The Next Step!

Many people are asking, "What's up with the cases?!" So -- here's a quick update!

The case for the animals continues to work it's way through the red tape of city government. The charges against Alex and Gloria are finally coming to head -- with a court date on March 29 at the Long Beach Court House on the Third Floor. Please, please, please attend if you are able. We anticipate that other dissenting parties will try to fill the courtroom and force the Noah's Ark supporters to have sit outside the courtroom in the hallway. Court begins at 8:30 AM, so please try to be there early to secure a seat for yourself in the courtroom. The baliff will also ask that there be no cellphones on, no chewing gum and no hats in the courtroom.

This hearing is to determine if we go to trial; we anticipate that the case will be held over for trial. We anticipate that the Long Beach Press Telegram, which in our opinion has been shamefully lacking in their journalistic integrity and is being little more than just a mouthpiece for Lt. Quigley, will try to paint "being held over" as just proof positive that Alex and Gloria are guilty. This is not the truth!

In the face of so much pressure and such great expense, some people might just roll over and cave in at this point! Alex and Gloria continue to be very brave and are willing to take this case to a jury trial so that Long Beach Animal Control may be exposed for their abusive tactics with animals and people. It is worth the fight because it is time for the system to change!

You may, or may not, have seen some of the recent headlines in The Press Telegram -- "Alex is a hoarder" as accused by Jennifer Pryor and The Barbi Twins, which was met with many inquiries about how one could be defined as a hoarder when Alex and Gloria adopted out 2400 pets in one year alone. Lt. Quigley continues to protest that there is no way this could be done. In truth, it's done by the rescue community WORKING TOGETHER, a quality Noah's Ark was repeatedly praised for by other rescues of integrity. After the Press Telegram had egg on their face with that headline, they went on to claim in the next day's paper that Alex and Gloria were illegal breeders. Had we really cared what this irresponsible rag continues to mislead people with -- we could have presented the thousands of dollars of vet bills for spaying and neutering -- it's just not worth the effort since The Press Telegram rarely comes back to admit they are wrong or slanderous. So in the end, Alex and Gloria are not very good at hoarding (you need to hold on to the animals to be a hoarder), and they are also really bad at breeding (you need functional "hardware" for animals to breed) -- which is all to say -- Don't Believe Much You Read in The Long Beach Press Telegram!

In the last few court house "meetings", the prosecutor tried to say that Noah's Ark supporters are creating a climate of fear for the witnesses. After a discussion in chambers, the judge returned to say that he did not believe Alex or Gloria or those supportive of them were creating a climate of fear - however he did note that animal cases bring volatile emotions out of people. We have said from the beginning, this case is not a case that needs to be tried in the media -- it needs to be tried in a court of law. We have continued to support a non-violent approach and we know all of you do too. But in the meantime, we are posting the following as a formal statement.

We look forward to seeing you on the 29th!

Noah’s Ark Justice Committee does not engage in or condone any acts of vandalism, violence or verbal intimidation in any form. Our goals are to secure the release of the Noah’s Ark animals confiscated by Long Beach Animal Control, and to work through the legal system for justice for shelter volunteers arrested on bogus charges of animal cruelty.

Acts of violence or destruction of property only serve to harm any cause and ours is no exception. Our success will be achieved by working through the judicial system.