Avalon Park Vice President Stephanie Lerret, investigate Back To Nature Refuge fundraiser!
The Issue
The following letter was sent to Avalon Park HOA Vice President Stephanie Lerret on Sunday, July 26.
"Your Avalon Park HOA is apparently hosting a ticketed benefit for Back To Nature this September 2026.
Before you continue with this high-priced fundraiser, we recommend performing your due diligence on this and other Orange County animal "sanctuaries." Your HOA could also research Nimesh and Teena Patel's Doglando Foundation at 829 Baron Road, and where all of their dogs actually go, before continuing to platform and support these residents of Avalon Park.
Please review Back To Nature's questionable history, especially when they were located on wildlife traffickers David and Carmen Shaw's property, prior to their completed move to Lake Nona around 2014. This "charity" was an inhumane cluster of cages behind the Shaws' Bithlo auto garage, Shaw's Auto Repair, at 18515 E Colonial Drive. The property is apparently still owned by the family and is operating as Vance's Auto Repair.
You can view the USDA reports for yourself. BTN has been cited for questionable animal containment practices, and improper transfers of wildlife. Orange County already provides taxpayer funds and space for this alleged rescue, which they don't tend to mention to potential donors.
https://aphis.my.site.com/PublicSearchTool/s/inspection-reports
Throughout their history, the BTN owners and employees have grossly inflated their numbers to donors and the public. Their materials suggest they intake 4,000 to 4,500 animals annually, and have 300 animals housed there at any given time. This is simply untrue. According to several USDA inspections, they've only housed between twelve and twenty-two (12 to 22) animals at a time, including their domestic goats. This significantly lower number was compiled by multiple USDA inspectors and includes temporary residents. The specific animals are listed on their inspections. Some of those resident "ambassador animals" may have been purchased from breeders instead of rescued. Buying poached exotic animals is a common sanctuary scam. They receive food donations from Lake Nona Publix but this is rarely mentioned to the public.
There is a big disparity between 4,000 and 22 animals, far beyond an honest miscalculation. What happens to the other 3,978 or more animals supposedly accepted at Back To Nature every year? Are employees quietly "freezing off" most of their supposed intakes and selling them to pet stores catering to reptile owners? A legitimate rescue would have transparency with its inventory and practices. Bare minimum, they would engage the public with live webcams of their animal cages and reception area. Preferably, they would allow the outside news media to see the operations beyond a staged ribbon-cutting for their latest building funded by taxpayers and donors. BTN does neither. Why is there a lack of transparency?
Back To Nature's marketing purports that most of the incoming animals are orphaned, injured, or otherwise in need of critical assistance. Helsel says that there are 50 diverse species there. Such compromised animals would easily each require several months or more of constant care and rehabilitation. There simply isn't the space, staff, or specialized facilities for four thousand animals of 50 different species to receive these intensive services and adequate housing. It's surprising that donors and Orange County officials aren't considering this math.
https://www.btnwildlife.org/mission-statement/
The supposed intake hours are their public ones, Tuesday through Sunday, 9 to 4 pm. If BTN is intaking 4,000 to 4,500 orphaned and injured animals annually, that's an average of more than twelve per day. They simply cannot humanely accept, shelter, and medically treat that many animals with critical needs every year.
BTN would require hundreds of full-time, trained employees and acres in addition to their unskilled volunteers to perform this level of care for 4,000 or more animals. Currently, they claim to have five paid employees and fewer than 90 part-time volunteers, most of whom are not specially trained. They are located on 20 acres and use less than a quarter of it. It's unknown if the supposed five employees other than Helsel are full-time or part-time. They suspiciously do not fully name, have photos for, or list the qualification of supposed veterinary technicians "Hannah" and "Frida." There are no listed employees with technical licenses for a rehabilitative care for animals.
https://www.btnwildlife.org/our-team/
It's becoming evident why Helsel has never allowed the news media to actually spend a few days there and actually observe their intakes and operations. There's never been a media story or documentary actually observing the supposed massive scale of this operation. Unlike more reputable rescues or zoological parks, BTN offers no online webcams that the public can watch. They are not accredited by any group such as Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries. Why not?
https://sanctuaryfederation.org/find-a-sanctuary/?animal=any®ion=NA&sanctuary=any&state=FL
According to BTN's social media, the facility has multiple lemurs. Specific names mentioned are Rose, Whimsa, Thumbelina, and Honeybear. According to USDA inspections, Back To Nature has kept only one lemur for the past several years. These are social primates. Keeping a lemur in solitary confinement causes severe psychological distress, leading to extreme behavioral issues, self-harm, and permanent developmental damage. Recent visitors have seen only one lemur.
There are currently two fox residents living at Back To Nature. One is a red fox (Vulpes vulpes) and the other is gray (Urocyon cinereoargenteus). Vulpes vulpes are not technically native to Central Florida. The "refuge" is also in possession of one prairie dog (Cynomys ludovicianus). There is also an emu. These animals are not native to Florida. Where is this purported wildlife charity sourcing these exotic animals? Does each exotic animal have a
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission state permit? BTN has many of the cruel characteristics of a for-profit roadside zoo, not a reputable tax-funded wildlife refuge.
Back To Nature has received millions of dollars in grants, subsidies, buildings, and land from Orange County. The commissioners believe that this "rescue" is rehabilitating wildlife. In California, Miranda's Rescue received millions of dollars from multiple counties to supposedly rehabilitate animals. Instead, hundreds of those California animals were killed. Who is monitoring or auditing Back To Nature in Florida? The county granted this con another $5.6 million in taxpayer money in 2025.
Back To Nature's "resident animal" page returns an error message. They also do not post their current tax returns.
https://www.btnwildlife.org/resident-animals/
It does not appear that BTN discloses to the IRS nor to its donors the income generated from their Orange County contracts and grants. They also do not disclose the 20 acres Orange County has granted them in their assets or in-kind donations. BTN operates on a desirable, large conservation easement owned by the county known as Eagles Roost. It's next to the 1,700 acre Split Oak conservation land. Legitimate sanctuaries could benefit from this space. BTN's tax returns also do not appear to list in-kind donations, such as Lake Nona Publix's generous daily gifted produce and other goods.
https://apps.irs.gov/pub/epostcard/cor/592961216_202412_990_2026021923935662.pdf
The animals that this "wildlife refuge" houses are not all indigenous to Florida or even North America. For example, there is a lemur who has been kept in poor conditions, as cited by USDA. Lemurs are from Madagascar. That's an island nation located off the southeast coast of mainland Africa. This is a neglected exotic pet, not a rehabilitated Florida wild animal. The same is the case with their domestic goats. This animal does not live in the wild in Florida. Goats are kept as either livestock or pets.
Back To Nature is not and never was a genuine wildlife refuge. It is a sham, tax-funded hobby farm with a few exotic pets in filthy cages that aren't appropriate for their needs. The online content of visitors who like the facility ironically reveals that most of these animals are kept alone in small cages that do not simulate their natural habitat, provide exercise, allow the animals to behave naturally, have privacy and shelter, or offer enrichment. Why is Orange County granting millions of tax dollars to this facility?
You can read about other local criminal issues involving wildlife traffickers on Facebook on Crimewatch Orlando/Avalon Park - Waterford.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/861072132542982/permalink/1180211870629005
People and businesses can often be judged by the company they keep. Executive director Debbie Helsel has knowingly been longtime close friends and business partners with a prolific, inhumane Orange County wildlife trafficker in addition to Carmen Shaw. Helsel was made fully aware of the questionability of her close friend Jim Bronzo by 2014, but she chooses to double down and defend him. She continues to vouch for him. Despite her knowledge of concerns about him, she encouraged unknowing Avalon Park residents to donate to his East Orlando "sanctuary." Many Avalon Park residents were especially defrauded when Bronzo's "sanctuary" was located at 805 Baron Road. Helsel has subsequently been warned about Bronzo repeatedly. Readers are encouraged to save and share screenshots. Animal grifters protect their own.
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=2385161634827779&set=a.1508407549169863
Avalon Park residents alone raised hundreds of thousands of dollars following Jim Bronzo's housefire which was already covered by insurance. That fire remains unsolved. It's unknown whether the blaze was caused by his unattended firepit next to his house, Bronzo falling asleep without extinguishing his bedtime marijuana cigarette, his felon part-time employee Don Eric Ballard's heroin equipment that was used on the property, the multiple defective heating lamps for his trafficked reptiles, or Bronzo's hazardous kitchen incubator made from an old refrigerator.
You may have seen the recent exotic and wildlife animal escapes coverage on Orlando's WKMG Channel 6 news station, which was apparently an update to an investigative piece in 2022. There is a Sloth World link that hasn't been reported.
The story mentioned James C Bronzo from the former "no-kill" Second Chance Wildlife Sanctuary. Nobody from the news media seems to have been informed yet that Jim Bronzo was also involved in importing, then hiding, some of the sloths for Sloth World. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission investigator Rick Brown who was assigned to Sloth World is the same official who's been lax with Bronzo for several years and on many occasions. Chuck O'Neal from Speak Up For Wildlife has made social media posts pretending to care about the dead animals from Sloth World, but he says nothing about his friend Jim Bronzo illegally trafficking and harming those same animals. Speak Up For Wildlife did not speak up about Sloth World until April 23rd after the closure had already been announced, yet Chuck O'Neal has bizarrely taken credit for it.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/noto2/permalink/970417652302470
Helsel's narrative is that she was born in Pennsylvania and graduated from Orlando's Colonial High School. This information is unverifiable at this time.
https://www.orlandomagazine.com/story-of-a-wildlife-rescuer/
Bronzo and his friend Peter Bandre from Incredible Pets in Melbourne have been illegally importing endangered animals, breeding restricted reptiles without permits, poaching Florida wildlife, and trafficking banned exotic animals since the 1990s. Bronzo was born in Brooklyn, New York, but his family later moved to Melbourne. Bronzo graduated from Eau Gallie High School, and he's in Brevard County constantly for his animal trafficking and to see his relatives. He's often in Merritt Island to see his complicit sister Kathleen Bronzo-Matson. She's helped him lie to the public about his backstory. Jim Bronzo now illegally traffics exotic and wildlife animals in Orlando.
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10236682326099387&set=a.1919412066335
If you've been watching the coverage of Miranda's Rescue in California and its owner Shannon Miranda, you can see many similarities to Second Chance. Jim Bronzo is Florida's Shannon Miranda, complete with the angry senior fangirls protecting him and denying that hundreds of animals are obviously disappearing. There are so many resemblances between the two carnies, such as the flamboyant silk blouses, ex-husband who works in the adult fetish industry, high-pitched temper tantrums, teen boys but never any girls spending the weekend for supposed mentoring programs, and tacky bodybuilding. And more than a few hundred missing animals.
Jim Bronzo calls himself a "humane trapper" of ducks, birds, feral kittens, rabbits, squirrels, possums, and other small animals. Even now in 2026, he says they all go to "the no-kill sanctuary." This cheater doesn't tell people that Second Chance closed, and those "rescued" animals are likely going into illegal reptiles' stomachs.
Customers pay him the trapping fee, and they often also donate hundreds of dollars to "the no-kill sanctuary" when Bronzo picks up the animals. Many of the small animals are actually fed to his illegal reptiles. Bronzo also sells them to Incredible Pets and other reptile vendors. Bandre's name is off the Incredible Pets LLC now but he's still a part of it.
If a trapped animal is not easily edible for his reptiles, the cheat dumps them several streets away. He traps and dumps large tortoises throughout wealthy areas such as College Park. The scamster parks in the area at a store or public park, unlocks the trap or kennel, then walks away for an hour or more. He often retrieves trapped animals in the evening so it will be dark when he dumps. He hopes those animals escape. He's ensured repeat business for his "College Park Critter Guys" and donors for the "no-kill sanctuary" this way. He also meets wealthy clients for his art commissions on these calls.
Most donors assume that Florida animal sanctuaries or other states are regulated, as they are in Colorado. They're not, and a lot of grifters take advantage. Dishonest Florida sanctuaries con the public with their convenient fires, floods, burglaries, bank foreclosures, deadly diseases, evil neighbors, or evictions. If a sanctuary's founder, director, resident, paid caretaker, and landowner are the same person or family, it's probably not a trustworthy operation.
When Second Chance was still open at 805 Baron Road, Bronzo's friend, Valencia College music instructor Peri Sedigh bullied ex-volunteers who tried to speak up about what a cruel setup it was or how he cheated his donors and volunteers. There were other enablers such as Polk State College writing professor Rebecca Heintz and Speak Up For Wildlife leader Chuck O'Neal who both defend him to this day. Bronzo only began calling himself a rescuer in 2012, when he filed his nonprofit. He is actually a decades-long illegal wildlife poacher, exotic pet breeder, and inhumane reptile importer. The animals were crammed in filth and disease. He had several citations from FWC, which speaks volumes, as their enforcement is notoriously weak as it was with Sloth World. He should have had many more. Orange County Sheriff's Office and Orange County Animal Services didn't act on multiple reports about him or the multiple other fraudulent animal sanctuaries on Baron Road.
When Second Chance was on Baron, this scammer took cash and in-kind donations from businesses and individuals to "rescue" orphaned and pet rabbits, ducks, parrots, puppies, and kittens. Bronzo usually met women and families outside the gate when they surrendered these animals, promising that they'd be watched for life. He didn't actually show most these people where the animal would supposedly be living, but they apparently trusted him. They trustingly handed the fraudster cash donations and drove away. He also took "open rescues" of pig and chickens from paid animal activists. He also accepted those out on the driveway most of the time. After these visitors left, he or his convicted heroin-dealer assistant Don Eric Ballard fed those small animals to the pythons and other reptiles Bronzo illegally bred. The small piglets were fed to the snakes and the bigger ones became sausage. One of Bronzo's hundreds of lies is that he's vegan.
After every hurricane that hit Florida or Georgia, Bronzo slithered online to soak out-of-state donors with the sob-story that the storm knocked down his fence and killed dozens of animals. He'd allegedly raise tens of thousands from international donors. Even when those hurricanes didn't touch Central Florida and Second Chance. He also falsely claimed that Orange County Code Enforcement ordered him to tear down his fence and build a new one. This con-artist was always portraying himself as the victim of his ex-husbands, Orange County officials, neighbors, animal dumpers, thieves, and former volunteers. Local suppliers donated wood and other supplies. In three years, he had at least five "emergency" fundraisers for new fences and gates.
The Publix store on Chickasaw Trail gave the liar about $800 of leftover produce, meat, and baked goods every morning. The store believed he had 350 animals, which is why the donated so much food. He never needed that much food as he usually only had approximately 30 and sometimes as many as 50. He occasionally sold some of it to his friends in the Winter Park industry. Most of it went to waste. Other charities could have used that donation.
Bronzo told donors there were 350 diverse, rescued animals living there. Exotics, wildlife, livestock, companion animals. There were usually only around thirty animals at any time and most were his inventory and breeders, not rescues. If he'd just gotten an illegal shipment or it was right before one of the sleazy Repticon or Daytona trafficker shows, sometimes there would be 50 animals. The place was only 2.6 acres including his house, outdoor gym, art studio, Don Eric Ballard's heroin equipment, and the swampy backwoods. There wasn't room for 100 animals, let alone 350. Especially when the animals he claimed to shelter were very different species that needed separation and specialized habitats. But nobody was publicly mentioning that the "math wasn't mathing." There are other Florida sanctuaries that grossly inflate their numbers.
Bronzo took in big monetary and land inheritances from elderly people on the false promise he'd look after their animals. This liar conned the high schools, Boy Scouts, and court-ordered volunteers to clean up and perform projects for free. They had no idea this was a for-profit illegal trafficker, not a charity rescue. He told the media, donors, and new volunteers in 2016 he'd been operating there as a nonprofit sanctuary for 35 years. In 2019 he and his sister Kathleen Bronzo-Matson said it was 40 years. They claimed he'd operated a sanctuary there since 1985. He didn't even own the land until the early 1990s. He began staying there sometime after 1998, and the land was used to illegally breed and deal his exotics. He did not identify as a rescuer then. He was working as a cheap Daytona Beach timeshare salesman, selling to sex traffickers and outlaw biker gangs. He didn't even claim this was a "sanctuary" until 2012, which is when he realized he could scam elderly women for money and score free labor to clean his cages.
Second Chance had a convenient overnight housefire in 2019, which was covered by insurance, but he and Peri Sedigh threatened anyone who mentioned that. This fire happened soon after FWC noticed the wood house was filthy and the stairs were rotting. Bronzo took in millions for the next three years from donors. Not thousands - millions from around the world. The story made international news. He's still taking donations from those who don't know it closed. Most donors never actually went to Baron Road themselves, and many weren't in Florida.
Landowners also gifted multiple parcels so he could build a bigger sanctuary in Brevard County, but it's a mystery what happened to that. Builders donated wood, Spectrum Cable donated security cameras, and a lot of other goods were generously given by businesses and individuals. A new motorhome, animal feed, daily produce from Publix, clothes, animal medications, art supplies. Bronzo sold off a lot of those items, then attained more of the exact same items from new or different donors who were unaware of the initial donations. The main GoFundMe was just a small fraction of the millions in money, goods, and services that he continues to take in. Most of the payments happened from the Second Chance website, mailed checks, local restaurant fundraisers, and smaller online appeals such as Commissioner Patty Sheehan's.
https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-second-chance-wildlife-sanctuary-rebuild
When ex-volunteers attempted to discuss this fraud online beginning around 2019, Bronzo and Valencia College instructor Peri Sedigh bullied them. They wanted to silence people. Sedigh can be credited for protecting this Florida scam and others that have harmed good people and animals. She intimidated former volunteers in 2019 who had photos of seriously ill and neglected animals at Second Chance. The release of those images alone could have been enough to stop the harm to hundreds of animals, as well as defrauding donors and volunteers. Instead, Sedigh continues to censor that data for her friend, Jim Bronzo.
Bronzo and Sedigh actively got rid of evidence of the sick and injured breeder animals remaining there after the housefire. Most of the sickest animals that had been recently noticed on an FWC inspection conveniently died in the blaze, or so the public was told. There were some surviving animals who had medical problems that couldn't be dishonestly blamed on the fire.
After the 2019 housefire and with Bronzo's permission, an active volunteer transported two sick blue Quaker parrots to the veterinarian and paid the bill with her own money. She then took them to her house afterward to medicate them, and Bronzo initially consented. There wasn't anywhere on the burned Second Chance property for them to safely rehab. Peri Sedigh drove to the woman's house in Seminole County and demanded she hand them over. They were still clearly unhealthy. Sedigh is aware those two birds were fed to Bronzo's python. Both young blue Quaker parrots had originally arrived at Second Chance in August 2018 in good health.
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10217247842256312&set=a.1096105291055
One of Bronzo's many lies is that the ex-volunteers' photos of sick and injured animals were taken when the animals arrived at the sanctuary. He said that those images were "taken out of context," and it was others who had previously neglected or injured them. Bronzo never shared any follow-up photos of these alleged cases. Why weren't there updated pictures of any of these animals, living healthy lives at Second Chance?
Some older Florida animal rescuers and donors now consider Bronzo's friend Peri Sedigh their big waving red flag or “caution” sign. If she associated with an animal charity or activist group, they don’t want to be. If Sedigh is involved with a “nonprofit,” they can be sure It’s majorly harming animals and egregiously defrauding seniors. If she’s a founder or board member of a Florida cause or movement, they run away and don’t look back. Same with activist Chuck O'Neal.
Bronzo constantly played the lottery at Speedway and 7-11 with some of the donations and won the million-dollar prize for himself in 2021. The only media article to date that even lightly questioned him was published by Spectrum News 13. Unfortunately, the reporter Pete Reinwald did not dig harder to find those buried carcasses. Between that article and the possibility that some donors would consider him solvent from the win, Bronzo suspected his con would slow. He quietly decided to buy a College Park house and sell the Baron Road property.
Bronzo lied to his volunteers and the media about dozens of other matters about himself and the charity. About teaching waterskiing to big celebrities as an instructor at Disney, how he grew up in the backwoods of Florida among the "wild critters," repeatedly being in the hospital with long-term COVID, his grandfather being a gifted artist who painted with his teeth because he had no arms since childhood, the expensive African tortoises were found "wandering" in Orlando, playing the lottery on the exact same day of his late mother's supposed birthday, the dozens of gopher tortoises were only "temporarily" relocated to College Park because he was building a new water habitat for them, his llamas originating from comedian Robin Williams' family after he died, and that dozens of animals were disappearing because his evil neighbor was sneaking onto the property to steal them. All lies.
Bronzo told supporters the swans in the front Second Chance pond were rescues, and sales from his paintings of them went to the sanctuary. He actually stole those swans as babies from Lake Eola, and the money from the sales went into his personal bank account. He also illegally bred and sold swans. He converted an old refrigerator inside his kitchen into an incubator for the swan, peacock, and African Sulcata tortoise eggs he hatched and sold without licenses. The FWC never noticed the makeshift incubator during their inspections. Ex-volunteers have speculated that may have been the source of the convenient housefire, and young animals may have perished in it.
For several years, Jim Bronzo has avoided calls from former donors and the media who may ask what happened to the rebuild. Nearly five years after closing the Baron Road sanctuary, he's never publicly announced it. The slickster never thanked his donors and volunteers. Fellow grifters such as Chuck O'Neal know. Many supporters attempting to reach out haven't succeeded. Bronzo deliberately keeps the voice mailbox full and has removed the greeting mentioning his and Second Chance's name. There is a silent gap where there used to be that greeting, then an automated announcement that the caller can't leave a message because the box "is full." He began keeping the box full even before he left Baron Road, even though he was asked by his volunteers about it. Were donors already asking when that rebuild would happen?
Rebuilding that house was always right around the corner after the 2019 fire, and he just needed more money to rebuild it - even though he'd already made millions in addition to the insurance payoff. Someone else was always at fault for the stalled construction, supposedly. He said Orange County wasn't giving him the needed permits. Apparently, none of this thief's supporters checked on the Orange County website. He had permits all along. He said that the county wouldn't let him live in the donated motorhome on the property. Also a lie. He was granted permission for that too. The truth was that this shark preferred staying around Winter Park, where lonely elderly women paid him big fees to paint portraits of their dogs. Long before the fire and lottery win, he was readying that crooked golden parachute.
The financial fraud and disappearing animals were reported by ex-volunteers multiple times, while the Baron Road sanctuary was still open, to Orange County Animal Services and Orange County Sheriff's Office. Neither acted on those reports. Much like in California with Miranda's Rescue. Bronzo's "sanctuary" was not only a financial grift, it was a way to bolster his sagging art career that never gained any attention before. After forming his animal "nonprofit," he was invited to show his work at art galleries and museum opening nights.
Jim Bronzo lied about how he acquired certain animals and where they went. He was always the victim in his explanations. This scammer said that people were constantly dumping animals in the driveway when he wasn't home. Yet, no ex-volunteer recalls anyone showing up unannounced with animals when they were there, or finding dumped animals in the driveway when they arrived there. Apparently, none of Bronzo's ex-neighbors nor their security cameras detected anyone dumping. He knew that abandoning animals is illegal, yet this conman never reported these supposed incidents to authorities. Baron Road is a dead-end street in a semi-rural neighborhood that can only be reached by Sunflower Trail. How did these dumpers remarkably know when Bronzo wasn't home, and all go undetected? Bronzo blamed disappearances of specific animals on his neighbors breaking in and stealing them or releasing them from their cages. He initially attempted to tell that lie to an FWC officer in 2021 when a West African Nile monitor was found behind his neighbor RoseMarie Arnemann's property at 735 Baron Road for the second confirmed time (2021-MM-004091-A-O : State of Florida v. Bronzo, James).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfTJyOwLJO8&t=173s
Bronzo never reported any of these supposed break-ins or missing animals to law enforcement. Supporters repeatedly purchased security cameras for this swindler, found technicians willing to install them, and said they were eager to pay for monitoring. Bronzo stalled multiple donors regarding when the cameras could be positioned or he told them someone else was arranging it, then he quietly sold those donated cameras and kept the money for himself. He also stalled and avoided offers from supporters to microchip the animals. If he'd cared about the welfare of these animals, he would have actively detected who was supposedly dumping them and how they were actually disappearing. Despite Bronzo's constant claims of victimization, none of those donated cameras were ever installed.
Bronzo promised all of his donors and volunteers that the Baron Road land would forever be an animal sanctuary, even if it changed hands. He said that even if he ever moved or retired, he'd donate the land to a specific rabbit rescue located in Osceola County. Volunteers built structures, repaired enclosures, installed fences, and planted trees for years, believing that this sanctuary would always exist for animals, regardless of name. They sought donations of manufactured and tiny houses to put on the land for him. Nobody notices until it's too late with scam nonprofit sanctuaries that if the land remains in the founder's ownership, it's probably not a trustworthy operation. Bronzo didn't tell them in February 2021 that he'd bought a house in College Park. For several months afterward, his volunteers kept serving this phony, believing that rebuild was happening soon. Late in the year, Bronzo quietly sold the Baron Road to a private buyer who burned and bulldozed the volunteers' years of unpaid work. He never gave the volunteers a chance to adopt or say goodbye to the animals they loved.
Bronzo used to post photos of "dumped" piglets on his social media and claim he needed $500 each to spay or neuter them so he wouldn't be overrun with them. For years, this hustler's donors faithfully gifted that money. Constantly, he had incoming pigs and piglets. Eventually, there was a rural follower who offered to neuter the males for free. Castrating pigs and other livestock is legal and simple. That was the end of Bronzo's $500 neutering grift, but nobody publicly spoke of it. These pigs were never neutered or spayed anywhere. They were his and the snakes' dinners.
After Bronzo won his million from a scratch-ticket in early 2021, the win was in a couple of local news stories because Florida lottery results are public record. He avoided calls from reporters, but there was a little coverage anyway. The carnie realized that if some donors read the story, they might start asking why the house rebuild still hadn't happened after two years. He suspected it was time to quietly cash out with the millions in donations. He never announced the decision and still hasn't. He had his loyal volunteers cleaning cages there until the end, unaware the place was being sold. Bronzo killed and dumped most of the remaining animals that he couldn't immediately flip, sold the land, and is still accepting money from elderly women who still don't know he shut down the Baron Road sanctuary and permanently moved into the city. Many of the faker's trusting donors never actually went to that property. He's illegally trafficking exotic animals out of an urban home that's situated on a small lot in a high-density neighborhood. The neighbors of 525 W Winter Park Street probably have no idea.
You never meet or read about anyone who adopted any of the former Second Chance sanctuary animals. If these animals had been placed for adoption when he closed, there likely would have been online posts from him asking for placement and you'd see follow-up. Instead, the Florida animal welfare activists from groups such as Bear Defenders who've been friends with Bronzo for years, and actually took animals to Baron Road, behave as if those animals never existed. Chuck O'Neal from Speak Up For Wildlife claims to be an advocate of the environment and animals. He's made many posts pretending to care about the dead animals from Sloth World. He defends and remains friends with Jim Bronzo to this day.
To this day, there has never been any announcement that Second Chance closed, most of the low-dollar animals were killed or dumped, and the land was sold. Even some local police departments still contact him regarding orphan wildlife and they believe those animals go to a sanctuary. California's Shannon Miranda got caught. Florida's still silent about the abusive fraudster, Jim Bronzo.
There are multiple scam animal "rescues" remaining on Baron Road such as Doglando Foundation. The owners of each are longtime friends with Bronzo and they learned many crooked lessons from him. Orange County Sheriff's Office, Orange County Animal Services, and Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission have received reports about these Baron Road "charities" who falsify animals' backgrounds and disappearances, yet they do not meaningfully act on these concerns. Doglando has a community partner contract with Orange County Animal Services.
When a former low-level volunteer or donor whom Bronzo's avoiding does coincidentally see him in public and ask what happened, he lies about the circumstances of the sanctuary's closure. He blames others for his selling the Baron Road lot, such as claiming that Orange County forced him. He has told many people that his move was more recent than it actually was. He does not share with them that he bought his current home in February 2021, and that he had permanently relocated to that area long before the purchase. He does not want his former volunteers or donors to know that they were supporting him after he'd made the decision. He also claims he was in the hospital for a month with COVID. This charlatan has given different dates for that supposed month to different people. He was never hospitalized at all. He plays the sympathetic victim to distract each former volunteer or donor. He's so manipulative that some of those former volunteer or donor actually feel sympathetic his supposed current distress. He never has actually shared where those supposed 350 animals went, nor the reason that he didn't return calls, texts, and emails to these supporters for months or even years. Their cultish leader lies about where he's currently living. He says he's starting a new, smaller sanctuary "soon." When people follow up with him about the supposed new facility, he avoids them as he did for years when he was asked when the Baron Road rebuild would happen. This flim-flam artist harmed a lot of people and animals.
Anybody having verbal conversations with Bronzo and the remaining Baron Road "sanctuary" owners should consider lawfully recording them. All emails and Zoom chats should be retained. These carnies deliberately confuse their donors and volunteers, especially seniors, in live conversations. Bronzo and his accomplices are skillful with rapid gaslighting and sleight-of-hand. Sadly, the victims are often convinced they misunderstood. It's only when these interactions are played back or reread that some victims notice that Bronzo changes his fabrications, sometimes within minutes.
Some of Bronzo's victims may be silent now because they've looked back on the cumulative dozens of implausible lies they believed. They feel foolish now for falling for this con-artist. Other victims were elderly and are now no longer around to share their trauma. However, the "I didn't know" excuse is is a lie if that's claimed members of his inner circle. Those include Debbie Helsel, Chock O'Neal, Peri Sedigh, Shannon Geis, and Polk State College professor Rebecca Heintz.
Bronzo is now a celebrated "conservation artist" who has art openings around Florida at galleries and restaurants. He's still riding off that heroic rescuer title he never earned. The carnie's work is not unusual, difficult, or interesting enough that he could have sold it for these prices without the fraudulent gimmick.
https://www.facebook.com/reel/24225266673758654
Nobody has publicly asked what happened to the literal millions of dollars raised for the rebuild, not to mention the donated Brevard County parcels, goods, and recurring donations. The animal "rescue" and activist community has never openly asked him basic questions and they're unlikely to. Wildlife activists such as public college music instructor Peri Sedigh and Back To Nature executive director Deborah Helsel remain personal friends and have not disavowed his actions despite their awareness. Animal carnies protect their own."
19
The Issue
The following letter was sent to Avalon Park HOA Vice President Stephanie Lerret on Sunday, July 26.
"Your Avalon Park HOA is apparently hosting a ticketed benefit for Back To Nature this September 2026.
Before you continue with this high-priced fundraiser, we recommend performing your due diligence on this and other Orange County animal "sanctuaries." Your HOA could also research Nimesh and Teena Patel's Doglando Foundation at 829 Baron Road, and where all of their dogs actually go, before continuing to platform and support these residents of Avalon Park.
Please review Back To Nature's questionable history, especially when they were located on wildlife traffickers David and Carmen Shaw's property, prior to their completed move to Lake Nona around 2014. This "charity" was an inhumane cluster of cages behind the Shaws' Bithlo auto garage, Shaw's Auto Repair, at 18515 E Colonial Drive. The property is apparently still owned by the family and is operating as Vance's Auto Repair.
You can view the USDA reports for yourself. BTN has been cited for questionable animal containment practices, and improper transfers of wildlife. Orange County already provides taxpayer funds and space for this alleged rescue, which they don't tend to mention to potential donors.
https://aphis.my.site.com/PublicSearchTool/s/inspection-reports
Throughout their history, the BTN owners and employees have grossly inflated their numbers to donors and the public. Their materials suggest they intake 4,000 to 4,500 animals annually, and have 300 animals housed there at any given time. This is simply untrue. According to several USDA inspections, they've only housed between twelve and twenty-two (12 to 22) animals at a time, including their domestic goats. This significantly lower number was compiled by multiple USDA inspectors and includes temporary residents. The specific animals are listed on their inspections. Some of those resident "ambassador animals" may have been purchased from breeders instead of rescued. Buying poached exotic animals is a common sanctuary scam. They receive food donations from Lake Nona Publix but this is rarely mentioned to the public.
There is a big disparity between 4,000 and 22 animals, far beyond an honest miscalculation. What happens to the other 3,978 or more animals supposedly accepted at Back To Nature every year? Are employees quietly "freezing off" most of their supposed intakes and selling them to pet stores catering to reptile owners? A legitimate rescue would have transparency with its inventory and practices. Bare minimum, they would engage the public with live webcams of their animal cages and reception area. Preferably, they would allow the outside news media to see the operations beyond a staged ribbon-cutting for their latest building funded by taxpayers and donors. BTN does neither. Why is there a lack of transparency?
Back To Nature's marketing purports that most of the incoming animals are orphaned, injured, or otherwise in need of critical assistance. Helsel says that there are 50 diverse species there. Such compromised animals would easily each require several months or more of constant care and rehabilitation. There simply isn't the space, staff, or specialized facilities for four thousand animals of 50 different species to receive these intensive services and adequate housing. It's surprising that donors and Orange County officials aren't considering this math.
https://www.btnwildlife.org/mission-statement/
The supposed intake hours are their public ones, Tuesday through Sunday, 9 to 4 pm. If BTN is intaking 4,000 to 4,500 orphaned and injured animals annually, that's an average of more than twelve per day. They simply cannot humanely accept, shelter, and medically treat that many animals with critical needs every year.
BTN would require hundreds of full-time, trained employees and acres in addition to their unskilled volunteers to perform this level of care for 4,000 or more animals. Currently, they claim to have five paid employees and fewer than 90 part-time volunteers, most of whom are not specially trained. They are located on 20 acres and use less than a quarter of it. It's unknown if the supposed five employees other than Helsel are full-time or part-time. They suspiciously do not fully name, have photos for, or list the qualification of supposed veterinary technicians "Hannah" and "Frida." There are no listed employees with technical licenses for a rehabilitative care for animals.
https://www.btnwildlife.org/our-team/
It's becoming evident why Helsel has never allowed the news media to actually spend a few days there and actually observe their intakes and operations. There's never been a media story or documentary actually observing the supposed massive scale of this operation. Unlike more reputable rescues or zoological parks, BTN offers no online webcams that the public can watch. They are not accredited by any group such as Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries. Why not?
https://sanctuaryfederation.org/find-a-sanctuary/?animal=any®ion=NA&sanctuary=any&state=FL
According to BTN's social media, the facility has multiple lemurs. Specific names mentioned are Rose, Whimsa, Thumbelina, and Honeybear. According to USDA inspections, Back To Nature has kept only one lemur for the past several years. These are social primates. Keeping a lemur in solitary confinement causes severe psychological distress, leading to extreme behavioral issues, self-harm, and permanent developmental damage. Recent visitors have seen only one lemur.
There are currently two fox residents living at Back To Nature. One is a red fox (Vulpes vulpes) and the other is gray (Urocyon cinereoargenteus). Vulpes vulpes are not technically native to Central Florida. The "refuge" is also in possession of one prairie dog (Cynomys ludovicianus). There is also an emu. These animals are not native to Florida. Where is this purported wildlife charity sourcing these exotic animals? Does each exotic animal have a
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission state permit? BTN has many of the cruel characteristics of a for-profit roadside zoo, not a reputable tax-funded wildlife refuge.
Back To Nature has received millions of dollars in grants, subsidies, buildings, and land from Orange County. The commissioners believe that this "rescue" is rehabilitating wildlife. In California, Miranda's Rescue received millions of dollars from multiple counties to supposedly rehabilitate animals. Instead, hundreds of those California animals were killed. Who is monitoring or auditing Back To Nature in Florida? The county granted this con another $5.6 million in taxpayer money in 2025.
Back To Nature's "resident animal" page returns an error message. They also do not post their current tax returns.
https://www.btnwildlife.org/resident-animals/
It does not appear that BTN discloses to the IRS nor to its donors the income generated from their Orange County contracts and grants. They also do not disclose the 20 acres Orange County has granted them in their assets or in-kind donations. BTN operates on a desirable, large conservation easement owned by the county known as Eagles Roost. It's next to the 1,700 acre Split Oak conservation land. Legitimate sanctuaries could benefit from this space. BTN's tax returns also do not appear to list in-kind donations, such as Lake Nona Publix's generous daily gifted produce and other goods.
https://apps.irs.gov/pub/epostcard/cor/592961216_202412_990_2026021923935662.pdf
The animals that this "wildlife refuge" houses are not all indigenous to Florida or even North America. For example, there is a lemur who has been kept in poor conditions, as cited by USDA. Lemurs are from Madagascar. That's an island nation located off the southeast coast of mainland Africa. This is a neglected exotic pet, not a rehabilitated Florida wild animal. The same is the case with their domestic goats. This animal does not live in the wild in Florida. Goats are kept as either livestock or pets.
Back To Nature is not and never was a genuine wildlife refuge. It is a sham, tax-funded hobby farm with a few exotic pets in filthy cages that aren't appropriate for their needs. The online content of visitors who like the facility ironically reveals that most of these animals are kept alone in small cages that do not simulate their natural habitat, provide exercise, allow the animals to behave naturally, have privacy and shelter, or offer enrichment. Why is Orange County granting millions of tax dollars to this facility?
You can read about other local criminal issues involving wildlife traffickers on Facebook on Crimewatch Orlando/Avalon Park - Waterford.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/861072132542982/permalink/1180211870629005
People and businesses can often be judged by the company they keep. Executive director Debbie Helsel has knowingly been longtime close friends and business partners with a prolific, inhumane Orange County wildlife trafficker in addition to Carmen Shaw. Helsel was made fully aware of the questionability of her close friend Jim Bronzo by 2014, but she chooses to double down and defend him. She continues to vouch for him. Despite her knowledge of concerns about him, she encouraged unknowing Avalon Park residents to donate to his East Orlando "sanctuary." Many Avalon Park residents were especially defrauded when Bronzo's "sanctuary" was located at 805 Baron Road. Helsel has subsequently been warned about Bronzo repeatedly. Readers are encouraged to save and share screenshots. Animal grifters protect their own.
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=2385161634827779&set=a.1508407549169863
Avalon Park residents alone raised hundreds of thousands of dollars following Jim Bronzo's housefire which was already covered by insurance. That fire remains unsolved. It's unknown whether the blaze was caused by his unattended firepit next to his house, Bronzo falling asleep without extinguishing his bedtime marijuana cigarette, his felon part-time employee Don Eric Ballard's heroin equipment that was used on the property, the multiple defective heating lamps for his trafficked reptiles, or Bronzo's hazardous kitchen incubator made from an old refrigerator.
You may have seen the recent exotic and wildlife animal escapes coverage on Orlando's WKMG Channel 6 news station, which was apparently an update to an investigative piece in 2022. There is a Sloth World link that hasn't been reported.
The story mentioned James C Bronzo from the former "no-kill" Second Chance Wildlife Sanctuary. Nobody from the news media seems to have been informed yet that Jim Bronzo was also involved in importing, then hiding, some of the sloths for Sloth World. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission investigator Rick Brown who was assigned to Sloth World is the same official who's been lax with Bronzo for several years and on many occasions. Chuck O'Neal from Speak Up For Wildlife has made social media posts pretending to care about the dead animals from Sloth World, but he says nothing about his friend Jim Bronzo illegally trafficking and harming those same animals. Speak Up For Wildlife did not speak up about Sloth World until April 23rd after the closure had already been announced, yet Chuck O'Neal has bizarrely taken credit for it.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/noto2/permalink/970417652302470
Helsel's narrative is that she was born in Pennsylvania and graduated from Orlando's Colonial High School. This information is unverifiable at this time.
https://www.orlandomagazine.com/story-of-a-wildlife-rescuer/
Bronzo and his friend Peter Bandre from Incredible Pets in Melbourne have been illegally importing endangered animals, breeding restricted reptiles without permits, poaching Florida wildlife, and trafficking banned exotic animals since the 1990s. Bronzo was born in Brooklyn, New York, but his family later moved to Melbourne. Bronzo graduated from Eau Gallie High School, and he's in Brevard County constantly for his animal trafficking and to see his relatives. He's often in Merritt Island to see his complicit sister Kathleen Bronzo-Matson. She's helped him lie to the public about his backstory. Jim Bronzo now illegally traffics exotic and wildlife animals in Orlando.
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10236682326099387&set=a.1919412066335
If you've been watching the coverage of Miranda's Rescue in California and its owner Shannon Miranda, you can see many similarities to Second Chance. Jim Bronzo is Florida's Shannon Miranda, complete with the angry senior fangirls protecting him and denying that hundreds of animals are obviously disappearing. There are so many resemblances between the two carnies, such as the flamboyant silk blouses, ex-husband who works in the adult fetish industry, high-pitched temper tantrums, teen boys but never any girls spending the weekend for supposed mentoring programs, and tacky bodybuilding. And more than a few hundred missing animals.
Jim Bronzo calls himself a "humane trapper" of ducks, birds, feral kittens, rabbits, squirrels, possums, and other small animals. Even now in 2026, he says they all go to "the no-kill sanctuary." This cheater doesn't tell people that Second Chance closed, and those "rescued" animals are likely going into illegal reptiles' stomachs.
Customers pay him the trapping fee, and they often also donate hundreds of dollars to "the no-kill sanctuary" when Bronzo picks up the animals. Many of the small animals are actually fed to his illegal reptiles. Bronzo also sells them to Incredible Pets and other reptile vendors. Bandre's name is off the Incredible Pets LLC now but he's still a part of it.
If a trapped animal is not easily edible for his reptiles, the cheat dumps them several streets away. He traps and dumps large tortoises throughout wealthy areas such as College Park. The scamster parks in the area at a store or public park, unlocks the trap or kennel, then walks away for an hour or more. He often retrieves trapped animals in the evening so it will be dark when he dumps. He hopes those animals escape. He's ensured repeat business for his "College Park Critter Guys" and donors for the "no-kill sanctuary" this way. He also meets wealthy clients for his art commissions on these calls.
Most donors assume that Florida animal sanctuaries or other states are regulated, as they are in Colorado. They're not, and a lot of grifters take advantage. Dishonest Florida sanctuaries con the public with their convenient fires, floods, burglaries, bank foreclosures, deadly diseases, evil neighbors, or evictions. If a sanctuary's founder, director, resident, paid caretaker, and landowner are the same person or family, it's probably not a trustworthy operation.
When Second Chance was still open at 805 Baron Road, Bronzo's friend, Valencia College music instructor Peri Sedigh bullied ex-volunteers who tried to speak up about what a cruel setup it was or how he cheated his donors and volunteers. There were other enablers such as Polk State College writing professor Rebecca Heintz and Speak Up For Wildlife leader Chuck O'Neal who both defend him to this day. Bronzo only began calling himself a rescuer in 2012, when he filed his nonprofit. He is actually a decades-long illegal wildlife poacher, exotic pet breeder, and inhumane reptile importer. The animals were crammed in filth and disease. He had several citations from FWC, which speaks volumes, as their enforcement is notoriously weak as it was with Sloth World. He should have had many more. Orange County Sheriff's Office and Orange County Animal Services didn't act on multiple reports about him or the multiple other fraudulent animal sanctuaries on Baron Road.
When Second Chance was on Baron, this scammer took cash and in-kind donations from businesses and individuals to "rescue" orphaned and pet rabbits, ducks, parrots, puppies, and kittens. Bronzo usually met women and families outside the gate when they surrendered these animals, promising that they'd be watched for life. He didn't actually show most these people where the animal would supposedly be living, but they apparently trusted him. They trustingly handed the fraudster cash donations and drove away. He also took "open rescues" of pig and chickens from paid animal activists. He also accepted those out on the driveway most of the time. After these visitors left, he or his convicted heroin-dealer assistant Don Eric Ballard fed those small animals to the pythons and other reptiles Bronzo illegally bred. The small piglets were fed to the snakes and the bigger ones became sausage. One of Bronzo's hundreds of lies is that he's vegan.
After every hurricane that hit Florida or Georgia, Bronzo slithered online to soak out-of-state donors with the sob-story that the storm knocked down his fence and killed dozens of animals. He'd allegedly raise tens of thousands from international donors. Even when those hurricanes didn't touch Central Florida and Second Chance. He also falsely claimed that Orange County Code Enforcement ordered him to tear down his fence and build a new one. This con-artist was always portraying himself as the victim of his ex-husbands, Orange County officials, neighbors, animal dumpers, thieves, and former volunteers. Local suppliers donated wood and other supplies. In three years, he had at least five "emergency" fundraisers for new fences and gates.
The Publix store on Chickasaw Trail gave the liar about $800 of leftover produce, meat, and baked goods every morning. The store believed he had 350 animals, which is why the donated so much food. He never needed that much food as he usually only had approximately 30 and sometimes as many as 50. He occasionally sold some of it to his friends in the Winter Park industry. Most of it went to waste. Other charities could have used that donation.
Bronzo told donors there were 350 diverse, rescued animals living there. Exotics, wildlife, livestock, companion animals. There were usually only around thirty animals at any time and most were his inventory and breeders, not rescues. If he'd just gotten an illegal shipment or it was right before one of the sleazy Repticon or Daytona trafficker shows, sometimes there would be 50 animals. The place was only 2.6 acres including his house, outdoor gym, art studio, Don Eric Ballard's heroin equipment, and the swampy backwoods. There wasn't room for 100 animals, let alone 350. Especially when the animals he claimed to shelter were very different species that needed separation and specialized habitats. But nobody was publicly mentioning that the "math wasn't mathing." There are other Florida sanctuaries that grossly inflate their numbers.
Bronzo took in big monetary and land inheritances from elderly people on the false promise he'd look after their animals. This liar conned the high schools, Boy Scouts, and court-ordered volunteers to clean up and perform projects for free. They had no idea this was a for-profit illegal trafficker, not a charity rescue. He told the media, donors, and new volunteers in 2016 he'd been operating there as a nonprofit sanctuary for 35 years. In 2019 he and his sister Kathleen Bronzo-Matson said it was 40 years. They claimed he'd operated a sanctuary there since 1985. He didn't even own the land until the early 1990s. He began staying there sometime after 1998, and the land was used to illegally breed and deal his exotics. He did not identify as a rescuer then. He was working as a cheap Daytona Beach timeshare salesman, selling to sex traffickers and outlaw biker gangs. He didn't even claim this was a "sanctuary" until 2012, which is when he realized he could scam elderly women for money and score free labor to clean his cages.
Second Chance had a convenient overnight housefire in 2019, which was covered by insurance, but he and Peri Sedigh threatened anyone who mentioned that. This fire happened soon after FWC noticed the wood house was filthy and the stairs were rotting. Bronzo took in millions for the next three years from donors. Not thousands - millions from around the world. The story made international news. He's still taking donations from those who don't know it closed. Most donors never actually went to Baron Road themselves, and many weren't in Florida.
Landowners also gifted multiple parcels so he could build a bigger sanctuary in Brevard County, but it's a mystery what happened to that. Builders donated wood, Spectrum Cable donated security cameras, and a lot of other goods were generously given by businesses and individuals. A new motorhome, animal feed, daily produce from Publix, clothes, animal medications, art supplies. Bronzo sold off a lot of those items, then attained more of the exact same items from new or different donors who were unaware of the initial donations. The main GoFundMe was just a small fraction of the millions in money, goods, and services that he continues to take in. Most of the payments happened from the Second Chance website, mailed checks, local restaurant fundraisers, and smaller online appeals such as Commissioner Patty Sheehan's.
https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-second-chance-wildlife-sanctuary-rebuild
When ex-volunteers attempted to discuss this fraud online beginning around 2019, Bronzo and Valencia College instructor Peri Sedigh bullied them. They wanted to silence people. Sedigh can be credited for protecting this Florida scam and others that have harmed good people and animals. She intimidated former volunteers in 2019 who had photos of seriously ill and neglected animals at Second Chance. The release of those images alone could have been enough to stop the harm to hundreds of animals, as well as defrauding donors and volunteers. Instead, Sedigh continues to censor that data for her friend, Jim Bronzo.
Bronzo and Sedigh actively got rid of evidence of the sick and injured breeder animals remaining there after the housefire. Most of the sickest animals that had been recently noticed on an FWC inspection conveniently died in the blaze, or so the public was told. There were some surviving animals who had medical problems that couldn't be dishonestly blamed on the fire.
After the 2019 housefire and with Bronzo's permission, an active volunteer transported two sick blue Quaker parrots to the veterinarian and paid the bill with her own money. She then took them to her house afterward to medicate them, and Bronzo initially consented. There wasn't anywhere on the burned Second Chance property for them to safely rehab. Peri Sedigh drove to the woman's house in Seminole County and demanded she hand them over. They were still clearly unhealthy. Sedigh is aware those two birds were fed to Bronzo's python. Both young blue Quaker parrots had originally arrived at Second Chance in August 2018 in good health.
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10217247842256312&set=a.1096105291055
One of Bronzo's many lies is that the ex-volunteers' photos of sick and injured animals were taken when the animals arrived at the sanctuary. He said that those images were "taken out of context," and it was others who had previously neglected or injured them. Bronzo never shared any follow-up photos of these alleged cases. Why weren't there updated pictures of any of these animals, living healthy lives at Second Chance?
Some older Florida animal rescuers and donors now consider Bronzo's friend Peri Sedigh their big waving red flag or “caution” sign. If she associated with an animal charity or activist group, they don’t want to be. If Sedigh is involved with a “nonprofit,” they can be sure It’s majorly harming animals and egregiously defrauding seniors. If she’s a founder or board member of a Florida cause or movement, they run away and don’t look back. Same with activist Chuck O'Neal.
Bronzo constantly played the lottery at Speedway and 7-11 with some of the donations and won the million-dollar prize for himself in 2021. The only media article to date that even lightly questioned him was published by Spectrum News 13. Unfortunately, the reporter Pete Reinwald did not dig harder to find those buried carcasses. Between that article and the possibility that some donors would consider him solvent from the win, Bronzo suspected his con would slow. He quietly decided to buy a College Park house and sell the Baron Road property.
Bronzo lied to his volunteers and the media about dozens of other matters about himself and the charity. About teaching waterskiing to big celebrities as an instructor at Disney, how he grew up in the backwoods of Florida among the "wild critters," repeatedly being in the hospital with long-term COVID, his grandfather being a gifted artist who painted with his teeth because he had no arms since childhood, the expensive African tortoises were found "wandering" in Orlando, playing the lottery on the exact same day of his late mother's supposed birthday, the dozens of gopher tortoises were only "temporarily" relocated to College Park because he was building a new water habitat for them, his llamas originating from comedian Robin Williams' family after he died, and that dozens of animals were disappearing because his evil neighbor was sneaking onto the property to steal them. All lies.
Bronzo told supporters the swans in the front Second Chance pond were rescues, and sales from his paintings of them went to the sanctuary. He actually stole those swans as babies from Lake Eola, and the money from the sales went into his personal bank account. He also illegally bred and sold swans. He converted an old refrigerator inside his kitchen into an incubator for the swan, peacock, and African Sulcata tortoise eggs he hatched and sold without licenses. The FWC never noticed the makeshift incubator during their inspections. Ex-volunteers have speculated that may have been the source of the convenient housefire, and young animals may have perished in it.
For several years, Jim Bronzo has avoided calls from former donors and the media who may ask what happened to the rebuild. Nearly five years after closing the Baron Road sanctuary, he's never publicly announced it. The slickster never thanked his donors and volunteers. Fellow grifters such as Chuck O'Neal know. Many supporters attempting to reach out haven't succeeded. Bronzo deliberately keeps the voice mailbox full and has removed the greeting mentioning his and Second Chance's name. There is a silent gap where there used to be that greeting, then an automated announcement that the caller can't leave a message because the box "is full." He began keeping the box full even before he left Baron Road, even though he was asked by his volunteers about it. Were donors already asking when that rebuild would happen?
Rebuilding that house was always right around the corner after the 2019 fire, and he just needed more money to rebuild it - even though he'd already made millions in addition to the insurance payoff. Someone else was always at fault for the stalled construction, supposedly. He said Orange County wasn't giving him the needed permits. Apparently, none of this thief's supporters checked on the Orange County website. He had permits all along. He said that the county wouldn't let him live in the donated motorhome on the property. Also a lie. He was granted permission for that too. The truth was that this shark preferred staying around Winter Park, where lonely elderly women paid him big fees to paint portraits of their dogs. Long before the fire and lottery win, he was readying that crooked golden parachute.
The financial fraud and disappearing animals were reported by ex-volunteers multiple times, while the Baron Road sanctuary was still open, to Orange County Animal Services and Orange County Sheriff's Office. Neither acted on those reports. Much like in California with Miranda's Rescue. Bronzo's "sanctuary" was not only a financial grift, it was a way to bolster his sagging art career that never gained any attention before. After forming his animal "nonprofit," he was invited to show his work at art galleries and museum opening nights.
Jim Bronzo lied about how he acquired certain animals and where they went. He was always the victim in his explanations. This scammer said that people were constantly dumping animals in the driveway when he wasn't home. Yet, no ex-volunteer recalls anyone showing up unannounced with animals when they were there, or finding dumped animals in the driveway when they arrived there. Apparently, none of Bronzo's ex-neighbors nor their security cameras detected anyone dumping. He knew that abandoning animals is illegal, yet this conman never reported these supposed incidents to authorities. Baron Road is a dead-end street in a semi-rural neighborhood that can only be reached by Sunflower Trail. How did these dumpers remarkably know when Bronzo wasn't home, and all go undetected? Bronzo blamed disappearances of specific animals on his neighbors breaking in and stealing them or releasing them from their cages. He initially attempted to tell that lie to an FWC officer in 2021 when a West African Nile monitor was found behind his neighbor RoseMarie Arnemann's property at 735 Baron Road for the second confirmed time (2021-MM-004091-A-O : State of Florida v. Bronzo, James).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfTJyOwLJO8&t=173s
Bronzo never reported any of these supposed break-ins or missing animals to law enforcement. Supporters repeatedly purchased security cameras for this swindler, found technicians willing to install them, and said they were eager to pay for monitoring. Bronzo stalled multiple donors regarding when the cameras could be positioned or he told them someone else was arranging it, then he quietly sold those donated cameras and kept the money for himself. He also stalled and avoided offers from supporters to microchip the animals. If he'd cared about the welfare of these animals, he would have actively detected who was supposedly dumping them and how they were actually disappearing. Despite Bronzo's constant claims of victimization, none of those donated cameras were ever installed.
Bronzo promised all of his donors and volunteers that the Baron Road land would forever be an animal sanctuary, even if it changed hands. He said that even if he ever moved or retired, he'd donate the land to a specific rabbit rescue located in Osceola County. Volunteers built structures, repaired enclosures, installed fences, and planted trees for years, believing that this sanctuary would always exist for animals, regardless of name. They sought donations of manufactured and tiny houses to put on the land for him. Nobody notices until it's too late with scam nonprofit sanctuaries that if the land remains in the founder's ownership, it's probably not a trustworthy operation. Bronzo didn't tell them in February 2021 that he'd bought a house in College Park. For several months afterward, his volunteers kept serving this phony, believing that rebuild was happening soon. Late in the year, Bronzo quietly sold the Baron Road to a private buyer who burned and bulldozed the volunteers' years of unpaid work. He never gave the volunteers a chance to adopt or say goodbye to the animals they loved.
Bronzo used to post photos of "dumped" piglets on his social media and claim he needed $500 each to spay or neuter them so he wouldn't be overrun with them. For years, this hustler's donors faithfully gifted that money. Constantly, he had incoming pigs and piglets. Eventually, there was a rural follower who offered to neuter the males for free. Castrating pigs and other livestock is legal and simple. That was the end of Bronzo's $500 neutering grift, but nobody publicly spoke of it. These pigs were never neutered or spayed anywhere. They were his and the snakes' dinners.
After Bronzo won his million from a scratch-ticket in early 2021, the win was in a couple of local news stories because Florida lottery results are public record. He avoided calls from reporters, but there was a little coverage anyway. The carnie realized that if some donors read the story, they might start asking why the house rebuild still hadn't happened after two years. He suspected it was time to quietly cash out with the millions in donations. He never announced the decision and still hasn't. He had his loyal volunteers cleaning cages there until the end, unaware the place was being sold. Bronzo killed and dumped most of the remaining animals that he couldn't immediately flip, sold the land, and is still accepting money from elderly women who still don't know he shut down the Baron Road sanctuary and permanently moved into the city. Many of the faker's trusting donors never actually went to that property. He's illegally trafficking exotic animals out of an urban home that's situated on a small lot in a high-density neighborhood. The neighbors of 525 W Winter Park Street probably have no idea.
You never meet or read about anyone who adopted any of the former Second Chance sanctuary animals. If these animals had been placed for adoption when he closed, there likely would have been online posts from him asking for placement and you'd see follow-up. Instead, the Florida animal welfare activists from groups such as Bear Defenders who've been friends with Bronzo for years, and actually took animals to Baron Road, behave as if those animals never existed. Chuck O'Neal from Speak Up For Wildlife claims to be an advocate of the environment and animals. He's made many posts pretending to care about the dead animals from Sloth World. He defends and remains friends with Jim Bronzo to this day.
To this day, there has never been any announcement that Second Chance closed, most of the low-dollar animals were killed or dumped, and the land was sold. Even some local police departments still contact him regarding orphan wildlife and they believe those animals go to a sanctuary. California's Shannon Miranda got caught. Florida's still silent about the abusive fraudster, Jim Bronzo.
There are multiple scam animal "rescues" remaining on Baron Road such as Doglando Foundation. The owners of each are longtime friends with Bronzo and they learned many crooked lessons from him. Orange County Sheriff's Office, Orange County Animal Services, and Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission have received reports about these Baron Road "charities" who falsify animals' backgrounds and disappearances, yet they do not meaningfully act on these concerns. Doglando has a community partner contract with Orange County Animal Services.
When a former low-level volunteer or donor whom Bronzo's avoiding does coincidentally see him in public and ask what happened, he lies about the circumstances of the sanctuary's closure. He blames others for his selling the Baron Road lot, such as claiming that Orange County forced him. He has told many people that his move was more recent than it actually was. He does not share with them that he bought his current home in February 2021, and that he had permanently relocated to that area long before the purchase. He does not want his former volunteers or donors to know that they were supporting him after he'd made the decision. He also claims he was in the hospital for a month with COVID. This charlatan has given different dates for that supposed month to different people. He was never hospitalized at all. He plays the sympathetic victim to distract each former volunteer or donor. He's so manipulative that some of those former volunteer or donor actually feel sympathetic his supposed current distress. He never has actually shared where those supposed 350 animals went, nor the reason that he didn't return calls, texts, and emails to these supporters for months or even years. Their cultish leader lies about where he's currently living. He says he's starting a new, smaller sanctuary "soon." When people follow up with him about the supposed new facility, he avoids them as he did for years when he was asked when the Baron Road rebuild would happen. This flim-flam artist harmed a lot of people and animals.
Anybody having verbal conversations with Bronzo and the remaining Baron Road "sanctuary" owners should consider lawfully recording them. All emails and Zoom chats should be retained. These carnies deliberately confuse their donors and volunteers, especially seniors, in live conversations. Bronzo and his accomplices are skillful with rapid gaslighting and sleight-of-hand. Sadly, the victims are often convinced they misunderstood. It's only when these interactions are played back or reread that some victims notice that Bronzo changes his fabrications, sometimes within minutes.
Some of Bronzo's victims may be silent now because they've looked back on the cumulative dozens of implausible lies they believed. They feel foolish now for falling for this con-artist. Other victims were elderly and are now no longer around to share their trauma. However, the "I didn't know" excuse is is a lie if that's claimed members of his inner circle. Those include Debbie Helsel, Chock O'Neal, Peri Sedigh, Shannon Geis, and Polk State College professor Rebecca Heintz.
Bronzo is now a celebrated "conservation artist" who has art openings around Florida at galleries and restaurants. He's still riding off that heroic rescuer title he never earned. The carnie's work is not unusual, difficult, or interesting enough that he could have sold it for these prices without the fraudulent gimmick.
https://www.facebook.com/reel/24225266673758654
Nobody has publicly asked what happened to the literal millions of dollars raised for the rebuild, not to mention the donated Brevard County parcels, goods, and recurring donations. The animal "rescue" and activist community has never openly asked him basic questions and they're unlikely to. Wildlife activists such as public college music instructor Peri Sedigh and Back To Nature executive director Deborah Helsel remain personal friends and have not disavowed his actions despite their awareness. Animal carnies protect their own."
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Petition created on July 26, 2026