In the spring of 2021, an organization named The Little Farm Rescue & Sanctuary left a small farm in Ojai, California, and made the trek east to a new location in Machipongo. Katie Cook had started The Little Farm Rescue & Sanctuary, a charity surviving on donations and volunteers six years earlier. Before they left California, the Virginia Pilot already ran a story about the 5-day journey to the Eastern Shore.
The new sanctuary was an immediate étoile du jour for local animal rights advocates.
Katie and her husband, Lester Cook bought a 115-acre farm parcel on the bayside as the sanctuary’s new home, naming it The Little Farm in Machipongo. The couple was quick to leverage social media and online fundraising to get the operation off the ground. By last summer 2022, the Little Farm appeared to be an unqualified success.
Until this fall, when, without warning, the Cooks pulled up stakes and moved to Tennessee. The Little Farm appears to have been converted to an upscale horse farm, with a new barn and fences and has been put up for sale for $1,250,000.00.
Sources tell the Mirror that Cooks plan to continue rescue work in Tennessee, but at a much smaller scale.
The Mirror became aware of the sanctuary last spring when one of the Shore’s top animal advocates told us about it, and asked if we would be willing to visit and write a piece about all the ‘good work’ going on there. We were excited and reached out to the Cooks to try and set up a time and place for us to visit. We eventually came up with a tentative time to meet, but a few days before we were asked to reschedule. We tried several more times, but something always seemed to come up (sick animals, barn work, fundraising work, etc.).
Since an in-person meeting seemed problematic, we did send a query that we were going to use for primer:
No worries, I understand! What I have found to work in the past for those of us with hectic schedules is to just send over the questions via email, and you answer them when you have time. The main goal is to raise awareness of your wonderful work, and hopefully drive more volunteers and especially donations. Here is what I was probably going to ask:
1. What is the main mission of The Little Farm?
2. Was there one thing that led you to begin this journey?
3. Where do you find your rescue animals?
4. You do so much to care for these animals, can you tell us about the Vet and animal hospitals that help?
5. Where are you located and how big is the farm?
6. How can people help?
7. A little off-topic, but do you know Karen Davis of United Poultry Concerns? Her rescue is based in Machipongo also.
8. Please add anything else you would want folks to know about you!
Also, I would like to list links to all the places people can donate. I will include links to your web page and Facebook page, and if you could send over all the photos of the farm that you would like included, that would be great. I would love some pictures of you and your family also.
Thanks so much for all that you are doing!
Here is the response from Mrs. Cook:
Hi,
Ive been working on your
questions..please let me know if this is ok or if you need anything else..Youre
welcome to come over and walk the sanctuary as well so you can see all the work
we’ve done and new projects we need to complete.
We have a really really big fundraiser
were launching this week for our last horse barn and fenced area for the new
horses we recently took in. Its a pretty scary undertaking but crucial for them
all to be safe and happy and ready for the winter. I’d love to share the link
to that once its live, before the article goes public..hoping it will help us
direct any traffic towards them.
1. Our primary mission is to rescue
and provide lifelong sanctuary to abused, neglected, and unwanted horses and
farmed animals.
2. Ive been involved in rescue for the
majority of my adult life, (a little over 20 years), starting with dogs and
cats. But a chance meeting with a mini horse and then a piglet changed our
trajectory. Both needed immediate care and protection but there were pretty
llimited options and resources for them to live long happy lives. And so it
began..we became the rescue and sanctuary they needed.
3. We attend auctions, work closely
with animal control for cruelty investigations, and get weekly request from private
owners or concerned citizen asking for help.
4. We work around the clock to make
sure that everyone has all they need to have a beautiful pain free life. But we
are often working against years of neglect. Having a reliable veterinary team
has been crucial! Depending on the resident, we work with Coastal Equine,
Woodside Equine Clinic, New Bolton /UPenn Hospital, and locally we work with
Pet Care Veterinary Hospital and Eastern Shore Animal Hospital.
5. Were in Machipongo and our property
is 115 acres, though only about 40 acres is currently fenced and being used for
the animals.
6. The best way to help is to join us
on Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/m/thelittlefarm)
where they can sign up for a monthly sponsorship which helps us to cover all
recurring monthly expenses for the animals. We also have volunteer needs, local
handy-man needs for plumbing, bush hogging, etc. and a big fundraiser were
launching this week for the new horses.
7. We havent met Karen
I’ll work on photos ASAP and a list of the links for you. Thank you!!! I think our biggest need right now is help to spread the word on our fundraiser for the new barn and pasture space to move all the new horses over. Ill get that info to you ASAP!!! Please let me know if you’d like to come by and see what eve accomplished this first year here and our goals for the future!
The Mirror was excited to move forward with the story, but the conversation abruptly ended there. We were still thrilled to see something like the Little Farm take root on the Shore–the news that they had moved on hit us, and several others in the animal rights community pretty hard.
The Mirror has reached out to the Little Farm in Tennessee but has not received a response.
It appears the rescue’s Facebook page has been taken down, however, the Instagram page is still active.
One thing that we found odd was that there was no contact between the Little Farm and Karen Davis at United Poultry Concerns. Karen has been running the UPC rescue in Machipongo for close to 20 years, and is an international figure in animal rights, rescue, and sanctuary work–and she’s practically right across the street.
With the Little Farm gone, many supporters, especially those that donated money are wondering just what happened. One local supporter put it this way, “The Little Farm’s taking the money and running are bearing fruit. I don’t intend to let this go; I’ve seen too many scam-type operations and those regarding the negligent handling of money by people occupying a position of trust on the lower Shore were called to account. It just occurred to me that if the Cooks have prominent relatives in the County that these persons may have an interest in covering things up.”
By prominent relatives, the person means former Mayor Dora Sullivan. Sullivan is Katie Cook’s mother and was given as one of the reasons for moving the operation east.
Sullivan was not the only ‘influential person’ involved.
Ellen O’Brien, a former Town Council person and member of the Cape Charles Library Board was also tied to the endeavor. Gwen Coghill, the former Kiptopeke principal helped with renovations and penned a letter to the Eastern Shore Post praising the Little Farm.
Others involved reads like a who’s who list of the Eastern Shore. Not just politicians and business owners in Cape Charles, but Wellington Neck artists and writers, professional environmental conservators, and even the Mirror. Were we so excited about the wonderful work being done that we stopped paying attention? We really hope not, but we are left stunned, scratching our heads, trying to piece together just what happened.
While those that donated time and money have their concerns, others are trying to determine what happened to the animals. Some of the smaller ones such as kittens and bunnies were apparently ‘re-homed’ before the move, but there are still questions about some of the poultry and larger livestock. Advocates are worried about the fate of some of those animals.
The Mirror is still following this story and will provide updates as we have them.
It’s my understanding many of the animals have been rehomed to other rescues. The horse with the smoosh face came across my TikTok arriving at a new sanctuary several months ago. I was told that they donated the buildings etc to other rescues. Perhaps that’s not true if you say they are listed with the property. I was also informed they were ending the non profit in January, however I wondered about the patreon link. I also question why they went completely ghost with the website and the Facebook page. Why not simply put information on there about what’s happened and thank you so much for all the support over the years? That certainly would look more legitimate than them just disappearing off the Internet with absolutely no word as to what happened. If roles were reversed and Katie was the donor I guarantee she would not tolerate that. I met her when I rescued Norman the mini horse & brought him to them for help. She was abrasive from the start. My daughter & 2 volunteers had rescued Norman in the middle of the night, off a chicken farm. He couldn’t even stand. I knew we did not have the resources available, so we immediately put in a call to our veterinarian to come in the morning and then I sent a Facebook message to little animal farm saying what we found, sending pictures, video and asking if they would get involved. The next morning she messaged me and said bring him down. We were grateful because we did not have the funds or donor support to be able to treat his extreme condition. She had the backing on social media to be able to do it. However after we facilitated his rescue, from that day forward she never included us in anything again. Refused to let us come and see how he was doing, refused to give us any information and when the newspaper picked up the article, no mention of us at all… I thought it odd, and it even hurt my feelings a bit, but I tried to Give it to God & move on. Since then, I’ve had dozens of people show up at my farm, asking if my place was Little Animal Farm, and stating they had been trying to contact them to volunteer but no one would answer them back. Myself & several other friends had the same experience. The very last time I texted Little Animal Farm was about someone trying to reach them about taking in an aged & injured horse in.. Their response was, “Never contact us again, & loose this number” I was like, “ ok? this is your neighbor down the road… with the Haflingers?” Thinking they didn’t have me saved in their phone. They never replied back. That’s when I texted somebody local that had been involved with them directly to ask what was going on and they told me that they were closed and moving to Tennessee …I was extremely suspicious after that… Their main focus was always fundraising and never building relationships in the community. They wanted the community money but they didn’t want to be bothered with having a bunch of locals down there. At least that’s my take on it. It’s very sad because legitimate organizations work really hard, then this happens and people start tightening up their wallets because they’re worried about the next guy being a scam. You know them by their fruit, was a great way to start this article. They’ve definitely produced some crab apples… I know they did some good, but for me they left nothing but a bitter taste in my mouth.. I do caution people from bashing locals that helped them. I believe these locals are good folks who thought they were supporting something special.. We can’t hold them responsible for the actions of Little Animal Farm.
Editor’s Note: Thank you very much for the update. We tried not to paint any of the locals in a bad light, the Mirror is in the same boat. Just very disappointed.
I posted this on the Mirror’s Facebook page earlier: A search of the IRS non-profit database shows that Little Farm in Ojai (California), which was their previous animal rescue business, received a 501c3 classification when established in 2018. It filed a 990EZ tax form for 2018 showing revenues from donations of $159,933 and expenses of $11,619. It would have been required to file annual 990 returns, but no federal tax returns appear to have been filed since then under that name. The IRS has no other information on this non-profit under its federal tax ID. There is no record in the IRS database of a Little Farm Rescue in California or Virginia. Didn’t anyone request a letter or other confirmation of their donation over $250, that should have contained Little Farm Rescue’s federal tax ID#? It will be needed to support their using this as a federal tax deductible donation in 2022. As a footnote, Lester now lives in Franklin, TN and is a luxury property real estate agent.
This is upsetting. I attempted to reach out when they were looking for help. I have many qualifications when it comes to animals and many that would send recommendations. I have worked with mostly horses professionally for over 20 years and other farm animals as well. The fact that there was no response makes me question.
Editor: Have you requested comment from Dora Sullivan?
Editor’s Note: Not at this time. Should we?
Perhaps she can provide some insight as to the abrupt departure and how to contact her daughter and son in law for comment.
Yes Wayne contact Dora!
It is interesting to note that, according to the MLS, Lester Cook (owner of record) is a licensed real estate agent in both CA and VA. While he once worked at Bay Creek, he is not showing as listing agent on this property for sale.
Why do you really care?
Mr. Bell, I doubt that you do care. Doubtless there are lots of people like you in Northampton County who don’t care, which is one of the reasons the county is so damned poor.
Ahhh, Mr. Green, I was asking Sissie Stinson a question. You really need to get a grip on yourself…I hope you get the help you need, bless your heart.
Wow, Stuart. So feisty! Take it down about 4 notches.
In my opinion, every effort should be made to block the sale of the property as quickly as possible. If a non-profit was used to raise the money and the proceeds used for the construction of the barn, stables, fence, etc, those assets are legally owned by the non-profit and not the Cooks. They therefore cannot sell them without the proceeds going to the non-profit. Additionally, non-profits cannot be wound down and liquidated unless their assets are donated to another non-profit.
ABSOLUTELY. I expect the misuse of donation money will be one of many less than legal activities that the Cooks are apparently trying to get away with…….
Why do you feel the need to bash residents of Wellington Neck seemingly every time you can find an opportunity?
Note: If that’s your takeaway, I would suggest a remedial reading course may be a good option for you. Really??
Speaking as a disinterested observer here, not having anything for or against Wellington Neck, so I can be truly impartial, but if the Mirror is being presented with opportunities to bash Wellington Neck, common sense would seem to say that it would have to be the residents of Wellington Neck who are presenting the Mirror with opportunities to bash them, because they are bashable.
Seems a clear-cut case of cause and effect to me.
The message to the residents of Wellington Neck, thus, would seem to be, if you don’t want to get bashed in the Mirror, don’t be bashable in the first place.
Just saying.
As a newcomer to Wellington Neck, I’m wondering what I’ve gotten myself into. What do I need to know here?
Note: The Neck is beautiful spot, just enjoy it. The article only wanted to point out that folks all up and down the Shore were touched by the rescue in Machipongo, including the Mirror itself.
You are wonderful.
And as a fellow compassionate human being who is very “up with people,” let me say from my heart that that is HUGE, HumanPuddin, for you to come in here and freely, without coercion, since coercion does not exist in here, and make that admission, which should serve as an example to us all, and if only more people could find it in themselves to say it, as well, preferably in three-part harmony, which I think would be just glorious, what a wonderful world this could be!
Will there be more on this story if there are legal consequences? Even if they left Virginia for Tennessee? They did rehome animals to other sanctuaries but kept about 30 animals.
I understand that they may have received anywhere from the $170,000 in the GoFundMe effort that they initiated before they left California to help build the barn, fencing etc, to perhaps as much as a total of $300-$400,000 in donations that were made to a non-profit that may not exist. And if the non-profit does exist, those assets/improvements belong to the non-profit and not the Cooks who are trying to sell their vastly upgraded “Horse Farm” for $1.5 million. I feel it deserves at least a look by state and federal authorities, if for nothing more than to preserve the ability of many other true non-profits on the shore to raise funds needed for their important programs.
What an unprofessional hatchet job of an article, based on nothing but speculation and unkind gossip. I could point out the numerous faults in the so-called “reporting”, but I won’t stoop to compare this with actual journalism.
The part that made me actually laugh out loud was the idea that they are a fraud because they didn’t know someone else in Machipongo. Because the “from heres” are soooooo incredibly welcoming to new arrivals. Please. LOL’ing through all the cold shoulders.
Y’all leave this poor family alone, they did good work and had their own reasons for leaving. If the nastiness here is any indication you certainly can’t blame them.
Sad for the Shore’s post reads as if it might have come directly from Franklin, Tennessee. If the writer had wanted to effectively defend the activities of the Cooks during their relatively brief sojourn in Northampton County, he or she would have substantiated The Little Farm’s registration as a 501(c)(3) organization.in Virginia during the period that Mrs. Cook was vigorously soliciting donations via Facebook. To date, nobody has been able to do so.
Notifying Tennessee about any facts to this situation might be a smart idea if they are going to be hopping from state to state?
A snitch too?
Once again 🤣
Honesty!
Sure, let’s let another community get screwed?
Mellie says
JANUARY 24, 2023 AT 5:51 PM
I’m sure your descendants moved here from somewhere else… think about that.
We were not talking about dead descendants. We were talking about live come-heres. You are not real bright are you?
🤣 ummm….😅🤣😂
Stuart Bell did ya removed your original comment that I responded to?? What’s that about? Second thoughts?
Editor Note: The Mirror is the only one that can remove comments. We did remove a few posts at a user’s request, which we do sometimes. It is possible Mr. Bell’s comment was part of the comment tree, and went down with that particular Titanic. Thank you for posting your comments.
What comment was it and I will be happy to rewrite it for you?
I made many donations to Little Farm Rescue when in CA and in VA. I’m shocked, disappointed and worried for the animals. These people basically touted themselves as heros and warriors for abused animals. Now, it seems they are anything but that. Sadly, it’s the animals who now suffer as people, like myself, become untrusting in these organizations. I hope we find out exactly what happened! No one can run from Karma!
well after all the strategies of these two, it appears they are back in Ojai California living on a wealthy friend’s property by Thacher school, stocking up animals and taking more donations—-Old tricks die hard.
I know the family and I’m pretty sure that’s not true.