Elliot (above left) and Hamilton (above right) are two pigs that Ashley DiFelice brought to the former Twist of Fate property, I believe some time in or before 2017. 

In looking through old posts of Ashley's for their original rescue stories, I was unable to find any specific information - she posted about them both often, especially compared to others, but never with any info. Just photos of them together, lying in the mud, hanging out with other animals. Oddly, the last time she posted anything about Hamilton was December of 2018, and the last time she posted anything about Elliot was March of 2019. So quite a long time ago. Gradually there was a shift in her posts from resident animals and the occasional rescue to only new rescues and no follow up of those animals. I remember thinking that there was an obvious problem here, but unfortunately only in hindsight - I never picked up on the red flags at the time. If only anyone had.

Ashley at one point was working with the police, vets, Animal Agriculture department, and the other sanctuary owners that were helping place the animals. This was not a seizure case, it was a surrender - this means that Ashley was willing to cooperate, give up the animals, and close the doors of this former "sanctuary" for good. It also meant that the other sanctuaries could start placing animals immediately, and this was crucial for many of them as they were dangerously under or overweight, hadn't seen a vet in a year, needed medications and surgeries, and/or needed shearing and hoof trims. The animals could get help right away. Had this been a seizure case, Animal Ag would've given her a "warning" and allowed her time to correct issues. It should be pretty obvious to everyone that Ashley was not going to do any of that. Had this been a seizure case, it could have taken days, weeks, or months for all the paperwork, processing, red tape, etc to go through and the animals just did NOT have that kind of time. Caitlin and Len of Rancho Relaxo who were forced to take over the property, mortgage, and massive cleanup did NOT have that kind of time. The other sanctuary owners that were taking time away from their own animals and families to drive over there, some from states away, to work the case also did NOT have that kind of time. 

One of the worst parts about this being a surrender case though is that Ashley could decide where some of the animals went, and according to laws this was her every right. Remember - laws usually protect animal abusers, not animals! So Ashley sold some animals to breeders (disgusting), gave one or more dogs to the Twist of Fate "caretaker", Mike (who was an incredible failure at his job), sold some others, gave some away...who knows. At no point did she have any of the animals' best interests at heart. Why would she?? She hadn't cared for months and months already so why start now. The sanctuaries even offered her money to keep or place some of these animals themselves - she refused. Imagine the absolute GALL that someone has to have in order to deliberately starve and kill over a hundred living beings AND put her own child in danger, get caught, and then think that SHE has any right whatsoever to these animals in any way, laws or not. I cannot imagine this, but apparently she has no issues with this behavior and was perfectly fine being this person. 

I have mentioned this before, but one of the stipulations of her cooperating with authorities of the surrender case was that she continue to live on the property and TAKE CARE of the animals there until all were placed with rescues and sanctuaries. She was supposed to bring them food and fresh water. She may have done this for a day or two, but after that she didn't lift a finger. At first she was apologetic and tried to make amends, but this remorse faded rapidly and it became evident that all she cared about was herself and her boyfriend. She barely showed up. 

Sadly, in the dead of night while she was still on the property she quietly snuck around, loaded even more animals in trailers, and drove them ILLEGALLY across state lines to her father's house in Pennsylvania. Why would that be illegal? Because interstate regulations provide for "quarantine, restriction of movement, maintenance of sanitation, and identification of animals to prevent the spread of animal disease". Seeing as how Ashley kept terrible records and none of these animals had seen a vet in over a year, it's doubtful that these regulations were followed in their entirety, if any at all. Was the FBI called afterwards? Criminal activities that cross state lines can be charged and prosecuted as federal crimes. 

Disturbingly, Ashley took a total of EIGHTEEN animals to her dad's. Elliot and Hamilton were sadly two of them. 

Here is a partial list of the rest (3 donkeys, 9 horses, 4 goats, plus the 2 pigs): 

Cherry, donkey

Blossom, donkey

Charlotte, donkey

Venus, goat

Ivy, goat

Simba, goat

Midnight, goat

Willow, horse

Everest, horse

Aiyana, horse

Colton, horse

Alastor, horse (I have seen his name spelled several ways but this was how Ashley spelled it in old posts).

I only have a partial list of the horses - it's unclear which ones she took from the original TOF property and which ones she took from the offsite boarding facility and where those numbers have been added. She had 12 horses at the boarding facility and she surrendered 8 of them and kept/sold/gave away four. There are also several horses that were removed from the property by rescues but they are unsure of their identities and original names. I'm still working on sorting this out and will update this if & when I come to any conclusions!

Ashley told Animal Ag and the police that these animals weren't hers - they "belonged to her dad". She told the other sanctuary owners that were trying to place these animals in other sanctuaries that "her dad would be really mad" if she placed HIS animals elsewhere. You would think that if her father was so invested in these animals of his or if he cared about them so much that maybe HE would have come by to feed them? But no. These animals were her dad's "favorites" and she was going to "save" them FOR HIM. I have no words. 

Regarding the stories of these animals, I plan on doing an in-depth post about goats Ivy & Simba soon because they have ties to a previously shared animal, but I'll include a brief summary of the other animals on the list here. Emphasis on "brief".

Blossom is mom to Charlotte and Cherry. The entire donkey family was rescued around 2016-2017 when the two were just babies. Despite these animals being Ashley's dad's "favorites" and fan-favorites as well, Ashley barely posted about them. 

Unfortunately I don't know anything about Midnight and Venus. I didn't even have a photo of them until a sanctuary sent me one recently. I do know that Venus had a body score of two when she was found. TWO. But even after starving her for months to get her body score so low, Ashley decided that she wanted Venus after all and that she would suddenly start caring about her. Again - no words.  

I also know very little about the 5 horses on this list. There are some posts and photos of them here and there, but curiously again - they're all from 2017 and 2018. Maybe she posted about them a lot on Instagram and not Patreon, but she made all her social media dark when her cruelty and neglect was discovered. So instead, I'll just post the information about these horses that is listed on the official survivor sheet that was made with the authorities back in July of 2022. Willow is 7 years old and a painted mare. Aiyanna is a 20 year old Arab appaloosa mare. Colton is a standardbred bay gelding with wry nose. Alastor is a black/dark bay Percheron gelding. His notes mention that he only has 1 eye and that he is not a people lover. Alastor had a body score of 2.5-3 when he was found. Everest is a 25 year old draft gray gelding and had a body score of 3. (For reference, a body score of 5 is a healthy weight). If/when I do find out the names of the other horses that she took I will update this article. 

Unless otherwise mentioned, the animals on the list, including Elliot and Hamilton, all had decent to good body scores. NOT because anyone was feeding them, even though they were "someone else's" and "favorites" - it was because they were in fields with lush grass that happened to still be growing. 

I called the PSPCA (Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) regarding these 18 animals nearly every day for weeks until someone FINALLY called me back. I spoke with a sergeant who told me that he had already received numerous calls about the animals on this property and that they had been out a few times to check on them. According to the Sgt. all of the animals looked good and were being fed. He said that unless someone could provide PROOF that the animals there are in danger that they could not go to the property again, otherwise it would be considered "harassment". Remember - laws protect animal abusers, not animals! There are also blurred lines because the laws in Pennsylvania do not protect the animals originally from New Jersey and vice versa. The animals might be getting food and water, but what about vet care? Hoof trims? Dental visits? Ashley claims that funding had dropped and she didn't even have the money to remove the dead bodies from the property, so she just piled them up to rot in the open instead. She asked Caitlin when confronted about the pile "what would you have me do - spend what little money I was getting on the body removals or food? I chose food". Except that she WASN'T FEEDING THEM! Even when she was buying bags of food or hay it went mostly unopened and undistributed. If she was so low on funds, why did she take 18 animals with her? Wouldn't taking care of 18 farmed animals be quite expensive?? If she was so low on funds, how did she expect her and her father to suddenly care for these animals and all of their many needs??

After she took these animals, efforts were ramped up to place all remaining animals, even if it was just in foster care for the time being just to get the animals away from Ashley as quickly as possible before she tried to take any more. Reportedly she wanted at least one of the cats because he was "friendly", but fortunately she was not successful in stealing him. 

I think about these animals every day. I hope that they're still okay since my conversation with the PSPCA was months ago. I hope that they're still getting food and medical care. It makes me so sad to think that they were already rescued - they should have been safe, to this day they should be living and thriving at new sanctuaries, making new friends after Ashley killed so many of their previous friends and family. But she wouldn't let them have that. She cared so little about these animals that she wouldn't even give them their freedom or a chance at being truly loved. 

Many of us are scared that she will just use these animals to open up another sanctuary for profit and repeat this entire process. Authorities MUST step in and make sure that all of these heartbreaking incidents are not repeated and that Ashley doesn't commit any more crimes, either to animals, her children, or her donors. This happens time and time again, but it's time for someone to make an example of her, that animal abuse and neglect is NOT to be taken lightly and that it also NOT something that people should just get away with.

The original petition has this plea: 

"We are requesting the removal of these animals and any other animals that she kept from her former sanctuary or that she has obtained since to be removed from her and sent to live at reputable sanctuaries for the rest of their lives. Because of Ashley's former treatment of hundreds of animals, she should NOT be allowed to keep these animals, and she should not be permitted to "own" or "care" for any animals ever again. If she were really under "mental duress" then she would have surrendered ALL animals in order to get the help that she needs after committing so many cruel and heinous acts, but instead she picked her favorites and quite literally damned the rest." 

This plea applies to these 18 animals, plus any others that she took or has obtained since. This plea includes any animals that her father has custody of and that her fiancé Keith has. This plea includes any animals that she may have obtained since July 2022 either on her own, with her father, or with her fiancé. This plea includes any future animals, whether they are dogs, cats, birds, farmed animals, or any other living, breathing being.  

To Ashley and her father, Pasquale (Pat): please release your hostages. 

If you would like to submit a similar request to the prosecution team regarding the animals and negotiating their release as part of her sentence, you can send an email to Barbara at barbara.garozzo@njcourts.gov. Please keep your emails polite, respectful and professional (remember, the prosecution is on OUR side!), and please get them in as soon as possible since her next court date is October 12th, which is next Thursday. Thank you!  

Never has change.org's "one photo per update" policy been so annoying than on this particular post because I have so many photos of these 18 animals, but I'll be sharing all of the photos that I have of them on my Instagram @ispellithaley in the next few days. I'm so sorry that I could only feature two of them above. 

To Elliot, Hamilton, Cherry, Blossom, Charlotte, Ivy, Simba, Midnight, Venus, Everst, Willow, Colton, Alastor, Aiyanna, and all of the others: I'm sorry that I don't know all of your names, and I'm sorry that I don't know much of anything about you. But we're thinking of you, we love you, and we're going to fight for you.  

As always, thank you so much for being here. Some of these updates have been really hard to write and bring up a lot of emotions, and this was definitely one of them. 

 

 

Ashley's next court date is October 12th. 

 

Please continue to share the petition across all channels. (Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Twitter, Snapchat, WhatsApp, NextDoor, YouTube, WeChat, Telegram, Pinterest, Reddit, Tumblr, etc, and please send it directly to people via email and/or text). If you have already shared it, please share it again. 

We are trying to get as many signatures and comments on the petition as possible before then - it would be great to break 15,000!! Thank you!!