Bear Warriors United, Be Transparent with Finances
Bear Warriors United, Be Transparent with Finances
O problema
This is in reference to the Sierra Club's Florida chapter and the bear hunt. Florida Sierra Club leaders have used the organization's resources to platform multiple fraudulent outside groups and their historically corrupt leaders. Among the latter are Katrina Shadix's Bear Warriors, Adam Sugalski's Bear Defenders, and Chuck O'Neal's Speak Up Wekiva/Speak Up for Wildlife.
Shadix has strong ties to the Sierra Florida chapter. She's close friends with Rhonda Ruff, who is the co-leader for Sierra's bear conservation committee. Shadix was the featured speaker at a 2025 Central Florida spring gathering and apparently given their "Mama Bear" award later in the year. She was also their speaker in 2021. Despite hearing concerns from mainstream and longtime members about Bear Warriors, some Sierra leaders continue that relationship. An official leader allegedly paid for the list of bear hunt tag holders through a Freedom of Information Act request in November 2025, then provided the document directly to Shadix. Other activist groups such as Chuck O'Neal's Speak Up for Wildlife may have been directly provided the list by the same Sierra leader. The aggressive, questionable histories of these outside groups seemed to be known by that person and other Sierra leaders when making the decision.
Shadix is a featured speaker at Sierra’s 2026 Earth Day event in Broward County. She’s listed on their publicity.
https://www.sierraclub.org/florida/broward/2026-earth-day-celebration
https://www.sierraclub.org/sites/default/files/2025-12/2026-bsg-earth-day-flyer.pdf
Shadix and her Bear Warriors members have been involved in criminal and financially risky acts for years in other states. She's encouraged or coached to perform this behavior by Adam Sugalski, who's been formally listed as the group's Protest Coordinator. Annually, Shadix and other criminals use group funds to travel to New Jersey to criminally harass residents and officials. One of Shadix's accomplices is Sierra Club's Gail Theresa Zega from
Silver Springs. They allegedly steal campaign signs from front yards and place them in front of other people's businesses without permission, stop highway traffic, vandalize cars, and "dox" hunters. In 2016, they publicly harassed and falsely accused two different New Jersey men of killing a popular bear nicknamed
"Pedals." They continued these accusations even after the state wildlife officials confirmed that an unrelated third man had killed the bear. The first two men apparently sued, and one of the lawsuits lasted for at least two years. Shadix allegedly has used Bear Warriors funds to defend this and other personal lawsuits. She unsuccessfully attempted to claim she's not subject to New Jersey laws because she lives in Florida. Zega is apparently introduced in local activist circles and at Sierra Club event as only "Z" in order to obscure her illegal activities. Members may be falsely told this is her formal, legal name.
https://www.dailyrecord.com/story/news/local/morris-county/2018/02/09/man-accused-killing-pedals-bear-said-he-didnt-do-suing/322569002/
Did east Orange County Commissioner and University of Central Florida professor Dr. Kelly Martinez Semrad lie to CNN and her constituents? She's known for her role as Vice President for Save Orange County, which has been accused of financial corruption in recent years. This purported member of the Sierra Club and Bear Warriors said in a mid-November 2025 CNN story that she'd purchased and secured a Florida bear hunt tag because, as a non-hunter, she wanted to "spare a bear." Her name does not appear on the published list for the 172 hunt permit holders that's provided by Florida Fish and Wildlife commission.
Every hunt lottery applicant received at least three emails or texts informing them of the process and their placement in each round. Those who "won" received reminder emails and calls. They then had to pay extra fees to "snag the tag." There wasn't room for doubt about one's status.
It seems unlikely that CNN misunderstood Commissioner Kelly Semrad, but she should be given a chance to clarify. What other incorrect information is possibly being said by this UCF professor and her Save Orange County organization?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUslACQQ5Ic&t=2m47s
This information is also being sent to holders of the 2025 Florida bear hunting permit. They're likely to have been contacted by Florida groups opposing the hunt, such as Bear Warriors. That group's founder and executive director is Katrina Renee Garvin Schultz Shadix. She's also associated with several other Florida "wildlife nonprofits" such as Brian Jacobson's Earth Angel Outdoors in Geneva and Oviedo. The media is also interfacing with a leader who's providing dishonest backstory, Speak Up for Wildlife's "Chuck" Charles Whittington O'Neal from Apopka. The following link is provided as an FYI. In case those opinions are deleted online, they're also provided below. You're welcome to share this email.
https://www.change.org/p/bear-warriors-united-be-transparent-with-finances
Two of Bear Warriors United's pro bono Florida attorneys, Raquel Levy and Thomas Crapps, have advised the group's leader that an appeal filing for the denied emergency injunction against the bear hunt is ill-advised at best. In her denial of the emergency injunction motion, Florida Judge Angela Dempsey stated that BWU's main case against the state of Florida also seems likely to fail. BWU's attorney on past cases, Lesley Blackner, has also told Shadix that the case is unlikely to win or establish any precedents. Bear Warriors United has received donated funds to hire a California attorney who was also on their manatee case, Jessica Blome. Recently, Bear Warriors' leader excitedly encouraged donors to read the prior record of Blome, who apparently won't work pro bono or on contingency. Blome is allegedly requiring 10K just to read the failed emergency injunction filing. She will likely require a high six-figure fee for the main case against the state of Florida. BWU supporters worldwide are being contacted to fund these efforts. BWU also doesn't seem to have an attorney who's reviewing the legality, or lack thereof, of the plan to buy bear hunting licenses from those who won the lottery. It should give everyone pause that none of Shadix's own attorneys, even those who bend laws for her, are willing to publicly endorse this plan.
Katrina Shadix is portraying Bear Warriors as legally underrepresented, therefore she must fundraise money to hire California's Blome. Shadix has duped her supporters into believing she's a figurative David who needs hundreds of thousands of donated dollars, multiple times a year, to fight Goliath. While her donors are aware of Levy and Crapps, Shadix has completely omitted that she already had and still has additional impressive pro bono attorneys on the bear hunt case. Appearing on BWU's behalf and filing motions is Clay Henderson from Stetson University's environmental law group and the well-funded Humane World for Animals. The latter group used to be known as the controversial Humane Society of the United States. Please read that group's history of alleged sexual assault and harassment. Clay Henderson has apparently been granted Intervenor status by the judge. Bear Warriors is also being assisted on this case by Margaret Stewart from Barry University's environmental law clinic.
Shadix has been quietly nicknamed "Shady" in animal-rights circles for several years. It's suspicious that the leaders of multiple activist groups, some of whom call her this name themselves, are publicly abetting her now. Her alleged scams have multiplied since she was initially given that nickname by activist insiders.
The 2025 hunt is over, but BWU may attempt to buy hunters' permits in the future. Before tag-holders attempt to sell their hunt licenses to any anti-hunting activist group, they should speak to their own attorneys and Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission regarding the legality or lack thereof. It's risky to rely on the BWU leader's claims that she vetted this arrangement with a nameless "attorney." No lawyer, including Bear Warriors' own outspoken Raquel Levy, has publicly affirmed this is legal. Obstructing a hunt is illegal in Florida.
Too much room has been left in the "tag buyback program" for the BWU leader to claim she's bought more tags from intended hunters than she actually has, then pocket the money for herself. Supposedly, Shadix is meeting the potential hunters at the post office, buying the tag, and directly handing over the envelope to a postal counter employee. She refuses to show photos of the tags supposedly purchased. On BWU social media, there's only one blurred, close-up photo of a pair of scissors cutting a green zip-tie, but the latter could have been acquired from one of the several anti-hunt activists who acquired a permit this year. It's also unknown if that green zip-tie corresponds to a bear tag. Shadix also claimed that she cannot use certified mail for these supposed returns because FWC provided hunters with pre-printed return envelopes. This is untrue. Pre-printed envelopes can be certified for an additional $5.30 fee. Even if those envelopes couldn't be certified, BWU could simply place the returned tags in their own envelopes, certify those, and mail them to the same provided FWC address. Any tags actually being returned may be from the anti-hunt activists who never intended to use them. Below is a link regarding certified mail regulations.
https://postalpro.usps.com/certified-mail-guidebook
The BWU leader has been associated with multiple Florida "no-kill animal sanctuaries" that commit high-dollar fraud and intentional animal cruelty. These animal charities engage in large fundraising and evidence-thwarting scams such as staged break-ins, sudden evictions or foreclosures, floods, and midnight fires. These "sudden emergencies," in which many animals have died or "disappeared," often conveniently happen soon after the FWC or the county's animal services cited the sanctuary for inhumane conditions. They blame their constant animal "disappearances" on thefts from evil neighbors yet refuse offers of donated surveillance cameras and animal microchips. When volunteers and donors ask what happened to specific missing animals, the "sanctuary" managers use the cover story that an allegedly hostile neighbor is recurrently entering the property at night and opening the enclosures, yet these supposed incidents are rarely or never reported to authorities. One of those nonprofits was founded by an illegal wildlife trafficker who uses animals to lure young children. Adam Sugalski of Bear Defenders and Chuck O'Neal of Speak Up Wekiva/Speak Up for Wildlife are knowingly enabling these criminals. Shadix, Sugalski, and O'Neal deliberately continue to conceal multiple Florida animal "sanctuaries" and nonprofits that are fronts for cruel wildlife poachers, exotic animal smugglers, and illegal reptile breeders. These groups are more likely to be causing animal harm to keep the illusion alive. The "sanctuaries" are sometimes used to house visiting domestic ecoterrorists. Also providing cover for these cruel scams is hostile Polk State College professor Rebecca Heintz. Well-meaning people unknowingly fund groups that harm more animals than they help. These "sanctuaries" are not just well-intended, accidentally inefficient charities - these are deliberately fraudulent animal abusers.
Some of these sanctuaries are part of a larger problem of the Best Friends Animal Society "no-kill" scam. Vicious animals have been transported across the country and laundered through multiple rescue groups several times in order for "no-kill" shelter to maintain that title. These shelters don't research where some of these dangerous animals are shipped. Most do no follow-up - it's all about maintaining the "no-kill" for their individual shelter or rescue. They feed the illusion there's "a farm in the country" somewhere for all of America's deadly dogs. In some cases, some eventually end up at these deadly Florida sanctuaries. They've attacked neighboring people and animals.
Chuck O'Neal's public claims that he's an attorney may be dishonest. There is no information proving that he has a law degree, license, or career.
There are multiple cases in which these owners of "wildlife sanctuaries" turn up to falsely claim a recently deceased person's real estate, sometimes even before the body is buried. They tell the adult children and heirs that the dead person "wanted" to will the land to the charity land for a wildlife sanctuary. They never have an explanation as to why there's nothing in writing or even photos of the dead person willingly associating with the charity. If the heirs resist, they're painted as rich, animal-hater developers who aren't honoring their dead relative's wishes. The charity paints themselves as victims who knew the deceased person better than their own adult children, even in cases in which there was no family estrangement. If there is further resistance from the heirs, the charity leader may claim that there are "historical markers" determined on the land, such as a Black slave's grave. Accused racism enters the picture. This has allegedly happened to multiple ranching families in Orange, Seminole, and Polk counties.
Shadix is friends and works with convicted California eco-terrorist and "animal-rights activist" Rodney Adam Coronado. He has been committing arson and other vandalism for the past 40 years. He's also been accused of sexual assault by multiple women. The vegans ignore his eating meat because it's supposedly part of his "Pascua Yaqui culture." He's probably lying about his aboriginal ethnicity. None of his four grandparents identified as indigenous. He's not the only likely "Pretendian" in this movement.
https://www.earthisland.org/journal/index.php/magazine/entry/no-compromise/
Shadix is associated with South Florida activist Steve Rosen, owner of the "nonprofit" Angels in Distress. There may be issues of vulnerable seniors disclosing their personal information including Social Security numbers on the pretense that Rosen is applying for hunting permits for them. These seniors are not related to Rosen. He may also be attaining additional information and resources from them. He's been accused by multiple women of sexual harassment and assault.
https://angelsindistress.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Limited-Power-of-Attorney_button.pdf
Chuck O’Neal’s associate Rosen has engaged in questionable practices for more than two decades. His continued placement in the animal-rights movement is perhaps reflective of this community's willingness to indulge problem individuals under the stated goal of "helping the animals." An old article about Rosen is below.
https://www.browardpalmbeach.com/news/the-doctor-and-the-rabbits-6319635/
The BWU leader has been asked about these expenses and decisions by multiple volunteers and donors, but their concerns remain unaddressed. The leader quickly acts emotional upon being asked the most basic questions from her supporters. Sometimes, she even apparently begins crying and says she's upset about the bear hunt. She apparently has yet to compose herself and answer their simple questions later. Shadix may be truly upset on behalf of bears, but donors and volunteers should notice and document this pattern. It seems odd that these crying spells for the bears only seem to happen when people are asking questions. There may be multiple elderly women who are being financially exploited.
There is no written information or contract shared with donors and volunteers about the specific financial arrangements between Shadix and Blome. It does not appear that this expenditure and lawsuit have been discussed by a board of directors - assuming this group even has a valid one. Shadix has installed uninvolved or out-of-state family members such as her mother Myra Walker Williams as officers.
Supporters are being pressured to fund upfront payments for Jessica Blome. There is no formal information as to whether Blome also receives additional fees from the defendant if she wins. Donors are being ignored when they ask if Bear Warriors can stipulate costs at the conclusion of a successful case. Considering that donors are paying the costs of a lawsuit, why are they being kept in the dark about who's receiving potential settlements or judgements?
At times, it seems that volunteers and potential donors are being told different things by Shadix. Maybe phone conversations and meetings with this person should be openly recorded and compared? Shadix claims that Blome is the best in her field and can be "sponsored" by a licensed Florida attorney. At other times, that BWU leader has said that Blome will soon receive a Florida license. These claims seem to contradict each other. There is no information that Blome has applied for licensure in Florida or taken the exam. Per Florida law, a "sponsoring" in-state attorney must closely supervise the out-of-state attorney's work. Legally and ethically, Raquel Levy and Thomas Crapps cannot just passively sign off on Jessica Blome's hypothetical work. Levy and Crapps have already indicated they don't support appealing the emergency injunction decision, so it seems unlikely they're onboard with BWU's stated plan.
https://www.floridabar.org/directories/courts/fed-corner/
Since BWU's leader encouraged people to look at Blome's record, others have done exactly that. Ironically, anyone can quickly locate several cases in which Jessica Blome did NOT win or set precedents for her animal-related or wildlife-related clients.
Raquel Levy was disciplined by the Florida Bar in 2021 for not properly supervising in an unrelated past case. Her "paralegal" was a disbarred attorney who was illegally meeting with clients on her firm's behalf. She is aware that she must be present and engaged if her name appears on the filings.
It appears that in the few cases in which Blome did represent a winning plaintiff, an elite in-state environmental attorney such as Florida's Lesley Blackner was also on the case. It's believed that Blackner represented BWU pro bono or on contingency.
It appears that Bear Warriors blames the state when the organization itself abandons its own funded opportunities and initiatives to assist animals or the environment. For example, "Shady" has known for at least a decade that FWC dislikes water hyacinths.
https://myfwc.com/wildlifehabitats/habitat/invasive-plants/weed-alerts/water-hyacinth/
This invasive, non-native aquatic floating plant kills eelgrass, which is a native underwater plant that shelter and feed fish, manatees, and other wildlife. It also impedes waterways. In fact, the FWC has been attempting to eradicate water hyacinths, and this plant is generally illegal to possess in Florida. Because manatees were starving in 2022, the Florida Department of Agriculture assisted Shadix with attaining a permit to harvest and transport water hyacinths. Once she attained the permit, Brevard Zoo offered to use its own volunteers and space to feed manatees. Shadix's donors had already contributed to her feeding program. Shadix then attempted to foist her permit off to FWC in October 2022, "volun-telling" them to feed water hyacinths to the manatees. FWC reminded her they wouldn't use her water hyacinth permit and why. Nobody used Shadix's feeding permit, yet she blames FWC rather than herself for abandoning her own program. In November 2022, Shadix began suing Florida Department of Environmental Protection, now blaming poor water quality for manatee deaths.
Meanwhile, the manatees continued to starve. What happened to the Bear Warriors donations earmarked for the feeding program? Unrelated charities have accepted donations of lettuce as a stopgap for feeding manatees. She apparently never spoke of it again, and donors' questions were ignored. They've also asked for native eelgrass as a more effective supplemental feed for them. Shady has presented a variety of supposed "senior scientists" during her media appearances with major outlets such as CNN.
Blome's stated career timeline seemingly leaves a lot of holes. It appears that she was licensed in California for the first time in 2017, despite supposedly graduating from University of Iowa's law school, then practicing law in California and Missouri since 2007. Like the BWU leader, it seems that she's vague about a lot. What happened to Blome's bar licenses in Missouri and Iowa? Regardless, an out-of-state attorney can only work or appear in Florida a few times as a guest - "ad hoc" - before they're possibly breaking the law. Blome may have already exceeded that with her work on BWU's prior manatee case. If you're a potential donor, please read and make your own decision.
https://apps.calbar.ca.gov/attorney/Licensee/Detail/314898
It should also be noted that Jessica Blome currently and frequently works and socializes with Wayne Pacelle, an alleged unrepentant serial rapist and sexual harasser who left his CEO position at Humane Society of the United States in 2018 for that reason. Even more concerning, his current organization, Animal Wellness Action, has multiple leaders who were also accused of sexual harassment and assault at HSUS and beyond. It's disappointing to see a woman choosing to platform this alleged predator in 2025. For more information about Pacelle, here's a link.
It does not take long to find multiple cases represented by Jessica Blome in which her clients lost. These were located in 20 minutes.
https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/california/candce/3:2023cv01652/410784/129/
https://www.courthousenews.com/feds-cleared-on-iowa-zoos-troubled-run/
https://www.reuters.com/legal/new-mexico-ranchers-urge-court-stop-plan-shoot-feral-cattle-helicopter-2023-02-23/
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/68011397/wild-horse-education-v-united-states-department-of-interior-bureau-of/
Shadix is welcome to comment on attorney Jessica Blome's losing cases, the questions about her licensing, and the Pacelle relationship. This message does not detract from BWU's and attorney Lesley Blackner's 2025 win in the manatee case. Shadix should be given an opportunity to explain why she is seeking donations, proof of the legality of the hunting license buyout program, what her reasoning is for selecting this high-priced California attorney who's not licensed in Florida, and how other money is being used. Blome should also be allowed to explain the apparent gaps in career and licensing timelines. There may be good explanations for Blome's many case losses.
Shadix and Bear Warriors apparently have ties to the so-called Save Florida Citrus Grove Foundation, which is actually a questionable Miami copyright litigation firm named Bryce Global Holdings LLC. You can read about one of Adrian and Corey Bryce's latest alleged copyright swindles at the following link. For years, these predators have been orchestrating bait-and-switch and stalling real estate scams on elderly farmers and ranchers, making them believe that a local charity and/or county preservation group is ready to buy the land at full market value. Those local deals rarely materialize, and eventually the grifters either misappropriate the land for their own fake "charity" or attempt to pressure and con Florida Forever into buying it despite its lack of ecological or aesthetic significance. The Florida Forever program is at risk of becoming a bail-out program for farmers and other landowners who saw their properties devalued or unmarketable because of stalling, harassment, bait-and-switch, inappropriate zoning, and interference from Shadix and grifters like her. She falsely gains support by telling the public that a property is on the Florida wildlife corridor, even when she knows it's nowhere near it.
https://www.reddit.com/r/TRADEMARK/comments/1nqix3i/worried_received_trademark_cd_and_demand_over_a/
Far too often in Florida animal-rights or wildlife advocacy circles, supporters are groomed or coerced to not ask questions. There's often a toxic culture in which a volunteer's reasonable concerns about finances or questionable people are derided as "not caring about the animals." The questions raised here are likely to be written off as those of "a trophy hunter." BWU is probably the least dirty bear-specific group, but that may be more of a sign of how unethical the others are. Florida’s animal rescue groups and advocacy circles are so polluted lately that volunteers feel forced to side with whichever group currently seems the least corrupt to them rather than freely choosing a reputable one. Some elderly Florida supporters suspecting these issues desperately hope that "at least a few animals will be helped" if they quietly comply again. Too often, the opposite happens and these well-meaning volunteers and donors are unintentionally enabling those who deliberately harm animals. There are leaders who are illegal reptile traffickers, wildlife poachers, and even habitual animal abusers.
The BWU leader claims that she is not paid, yet she has unexplained personal financial wealth. Her son, US Navy Officer Dane Shadix, also has unexplained financial resources. After each of her major money-grabs, she appears to have had new cosmetic surgeries. Neither of her ex-husbands, John Tyler Schultz and Michael Bryan Shadix, were wealthy. Neither were her parents, John Barnes Garvin and Myra Walker. She currently does not appear to have outside paid employment. Before she became involved in local animal charities about a decade ago, she worked at minimum-wage jobs. She was allegedly fired from her waitressing job at the Chuluota bar known for its midget-wrestling nights, Hitching Post. This establishment is allegedly frequented by drug dealers and addicts who've been unwelcomed from other local bars. She's allegedly been caught shoplifting.
There have been multiple Florida animal-related charities that dishonestly received large land donations that the leader placed into his or her own name and sold for personal profit later. The charity leaders may claim the land is being used for a "sanctuary" because they released a few animals supplied by a nuisance wildlife trapper, such as squirrels and possums. The original donors, who sometimes bequeathed the real estate in estate plans, are sometimes deceased and do not notice when the land is sold by the nonprofit leader for a personal profit a few years later. The BWU leader appears to have a 200-acre "sanctuary" that was placed in her name and has not probably been declared in IRS or other disclosures. There may be another recent questionable real estate acquisition as well. She's claiming on tax forms that BWU has less than 50K of financial business annually, but this is untrue. The group's IRS identification number is 82-0985009. Despite being an openly political group, Bear Warriors has fully tax-deductible 501c3 status.
According to the Florida Check-a-Charity page, Bear Warriors reported 435K in business in 2024. This probably does not include the large land acquisitions.
The BWU leader allegedly contacts elderly landowners as a supposed agent working on behalf of the Florida Forever conservation program, then procures land and money for herself with promises of a future "animal sanctuary" or "licensed wildlife rehabilitation center." She's not the only Florida "wildlife activist" who allegedly does this. Seminole County rancher Barbara Imogene Yarborough may have been defrauded before her 2023 death. Most activists who claim to be "licensed rehabilitators" are lying. These permits can be found on the FWC website.
https://myfwc.com/media/5423/licensedwildliferehabilitatorsbyregion.pdf
Shadix claims that she takes care of several animals that were left behind when the families moved away. This is a lie. She is dumping vicious pit bulls and feral cats at vacant houses. She shoots video of the animals at the vacant homes with the fake backstories. These are usually the vacated or storm-damaged homes of low-income persons of color. These feral animals damage the properties and make it difficult for the owners or potential buyers to enter. The wandering animals kill the area’s wildlife and livestock. The homes and land are devalued by the damage, which may enable Shadix to buy them. Property values also may crash for the low-income neighbors, and it’s sometimes unsafe for them to enjoy their own yards or roads because of Shadix’s wandering animals.
The “animal-rights” movement, along with its many associated "sanctuaries," is one of the few activist causes in which criminals can easily embed themselves and falsify long personal and professional histories in order to make themselves appear accomplished. Leaders' credentials aren't openly fact-checked. It's easy for 45-year-old reptile traffickers to start attending activist events, immediately say that they've run a local sanctuary "for the past forty years," then begin receiving high-dollar donations and social clout right away. Nobody feels comfortable questioning the basic unsoundness of their statements - even that it's mathematically unlikely that a 45-year-old has been a landowner and nonprofit leader since they were apparently five years old. Nobody states aloud that they'd never heard of a supposed "legendary local conservationist" or their sanctuary before a recent event when the leaders are endorsing him. If anyone's aware that the charity formation and land purchase actually happened just one year ago, they apparently don't feel safe to openly say so. Cases such as Steve Rosen and Rodney Adam Coronado suggest that most animal-rights activist leaders don't speak up even when they're aware of the alleged problem pasts and behaviors of those around them.
Shadix appears to be giving an inaccurate backstory. She portrays herself as having a rugged, third-generation rural Seminole County upbringing. Her father, John Barnes Garvin, was actually a transplant from Massachusetts. Her mother's family was from Louisiana. The family home was apparently in upscale Winter Park in Orange County. Katrina's mother Myra Walker and her subsequent husband, Benjamin Ray Williams Jr., lived in Orlando and Vero Beach, not Seminole County. Katrina graduated from the suburban Colonial High School in Orlando, which is in Orange County. She's also known as Trina Shadix, an unlicensed medical assistant.
Shadix appears to dupe her supporters for high dollar amounts for future legal action that's misrepresented, over-promised, or doesn't materialize. She's also taken credit for state actions that weren't even partially due to her group's efforts. In 2022, she raised thousands of dollars to sue Palm Beach Sheriff's Office regarding a bear shooting by a deputy. Shadix immediately fundraised 50,000 dollars to sue PBSO and the Palm Beach County commission. She told her followers that her lawsuit demanded several major results from officials, such as forcing PBSO to provide bear-safety training for all Florida Sherriff's departments and to air public service announcements about bear safety. She continued to take donations beyond the 50,000. The FWC was at the June 18th shooting incident, at which they immediately and assertively told the PBSO the matter had been handled incorrectly. FWC officials were publicly critical of PBSO in the days following the shooting. Unrelated to Bear Warriors, many Palm Beach residents were openly angry about the shooting. In July 2022, FWC officials met with PBSO and resolved the matter. Shadix credited her legal demands for that meeting, declared this a BWU victory, and never said anything again about additional legal action. This meeting between FWC and PBSO was likely to happen anyway. Nobody knows what happened to the money for the stronger measures Bear Warriors promised.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgBt6j333Kw
It's confounding that Katrina Shadix and her Bear Warriors United are staging these donor-funded bear-hunt legal motions in 2025 and 2026. She is the former director of Chuck O'Neal's Speak Up Wekiva, which unsuccessfully attempted a similar lawsuit and emergency injunction against FWC in 2015 and 2016. The pair were also simultaneously involved with the same multiple "nonprofit wildlife sanctuaries" that were lucrative fronts for cruel reptile traffickers and wildlife poachers. When these "charities" were being investigated for cruelty and fraud, they had convenient overnight fires and break-ins. This history seems to be concealed from newer donors and volunteers in Florida conservation and animal-rights circles. Speak Up Wekiva also operates as Speak Up for Wildlife. Ironically, these groups with "speak up" in their titles foster a code of silence. Well-meaning people are providing donations, volunteer labor, real estate, and supplies to these sham "sanctuaries." This diverts those resources from charities that are actually helping animals.
If you're a member of the news media or potential donor, don't take any activism leader's word that an "animal-rights spokesperson" has an upstanding history or that a "wildlife sanctuary" has hundreds of rescued animals and has existed for 40 years. Please check your official county real estate property websites, local and federal court proceedings, wildlife bureau investigations, state LLCs, and IRS records.
Beware of any "sanctuary" that won't microchip its animals and accept donations of perimeter surveillance cameras. Please be cautious when donating to an animal-rights group doesn't provide one-year and three-year follow-ups on sponsored "open rescue" animals. There are elderly and out-of-state donors contributing to Polk State University professor Rebecca Heintz's promoted Florida "sanctuaries" that don't currently exist. Some urban animal-rights "rescuers" receive multiple lifetime sponsorships on a singular farm animal supposedly "liberated" from a slaughterhouse, then dump that unfed livestock on rural, unfenced land. The neighbors, community, and animals lose. None of the Florida "sanctuaries" that are actively managed or endorsed by Florida activist leaders currently opposing the bear hunt are certified by ethical organizations.
If you're a member of the media, please research a shelter or rescue before publishing or airing an emotional story about their purported "sudden" crisis such as a fire, flood, eviction, hostile neighbor, or break-in. The well-meaning public has been conned for millions of dollars after these unresearched stories. Some questions to ask: Does the shelter owner or manager seem more concerned about the animals who are missing or dead from the "crisis," or how the matter directly affects himself or herself? Who legally owns the "sanctuary" land, bank accounts, and animals? Is there insurance? If 300 animals were supposedly affected, does the property and facility appear to realistically have capacity for that many? If your media outlet runs such a story, please consider following up with that animal "charity" a year later. How many animals are still alive? Did the facility rebuild? What safety measures are in place to prevent another sudden "tragedy" next year? What do several neighbors and ex-neighbors of the "sanctuary" tell you? Where are the volunteers and donors from the prior story - are they still engaged? What are the criminal records of any paid employees?
Please note that most groups that do accredit sanctuaries only monitor the animal-related conditions at the facility. Accreditation is not necessarily a seal of approval for deciding whether it's a good investment of your own human time, money, or land. Accrediting groups generally do not detect potential financial mismanagement, disproportionate power and ownership of one individual or family, truthfulness in fundraising, private land ownership, or volunteer mistreatment. While it's important that the accredited sanctuaries treat their animals humanely, some may be taking in quadruple the money and land than what's needed for the proper care of the animals and staff wages, then the owners pocket the remaining 75 percent. It appears that some accrediting organizations evaluate a smaller amount of land than the impressive acreage that the sanctuary owns and boasts about to the public. For example, a Florida panhandle sanctuary owns at least 100 acres and raises millions of dollars annually with that claim. The 100 acres was bequeathed in a widow's estate. Donors assume that this is a spacious facility that requires a large operating budget. Despite owning that 100-acre parcel and possibly others for more than a decade, that sanctuary operates on only five acres. The accrediting body only evaluates those five acres. For a list of Florida groups accredited by Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries, visit their website.
https://sanctuaryfederation.org/
These same Florida leaders who aggressively protest SeaWorld routinely collect money for their friends' "sanctuaries" that are far less humane and regulated. It's unlikely that the leaders don't notice how filthy and unsafe their friends' facilities are, and that many of their "nonprofits" are fronts for longtime reptile traffickers and wildlife poachers. Animal-rights activists perform meticulous undercover investigative and regulatory research when they're attempting to embarrass zoos or other animal businesses that they dislike. They know how to file Freedom of Information Act requests and attain USDA inspection records that aren't published online. When their python-breeding friend's well-funded "animal sanctuary" receives multiple violations for inhumane animal treatment from Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the county animal services department, the same activists ironically accuse the government of "bullying a legendary conservationist." They hypocritically never want to see those inconvenient photos and descriptions of the cited sanctuary that are easily viewed in the online public court records. Instead, they fundraise to retain aggressive defense attorneys to ensure their friends can continue inhumanely breeding illegal exotic animals and jeopardizing Florida's ecosystem. Adam Sugalski has enjoyed public praise and donations when he takes his "open rescues" to sanctuaries, yet he says and does nothing when those same facilities close a few years later. He doesn't retrieve, re-home, or advocate for those animals he left behind. He's stayed friends with these scam "sanctuary" managers, despite knowing they'd killed or abandoned those animals, and stole high-dollar donations.
The effort to flood the hunt lottery system with non-hunters may be another chapter in the activist leaders' financial cons and lies. Shadix told the media and her followers that she personally applied 550 times with her own name for a cost of 2,750 dollars to Bear Warriors. Steve Rosen said he personally submitted 800 applications for himself, using his organization's funds. Rosen's "Angels" group supposedly submitted 37,000 applications, costing his donors 185,000 dollars. His friend Chuck O'Neal was part of this swindle.
https://www.aol.com/articles/florida-got-160-000-requests-093000432.html
Rosen's and Shadix's claims are likely fabricated or grossly exaggerated. According to Orlando news outlet WKMG/Click Orlando, apparently following a public records request with FWC, the most applications submitted by one applicant was 400. It's unknown whether any of the high-number applicants or lottery winners submitted their applications in direct association with any formal group using donor funds.
Please be cautious when donating your labor or money to any sanctuary that has a sudden purported crisis, especially when you've never heard of that charity. Don't assume that the media's verified the story. Check their property records, IRS reports, Animal Services and FWC violation histories, and LLC registration.
In August 2016, Adam Sugalski's friends Tina Lee (a.k.a. Tina Richardson) and her husband Gerrit Lee raised thousands of dollars with a "sudden eviction" scam. They claimed that they and their new "charity," Forever Farm Sanctuary, had rented the property from someone else in New Smyrna Beach for several years. This was untrue. In August 2016, the news stories repeated their lies that the "evil Bank of America" was suddenly foreclosing on their landlords, so the Forever Farm "tenants" had to leave the property in two days. They claimed that more than 400 animals would soon be homeless. It was all a lie. Tina and Gerrit Lee owned that property. This wasn't the fault of an external evil landlord or bank. Their farm was an inhumane breeding operation which was nicknamed "the boneyard" for six years by neighbors because of the emaciated, neglected animals. It was only in June 2016 that Tina Richardson Lee rebranded and registered as a "sanctuary." Forever Farm is just one of dozens of scam sanctuaries nationwide that Sugalski and the others have endorsed or defended. Fortunately, that one didn't stage an overnight housefire.
https://www.facebook.com/reel/10154193151403145
As with most sanctuaries, the Lees grossly padded their numbers for maximum donations, public sympathy, and media attention. There wasn't even quarter that number, but those animals were neglected and living in filthy conditions. The Lees also bait-and-switched the general public and rescue groups into taking several animals on the pretense that many of the animals needed only foster care. People believed that this was only temporary and the Lees would reclaim the animals later. They pretended that Forever Farm had leased the property from a third party who was being evicted by BOA. In reality, the Lees themselves owned that property. It's since been bulldozed and sold. In addition, the neighbors of the Lees have commented that the animals were neglected.
The entire time this con was being worked, the Lees owned and still own the large property next door. News journalists were apparently unaware of this, but Adam Sugalski knew and has yet to say anything. The Lees still live there in an upscale house. Regardless of the ownership of the next-door 1016 property, they could have simply moved the animals next door where they still live. The fact that this was such an easy scam to conduct without the media following up on it suggests just how easy it is to get away with it. It's hard to find any Florida sanctuary that's more than a decade old. Most of these cons close after a few years of grift, but continue to take donations from out-of-state and elderly donors who don't know.
Ironically, the simplest guideline is to avoid assisting any sanctuary or charity that's managed or friendly with the current Florida vocal animal-rights leaders. If you're a member of the general public or news media, beware of any "nonprofit" promoted or founded by Adam Sugalski, Katrina Shadix, Shannon Geis, Chuck O'Neal, Rebecca Heintz, Solid Rock Community School employee Shannon Blair, Rosa Mendez, or Nicole Cordano. This includes out-of-state bear-specific "charities" such as Shadix's friends at North Carolina's Help Asheville Bears and Poacher Strike Force. These groups claim to be managed by "senior scientists" and former state forest rangers. They often raise money for future "bear sanctuaries." They pretend to be surprised to learn, several years and millions of outside donations later, that most states including their own do not license bear sanctuaries other than restricted rehabilitation centers. Of course, their donors and volunteers don't get apologies or refunds.
Shadix attempts to ingratiate herself with many well-known politicians and government employees, although she ultimately turns on many of them. She noticeably avoids networking with municipal law enforcement, even with animal-friendly celebrity nearby sheriffs such as Brevard County's Wayne Ivey. Is this because these seasoned officers could detect her many cons?
Katrina Shadix has allegedly been operating animal rescue and sheltering scams involving dozens of vicious dogs and contagiously-ill feral cats. Shadix routinely posts photos of these hard-to-place animals, who are usually posed inside and around multiple vacant, rural, low-income Florida homes that are in poor condition. The same happened with a herd of cattle she supposedly rescued and fed last year. She recurrently claims that she's caring for yet another set of animals that was recently abandoned by their previous owners when the latter recently moved away. In actuality, Shadix is bringing vicious dogs and contagiously-ill feral cats to the vacated properties and dumping those animals on real estate she does not own. These feral animals kill and injure the wildlife and livestock. Shadix is doing this in rural east Orange and Seminole Counties. Her social media followers then deride rural, low-income, and Black people for supposed animal mistreatment. Most of these houses were not recently vacated - some have been condemned and vacant for months or years. She's knowingly endangering the neighboring human residents, who aren't safe on their own properties and roads anymore. This apparent fundraising con is possibly part of further damaging this real estate and making them unsuitable for resale so that Shadix can misappropriate even more land for herself. She attains donations and social acceptance for supposedly taking care of these recently "stranded" animals. Noticeably, these supposedly abandoned animals are never posed in or around upscale homes or in suburban neighborhoods. Shadix apparently does not notify law enforcement of criminal animal abandonment. She's eager to call law enforcement and municipal services when she feels it benefits her, so this lack of notification is suspicious at best.
Multiple members of BWU are known as "rescue pull partners" with municipal animal shelters such as Orange County Animal Services, which allows them to attain vicious and ill dogs and cats from the shelter at no charge. Shadix may be acquiring the vicious dogs and ill feral cats this way.
Leaders such as Geis and Sugalski benefit from these Florida "sanctuaries" because they dump their supposed open-rescues there. They enjoy playing social media "hero" when they leave yet another "liberated" farm animal at the gate. They also post public calls-to-action on their social media timelines after a "sanctuary" has yet another fire or flood. Those leaders themselves are rarely there to donate or volunteer in the fallout. Do these leaders know that some or most of these "emergencies" are staged money-grabs? Or, is the hard volunteer work something the "little people" should do? Many well-meaning people have been criminally victimized by these sanctuaries, but the Florida animal-rights leaders say nothing. Most Florida "sanctuaries" are filthy roadside zoos with a constant supply of free labor, media publicity, and supplies.
https://sentientmedia.org/pseudo-sanctuaries/
This may be read by one of middle-age or older "Mean Girls" who haven't done much constructive and honest for animals with above-board groups yet have spent the past several years attacking those who do. This cadre of bullies includes Shannon Geis, Chuck O'Neal, and Nicole Cordano of Bear Defenders and Speak Up for Wildlife. The same can be said about for Adam Sugalski, a Rambo-wannabe who laughably alters videos, along with animal hoarders Rebecca Heintz and Rosa Mendez. They're known for interpersonal viciousness, alleged embezzlement, calls for donations to Florida animal sanctuaries that don't actually exist, cover-ups of illegal python breeders whom they know are falsely calling themselves rescuers, abusive "animal shelters" that have convenient burglaries or overnight fires to draw donations and destroy criminal evidence, rich cat breeders soliciting donations for their private mansions on one-acre plots which they claim are "nonprofit sanctuaries" where there are supposedly 500 current "rescued" animal residents that nobody's ever actually seen, failed artists who rebrand as wildlife sanctuary managers so they can charge their "charity" thousands of dollars apiece for their uninspired work, "wildlife refuges" that call for out-of-state and international donations by claiming hurricane damage after every Florida storm even when they were five hours away from the path, wildlife poachers who claim their sanctuary animals are "rescues" before they quietly sell them, "sanctuaries" run by exotic reptile traffickers who blame their constant animal "disappearances" on a supposedly hostile neighbor yet refuse donations of perimeter surveillance cameras, putting their own children in danger by having them commit crimes and harass other people, and that recycled singular hen they're trotted around and traded between each other for the past three years while claiming she's their "open rescue" from a slaughterhouse they supposedly protested the day before. Chuck O'Neal and Adam Sugalski are currently covering for actual cases of these and more. Maybe purported animal-loving attorneys such as Steven M. Meyers and Peri Sedigh could represent - or just respect - the apparent hardworking volunteers who truly rescue animals instead of enabling the terrorists such as Solid Rock Community School's Shannon Blair and her teenage thug son Evan LeFevre who call themselves "animal activists" because they deliberately stage violent riots, trap and batter women who can't fight back, then manipulate the video afterward to make themselves appear the victims? It's disgusting who easily gets the legal resources in Florida animal advocacy and which groups go scrounging for attorneys. They all know that Starbucks riot in Orange County was choreographed by Malaina Watts and similar grifters.
A few years ago in California, there was a publicized scandal when more than 310 rescued and fostered guinea pigs and rabbits were transferred to an Arizona "sanctuary" that was actually a reptile breeding operation. Those pets became snake-food. What hasn't been publicized is how common this is with transfers and intakes of small animals to multiple illegal reptile breeders who operate Florida "nonprofit sanctuaries." To maximize their donations and media attention, many of them publicly claim they have acreage and resident animal numbers that are quadruple of what they actually have. A "wildlife sanctuary" claiming one hundred wild animals on four acres often should be translated as "twenty-five neglected, un-spayed feral cats who wander the suburban neighborhood and are based out of their owner's filthy one-acre privately-owned lot that includes a filthy house and auto-body garage."
These criminals take ongoing financial donations from the same uninformed families who surrendered their small pets, believing that they're still being cared for. Those pets sometimes become snake-food. O'Neal, Sugalski, Heintz and Geis are longtime, close personal defenders of a Central Florida illegal reptile trafficker who uses surrendered ducks, rabbits, guinea pigs, and kittens at a "charity" for this purpose. Shadix has also fundraised for this "wildlife expert," who has been a high-profile figure with the Florida groups opposing bear hunts since 2015. This individual fraudulently raises money as a "licensed rehabilitator," then takes in orphaned or injured wildlife which are quietly fed to illegally bred pythons, tegu lizards, boa constrictors, and even venomous reptiles. This breeder, who also illegally poaches wildlife, has solicited high-dollar financial donations from the public to give "forever homes" to rabbits and guinea pigs at a Central Florida "sanctuary" which has never facilitated adoptions. It doesn't take a genius to realize what happened when a dozen rescued hamsters taken in on Tuesday aren't there by Friday, but the illegal reptiles look well-fed. The continued popularity of this "conservationist" suggests that the Florida leaders are complicit. They personally learned from this sanctuary founder how financially profitable a publicized overnight housefire or break-in can be. Many animals have died in these cons. Until this specific popular person is publicly and honestly renounced by Shadix, O'Neal, Heintz, Geis, and Sugalski, this letter will be distributed. If you are related to an elderly or otherwise vulnerable person who is donating to a Florida "sanctuary," please investigate.
https://animalpolitics.substack.com/p/behind-closed-doors-unraveling-the
For some basic tips for spotting fake videos online, please visit these links.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8Pg-cD0ytg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7nVntZpJLM
Please consider this letter as only an opinion, and decide for yourself.
6
O problema
This is in reference to the Sierra Club's Florida chapter and the bear hunt. Florida Sierra Club leaders have used the organization's resources to platform multiple fraudulent outside groups and their historically corrupt leaders. Among the latter are Katrina Shadix's Bear Warriors, Adam Sugalski's Bear Defenders, and Chuck O'Neal's Speak Up Wekiva/Speak Up for Wildlife.
Shadix has strong ties to the Sierra Florida chapter. She's close friends with Rhonda Ruff, who is the co-leader for Sierra's bear conservation committee. Shadix was the featured speaker at a 2025 Central Florida spring gathering and apparently given their "Mama Bear" award later in the year. She was also their speaker in 2021. Despite hearing concerns from mainstream and longtime members about Bear Warriors, some Sierra leaders continue that relationship. An official leader allegedly paid for the list of bear hunt tag holders through a Freedom of Information Act request in November 2025, then provided the document directly to Shadix. Other activist groups such as Chuck O'Neal's Speak Up for Wildlife may have been directly provided the list by the same Sierra leader. The aggressive, questionable histories of these outside groups seemed to be known by that person and other Sierra leaders when making the decision.
Shadix is a featured speaker at Sierra’s 2026 Earth Day event in Broward County. She’s listed on their publicity.
https://www.sierraclub.org/florida/broward/2026-earth-day-celebration
https://www.sierraclub.org/sites/default/files/2025-12/2026-bsg-earth-day-flyer.pdf
Shadix and her Bear Warriors members have been involved in criminal and financially risky acts for years in other states. She's encouraged or coached to perform this behavior by Adam Sugalski, who's been formally listed as the group's Protest Coordinator. Annually, Shadix and other criminals use group funds to travel to New Jersey to criminally harass residents and officials. One of Shadix's accomplices is Sierra Club's Gail Theresa Zega from
Silver Springs. They allegedly steal campaign signs from front yards and place them in front of other people's businesses without permission, stop highway traffic, vandalize cars, and "dox" hunters. In 2016, they publicly harassed and falsely accused two different New Jersey men of killing a popular bear nicknamed
"Pedals." They continued these accusations even after the state wildlife officials confirmed that an unrelated third man had killed the bear. The first two men apparently sued, and one of the lawsuits lasted for at least two years. Shadix allegedly has used Bear Warriors funds to defend this and other personal lawsuits. She unsuccessfully attempted to claim she's not subject to New Jersey laws because she lives in Florida. Zega is apparently introduced in local activist circles and at Sierra Club event as only "Z" in order to obscure her illegal activities. Members may be falsely told this is her formal, legal name.
https://www.dailyrecord.com/story/news/local/morris-county/2018/02/09/man-accused-killing-pedals-bear-said-he-didnt-do-suing/322569002/
Did east Orange County Commissioner and University of Central Florida professor Dr. Kelly Martinez Semrad lie to CNN and her constituents? She's known for her role as Vice President for Save Orange County, which has been accused of financial corruption in recent years. This purported member of the Sierra Club and Bear Warriors said in a mid-November 2025 CNN story that she'd purchased and secured a Florida bear hunt tag because, as a non-hunter, she wanted to "spare a bear." Her name does not appear on the published list for the 172 hunt permit holders that's provided by Florida Fish and Wildlife commission.
Every hunt lottery applicant received at least three emails or texts informing them of the process and their placement in each round. Those who "won" received reminder emails and calls. They then had to pay extra fees to "snag the tag." There wasn't room for doubt about one's status.
It seems unlikely that CNN misunderstood Commissioner Kelly Semrad, but she should be given a chance to clarify. What other incorrect information is possibly being said by this UCF professor and her Save Orange County organization?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUslACQQ5Ic&t=2m47s
This information is also being sent to holders of the 2025 Florida bear hunting permit. They're likely to have been contacted by Florida groups opposing the hunt, such as Bear Warriors. That group's founder and executive director is Katrina Renee Garvin Schultz Shadix. She's also associated with several other Florida "wildlife nonprofits" such as Brian Jacobson's Earth Angel Outdoors in Geneva and Oviedo. The media is also interfacing with a leader who's providing dishonest backstory, Speak Up for Wildlife's "Chuck" Charles Whittington O'Neal from Apopka. The following link is provided as an FYI. In case those opinions are deleted online, they're also provided below. You're welcome to share this email.
https://www.change.org/p/bear-warriors-united-be-transparent-with-finances
Two of Bear Warriors United's pro bono Florida attorneys, Raquel Levy and Thomas Crapps, have advised the group's leader that an appeal filing for the denied emergency injunction against the bear hunt is ill-advised at best. In her denial of the emergency injunction motion, Florida Judge Angela Dempsey stated that BWU's main case against the state of Florida also seems likely to fail. BWU's attorney on past cases, Lesley Blackner, has also told Shadix that the case is unlikely to win or establish any precedents. Bear Warriors United has received donated funds to hire a California attorney who was also on their manatee case, Jessica Blome. Recently, Bear Warriors' leader excitedly encouraged donors to read the prior record of Blome, who apparently won't work pro bono or on contingency. Blome is allegedly requiring 10K just to read the failed emergency injunction filing. She will likely require a high six-figure fee for the main case against the state of Florida. BWU supporters worldwide are being contacted to fund these efforts. BWU also doesn't seem to have an attorney who's reviewing the legality, or lack thereof, of the plan to buy bear hunting licenses from those who won the lottery. It should give everyone pause that none of Shadix's own attorneys, even those who bend laws for her, are willing to publicly endorse this plan.
Katrina Shadix is portraying Bear Warriors as legally underrepresented, therefore she must fundraise money to hire California's Blome. Shadix has duped her supporters into believing she's a figurative David who needs hundreds of thousands of donated dollars, multiple times a year, to fight Goliath. While her donors are aware of Levy and Crapps, Shadix has completely omitted that she already had and still has additional impressive pro bono attorneys on the bear hunt case. Appearing on BWU's behalf and filing motions is Clay Henderson from Stetson University's environmental law group and the well-funded Humane World for Animals. The latter group used to be known as the controversial Humane Society of the United States. Please read that group's history of alleged sexual assault and harassment. Clay Henderson has apparently been granted Intervenor status by the judge. Bear Warriors is also being assisted on this case by Margaret Stewart from Barry University's environmental law clinic.
Shadix has been quietly nicknamed "Shady" in animal-rights circles for several years. It's suspicious that the leaders of multiple activist groups, some of whom call her this name themselves, are publicly abetting her now. Her alleged scams have multiplied since she was initially given that nickname by activist insiders.
The 2025 hunt is over, but BWU may attempt to buy hunters' permits in the future. Before tag-holders attempt to sell their hunt licenses to any anti-hunting activist group, they should speak to their own attorneys and Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission regarding the legality or lack thereof. It's risky to rely on the BWU leader's claims that she vetted this arrangement with a nameless "attorney." No lawyer, including Bear Warriors' own outspoken Raquel Levy, has publicly affirmed this is legal. Obstructing a hunt is illegal in Florida.
Too much room has been left in the "tag buyback program" for the BWU leader to claim she's bought more tags from intended hunters than she actually has, then pocket the money for herself. Supposedly, Shadix is meeting the potential hunters at the post office, buying the tag, and directly handing over the envelope to a postal counter employee. She refuses to show photos of the tags supposedly purchased. On BWU social media, there's only one blurred, close-up photo of a pair of scissors cutting a green zip-tie, but the latter could have been acquired from one of the several anti-hunt activists who acquired a permit this year. It's also unknown if that green zip-tie corresponds to a bear tag. Shadix also claimed that she cannot use certified mail for these supposed returns because FWC provided hunters with pre-printed return envelopes. This is untrue. Pre-printed envelopes can be certified for an additional $5.30 fee. Even if those envelopes couldn't be certified, BWU could simply place the returned tags in their own envelopes, certify those, and mail them to the same provided FWC address. Any tags actually being returned may be from the anti-hunt activists who never intended to use them. Below is a link regarding certified mail regulations.
https://postalpro.usps.com/certified-mail-guidebook
The BWU leader has been associated with multiple Florida "no-kill animal sanctuaries" that commit high-dollar fraud and intentional animal cruelty. These animal charities engage in large fundraising and evidence-thwarting scams such as staged break-ins, sudden evictions or foreclosures, floods, and midnight fires. These "sudden emergencies," in which many animals have died or "disappeared," often conveniently happen soon after the FWC or the county's animal services cited the sanctuary for inhumane conditions. They blame their constant animal "disappearances" on thefts from evil neighbors yet refuse offers of donated surveillance cameras and animal microchips. When volunteers and donors ask what happened to specific missing animals, the "sanctuary" managers use the cover story that an allegedly hostile neighbor is recurrently entering the property at night and opening the enclosures, yet these supposed incidents are rarely or never reported to authorities. One of those nonprofits was founded by an illegal wildlife trafficker who uses animals to lure young children. Adam Sugalski of Bear Defenders and Chuck O'Neal of Speak Up Wekiva/Speak Up for Wildlife are knowingly enabling these criminals. Shadix, Sugalski, and O'Neal deliberately continue to conceal multiple Florida animal "sanctuaries" and nonprofits that are fronts for cruel wildlife poachers, exotic animal smugglers, and illegal reptile breeders. These groups are more likely to be causing animal harm to keep the illusion alive. The "sanctuaries" are sometimes used to house visiting domestic ecoterrorists. Also providing cover for these cruel scams is hostile Polk State College professor Rebecca Heintz. Well-meaning people unknowingly fund groups that harm more animals than they help. These "sanctuaries" are not just well-intended, accidentally inefficient charities - these are deliberately fraudulent animal abusers.
Some of these sanctuaries are part of a larger problem of the Best Friends Animal Society "no-kill" scam. Vicious animals have been transported across the country and laundered through multiple rescue groups several times in order for "no-kill" shelter to maintain that title. These shelters don't research where some of these dangerous animals are shipped. Most do no follow-up - it's all about maintaining the "no-kill" for their individual shelter or rescue. They feed the illusion there's "a farm in the country" somewhere for all of America's deadly dogs. In some cases, some eventually end up at these deadly Florida sanctuaries. They've attacked neighboring people and animals.
Chuck O'Neal's public claims that he's an attorney may be dishonest. There is no information proving that he has a law degree, license, or career.
There are multiple cases in which these owners of "wildlife sanctuaries" turn up to falsely claim a recently deceased person's real estate, sometimes even before the body is buried. They tell the adult children and heirs that the dead person "wanted" to will the land to the charity land for a wildlife sanctuary. They never have an explanation as to why there's nothing in writing or even photos of the dead person willingly associating with the charity. If the heirs resist, they're painted as rich, animal-hater developers who aren't honoring their dead relative's wishes. The charity paints themselves as victims who knew the deceased person better than their own adult children, even in cases in which there was no family estrangement. If there is further resistance from the heirs, the charity leader may claim that there are "historical markers" determined on the land, such as a Black slave's grave. Accused racism enters the picture. This has allegedly happened to multiple ranching families in Orange, Seminole, and Polk counties.
Shadix is friends and works with convicted California eco-terrorist and "animal-rights activist" Rodney Adam Coronado. He has been committing arson and other vandalism for the past 40 years. He's also been accused of sexual assault by multiple women. The vegans ignore his eating meat because it's supposedly part of his "Pascua Yaqui culture." He's probably lying about his aboriginal ethnicity. None of his four grandparents identified as indigenous. He's not the only likely "Pretendian" in this movement.
https://www.earthisland.org/journal/index.php/magazine/entry/no-compromise/
Shadix is associated with South Florida activist Steve Rosen, owner of the "nonprofit" Angels in Distress. There may be issues of vulnerable seniors disclosing their personal information including Social Security numbers on the pretense that Rosen is applying for hunting permits for them. These seniors are not related to Rosen. He may also be attaining additional information and resources from them. He's been accused by multiple women of sexual harassment and assault.
https://angelsindistress.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Limited-Power-of-Attorney_button.pdf
Chuck O’Neal’s associate Rosen has engaged in questionable practices for more than two decades. His continued placement in the animal-rights movement is perhaps reflective of this community's willingness to indulge problem individuals under the stated goal of "helping the animals." An old article about Rosen is below.
https://www.browardpalmbeach.com/news/the-doctor-and-the-rabbits-6319635/
The BWU leader has been asked about these expenses and decisions by multiple volunteers and donors, but their concerns remain unaddressed. The leader quickly acts emotional upon being asked the most basic questions from her supporters. Sometimes, she even apparently begins crying and says she's upset about the bear hunt. She apparently has yet to compose herself and answer their simple questions later. Shadix may be truly upset on behalf of bears, but donors and volunteers should notice and document this pattern. It seems odd that these crying spells for the bears only seem to happen when people are asking questions. There may be multiple elderly women who are being financially exploited.
There is no written information or contract shared with donors and volunteers about the specific financial arrangements between Shadix and Blome. It does not appear that this expenditure and lawsuit have been discussed by a board of directors - assuming this group even has a valid one. Shadix has installed uninvolved or out-of-state family members such as her mother Myra Walker Williams as officers.
Supporters are being pressured to fund upfront payments for Jessica Blome. There is no formal information as to whether Blome also receives additional fees from the defendant if she wins. Donors are being ignored when they ask if Bear Warriors can stipulate costs at the conclusion of a successful case. Considering that donors are paying the costs of a lawsuit, why are they being kept in the dark about who's receiving potential settlements or judgements?
At times, it seems that volunteers and potential donors are being told different things by Shadix. Maybe phone conversations and meetings with this person should be openly recorded and compared? Shadix claims that Blome is the best in her field and can be "sponsored" by a licensed Florida attorney. At other times, that BWU leader has said that Blome will soon receive a Florida license. These claims seem to contradict each other. There is no information that Blome has applied for licensure in Florida or taken the exam. Per Florida law, a "sponsoring" in-state attorney must closely supervise the out-of-state attorney's work. Legally and ethically, Raquel Levy and Thomas Crapps cannot just passively sign off on Jessica Blome's hypothetical work. Levy and Crapps have already indicated they don't support appealing the emergency injunction decision, so it seems unlikely they're onboard with BWU's stated plan.
https://www.floridabar.org/directories/courts/fed-corner/
Since BWU's leader encouraged people to look at Blome's record, others have done exactly that. Ironically, anyone can quickly locate several cases in which Jessica Blome did NOT win or set precedents for her animal-related or wildlife-related clients.
Raquel Levy was disciplined by the Florida Bar in 2021 for not properly supervising in an unrelated past case. Her "paralegal" was a disbarred attorney who was illegally meeting with clients on her firm's behalf. She is aware that she must be present and engaged if her name appears on the filings.
It appears that in the few cases in which Blome did represent a winning plaintiff, an elite in-state environmental attorney such as Florida's Lesley Blackner was also on the case. It's believed that Blackner represented BWU pro bono or on contingency.
It appears that Bear Warriors blames the state when the organization itself abandons its own funded opportunities and initiatives to assist animals or the environment. For example, "Shady" has known for at least a decade that FWC dislikes water hyacinths.
https://myfwc.com/wildlifehabitats/habitat/invasive-plants/weed-alerts/water-hyacinth/
This invasive, non-native aquatic floating plant kills eelgrass, which is a native underwater plant that shelter and feed fish, manatees, and other wildlife. It also impedes waterways. In fact, the FWC has been attempting to eradicate water hyacinths, and this plant is generally illegal to possess in Florida. Because manatees were starving in 2022, the Florida Department of Agriculture assisted Shadix with attaining a permit to harvest and transport water hyacinths. Once she attained the permit, Brevard Zoo offered to use its own volunteers and space to feed manatees. Shadix's donors had already contributed to her feeding program. Shadix then attempted to foist her permit off to FWC in October 2022, "volun-telling" them to feed water hyacinths to the manatees. FWC reminded her they wouldn't use her water hyacinth permit and why. Nobody used Shadix's feeding permit, yet she blames FWC rather than herself for abandoning her own program. In November 2022, Shadix began suing Florida Department of Environmental Protection, now blaming poor water quality for manatee deaths.
Meanwhile, the manatees continued to starve. What happened to the Bear Warriors donations earmarked for the feeding program? Unrelated charities have accepted donations of lettuce as a stopgap for feeding manatees. She apparently never spoke of it again, and donors' questions were ignored. They've also asked for native eelgrass as a more effective supplemental feed for them. Shady has presented a variety of supposed "senior scientists" during her media appearances with major outlets such as CNN.
Blome's stated career timeline seemingly leaves a lot of holes. It appears that she was licensed in California for the first time in 2017, despite supposedly graduating from University of Iowa's law school, then practicing law in California and Missouri since 2007. Like the BWU leader, it seems that she's vague about a lot. What happened to Blome's bar licenses in Missouri and Iowa? Regardless, an out-of-state attorney can only work or appear in Florida a few times as a guest - "ad hoc" - before they're possibly breaking the law. Blome may have already exceeded that with her work on BWU's prior manatee case. If you're a potential donor, please read and make your own decision.
https://apps.calbar.ca.gov/attorney/Licensee/Detail/314898
It should also be noted that Jessica Blome currently and frequently works and socializes with Wayne Pacelle, an alleged unrepentant serial rapist and sexual harasser who left his CEO position at Humane Society of the United States in 2018 for that reason. Even more concerning, his current organization, Animal Wellness Action, has multiple leaders who were also accused of sexual harassment and assault at HSUS and beyond. It's disappointing to see a woman choosing to platform this alleged predator in 2025. For more information about Pacelle, here's a link.
It does not take long to find multiple cases represented by Jessica Blome in which her clients lost. These were located in 20 minutes.
https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/california/candce/3:2023cv01652/410784/129/
https://www.courthousenews.com/feds-cleared-on-iowa-zoos-troubled-run/
https://www.reuters.com/legal/new-mexico-ranchers-urge-court-stop-plan-shoot-feral-cattle-helicopter-2023-02-23/
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/68011397/wild-horse-education-v-united-states-department-of-interior-bureau-of/
Shadix is welcome to comment on attorney Jessica Blome's losing cases, the questions about her licensing, and the Pacelle relationship. This message does not detract from BWU's and attorney Lesley Blackner's 2025 win in the manatee case. Shadix should be given an opportunity to explain why she is seeking donations, proof of the legality of the hunting license buyout program, what her reasoning is for selecting this high-priced California attorney who's not licensed in Florida, and how other money is being used. Blome should also be allowed to explain the apparent gaps in career and licensing timelines. There may be good explanations for Blome's many case losses.
Shadix and Bear Warriors apparently have ties to the so-called Save Florida Citrus Grove Foundation, which is actually a questionable Miami copyright litigation firm named Bryce Global Holdings LLC. You can read about one of Adrian and Corey Bryce's latest alleged copyright swindles at the following link. For years, these predators have been orchestrating bait-and-switch and stalling real estate scams on elderly farmers and ranchers, making them believe that a local charity and/or county preservation group is ready to buy the land at full market value. Those local deals rarely materialize, and eventually the grifters either misappropriate the land for their own fake "charity" or attempt to pressure and con Florida Forever into buying it despite its lack of ecological or aesthetic significance. The Florida Forever program is at risk of becoming a bail-out program for farmers and other landowners who saw their properties devalued or unmarketable because of stalling, harassment, bait-and-switch, inappropriate zoning, and interference from Shadix and grifters like her. She falsely gains support by telling the public that a property is on the Florida wildlife corridor, even when she knows it's nowhere near it.
https://www.reddit.com/r/TRADEMARK/comments/1nqix3i/worried_received_trademark_cd_and_demand_over_a/
Far too often in Florida animal-rights or wildlife advocacy circles, supporters are groomed or coerced to not ask questions. There's often a toxic culture in which a volunteer's reasonable concerns about finances or questionable people are derided as "not caring about the animals." The questions raised here are likely to be written off as those of "a trophy hunter." BWU is probably the least dirty bear-specific group, but that may be more of a sign of how unethical the others are. Florida’s animal rescue groups and advocacy circles are so polluted lately that volunteers feel forced to side with whichever group currently seems the least corrupt to them rather than freely choosing a reputable one. Some elderly Florida supporters suspecting these issues desperately hope that "at least a few animals will be helped" if they quietly comply again. Too often, the opposite happens and these well-meaning volunteers and donors are unintentionally enabling those who deliberately harm animals. There are leaders who are illegal reptile traffickers, wildlife poachers, and even habitual animal abusers.
The BWU leader claims that she is not paid, yet she has unexplained personal financial wealth. Her son, US Navy Officer Dane Shadix, also has unexplained financial resources. After each of her major money-grabs, she appears to have had new cosmetic surgeries. Neither of her ex-husbands, John Tyler Schultz and Michael Bryan Shadix, were wealthy. Neither were her parents, John Barnes Garvin and Myra Walker. She currently does not appear to have outside paid employment. Before she became involved in local animal charities about a decade ago, she worked at minimum-wage jobs. She was allegedly fired from her waitressing job at the Chuluota bar known for its midget-wrestling nights, Hitching Post. This establishment is allegedly frequented by drug dealers and addicts who've been unwelcomed from other local bars. She's allegedly been caught shoplifting.
There have been multiple Florida animal-related charities that dishonestly received large land donations that the leader placed into his or her own name and sold for personal profit later. The charity leaders may claim the land is being used for a "sanctuary" because they released a few animals supplied by a nuisance wildlife trapper, such as squirrels and possums. The original donors, who sometimes bequeathed the real estate in estate plans, are sometimes deceased and do not notice when the land is sold by the nonprofit leader for a personal profit a few years later. The BWU leader appears to have a 200-acre "sanctuary" that was placed in her name and has not probably been declared in IRS or other disclosures. There may be another recent questionable real estate acquisition as well. She's claiming on tax forms that BWU has less than 50K of financial business annually, but this is untrue. The group's IRS identification number is 82-0985009. Despite being an openly political group, Bear Warriors has fully tax-deductible 501c3 status.
According to the Florida Check-a-Charity page, Bear Warriors reported 435K in business in 2024. This probably does not include the large land acquisitions.
The BWU leader allegedly contacts elderly landowners as a supposed agent working on behalf of the Florida Forever conservation program, then procures land and money for herself with promises of a future "animal sanctuary" or "licensed wildlife rehabilitation center." She's not the only Florida "wildlife activist" who allegedly does this. Seminole County rancher Barbara Imogene Yarborough may have been defrauded before her 2023 death. Most activists who claim to be "licensed rehabilitators" are lying. These permits can be found on the FWC website.
https://myfwc.com/media/5423/licensedwildliferehabilitatorsbyregion.pdf
Shadix claims that she takes care of several animals that were left behind when the families moved away. This is a lie. She is dumping vicious pit bulls and feral cats at vacant houses. She shoots video of the animals at the vacant homes with the fake backstories. These are usually the vacated or storm-damaged homes of low-income persons of color. These feral animals damage the properties and make it difficult for the owners or potential buyers to enter. The wandering animals kill the area’s wildlife and livestock. The homes and land are devalued by the damage, which may enable Shadix to buy them. Property values also may crash for the low-income neighbors, and it’s sometimes unsafe for them to enjoy their own yards or roads because of Shadix’s wandering animals.
The “animal-rights” movement, along with its many associated "sanctuaries," is one of the few activist causes in which criminals can easily embed themselves and falsify long personal and professional histories in order to make themselves appear accomplished. Leaders' credentials aren't openly fact-checked. It's easy for 45-year-old reptile traffickers to start attending activist events, immediately say that they've run a local sanctuary "for the past forty years," then begin receiving high-dollar donations and social clout right away. Nobody feels comfortable questioning the basic unsoundness of their statements - even that it's mathematically unlikely that a 45-year-old has been a landowner and nonprofit leader since they were apparently five years old. Nobody states aloud that they'd never heard of a supposed "legendary local conservationist" or their sanctuary before a recent event when the leaders are endorsing him. If anyone's aware that the charity formation and land purchase actually happened just one year ago, they apparently don't feel safe to openly say so. Cases such as Steve Rosen and Rodney Adam Coronado suggest that most animal-rights activist leaders don't speak up even when they're aware of the alleged problem pasts and behaviors of those around them.
Shadix appears to be giving an inaccurate backstory. She portrays herself as having a rugged, third-generation rural Seminole County upbringing. Her father, John Barnes Garvin, was actually a transplant from Massachusetts. Her mother's family was from Louisiana. The family home was apparently in upscale Winter Park in Orange County. Katrina's mother Myra Walker and her subsequent husband, Benjamin Ray Williams Jr., lived in Orlando and Vero Beach, not Seminole County. Katrina graduated from the suburban Colonial High School in Orlando, which is in Orange County. She's also known as Trina Shadix, an unlicensed medical assistant.
Shadix appears to dupe her supporters for high dollar amounts for future legal action that's misrepresented, over-promised, or doesn't materialize. She's also taken credit for state actions that weren't even partially due to her group's efforts. In 2022, she raised thousands of dollars to sue Palm Beach Sheriff's Office regarding a bear shooting by a deputy. Shadix immediately fundraised 50,000 dollars to sue PBSO and the Palm Beach County commission. She told her followers that her lawsuit demanded several major results from officials, such as forcing PBSO to provide bear-safety training for all Florida Sherriff's departments and to air public service announcements about bear safety. She continued to take donations beyond the 50,000. The FWC was at the June 18th shooting incident, at which they immediately and assertively told the PBSO the matter had been handled incorrectly. FWC officials were publicly critical of PBSO in the days following the shooting. Unrelated to Bear Warriors, many Palm Beach residents were openly angry about the shooting. In July 2022, FWC officials met with PBSO and resolved the matter. Shadix credited her legal demands for that meeting, declared this a BWU victory, and never said anything again about additional legal action. This meeting between FWC and PBSO was likely to happen anyway. Nobody knows what happened to the money for the stronger measures Bear Warriors promised.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgBt6j333Kw
It's confounding that Katrina Shadix and her Bear Warriors United are staging these donor-funded bear-hunt legal motions in 2025 and 2026. She is the former director of Chuck O'Neal's Speak Up Wekiva, which unsuccessfully attempted a similar lawsuit and emergency injunction against FWC in 2015 and 2016. The pair were also simultaneously involved with the same multiple "nonprofit wildlife sanctuaries" that were lucrative fronts for cruel reptile traffickers and wildlife poachers. When these "charities" were being investigated for cruelty and fraud, they had convenient overnight fires and break-ins. This history seems to be concealed from newer donors and volunteers in Florida conservation and animal-rights circles. Speak Up Wekiva also operates as Speak Up for Wildlife. Ironically, these groups with "speak up" in their titles foster a code of silence. Well-meaning people are providing donations, volunteer labor, real estate, and supplies to these sham "sanctuaries." This diverts those resources from charities that are actually helping animals.
If you're a member of the news media or potential donor, don't take any activism leader's word that an "animal-rights spokesperson" has an upstanding history or that a "wildlife sanctuary" has hundreds of rescued animals and has existed for 40 years. Please check your official county real estate property websites, local and federal court proceedings, wildlife bureau investigations, state LLCs, and IRS records.
Beware of any "sanctuary" that won't microchip its animals and accept donations of perimeter surveillance cameras. Please be cautious when donating to an animal-rights group doesn't provide one-year and three-year follow-ups on sponsored "open rescue" animals. There are elderly and out-of-state donors contributing to Polk State University professor Rebecca Heintz's promoted Florida "sanctuaries" that don't currently exist. Some urban animal-rights "rescuers" receive multiple lifetime sponsorships on a singular farm animal supposedly "liberated" from a slaughterhouse, then dump that unfed livestock on rural, unfenced land. The neighbors, community, and animals lose. None of the Florida "sanctuaries" that are actively managed or endorsed by Florida activist leaders currently opposing the bear hunt are certified by ethical organizations.
If you're a member of the media, please research a shelter or rescue before publishing or airing an emotional story about their purported "sudden" crisis such as a fire, flood, eviction, hostile neighbor, or break-in. The well-meaning public has been conned for millions of dollars after these unresearched stories. Some questions to ask: Does the shelter owner or manager seem more concerned about the animals who are missing or dead from the "crisis," or how the matter directly affects himself or herself? Who legally owns the "sanctuary" land, bank accounts, and animals? Is there insurance? If 300 animals were supposedly affected, does the property and facility appear to realistically have capacity for that many? If your media outlet runs such a story, please consider following up with that animal "charity" a year later. How many animals are still alive? Did the facility rebuild? What safety measures are in place to prevent another sudden "tragedy" next year? What do several neighbors and ex-neighbors of the "sanctuary" tell you? Where are the volunteers and donors from the prior story - are they still engaged? What are the criminal records of any paid employees?
Please note that most groups that do accredit sanctuaries only monitor the animal-related conditions at the facility. Accreditation is not necessarily a seal of approval for deciding whether it's a good investment of your own human time, money, or land. Accrediting groups generally do not detect potential financial mismanagement, disproportionate power and ownership of one individual or family, truthfulness in fundraising, private land ownership, or volunteer mistreatment. While it's important that the accredited sanctuaries treat their animals humanely, some may be taking in quadruple the money and land than what's needed for the proper care of the animals and staff wages, then the owners pocket the remaining 75 percent. It appears that some accrediting organizations evaluate a smaller amount of land than the impressive acreage that the sanctuary owns and boasts about to the public. For example, a Florida panhandle sanctuary owns at least 100 acres and raises millions of dollars annually with that claim. The 100 acres was bequeathed in a widow's estate. Donors assume that this is a spacious facility that requires a large operating budget. Despite owning that 100-acre parcel and possibly others for more than a decade, that sanctuary operates on only five acres. The accrediting body only evaluates those five acres. For a list of Florida groups accredited by Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries, visit their website.
https://sanctuaryfederation.org/
These same Florida leaders who aggressively protest SeaWorld routinely collect money for their friends' "sanctuaries" that are far less humane and regulated. It's unlikely that the leaders don't notice how filthy and unsafe their friends' facilities are, and that many of their "nonprofits" are fronts for longtime reptile traffickers and wildlife poachers. Animal-rights activists perform meticulous undercover investigative and regulatory research when they're attempting to embarrass zoos or other animal businesses that they dislike. They know how to file Freedom of Information Act requests and attain USDA inspection records that aren't published online. When their python-breeding friend's well-funded "animal sanctuary" receives multiple violations for inhumane animal treatment from Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the county animal services department, the same activists ironically accuse the government of "bullying a legendary conservationist." They hypocritically never want to see those inconvenient photos and descriptions of the cited sanctuary that are easily viewed in the online public court records. Instead, they fundraise to retain aggressive defense attorneys to ensure their friends can continue inhumanely breeding illegal exotic animals and jeopardizing Florida's ecosystem. Adam Sugalski has enjoyed public praise and donations when he takes his "open rescues" to sanctuaries, yet he says and does nothing when those same facilities close a few years later. He doesn't retrieve, re-home, or advocate for those animals he left behind. He's stayed friends with these scam "sanctuary" managers, despite knowing they'd killed or abandoned those animals, and stole high-dollar donations.
The effort to flood the hunt lottery system with non-hunters may be another chapter in the activist leaders' financial cons and lies. Shadix told the media and her followers that she personally applied 550 times with her own name for a cost of 2,750 dollars to Bear Warriors. Steve Rosen said he personally submitted 800 applications for himself, using his organization's funds. Rosen's "Angels" group supposedly submitted 37,000 applications, costing his donors 185,000 dollars. His friend Chuck O'Neal was part of this swindle.
https://www.aol.com/articles/florida-got-160-000-requests-093000432.html
Rosen's and Shadix's claims are likely fabricated or grossly exaggerated. According to Orlando news outlet WKMG/Click Orlando, apparently following a public records request with FWC, the most applications submitted by one applicant was 400. It's unknown whether any of the high-number applicants or lottery winners submitted their applications in direct association with any formal group using donor funds.
Please be cautious when donating your labor or money to any sanctuary that has a sudden purported crisis, especially when you've never heard of that charity. Don't assume that the media's verified the story. Check their property records, IRS reports, Animal Services and FWC violation histories, and LLC registration.
In August 2016, Adam Sugalski's friends Tina Lee (a.k.a. Tina Richardson) and her husband Gerrit Lee raised thousands of dollars with a "sudden eviction" scam. They claimed that they and their new "charity," Forever Farm Sanctuary, had rented the property from someone else in New Smyrna Beach for several years. This was untrue. In August 2016, the news stories repeated their lies that the "evil Bank of America" was suddenly foreclosing on their landlords, so the Forever Farm "tenants" had to leave the property in two days. They claimed that more than 400 animals would soon be homeless. It was all a lie. Tina and Gerrit Lee owned that property. This wasn't the fault of an external evil landlord or bank. Their farm was an inhumane breeding operation which was nicknamed "the boneyard" for six years by neighbors because of the emaciated, neglected animals. It was only in June 2016 that Tina Richardson Lee rebranded and registered as a "sanctuary." Forever Farm is just one of dozens of scam sanctuaries nationwide that Sugalski and the others have endorsed or defended. Fortunately, that one didn't stage an overnight housefire.
https://www.facebook.com/reel/10154193151403145
As with most sanctuaries, the Lees grossly padded their numbers for maximum donations, public sympathy, and media attention. There wasn't even quarter that number, but those animals were neglected and living in filthy conditions. The Lees also bait-and-switched the general public and rescue groups into taking several animals on the pretense that many of the animals needed only foster care. People believed that this was only temporary and the Lees would reclaim the animals later. They pretended that Forever Farm had leased the property from a third party who was being evicted by BOA. In reality, the Lees themselves owned that property. It's since been bulldozed and sold. In addition, the neighbors of the Lees have commented that the animals were neglected.
The entire time this con was being worked, the Lees owned and still own the large property next door. News journalists were apparently unaware of this, but Adam Sugalski knew and has yet to say anything. The Lees still live there in an upscale house. Regardless of the ownership of the next-door 1016 property, they could have simply moved the animals next door where they still live. The fact that this was such an easy scam to conduct without the media following up on it suggests just how easy it is to get away with it. It's hard to find any Florida sanctuary that's more than a decade old. Most of these cons close after a few years of grift, but continue to take donations from out-of-state and elderly donors who don't know.
Ironically, the simplest guideline is to avoid assisting any sanctuary or charity that's managed or friendly with the current Florida vocal animal-rights leaders. If you're a member of the general public or news media, beware of any "nonprofit" promoted or founded by Adam Sugalski, Katrina Shadix, Shannon Geis, Chuck O'Neal, Rebecca Heintz, Solid Rock Community School employee Shannon Blair, Rosa Mendez, or Nicole Cordano. This includes out-of-state bear-specific "charities" such as Shadix's friends at North Carolina's Help Asheville Bears and Poacher Strike Force. These groups claim to be managed by "senior scientists" and former state forest rangers. They often raise money for future "bear sanctuaries." They pretend to be surprised to learn, several years and millions of outside donations later, that most states including their own do not license bear sanctuaries other than restricted rehabilitation centers. Of course, their donors and volunteers don't get apologies or refunds.
Shadix attempts to ingratiate herself with many well-known politicians and government employees, although she ultimately turns on many of them. She noticeably avoids networking with municipal law enforcement, even with animal-friendly celebrity nearby sheriffs such as Brevard County's Wayne Ivey. Is this because these seasoned officers could detect her many cons?
Katrina Shadix has allegedly been operating animal rescue and sheltering scams involving dozens of vicious dogs and contagiously-ill feral cats. Shadix routinely posts photos of these hard-to-place animals, who are usually posed inside and around multiple vacant, rural, low-income Florida homes that are in poor condition. The same happened with a herd of cattle she supposedly rescued and fed last year. She recurrently claims that she's caring for yet another set of animals that was recently abandoned by their previous owners when the latter recently moved away. In actuality, Shadix is bringing vicious dogs and contagiously-ill feral cats to the vacated properties and dumping those animals on real estate she does not own. These feral animals kill and injure the wildlife and livestock. Shadix is doing this in rural east Orange and Seminole Counties. Her social media followers then deride rural, low-income, and Black people for supposed animal mistreatment. Most of these houses were not recently vacated - some have been condemned and vacant for months or years. She's knowingly endangering the neighboring human residents, who aren't safe on their own properties and roads anymore. This apparent fundraising con is possibly part of further damaging this real estate and making them unsuitable for resale so that Shadix can misappropriate even more land for herself. She attains donations and social acceptance for supposedly taking care of these recently "stranded" animals. Noticeably, these supposedly abandoned animals are never posed in or around upscale homes or in suburban neighborhoods. Shadix apparently does not notify law enforcement of criminal animal abandonment. She's eager to call law enforcement and municipal services when she feels it benefits her, so this lack of notification is suspicious at best.
Multiple members of BWU are known as "rescue pull partners" with municipal animal shelters such as Orange County Animal Services, which allows them to attain vicious and ill dogs and cats from the shelter at no charge. Shadix may be acquiring the vicious dogs and ill feral cats this way.
Leaders such as Geis and Sugalski benefit from these Florida "sanctuaries" because they dump their supposed open-rescues there. They enjoy playing social media "hero" when they leave yet another "liberated" farm animal at the gate. They also post public calls-to-action on their social media timelines after a "sanctuary" has yet another fire or flood. Those leaders themselves are rarely there to donate or volunteer in the fallout. Do these leaders know that some or most of these "emergencies" are staged money-grabs? Or, is the hard volunteer work something the "little people" should do? Many well-meaning people have been criminally victimized by these sanctuaries, but the Florida animal-rights leaders say nothing. Most Florida "sanctuaries" are filthy roadside zoos with a constant supply of free labor, media publicity, and supplies.
https://sentientmedia.org/pseudo-sanctuaries/
This may be read by one of middle-age or older "Mean Girls" who haven't done much constructive and honest for animals with above-board groups yet have spent the past several years attacking those who do. This cadre of bullies includes Shannon Geis, Chuck O'Neal, and Nicole Cordano of Bear Defenders and Speak Up for Wildlife. The same can be said about for Adam Sugalski, a Rambo-wannabe who laughably alters videos, along with animal hoarders Rebecca Heintz and Rosa Mendez. They're known for interpersonal viciousness, alleged embezzlement, calls for donations to Florida animal sanctuaries that don't actually exist, cover-ups of illegal python breeders whom they know are falsely calling themselves rescuers, abusive "animal shelters" that have convenient burglaries or overnight fires to draw donations and destroy criminal evidence, rich cat breeders soliciting donations for their private mansions on one-acre plots which they claim are "nonprofit sanctuaries" where there are supposedly 500 current "rescued" animal residents that nobody's ever actually seen, failed artists who rebrand as wildlife sanctuary managers so they can charge their "charity" thousands of dollars apiece for their uninspired work, "wildlife refuges" that call for out-of-state and international donations by claiming hurricane damage after every Florida storm even when they were five hours away from the path, wildlife poachers who claim their sanctuary animals are "rescues" before they quietly sell them, "sanctuaries" run by exotic reptile traffickers who blame their constant animal "disappearances" on a supposedly hostile neighbor yet refuse donations of perimeter surveillance cameras, putting their own children in danger by having them commit crimes and harass other people, and that recycled singular hen they're trotted around and traded between each other for the past three years while claiming she's their "open rescue" from a slaughterhouse they supposedly protested the day before. Chuck O'Neal and Adam Sugalski are currently covering for actual cases of these and more. Maybe purported animal-loving attorneys such as Steven M. Meyers and Peri Sedigh could represent - or just respect - the apparent hardworking volunteers who truly rescue animals instead of enabling the terrorists such as Solid Rock Community School's Shannon Blair and her teenage thug son Evan LeFevre who call themselves "animal activists" because they deliberately stage violent riots, trap and batter women who can't fight back, then manipulate the video afterward to make themselves appear the victims? It's disgusting who easily gets the legal resources in Florida animal advocacy and which groups go scrounging for attorneys. They all know that Starbucks riot in Orange County was choreographed by Malaina Watts and similar grifters.
A few years ago in California, there was a publicized scandal when more than 310 rescued and fostered guinea pigs and rabbits were transferred to an Arizona "sanctuary" that was actually a reptile breeding operation. Those pets became snake-food. What hasn't been publicized is how common this is with transfers and intakes of small animals to multiple illegal reptile breeders who operate Florida "nonprofit sanctuaries." To maximize their donations and media attention, many of them publicly claim they have acreage and resident animal numbers that are quadruple of what they actually have. A "wildlife sanctuary" claiming one hundred wild animals on four acres often should be translated as "twenty-five neglected, un-spayed feral cats who wander the suburban neighborhood and are based out of their owner's filthy one-acre privately-owned lot that includes a filthy house and auto-body garage."
These criminals take ongoing financial donations from the same uninformed families who surrendered their small pets, believing that they're still being cared for. Those pets sometimes become snake-food. O'Neal, Sugalski, Heintz and Geis are longtime, close personal defenders of a Central Florida illegal reptile trafficker who uses surrendered ducks, rabbits, guinea pigs, and kittens at a "charity" for this purpose. Shadix has also fundraised for this "wildlife expert," who has been a high-profile figure with the Florida groups opposing bear hunts since 2015. This individual fraudulently raises money as a "licensed rehabilitator," then takes in orphaned or injured wildlife which are quietly fed to illegally bred pythons, tegu lizards, boa constrictors, and even venomous reptiles. This breeder, who also illegally poaches wildlife, has solicited high-dollar financial donations from the public to give "forever homes" to rabbits and guinea pigs at a Central Florida "sanctuary" which has never facilitated adoptions. It doesn't take a genius to realize what happened when a dozen rescued hamsters taken in on Tuesday aren't there by Friday, but the illegal reptiles look well-fed. The continued popularity of this "conservationist" suggests that the Florida leaders are complicit. They personally learned from this sanctuary founder how financially profitable a publicized overnight housefire or break-in can be. Many animals have died in these cons. Until this specific popular person is publicly and honestly renounced by Shadix, O'Neal, Heintz, Geis, and Sugalski, this letter will be distributed. If you are related to an elderly or otherwise vulnerable person who is donating to a Florida "sanctuary," please investigate.
https://animalpolitics.substack.com/p/behind-closed-doors-unraveling-the
For some basic tips for spotting fake videos online, please visit these links.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8Pg-cD0ytg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7nVntZpJLM
Please consider this letter as only an opinion, and decide for yourself.
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Abaixo-assinado criado em 6 de dezembro de 2025