Bert Wahl Wildlife Rescue
Bert Wahl Loses USDA License & Jailed for Animal Cruelty
Rescue cited under AWA
Tampa, FL (US)
Incident Date: Thursday, Jul 31, 1997
County: Hillsborough
Disposition: USDA Citation
Person of Interest: Bert Allen Wahl, Jr
Case Updates: 4 update(s) available
In August 1997, a U.S. Department of Agriculture administrative law judge found Bert Allen Wahl, Jr., doing business as Wildlife Rescue Inc. in Tampa, Fla., guilty of violations of the Animal Welfare Act.
“While Wahl was found guilty of violating the AWA, he cooperated in good faith and did not have a prior history of violations,” said W. Ron DeHaven, acting deputy administrator for animal care with the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, a part of the marketing and regulatory programs mission area. “He was fined $1,000 and was issued a cease-and-desist order to prevent future violations.”
Case Updates
On June 28, 2002, Bert Allen Wahl, Jr was arrested for one count of cruelty to animals.
Source: Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Department
Update posted on Nov 21, 2005 – 1:13AM
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When veterinarians examined a 16-year-old cougar called Old Man in late 2001, they found his rear feet so badly neglected they were on the verge of rotting off. The cougar, which had to be euthanized, belonged to controversial wildlife activist Bert Wahl, a man some authorities have long feared is more menace than friend to the animals he takes in.
As Wahl’s animal cruelty trial began in Hillsborough County Court, prosecutor Martin Hernandez argued that Wahl was responsible for Old Man’s death, that he beat the cat and deprived it of medicine.
Hernandez told the jury that Wahl beat the old cougar with his fists and a shoe, assaulted it with a broom handle and dragged it by the choker until it was unconscious. The cat’s hindquarters became infected by dying tissue in the manner of gangrene, he said.
Public defender Mark Gilman countered that the cougar’s gangrene-like condition was caused by a blood clot, and an expert found no evidence of trauma on the cat’s body.
Wahl, 46, was housing Old Man at the Tampa residence of wildlife rehabilitation activist Sherie Frost. Testifying for the state, Frost said last Nov. 4 she saw Wahl twisting the cat’s ear so badly it required stitches. Days later, she said, she saw Wahl punching the cat in the face, dragging it 25 feet and kicking it about the body, groin and head. When the cat’s ear began bleeding, she said, Wahl starting mopping up the blood, but he turned on the cat again when it took the mop-end in its mouth. “He was trying to jam the mop down the cat’s throat,” Frost said, adding that Wahl later did the same with a broom.
Wahl, the founder of Wildlife Rescue Inc., an urban wildlife preserve, faces up to a year in jail, as well as a $5,000 fine, on a misdemeanor charge of animal cruelty.
Ray Thunderhawk, who runs a big cat rescue facility in Sharpes, testified that it is only necessary to strike a cat if your life is at stake. At the prosecutor’s request, Thunderhawk hauled one of his cougars to the courthouse Wednesday, a 200-pounder named Nunpa. The state intended to show the jury what a live, well-treated cougar looks like, but decided late in the day not to do so.
In the summer of 1994, Wahl was found guilty of abandoning a gopher tortoise at this Sulphur Springs wildlife preserve and of violating state regulations on housing otters. He got a year of probation for each of those charges. Closing arguments in his latest trial are expected to start this morning before County Judge Nick Nazaretian.
Source: St. Petersburg Times – June 27, 2002
Update posted on Nov 21, 2005 – 1:11AM
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On March 1, 2002, Wahl was arrested on 8 counts of abandoning an animal, 2 counts of illegally killing or possessing an alligator, 2 counts of maintaining wildlife in unsanitary conditions, 4 counts of personal possession of wildlife, 2 counts of violation of Dept of Environmental Affairs.
Source: Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office
Update posted on Nov 21, 2005 – 12:56AM
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In August 2000, the U.S. Department of Agriculture charged Bert Allen Wahl Jr., doing business as Wildlife Rescue Inc. in Tampa, Fla., with violations of the Animal Welfare Act.
“While we currently have charges against Wahl in another case, we are charging him with new violations as we believe he has continued to operate without a license as required by law,” said W. Ron DeHaven, deputy administrator for animal care with the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, a part of USDA’s marketing and regulatory programs mission area.
Source: USDA – August 28, 2000
Update posted on Nov 21, 2005 – 12:45AM
Posted by BigCatRescue at 7:49 PM
Saturday, June 29, 2002
Bert Wahl gets nine months in jail for torturing a cougar
Bert Wahl gets nine months in jail for torturing a cougar
[SOUTH PINELLAS Edition]
St. Petersburg Times – St. Petersburg, Fla.
Author: RYAN MEEHAN
Date: Jun 29, 2002
Start Page: 3.B
Text Word Count: 588
Document Text
At a sentencing hearing Friday for a well-known animal activist convicted of cruelty to a cougar, there was an unexpected moment of silence.
“Do you love animals?” a prosecutor had asked Bert Wahl.
For nearly 20 seconds, Wahl said nothing. Then he questioned the use of the word love. He had dealt with thousands of animals and took a liking to most, he said, but hadn’t loved them all personally.
But with Old Man, the cougar he was convicted of torturing, it was different, he said.
“I loved that cat,” Wahl told the judge.
Then the judge sentenced him to nine months in the county jail, three months shy of the maximum for the misdemeanor animal cruelty charge.
“When (the cougar) needed you the most, you were not there for him,” County Judge Nick Nazaretian told Wahl. “You were not there.”
He also ordered Wahl to pay a $5,000 fine and serve 24 hours of community service.
A day earlier, a jury heard allegations that Wahl abused the cougar in November, a few days before Old Man was euthanized. Prosecutors said the cougar, which was 16 and suffered from pancreatitis, was dragged, punched, kicked and hit with a shoe and had a mop and broom handle jammed down its throat.
Even after Friday’s 2 1/2-hour sentencing hearing, Wahl’s supporters were wrestling with the guilty verdict.
The jury “made a mistake,” said Gibbs Wilson, a Tampa businessman and Wahl’s friend. “It happens every once in a while.”
One of nine witnesses to testify on Wahl’s behalf at the sentencing, Wilson told the judge the evidence didn’t make sense. He and other Wahl supporters said the case was part of a vendetta by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Committee against Wahl
“I don’t believe this is cruelty to animals,” Wilson said. “I believe Fish and Wildlife are guilty of cruelty to a human.”
Verity Mathews told the judge that Wahl worked with children, and that Wahl and the cougar had been more tightly bonded than most humans. Wahl didn’t abuse the animal, because if he had, “I would have taken this and brained him myself with it,” she said, brandishing her cane.
Prosecutor Jim Shoemaker called only one witness Friday: a Florida Fish and Wildlife investigator who said he has been following Wahl since the early 1980s. He said Wahl began breaking the law in the early 1990s. Shoemaker spent nearly an hour telling the story of Wahl’s past, citing his convictions for animal-related infractions.
“The (defense) witnesses may know the Dr. Jekyll,” Shoemaker told the judge. “But before you stands Mr. Hyde.”
Shoemaker cited a June 2000 report from Florida Fish and Wildlife describing the condition of property Wahl owned in Tampa. Inside, Shoemaker said, investigators found dead and decomposing rats, snakes and turtles. Two live alligators were found in murky, undersized aquariums and ferrets and a Rottweiler were also discovered on the dilapidated premises.
Wahl said the officer who filed the report was widely known to be a non-credible source and the description of the house was exaggerated.
The judge praised Wahl for services he provided the community but said he saw something deeper in the case of the cougar.
“When that cougar started going downhill, getting sicker and passing away, I think some of you started passing away, too,” Nazaretian said. “But when he needed you most, I think you disregarded him. And I think it went beyond just neglect.”
– Ryan Meehan can be reached at (813) 226-3354 or meehan@sptimes.com.
Posted by BigCatRescue at 8:03 PM
Bert Wahl Gets Jail Time
Activist gets jail time for cruelty
Convicted of torturing a cougar, animal activist Bert Wahl was sentenced to nine months in jail. He also must pay a $5,000 fine.
By RYAN MEEHAN
© St. Petersburg Times, published June 29, 2002
Convicted of torturing a cougar, animal activist Bert Wahl was sentenced to nine months in jail. He also must pay a $5,000 fine.
TAMPA — At a sentencing hearing Friday for a well-known animal activist convicted of cruelty to a cougar, there was an unexpected moment of silence.
“Do you love animals?” a prosecutor had asked Bert Wahl.
For nearly 20 seconds, Wahl said nothing. Then he questioned the use of the word love. He had dealt with thousands of animals and took a liking to most, he said, but hadn’t loved them all personally.
But with Old Man, the cougar he was convicted of torturing, it was different, he said.
“I loved that cat,” Wahl told the judge.
Then the judge sentenced him to nine months in the county jail, three months shy of the maximum for the misdemeanor animal cruelty charge.
“When (the cougar) needed you the most, you were not there for him,” County Judge Nick Nazaretian told Wahl. “You were not there.”
He also ordered Wahl to pay a $5,000 fine and serve 24 hours of community service.
A day earlier, a jury heard allegations that Wahl abused the cougar in November, a few days before Old Man was euthanized. Prosecutors said the cougar, which was 16 and suffered from pancreatitis, was dragged, punched, kicked and hit with a shoe and had a mop and broom handle jammed down its throat.
Even after Friday’s 21/2-hour sentencing hearing, Wahl’s supporters were wrestling with the guilty verdict.
The jury “made a mistake,” said Gibbs Wilson, a Tampa businessman and Wahl’s friend. “It happens every once in a while.”
One of nine witnesses to testify on Wahl’s behalf at the sentencing, Wilson told the judge the evidence didn’t make sense. He and other Wahl supporters said the case was part of a vendetta by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Committee against Wahl
“I don’t believe this is cruelty to animals,” Wilson said. “I believe Fish and Wildlife are guilty of cruelty to a human.”
Verity Mathews told the judge that Wahl worked with children, and that Wahl and the cougar had been more tightly bonded than most humans. Wahl didn’t abuse the animal, because if he had, “I would have taken this and brained him myself with it,” she said, brandishing her cane.
Prosecutor Jim Shoemaker called only one witness Friday: a Florida Fish and Wildlife investigator who said he has been following Wahl since the early 1980s. He said Wahl began breaking the law in the early 1990s. Shoemaker spent nearly an hour telling the story of Wahl’s past, citing his convictions for animal-related infractions.
“The (defense) witnesses may know the Dr. Jekyll,” Shoemaker told the judge. “But before you stands Mr. Hyde.”
Shoemaker cited a June 2000 report from Florida Fish and Wildlife describing the condition of property Wahl owned in Tampa. Inside, Shoemaker said, investigators found dead and decomposing rats, snakes and turtles. Two live alligators were found in murky, undersized aquariums and ferrets and a Rottweiler were also discovered on the dilapidated premises.
Wahl said the officer who filed the report was widely known to be a non-credible source and the description of the house was exaggerated.
The judge praised Wahl for services he provided the community but said he saw something deeper in the case of the cougar.
“When that cougar started going downhill, getting sicker and passing away, I think some of you started passing away, too,” Nazaretian said. “But when he needed you most, I think you disregarded him. And I think it went beyond just neglect.”
— Ryan Meehan can be reached at 226-3354 or meehan@sptimes.com.
Posted by BigCatRescue at 7:51 PM
Thursday, June 27, 2002
Bert Wahl Accused of Abusing Cougar
Trial focuses on cougar’s treatment
A witness says the defendant, a wildlife activist, punched, kicked and tormented the big cat.
By CHRISTOPHER GOFFARD, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published June 27, 2002
TAMPA — When veterinarians examined a 16-year-old cougar called Old Man in late 2001, they found his rear feet so badly neglected they were on the verge of rotting off.
The cougar, which had to be euthanized, belonged to controversial wildlife activist Bert Wahl, a man some authorities have long feared is more menace than friend to the animals he takes in.
As Wahl’s animal cruelty trial began in Hillsborough County Court Wednesday, prosecutor Martin Hernandez argued that Wahl was responsible for Old Man’s death, that he beat the cat and deprived it of medicine.
Hernandez told the jury that Wahl beat the old cougar with his fists and a shoe, assaulted it with a broom handle and dragged it by the choker until it was unconscious. The cat’s hindquarters became infected by dying tissue in the manner of gangrene, he said.
Public defender Mark Gilman countered that the cougar’s gangrene-like condition was caused by a blood clot, and an expert found no evidence of trauma on the cat’s body.
Wahl, 46, was housing Old Man at the Tampa residence of wildlife rehabilitation activist Sherie Frost. Testifying for the state, Frost said last Nov. 4 she saw Wahl twisting the cat’s ear so badly it required stitches. Days later, she said, she saw Wahl punching the cat in the face, dragging it 25 feet and kicking it about the body, groin and head.
When the cat’s ear began bleeding, she said, Wahl starting mopping up the blood, but he turned on the cat again when it took the mop-end in its mouth.
“He was trying to jam the mop down the cat’s throat,” Frost said, adding that Wahl later did the same with a broom.
Wahl, the founder of Wildlife Rescue Inc., an urban wildlife preserve, faces up to a year in jail, as well as a $5,000 fine, on a misdemeanor charge of animal cruelty.
Ray Thunderhawk, who runs a big cat rescue facility in Sharpes, testified that it is only necessary to strike a cat if your life is at stake.
At the prosecutor’s request, Thunderhawk hauled one of his cougars to the courthouse Wednesday, a 200-pounder named Nunpa. The state intended to show the jury what a live, well-treated cougar looks like, but decided late in the day not to do so.
In the summer of 1994, Wahl was found guilty of abandoning a gopher tortoise at this Sulphur Springs wildlife preserve and of violating state regulations on housing otters. He got a year of probation for each of those charges.
Closing arguments in his latest trial are expected to start this morning before County Judge Nick Nazaretian.
— Christopher Goffard can be reached at 813-226-3337 or goffard@sptimes.com.
Posted by BigCatRescue at 7:52 PM
Thursday, June 20, 2002
Bert Wahl Convicted of Cruelty
Wildlife activist guilty of cruelty
[SOUTH PINELLAS Edition]
St. Petersburg Times – St. Petersburg, Fla.
Author: RYAN MEEHAN
Date: Jun 28, 2002
Start Page: 1.B
Text Word Count: 501
Document Text
The cougar named Old Man was 16 years old with bad legs and pancreatitis when he was euthanized last year.
But a jury decided Thursday that he had been tortured as well.
Bert Wahl, once one of the Tampa Bay area’s best-known wildlife activists, was found guilty of misdemeanor animal cruelty Thursday, after jurors deliberated for little more than an hour. He faces a maximum of one year in prison and a $5,000 fine.
Prosecutors said Wahl abused the cougar for an hour and a half on Nov. 4, and the animal was euthanized a few days later. The prosecutors listed the accusations against Wahl in thick black marker for the jury Thursday.
The list said he choked the cougar; dragged the cougar; dragged the cougar by a choker chain; punched the cougar; kicked the cougar; hit the cougar with a shoe; and jammed a mop and broom handle down the cougar’s throat.
“Maybe the Bucs lost the previous weekend and he was mad. Maybe he just lost his cool for those five days. It does not matter,” said prosecutor Martin Hernandez.
“All the state has to do is prove he did one of the listed things,” state prosecutor Jim Shoemaker added.
Wahl, 46, operated Wildlife Rescue Inc. for almost 20 years from a house and yard in Tampa’s Seminole Heights neighborhood. He visited schools with his animals and appeared in the media when he rescued critters.
But over the past several years, he has gotten in trouble for mistreating the animals he was supposedly saving. In 1997, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission tried to take away Wahl’s license for rehabilitation and exhibition on the grounds that he mistreated his animals. In 2000, the state accused him of mishandling more than two dozen animals in his care.
In the most recent case, Wahl was housing the cougar named Old Man at the Tampa residence of wildlife rehabilitation activist Sherie Frost.
Frost told jurors in this week’s trial that on Nov. 4 she saw Wahl twisting the cat’s ear so badly that it required stitches. Days later, she said, she saw Wahl punching the cat in the face, dragging it 25 feet and kicking it.
Public defender Mark Gilman, in closing arguments, tried to discredit Sherie Frost and her husband, Simeon Frost. Gilman said they were felons and they couldn’t be trusted.
Mrs. Frost’s account didn’t make sense, he said. If she saw Wahl brutally beating the cougar for more than an hour and a half last November, why didn’t she call the police?
“I was afraid,” she said outside the courtroom after the trial.
After the trial, Wahl exited the courtroom with family members. He wouldn’t comment on the verdict.
“I’d love to, but they won’t let me,” he said, directing inquiries to John Skye, spokesman for the public defender’s office.
Wahl’s sentencing hearing is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. today.
Posted by BigCatRescue at 7:06 PM
Sunday, July 11, 1993
Ending an Era of Anima Abuse
Wildlife crusader is facing legal, neighborhood troubles
[CITY Edition]
St. Petersburg Times – St. Petersburg, Fla.
Author: SUSAN EASTMAN
Date: Jul 11, 1993
Start Page: 1
Section: COMMUNITY TIMES
Text Word Count: 1306
Document Text
In some circles, Bert Wahl and his panther are living symbols of wildlife conservation.
In February, the 300-pound panther glided across the floor of the Florida Senate to call attention to the plight of the endangered species. It had its picture taken with movie actress Mariel Hemingway and Britain’s Prince Charles. When the state unveiled the new Florida panther license plate, the animal shared the stage with Gov. Lawton Chiles and other dignitaries.
But most of Wahl’s neighbors say living next door to the conservation crusader and his animal menagerie, which includes four panthers and two bobcats, is a major pain.
“When the cougars come into heat, you can’t sleep at night,” neighbor Meg Pylant complained. “They howl and screech. They call for the male. It’s constant.”
“It’s not like a neighbor dog barking, which can be a nuisance,” said Steve LaBour, a spokesman for Mayor Sandy Freedman. “These are wild animals, and they make wild animal noises.”
People who live near Wahl’s headquarters on Hiawatha Street have compiled thick notebooks of evidence that they say show Wahl’s Wildlife Rescue Inc. facility is violating city codes and state and federal wildlife guidelines.
Neighbors videotaped the center. They complained to the Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission. They complained to police and the city’s code enforcement office. More than two dozen neighbors petitioned the City Council to shut down the facility.
“We have tried to reason with him, but forget it,” Virginia Schwab said. “We have gone through the legal process.”
A few weeks ago, Wahl’s panther was stretched out across a sofa in George Kickliter’s law firm. He wasn’t there as part of a conservation lesson. He was there because Wahl is waging a battle for the survival of the non-profit wildlife rescue and education company he started in 1982.
Wahl claims he has rescued 11,000 animals in the 11 years he has operated in Hillsborough County. But now, he said, his work is being hampered by his legal troubles.
“We have been under the gun,” Wahl complained. “The city and the state have been constantly haranguing us. Now, instead of helping animals, we are trying to keep the wolves from the back and the front of the door.”
Last week, state officials removed two deer, an otter and a tortoise from Wahl’s care and cited him for keeping animals in improper cages. The city already had declared Wahl a public nuisance and had moved to foreclose on his property.
“There is no question in our mind that Mr. Wahl is trying to do good,” LaBour said. “It is just our feeling now that he has been successful and has grown bigger than the neighborhood can stand.”
Saturday afternoon, about 45 people showed up at a local church to discuss Wahl’s problems. Most think Wahl is getting a raw deal.
“It is a long story of lies, deception, deceit, and it is all funded by your tax dollars,” said Mark Moretti, who does charitable work for Wildlife Rescue Inc.
“Why is he being harassed? Simple politics,” Moretti said.
Wahl began his wildlife program in a house he bought in Seminole Heights in 1982. At first, Pylant said, most of the neighbors sympathized with Wahl’s efforts to rescue injured animals.
The problems started when Wahl acquired a panther cub and began the education programs that have brought him much public recognition and praise.
Schwab claims Wahl said he planned to move to a more rural setting as the operation grew, but when he bought two other houses in the neighborhood, she began to question his plans.
To feed the animals, fresh red meat is chopped daily at sinks that are 8 feet from Schwab’s bedroom and work room, she said.
Flies congregate on the front porch. When Schwab does yard work, the flies light on her back. The odor of the animals, even if controlled, is noticeable, she said.
“I cannot continue to live like this,” Schwab said. “It just is not fair.”
Wildlife officials said they took some of Wahl’s animals last week because he had not corrected problems he was told to fix during an inspection earlier this month.
The seizure follows criminal misdemeanor charges levied against Wahl for violating state regulations when he caged a black bear in Polk County, and two clouded leopards, two deer and an otter on Hiawatha Street.
The deer were being kept in a back yard that game officials said was filled with debris, according to an inspection report. The otter was being kept in an air carrier with no pool, according to the report, and Wahl did not have proper approval to house the leopards.
Each of the charges could result in a $500 fine and/or 60 days in jail. Wahl and the manager of Wildlife Rescue Inc. also are charged with denying inspectors access to the facility.
The city began fining him $250 a day in March, and recently began trying to foreclose on the three properties Wahl owns in Seminole Heights to satisfy the accumulated fines.
City Council member Scott Paine said he met with neighbors and Wahl in an effort to resolve the problems.
“We could not get him to see that this was a problem,” Paine said.
Paine said the state’s actions made him wonder whether Wildlife Rescue Inc. is living up to the image it has acquired in the community.
“It was created to address a very worthy cause,” Paine said. “But that is not an excuse for not complying with the law.”
Calling the state’s actions capricious, arbitrary and absurd, Kickliter, Wahl’s attorney, said he will move to have the charges dismissed.
“It is incredible to me that a game officer can come to your house and demand entry when a police officer or a sheriff officer cannot,” Kickliter said.
He said the alleged violations are minor offenses that can be corrected easily. He noted that the animals taken by wildlife officials were basically in good health.
“It is a shame to see him being seized, piecemeal, for the slightest technical violation,” Kickliter said. “The animals are healthy, thriving, well-cared for. There is no abuse and no cruelty.”
In the long-term, Kicklighter said, Wahl knows he needs to move his operation. Kickliter suggested that the city, state and the neighbors help Wahl find an appropriate setting where he can continue his work.
“He is providing a valuable public service,” Kickliter said. “Fining him and making him bankrupt is not the answer.”
The animals taken last week were in good health, agreed Jerry Thompson, the inspections coordinator for the state game commission, except for the gopher tortoise. The reptile had injuries to its feet, claws and head, he said. A veterinarian will evaluate how long the animal has had the injuries, he said.
As Wahl gave a tour of his facility last week, he climbed into a cage with the panther he raised from a cub, stroking the animal’s head and putting his finger in its mouth.
His relationship with the male panther has astounded animal experts.
Robert F. Sisson, who served as the chief of the natural sciences division of National Geographic magazine, wrote to Wahl that he had “never seen such complete oneness between an animal and its human companion.”
Wahl said the panther gets attention, but the real mission is to teach people how to live in peace with the raccoons, opossums and other animals that carve out homes in urban settings.
“This is an issue Wildlife Rescue would like to get involved in,” Wahl said. “But we are embroiled in our survival.”
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