s pen had a dirt floor, and hence the animal could have dug out under the cage if it ever wanted to leave.
Pauline added: “He could have dug out of it anytime he wanted to go, and he never did.”
The Waterford News & Star has learned that since being removed from Déise Animal Sanctuary, Shadow the fox is “thriving” and has been placed into a specialist wildlife facility, the location of which cannot be revealed.
As part of her sentence, Ms Edwards has been disqualified from owning all animals for 20 years.
As a result, Pauline has taken over the running of the sanctuary as temporary manager.
She says: “The plan is to make sure the governance is up to scratch. Paperwork has to be PDF file and there will be no more dogs on the premises, we don’t need to do that.
“I’m trying to bring it up to scratch, I’m trying to tidy the place up.”
