When the mess that Ashley DiFelice made was discovered in July 2022, animals were found dead, starving, or otherwise suffering at the former Twist of Fate "sanctuary". The literal mess was everywhere too - trash and debris were all over the pastures and fields, inside the barns and sheds, and strewn all over the entire home where Ashley, her young son Deacon, and the property "caretaker" Mike were living. Animal urine and feces covered the floor of the rooms, the shower, and even Deacon's bed. Bags and piles of trash, decomposing food, empty food and drink containers, clothing, etc were all over the place. The barns and sheds had opened and discarded cans of cat food all over the floor, and there were also bags of sealed food in the buildings, rotting where it sat instead of being distributed to the hungry and dying animals that it was intended for. Some of the photos of these rooms and their decrepit conditions can be viewed on the original petition.
The cleanup began immediately. The sanctuaries that showed up to rehome the surviving animals also got to work along with many volunteers from numerous neighboring states to clean up the property and get it back into a livable and useable condition. Some very large dumpsters were rented (at the expense of the sanctuaries, not Ashley), costing upwards of $2,500 and were absolutely filled, in addition to dozens of full-size garbage bags. It was $6,300 to remove the pile of decaying bodies from the property. A quote to hire an outside company to come and clean the inside of the house to make it livable again came to $11,500 and included a top to bottom deep clean of every single room, removal of all of the filthy carpet and padding, a full house duct system cleaning, and more. It was $370.00 just to get the locks changed. The roof of the house needed to be replaced among other things, concrete needed to be poured for barns and other buildings, and the property was nowhere near being paid off. Caitlin (@boochaces) and Len (@hispees) the founders of the neighboring sanctuary Rancho Relaxo were forced to take on all of these expenses cleaning up after ASHLEY, because they were forced to sell their offsite property and move their animals to the former TOF property, as well as clean up the house so that Caitlin's mother Karen could live there as a caretaker to the place, as she was doing at the former offsite property.
Ashley didn't lift a finger to either help clean up her own mess OR to pay for any of these expenses, instead choosing to emotionally, physically, and financially burden dozens of people that she once called friends.
A few days into the cleanup, the volunteers found 3 kittens living under an actual pile of trash. With the help of Community Cat Club (@communitycatclub) and a Rancho Relaxo volunteer named Cherene the kittens and their mom were trapped, which was quite an adventure since one of them climbed underneath a refrigerator! They were all brought to the vet for checkups, flea treatments, etc, and then the family was brought a foster home. The mom was eventually spayed as Ashley never bothered to do this and released back on to Rancho Relaxo's property where she is now known as "Mama Smoke".
The three babies were taken in by two different people - two were adopted together by Cherene & her son and named Zero and Lucy, and the third was taken in by a friend of hers and named Linc. All three are doing wonderful and living their best life in their new homes - what a difference from when they were under Ashley's "care" and living in trash!
If you would like to make a donation to Community Cat Club, you can do so via their website, PayPal or Venmo (@communitycatclub). They also have an Amazon Wishlist specifically for kitten season and a general Amazon Wishlist, a Chewy Wishlist, and cute tees, tanks, & sweatshirts in a variety of designs on Bonfire. You can also make a regular monthly donation to them by joining their Patreon for as little as $2/month. You can also share your "Love Stories" about how an animal in your life that you adopted improved your life to help Community Cat Club win a grant courtesy of Petco! You can find more info on that here. AND you can watch CCC featured on the local news for the "Clear the Shelters" program here. Additionally, you can fill out the CCC Foster Questionnaire and Volunteer Application if you live in or near Bellmawr, New Jersey USA.
If you would like to make a donation to help cover the ongoing expenses for cleaning up the former Twist of Fate property or the mortgage that Rancho Relaxo suddenly had to take on because of Ashley's actions, you can do so via Rancho's website, PayPal (@boochaces@aol.com), or Venmo (@boochaces). They also have an Amazon Wishlist, a GoFundMe, and adorable merch like tees, sweatshirts, totes and more on Bonfire! You can also make a monthly donation in any amount by joining their Patreon.
One of the BEST ways to help support them and all that they have taken on as a result of Ashley's actions is to join the Rancho Relaxo Takeover Patreon (formerly the Twist of Fate Patreon but now solely under the control of Rancho Relaxo) - this money goes towards the care of the 5+ animals that they took in from the cruelty case as well as the additional expenses that they were forced to take on as a result, like the mortgage of the property. Even $1-5 per month goes a long way! It is over a year later and garbage is still being found in the fields, so the cleanup is still ongoing even to this day. And it's still nothing compared to the emotional and psychological damage that Ashley DiFelice did to the animals, her former friends, and the legitimate sanctuary owners and volunteers.
Please give @communitycatclub, @boochaces, @hispees, and @ranchorelaxoteam a follow on Instagram to help support them in their life-saving work. And please leave Mama Smoke, Zero, Lucy, & Linc some love in the comments!
Thank you so much for being here and for supporting the animals, as well as the people and sanctuaries that are taking care of them.
I just checked again and still don't see a new date for Ashley's next court appearance, but please stay tuned...hopefully one is coming soon!
Please continue to share the petition. Thank you!