The following opinion is written and submitted by Don Green.
Since the Mirror’s publication of “What Happened to the Little Farm Rescue” on January 8, many questions have surfaced, such as:
“ If Katie and Lester Cook were the recipients of hundreds of thousands of dollars while in California and in Virginia, what happened to those funds?
Were they really used exclusively to support the animals at the California and Virginia sanctuaries? Were any part of these funds used to purchase the improved real estate in Northampton County, VA, now apparently titled and for sale in the Cooks’ names, rather than that of The Little Farm?
Were any part used to pay for the Cooks’ move from Northampton County to Franklin, Tennessee or for other private purposes?
Neither the Cooks nor their attorney has begun to answer these questions.
Despite the Cooks’ attorney’s statements of full disclosure regarding their plans to move, I never, whether in a Facebook post or a private communication, came across any statement indicating their intention to move to Tennessee.
What about The Little Farm’s 501(c)(3) status? To date, nobody who has commented on the original article has unearthed any evidence that The Little Farm is currently registered in Virginia as a charitable organization or was registered as such in 2022. It this is the case, the Cooks were soliciting charitable contributions on behalf of a non-existent charity.
Regarding the farm animals, the Cooks’ attorney has not accounted for quite all of them; I remember reading about a large pig, “One-Eyed Willie”, who made the trip from California to Machipongo, VA. I saw no mention of Willie in Ms. Elkin’s summary of the animals retained and relocated. Did he die in Virginia? Was he euthanized? Additionally, several rescuers deposited dozens of spayed and neutered feral cats at The Little Farm during its short period of operation in Virginia. Again, there is no mention of them or of how or whether they were transferred. If any or all of them are still at the Cooks’ property in Virginia, is anyone feeding them?
Finally, as several people have noted, the Cooks’ failure to answer any of these inquiries has raised further questions about their motivations: even though they seemed to care for their animals, were they using them to solicit funds for private, noncharitable use? The Cooks’ lawyer’s statement was really one long non-answer.
Here’s my own assessment of what may have happened after the Cooks moved to Virginia: Though their property provided a wonderful sanctuary for farm animals, there was one important deficiency: Northampton County lacks some aspects of the infrastructure that a couple moving from California would expect: it has no quickly accessible specialized hospitals, large grocery stores, or large animal veterinarians. It lacks a lot of the social structure important to young children that would be available in a more developed area. Long drives to deal with sick children and animals are, unfortunately, a fact of life in Northampton.
Additionally, Northampton’s good-old-boy system might not be the most welcoming to a “come-here” real estate agent (Mr. Cook’s profession) who hoped to sell luxury properties. I believe these realities hit home sometime in early Summer 2022, a bit more than a year after their move to Northampton County. Of course, by Autumn, they were gone. It is possible that they hoped to avoid the questions of contributors and well-wishers by just slipping away, and had The Mirror’s January 8 article not appeared, perhaps they would have been able to do so.
Maybe its time to move these good ol boys out as we did in Colorado in the 70 s bring in progress .
Mr. Green has asked some very good questions here, which have NOT been answered to date. As stated in another opinion piece in this Mirror, all animals were seemingly well cared for and enjoyed very nice accommodations. I don’t think anyone is accusing the Cooks of maltreatment of any of the animals at LFR during their time there. What IS NOT clear is the non-profit status of the LFR, where all the donated money went, what money was used to transform that house and what will happen to the profit when/if the Machipongo property sells? And I am also curious as to the location and/or fate of the animals NOT listed in a previous accounting. The bottom line is that it is extremely suspicious that Northampton citizens in general, and LFR supporters specifically, were left in the dark regarding the entire disappearance to Tennessee. I think we would ALL like to have some answers.
Mr Green has standing to file a lawsuit. Why doesn’t he do it and stop the rumormongering, if he is so concerned.
Mr. Wheaton, to have standing to file a complaint, I would need to credibly allege damages. The Cooks’ attorney recently sent me the following e-mail, which reads in part: “As a registered 501(c)(3) your donation is 100% tax deductible.” This statement is enigmatically (cleverly?) worded, but to date I choose not to delve behind the wording; I will use it to substantiate the charitable nature of my contribution in 2022. If I am not damaged, my filing a couplaint would risk a counterclaim for abuse of the judicial process or worse, malicious prosecution. A careful reading of the primary article shows that I had far greater concerns than those connected with my own donations; there’s no need to repeat them. Most of all, I am left with a profound sadness; a resilient farm animal sanctuary would be the greatest thing to have come to Northampton in many years; it came, and within a bit more than a year, it disappeared without explanation or an accounting to contributors and well-wishers. There are other husband-and-wife farm animal sanctuaries with a few hours’ driving distance of The Little Farm’s former site: Life with Pigs outside Williamsburg, VA and Sisu Refuge near Albertson, N.C. Sisu, particularly, is in a difficult area; it is surrounded by pig farms, and they have rescued pigs that have fallen off trucks or somehow escaped and hid in the surrounding woods for months. They have to drive hours, sometimes a half day or more, to reach a farm animal veterinarian, but they do it–they have the backbone to stick it out. It appears to me that the Cooks did not have the same will to make a go of it in Northampton. It’s sad, because now we have recorded yet another initially glowing but ultimately failed venture in this relatively empty county, the poorest county in the Commonwealth.
Rumormongering?
What an odd and unique perspective!
A strange perspective, actually!
But, it is America, and thanks to veterans like Mr. Green, who are able to articulate a viewpoint in a clear and concise manner so that it makes sense to the average person without a JD concerned about these not-for-profits, which they should be, given that today, with the internet, anyone anywhere (and yes, I have direct experience with it) can claim to be a not-for-profit using the internet to raise funds for this or that purpose, often to save animals or the environment, people in America do get to have odd, unique and strange perspectives on things without fear of government suppression, as would be the case in Ukraine today under the fascist dictator Zelensky.
As always, Mr. Plante, many thanks for your very kind words. I always read your own articles and comments with high appreciation.
One-eyed Willie died at the end of September.
Thank you. Do you know how and where? Was he euthanized? Do you have any information about the feral cats?
He died of natural causes at the farm.
No information on the cat colony.
I was just wondering about them the other day. I gave money more than once and hope it was used for the animals. Indeed if they are scammers I pray they are swiftly stripped of all their possessions and tossed into a muddy hole.