Feline Sanctuary

Our Family has now received an update from Permit Resource Management Dept. (PRMD) stating that the paperwork is now being submitted that will tell us how much the penalty fee will be. If we aren’t able to pay the fee, which will be a lot of money, we will lose our home, cottage & sanctuary for Rescued Felines who have lived with us for 10+ years. Please help them by going to our go fund me campaign, make a donation of any amount you can & share with your contacts.
Thank you for your kindness.

https://www.gofundme.com/57calgo

23 RESCUED FELINES will soon be HOMELESS along with their 70 yr. old guardian if enough donations aren't received. When a senior woman faces homelessness, she sinks into depression and hopelessness. Have you ever felt hopeless? Did someone reach out and help you find a solution? If you've ever been helped when you were in need, please consider this as the time to "Pay it Forward".

Let your conscience be your guide. Imagine if the rescuer was your mom, aunt, sister, or grandma. What would you do? Would you watch them lose their home when a small donation from you could have prevented it?

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Posted in reply to the post by singingwolf:

Our Family has now received an update from Permit Resource Management Dept. (PRMD) stating that the paperwork is now being submitted that will tell us how much the penalty fee will be. If we aren’t able to pay the fee, which will be a lot of money, we will lose our home, cottage & sanctuary for Rescued Felines who have lived with us for 10+ years. Please help them by going to our go fund me campaign, make a donation of any amount you can & share with your contacts.
Thank you for your kindness.

https://www.gofundme.com/57calgo

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Shandi, do you know these people? There really isn't much info given. Where are they located? Are they a recognized rescue group? Is there some way to verify that? Same with the permitting problems. No copies of correspondence were provided, just pictures of cats.

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Posted in reply to the post by Shandi:

23 RESCUED FELINES will soon be HOMELESS along with their 70 yr. old guardian if enough donations aren't received. When a senior woman faces homelessness, she sinks into depression and hopelessness. Have you ever felt hopeless? Did someone reach out and help you find a solution? If you've ever been helped when you were in need, please consider this as the time to "Pay it Forward".

Let your conscience be your guide. Imagine if the rescuer was your mom, aunt, sister, or grandma. What would you do? Would you watch them lose their home when a small donation from you could have prevented it?

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All good questions. I don't know Bonnie Grand personally, other than emails and phone conversations. Dian Hardy (Sealwatcher) has known Bonnie for 30 years, and has wanted us to meet for some time now.

I'm not sure where she's located,only that it's isolated. Dian and I had made plans to visit the sanctuary, but it's been postponed. I also wanted to have a brainstorming meeting, and had many questions, similar to yours.

I fear that so much time has passed that it may be too late to change the course of events.

Thank you for your interest, and questions. I wish I had the answers.

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Posted in reply to the post by wisewomn:

Shandi, do you know these people? There really isn't much info given. Where are they located? Are they a recognized rescue group? Is there some way to verify that? Same with the permitting problems. No copies of correspondence were provided, just pictures of cats.

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Whatever the "penalty fee" is it should be entirely waived. Then whatever the fee for a building permit and inspection should apply, that might be affordable. But no outlandish "penalty." Several of my neighbors have second houses on their lot; using them for rentals, and they really have no right to do that but do anyway. This business of handing out penalty fines is very capricious.

To wisewomn and wonderful waccobb.net community and beyond,


This is about my Save Our Home & Sanctuary post. Six people currently live on the hill, which is between Guerneville and Forestville: me, my companion, my younger daughter’s tenants (daughter + 2 granddaughters temporarily living in Santa Rosa), a woman and her daughter, a woman in her RV, and a man living in the cottage. It would be difficult to sustain myself without a renter in the cottage, though Permit Resource Management Department (PRMD) wants me to tear out the kitchen and raise the bathroom ceiling a foot, which will require us to tear off the bathroom and rebuild it. This would mean I’d lose the rental income at a time when it’s most needed. Makes NO sense.

The property belongs to a single person now, though when my husband and I were granted the 99-year leasehold for the hill, it was owned by a couple for whom we did projects for 7 years. It is the owner of record who receives any correspondence from PRMD. I get updates which I try to post to gofundme campaign in a timely manner.

My husband and I found a 22’ trailer, our first home on the hill, though after a few months, realized it was too small for 2 people, a rescued cat and 3 rescued dogs. We had to build a small living space, small bedroom and laundry space, all the while planning to build a home of our own design as quickly as we could save money.

My husband was a contractor, conversant with PRMD. We were eventually able to find the time and money to design our home and had an architect draw the blueprints to submit to PRMD. It was at this important juncture in our 18 year marriage that my husband fell in love with someone else, and with a one sentence statement, he left! Leaving me with the structure and leasehold. The first of two major disasters! The sense of betrayal and loss cannot be described. I couldn’t eat or sleep for 2-3 weeks and lost 15#.

In the divorce, my husband got our business which we’d created and run together, taking our shared income with him. I had to get a job though I’d worked in our business for years. I put aside every penny I could, knowing that in order to survive monetarily, I had to convert what was our office and storeroom here into a little rental, and the cottage was slowly born. The rental income is what has allowed me and my daughter to survive and create our feline sanctuary. It isn’t a 501(c)3, though the 62 cats we’ve saved from horrific conditions have lived their lives in peace, with good food and fresh water twice a day, vet care, love and a little kittiehouse.

At about the same time my husband left, my younger daughter sold her condo in Rohnert Park. We searched for housing options for her and her daughters, but didn’t find anything for the money she had. She suggested and I agreed that we should build a house here.

Yes, we built without permits yet this was something widely done in West County.
A modest house, isolated at the top of a hill up a rutted gravel/dirt road with few neighbors. We did not prosper but we made do.

My 2 daughters and I moved to California in 1975 and soon moved to Sonoma County, specifically West County. My 4 granddaughters were born in Sonoma County. All of us are rooted here. My daughters and 2 granddaughters attended Forestville Elementary and El Molino High School in Forestville. The twins were raised in Rohnert Park. The 3 oldest are now in college: 1 in the JC, 1 in Sonoma State University, 1 in UC Santa Barbara on a full 4-year scholarship. The youngest will be a sophmore in Elmo this fall. Our roots run deep.

The second disaster struck when someone turned us in to PRMD. Whoever it was must be a miserable person who wanted others to be miserable too. The property owner was recently told that the paperwork is now going through that will result in the amount of the penalty fee that will need to be paid within a specific timeframe. If it isn’t paid in time, the PRMD will put a lien on the owner’s property. We will HAVE to give the owner the money for the penalty fee, which will be alot of money. We will have to pay any fees they will charge to make whatever structural changes they demand. We will be forced to do all the physical work ourselves because we’ve no money to hire help.

Now, I’m 71 years old, and have devoted 1/3 of my adult life to our hill, our home, the cats, the gardens, the road, performing regular maintenance on our home, cottage and kittiehouse, the mile-long road, raking with a metal rake all the ruts out and keeping the water ditches clear. I’ve had both shoulder joints replaced and have spinal damage. After our huge monetary, physical, spiritual devotion to our only home, we will lose EVERYTHING we have and become homeless unless we can perform for PRMD and the property owner.

Please, if anyone in our beautiful county and beyond is able to contribute to our campaign and share with family and friends, you may very well be the miracle workers, the guardian angels who help us keep our home and feline sanctuary. Our campaign is here:

https://www.gofundme.com/57calgo

My new username for waccobb.net is: bonniegrand (formerly: singingwolf ).

Thank you so much

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Posted in reply to the post by wisewomn:

Shandi, do you know these people? There really isn't much info given. Where are they located? Are they a recognized rescue group? Is there some way to verify that? Same with the permitting problems. No copies of correspondence were provided, just pictures of cats.

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Does anyone know if the cats are kept penned or are they allowed to roam and kill birds?

Thank you for this very thorough and knowledgeable response.

My cat, Mitzy, was a previous feral, living by hunting and sometimes fed by caring people. In the 9 years I've had her, and allowed her supervised outdoor time, I see her stalk birds. But the only one she ever caught was the one that nearly landed in her mouth, while she was resting. She grabbed it, while I watched the whole thing unfold. She carried it around, and I followed, waiting for her to drop it (which they almost always do, because they want the hunt to continue). When she did drop it as expected, I stepped in and scooped it up. It was frightened, but uninjured. I placed it in a flower pot that was high off the ground, while Mitzy meowed and scolded me sharply for taking it away. After a couple of minutes, the bird flew away. Mitzy grumbled for awhile, and kept sniffing the grass.

First reply: as to birds, I live atop a hill also, and because this area is in the "pacific flyway" birds migrate through our area (west county). My property has mature madrones which attract hummingbirds in spring and migrating foul in fall. However, just because you don't see them (birds) doesn't mean they are not there. Flickers, woodpeckers, crows, jays towhees, etc. live nearby. Some birds are molting now and I see their feathers under trees. We have invaded their space. If you can feed 60+ cats, I would think losing your home would take priority.
Second reply: You specified multiple family members who have grown up there. Time to reach out to family for help, if they are unwilling or unable to do so it may be time for a change.

As some of you know I once managed an animal rescue group in the county called Sonoma County Stray Pet Network. During those five years I witnessed repeated attacks on both cats and their caretakers. A member of that group just contacted me to see if there was anything that I could do about this sad story. Unfortunately, there isn't.

I will share my observations though ...

1. I used to own 2 properties on a hill in the RR and many properties up there were built without permits. I'm not saying that this is a good thing, I'm just stating the facts..

2. This woman and all legitimate animal rescuers are providing a service to the county. The costs incurred when a resident takes responsibility for feeding, neutering, housing and providing medical care for stray animals in the county should be seen as a savings to the county, especially now that our animal services are strained because of the fires. Instead, in my experience, they are often discouraged from doing so. Obviously, this woman has a heart of gold exhibiting compassion that I notice missing in our county of late ...

3. I was harassed as an animal rescuer and my online group was hacked several times. I have the written notifications to prove this. Why?

4. A stranger appeared on my property one day and asked if my cat was a good hunter .. I replied "yes" and the cat disappeared during the following week. I searched for him until a resident called to say that my lost cat signs were being taken down by a strange woman .. once again, I wondered why ...

5. The question of the bird decimation needs to be discussed and debated with facts not theory presented. Many things can cause bird populations to diminish and I find it interesting that those who blame cats are not concerned with unchecked, polluting winery growth, especially since a recent study found glyphosate in most California wines. Also, I think it was Newsweek that reported that runaway EMF could have a terrible affect on wildlife. My cats preferred to hunt gophers and mice because they were easy to catch ..

Support this woman if you can in the spirit of retaining the spirit and kindness that once made this county great ... We have enough homeless people and animals right now ...

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Posted in reply to the post by luke32:

Does anyone know if the cats are kept penned or are they allowed to roam and kill birds?

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Hello Luke, I appreciate your questions. Thank you.
Connectivity here on the hill is not very good, or I’d have responded sooner. Our feline family is free to roam. They’ve been here for many years and stay near the house.
Rarely do they catch a bird who are just too fast for them. They do kill rats, mice & lizards, though we save them when possible.

Rosanne,

Thank you so much for taking the time to write this factual and compassionate appeal in support of Bonnie Grand, and the kitties she's saved who are still living at the sanctuary.

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Posted in reply to the post by arthunter:

As some if you know I once managed an animal rescue group ...

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Posted in reply to the post by arthunter:

As some if you know I once managed an animal rescue group ...

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Thank you Art for your work managing the Sonoma County Stray Pet Network.
I’m so sorry to hear that you had so much trouble while doing such important work. Rescuing innocent beings from the grip of cruelty is surely one of the best things we can do in
our lives. How much longer will it take before public outcry is loud enough to demand that the studies you mentioned are conducted?
How many more innocent beings will be poisoned? It would be a great day indeed if the county stopped issuing permits for new wineries unless they are organic wineries!

I saw this bird right outside my bedroom window. I think it was contemplating whether it should eat my cat.

Looks like a vulture to me.

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Posted in reply to the post by sealwatcher:

Vulture? Or eagle?

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Posted in reply to the post by bonniegrand:

...Rarely do they catch a bird who are just too fast for them. They do kill rats, mice & lizards, though we save them when possible.

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I’d like to clarify that the cats really don’t catch many rats or mice either .
Even they are too fast for them now.
If they do catch a mouse and the mouse is not hurt, just scared, I’ll bring her or him to a safe place for release.
Rats are rare here though if caught, I don’t save them. Thanks again, Luke

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Posted in reply to the post by sealwatcher:

Vulture? Or eagle?

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Yes, Turkey Vulture. Very large.