- May 14, 2024
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Flagler County Sheriff's Office Public Information Officer Laura Williams and Deputy Steve Williams walk away from one of the buildings used to house animals at Saffari Rescue. Photo by Jacque Estes
Flagler County Sheriff's Office Public Information Officer Laura Williams and Deputy Steve Williams walk away from one of the buildings used to house animals at Saffari Rescue. Photo by Jacque Estes
Flagler Humane Society Director Amy Carotenuto at Saffari Rescue on Tuesday, July 12. Photo by Jacque Estes
Flagler County Sheriff deputies served a search warrant at 8 a.m. Tuesday, July 12, to inspect Saffari Rescue, at 53 County Road 330 W., in Flagler County. The Flagler County Property Appraiser site lists the owner of the property as Karen Sutton, who leases the land to the nonprofit organization.
The purpose of the search was to check on the wellbeing of the animals being housed on the property after an anonymous tip resulted in a search warrant.
“I came out to see what was going on. I think she’s in over her head,” said a neighbor who did not want to give his name. “She’s taken on too many dogs, and she doesn’t have enough help or funding. Sometimes I’ll see her hooking up the van at 8 o’clock at night and ask her, ‘Ruth where are you going?’ She'll say, ‘I am going to get more dogs.'”
Several Saffari volunteers waited on the road to be allowed to enter the property to feed, water, and walk the animals. While none were willing to speak on the record, one man did say that it wasn’t unusual for Rupprecht to go to the Carolinas to pick up animals that were about to be euthanized.
The search warrant was the result of a complaint by someone who had intended to leave his animal at the rescue, but changed his mind because of the conditions, according to Cmdr. Chris Sepe of the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office.
“We established probable cause, and a judge issued a search warrant,” Sepe said “We have a licensed vet on the scene, the Flagler Humane Society, and the ASPCA. There is nothing overwhelming. It is certainly not like the puppy mill 20 years ago.”
Pointing to the large ASPCA vehicle across the road, Sepe explained the air conditioned vehicle was there in the event animals needed to be moved from the property.
Rupprecht remained in a van further up the road and did not come out to talk to the press.
“Based on reports, we have gotten that the conditions here were very poor,” Public Information Officer Laura Williams said, representing the Sheriff's Office. “We had a problem with the power being turned off for about an hour this morning, but it has been turned back on, thankfully."
After walking through the two buildings, Williams said she saw 30 to 40 dogs and puppies, and at least 17 cats, and a couple of pigs, all in crates.
“The conditions were cleaner than previously noted. There’s a lot of animals and not a huge amount of space,” Williams.
No criminal charges are being made against Rupprecht. She willingly turned over 25 dogs and nine cats to the Flagler Humane Society in the ASPCA van. They will not be available for adoption until a vet determines them to be medically ready.
"It would be nice, if people are going to adopt, to come in and adopt from the animals we already have, to help us make room," Carotenuto said.
