Rosie and Peppermint are two bison that I believe were newer additions to Twist of Fate. 

Regarding their story, this might be my shortest post about an animal yet, as I really don't know very much about them and I only recently even saw any photos of them. I used to follow Ashley DiFelice and Twist of Fate on Instagram and I have a vague recollection of Rosie and Peppermint, but unfortunately not enough to remember when they arrived or where they came from. In fact I know so little about them and have so few photos to compare that the two images above are probably both of Rosie, taken shortly after the first rescues arrived on the scene. 

Fortunately they both survived Ashley's neglect, and based on the information from the survivor sheet they were babies in July 2022, both around 1 years old. Rosie was an intact (not neutered) male with horns and Peppermint, a female, did not have horns. Their body scores were not listed. 

Because this case was a surrender and not a seizure, Ashley could determine where the animals went to, if she wanted. (The nerve and gall that she actually exercised this "right" should be criminal, as she made it abundantly clear with all of her actions that she didn't care about any of these animals, or their health, happiness, or current or future well-being). She gave away some of the dogs - one or two went with the former "caretaker", Mike, and she sent some of the dogs to her dad's house in West Grove, Pennsylvania along with the other horses, pigs, and goats that are prisoners. 

Sadly she gave (most likely sold) Rosie and Peppermint to a "friend", who is also a breeder. This was a year and a half ago and I would hope that they are still alive, but it is very upsetting that even though they lived through such a nightmare of Ashley's creation that they continue to be exploited and abused for breeding. 

Why is it so horrific and unethical? A few reasons: 

1. Breeding animals involves a lack of consent. Typically the female, no matter what species, is restrained and artificially inseminated by humans. This happens over and over again, and it is violating every time. This is rape and slavery. In fact, the restraining device used on cows in the dairy industry is actually called a "rape rack".

2. Repeated pregnancies take a huge toll on the female's bodies, often shortening their lives by over a decade. For instance a cow's natural lifespan is around 20 years, but because her body becomes so physically wrecked and she is so emotionally spent from having baby after baby and having her children torn away from her in the dairy industry, she'll only live to be about 5 years old. She is then deemed "spent" and is slaughtered for her flesh at a mere fraction of her life, never getting to keep any of her beloved children.  

3. The male animal is also forcibly ejaculated, and yes, it's often by a human's hands and I have seen enough snippets of videos of this to call this what it is as well - bestiality. There is no other word you can use to describe a human manually masturbating an animal. As another example from the dairy industry, here is a snippet from a Sanctuary magazine article produced by The Farm Sanctuary (@farmsanctuary): "Banned in the Netherlands and Denmark, electroejaculation is the dairy industry's go-to technique for sperm collection. Describing this procedure in even the simplest, pared-down terms cannot disguise its inherent abuse: a bull is selected based on the high milk production of his daughters, then tied and restrained while an electric probe is inserted in his anus. The electricity is then turned up until the cow ejaculates. The process is so painful, the bulls often pass out before ejaculating. They are only allowed to recover for 15 minutes before being forced to endure the process all over again. The alternative to electroejaculation is less painful for bulls (males), but since it involves inserting a sperm-collecting artificial vagina inside the female cow's real vagina, this method shifts the torture from one animal to the other." This makes me squirm so much, as it should.  

So many people claim to be against slavery, rape, bestiality and violating someone and/or their bodies or rights but will then turn right around and support it with their food choices, clothing choices, or obtaining the "perfect" breed for a companion. So...are you really against those things? Do your actions actually match your words?

4. Speaking of companion animals, buying from a breeder contributes to the deaths of the hundreds and thousands of cats and dogs that are killed in shelters every day because again - someone wants a "perfect pet" instead of giving an animal in need a good home. 

5. If you wouldn't want to be kept in a pen, cage, tank, room, or even a whole mansion and forced or coerced to procreate, then why would you support it being done to someone else?

6. Breeding animals treats them as objects and commodities, not the living breathing beings that they are. 

7. It's exploitative and unethical to create new animals just to please humans or for human preferences, interests, or pleasures. 

8. In the farming industries, animals are bred into existence solely for the purpose of being enslaved, used, abused, and murdered. Again, if you claim to be against all of these things then you should stop funding and supporting them. 

9. In most cases animals are bred for profit, which treats them as commodities or objects. 

10. Repeated pregnancies take a huge toll on the female's bodies, often shortening their lives by over a decade. A dairy cow's natural lifespan is around 20 years, but because her body becomes so physically wrecked and she is so emotionally spent from having baby after baby after baby, she'll only live to be about 5 years old. She is then deemed "spent" and is slaughtered. 

I don't know for what purpose this "friend" of Ashley's breeds animals, but whether it's for milk, "veal", "pets", etc - none of it is good. Hopefully someday Rosie and Peppermint find their way to a sanctuary so that they can finally know true freedom and before the process of repeated breeding shortens Peppermint's life.

Along with all of the animals that she killed and also tried to kill, Ashley DiFelice should be held accountable for all of the animals that she robbed of living at a real sanctuary. 

I hope that Peppermint and Rosie are okay, and I think about their missed opportunity at a free and happy life a lot. 

 

Thank you for reading, and hopefully the above info has been enlightening.

 

To learn more about how to be kind to animals, please visit this page for a list of resources. It includes books, films, podcasts, YouTube videos, websites, articles, Instagram accounts, and blogs. (I'm currently working on my own list too!) 

 

Also, if anyone out there has any info and/or photos of Rosie and Peppermint or screenshots of old posts about them from Facebook or Instagram, please reach out to me @ispellithaley!! I am also looking for any information and/or photos of a horse named Sky, a mini palomino that is about 20 years old. Thank you so much! 

 

Ashley DiFelice's next court date is Thursday, February 22nd. Please continue to share the petition while we all wait! Thank you.