UPDATE: 05/06/2023.

STATEMENT OF OUR AFFAIRS
On the 27th September 2022, six individuals who were committee members of Atherton and District Animal Welfare Society (ADAWS), filed a defamation claim against our co-founder and manager, Lorraine Doornebosch. They were demanding that she pay them $70,000 each (total $420,000) plus interest on a daily basis. The claim was for their own benefit, not that of ADAWS, as ADAWS was not a plaintiff and therefore not a party to the action.

The matter was finally settled just two days before Lorraine’s filed application to strike was due to be set down at court. The plaintiffs agreed to withdraw and pay a portion of Lorraine’s legal costs, then filed a notice of discontinuance on the 23rd May 2023. The matter is on public record at Cairns District Court of Queensland Registry number 119/22 if anyone is interested in the details. An extract of the claim is attached for authenticity.

Lorraine received advice and guidance from a brilliant lawyer, Ben Meredith, from WGC Lawyers. She can’t speak highly enough of his wisdom, accurate grasp of the current new rules applied to defamation, and his attention to detail. Together with one of the most experienced of barristers, Mr Michael Jonsson KC, Lorraine knows she had the best legal team she could have hoped for.

We would all like to think this is over now, as it should be, but the fallout will be felt for a long time to come. Our rescue group has been decimated. Not totally destroyed, but decimated. For the last 10 financial years, Animal Rehoming Tablelands has carried forward manageable losses every year. There is no profit to be had to rescue and rehome, on average, 4 pets every week. We cleared the Tolga pound on a regular basis. We tried very hard to never say “NO” to our local laws officers or Vets when they had a rehomable pet in need. When the ADAWS committee cancelled our membership, withdrew our funding and demanded we cease to use the transport vehicle that had been purchased specifically for our rescue group, that meant our annual losses would be more than doubled. That is not sustainable. Because of the affect of this action, we can no longer offer support to homeless companion pets. We can’t guarantee them the high standard of care that has been our criterion for so long, nor can we guarantee them a “for life” safe return if their circumstances change.

It’s not just our group that has suffered. The loss to the community can’t be underestimated. Because we were forced to stop rescuing, it's probably very likely that many abandoned and unwanted animals were not able to be saved and have lost their lives. You can’t rescue on average 4 pets per week then suddenly stop, without having a huge impact. The economic fall out also needs to be counted. Consider this: Animal Rehoming Tablelands had injected close to $500,000 into other businesses, most of them local. Stop rescuing, and that cash flow ceases to be.

Lorraine may have received a small payout, but what Teun and Lorraine lost can’t be quantified in $$$. They lost a year out of their lives and their successful business. The only companion rescue business in the Atherton Tablelands Region at the time. Success here is measured in lives, not $$$
and, as we all know, when receiving a payout for legal costs you never get it all back. Assets (work vehicles) were sold and their home mortgaged. It will take a long time to recover. That’s the price she has paid for standing up for what she and Teunis believed was right and defending against this vengeful attack. If she apologizes to anyone, it will be the animals who lost their champions and paid the highest price.

At least now the nightmare of threat is over for Lorraine and our group. There are so many people to thank. Too many to mention individually, but it’s important that people are recognized for their help, their encouragement and support. We are very pleased to be able to say that you were not let down. We always knew ARCAT had many friends, but we never realized just how many until the petitions and crowd funding showed them to us. A total of 1,769 friends signed our Change.org petition of support. Over 200 local friends signed our petitions placed in businesses in Millaa Millaa, and 69 supporters raised funds in our Chuffed campaign and we thank every one of you most sincerely.

Lorraine is also grateful to our ARCAT team of foster carers and volunteers. Not one member of the team ever wavered in their support for her and that kept her spirits up right through this trauma. Of course, no one deserves more accolades than hubby Teunis. The path was long, but he never strayed from it, was willing to risk everything he had, proving his great strength and determination to see Lorraine vindicated. Lorraine also wants to thank her beautiful daughter Karen who, although fighting her own (successful) battle against cancer, stayed constantly vigilant as to her mum’s well being, supported by her hubby Chris.

Lorraine also acknowledges her health processionals. Her GP and professional counselor kept both Lorraine and Teun’s mental health on track when they so easily could have been overwhelmed by the stress of contemplating losing their home, which was also home to at least 50 rescue pets with nowhere else to go.

BUT IT’S NOT ALL BAD NEWS
• Some things have changed in the Greyhound racing industry which make it possible for us to continue to offer a rehoming service for retired Greys. We’ll be on the lookout for more Greyhound specific foster carers and forever homes.

• Many of our companion pets are still waiting for their forever homes and still receiving the quality of care they’ve always had. Just keep tabs on our available albums and share with your friends to help us find those beautiful homes, then watch them moving from there to the adopted
album and celebrate their good fortune with us.

• Our sister group, Sponsor a Pet (I’m a SAP and proud of it) will always stay operational for as long as we have willing long term foster carers and sponsors. We’d love to see that group keep growing for the benefit of those dear old souls who find themselves homeless in their twilight years.
Ask to join if you think you can help.

In closing, we want to acknowledge and thank the public who have, in good faith, donated goods to ADAWS for the benefit of animals. We also want to acknowledge the volunteers who work in the shop. Organizations like ADAWS can be of great benefit to our community provided they are managed well and transparently. Your generosity helped us save more than 2,000 lives.

It should be noted that the plaintiffs also had to pay the legal costs of themselves bringing the action and prosecuting it for ten months before withdrawing from it and paying part of Lorraine’s costs. Neither the source of, nor the amount of those funds, is known at this stage.

We hope that members of ADAWS will now realise that changes should be made in light of this serious incident brought upon them by their committee who were enabled by those members who did nothing to call them to account for their actions, and encouraged them to proceed at great cost. It’s now up to the members, volunteers, and the public, to ask the difficult questions and ensure they get answers.

Once again, our sincere thanks to all our friends who have supported us through this last difficult year. We look forward to your company as we continue on our journey to recovery.

UPDATE:

On 27 September 2022, several members of an animal fund-raising organization commenced defamation proceedings against Animal Rehoming Cairns and Tablelands District (ARCATDistrict) co-founder, Lorraine. As a result of these proceedings, she and her husband Tuenis face potentially losing their family home, where they foster almost 50 rescue animals. As a result of the loss of funding, and the significant financial pressures on Lorraine and Tuenis due to the proceedings, ARCATDistrict has had to cease taking new rescue animals and are at risk of having to close the rescue entirely. This is devastating at this critical time, when pounds and rescue groups are overwhelmed with so many animals in need.

Every Little Bit Counts..

https://chuffed.org/project/95007-nqld-animal-rescue-group-threatened-with-closure 

 

Request for support:

We, the undersigned are placing our signatures to this Letter in support of Animal Rehoming Cairns and Tablelands District, and to make the public aware of the injustice that has been dealt to this group which can also, through association, damage other groups on The Tablelands, not just ARCAT. This group of volunteers are in danger of losing the ability to continue to rehome and save hundreds of sick, injured, surrendered, and impounded animals in our district. This foundation has in the past rescued and rehomed hundreds of dogs and cats that would have otherwise perished or been submitted to unbelievable cruelty.

Moreover, Animal Rehoming Cairns and Tablelands District have maintained exceptional financial records of donated funds and goods supplied. All aspects of this organisation have been managed to an exceptional standard and would like the opportunity to continue rescuing these animals. 

We are not asking for money, we are only asking you, the public, to support us by signing this Letter of Support so we can continue our quest to save as many abandoned and impounded cats and dogs as possible. 

UPDATE: First of all on behalf of Animal Rehoming Cairns and Tablelands District I would like to thank everyone for showing your very welcome support. It means the world to us. It has come to our attention though, that some of our supporters are sending donations which is very generous however, we just want to let you know (just in case you think your donation is coming to our animals) this petition wasn’t set up for the donations to come to us, so anyone who donates is sending it to change.org and with that, they purchase more signatures. It helps to promote the petition, but we’re just happy to see people who know us supporting us, and really don’t want to see you paying for more signatures. Because we’re not a registered charity, we can’t ask for donations. We can only accept them if offered voluntarily. Thanks again for your wonderful support and comments.