What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? New Jersey
Where to start? I am a volunteer for a 501C3 horse rescue located in PA. Since March of 2010, there has been a slew of people and other 501C3 rescues on facebook making false and accusatory statements toward me and the rescue.
THey have made statements like:
The rescue steals money.
The rescue kills horses.
The rescue sends horses to slaughter.
Insert Name is going to end up in the federal pen.
Insert Name is going to have her baby in jail.
Insert Names and rescue Names are responsible for my house being condemned and my animals taken away by animal control. They will get theirs, they are nothing but scammers that kill horses.
Here is an actual unsolicited email that was sent to someone from one of the individuals involved with spreading the malicious slander:
I wish to remain anonymous. I have information that leads me to believe that a buyer of two of your horses is heavily involved with two so-called "horse rescues" on the Internet that scams gullible and kindhearted people into donating their hard-earned money to 'save' a number of horses every week from going to slaughter. Yet, even when the horses are declared 'safe' after their 'bail' has been raised, they are still sent off to other auctions to be sold all over again, or sold directly to the slaughterhouses in Canada and Mexico. A few of these horses do get homes in short order, but the majority do not and those are the truly unfortunate ones.
Your customer of whom I speak is Insert Name who bought your stallion Insert horse name and the filly insert horse name. She is working very, very closely with Insert Name the founder of Insert Rescue Name, and Insert Name, founder of Insert Rescue Name, and shilling for donations for horses that come through the Insert State kill broker lots every week. I think it should be a matter of great concern to you that two of your horses are in the hands of a woman who is actively helping these two rescues scam innocent people out of their money and sending horses off to slaughter. She has no moral scruples about what she is doing.
I would strongly suggest you keep a watchful eye on this person. Again, I wish to remain anonymous. Thank you very much.
Every DAY, there are dozens of comments posted like this.
The latest and most egregious is a 40 minute video that was made and posted online in numerous social networking and video hosting sites in which you will see graphic slaughter pics, names and photos of rescue volunteers, photos of horses that were adopted out, etc. All of the photos were taken from facebook or the rescue website and used without permission.
There are "leaders" that start the slander and then comments are followed up by others. Again, this has been going one for many months and we have always taken the high road and just ignored the comments but it is escalating and I am not sure where to turn. Are there any laws being broken here, criminal or civil? I have heard that you can only sue for slander if a person has assets. We do not want the assets, we just want it to stop. I might add that both rescues are in good standing with their 501C3's in order.
Thank you!
Where to start? I am a volunteer for a 501C3 horse rescue located in PA. Since March of 2010, there has been a slew of people and other 501C3 rescues on facebook making false and accusatory statements toward me and the rescue.
THey have made statements like:
The rescue steals money.
The rescue kills horses.
The rescue sends horses to slaughter.
Insert Name is going to end up in the federal pen.
Insert Name is going to have her baby in jail.
Insert Names and rescue Names are responsible for my house being condemned and my animals taken away by animal control. They will get theirs, they are nothing but scammers that kill horses.
Here is an actual unsolicited email that was sent to someone from one of the individuals involved with spreading the malicious slander:
I wish to remain anonymous. I have information that leads me to believe that a buyer of two of your horses is heavily involved with two so-called "horse rescues" on the Internet that scams gullible and kindhearted people into donating their hard-earned money to 'save' a number of horses every week from going to slaughter. Yet, even when the horses are declared 'safe' after their 'bail' has been raised, they are still sent off to other auctions to be sold all over again, or sold directly to the slaughterhouses in Canada and Mexico. A few of these horses do get homes in short order, but the majority do not and those are the truly unfortunate ones.
Your customer of whom I speak is Insert Name who bought your stallion Insert horse name and the filly insert horse name. She is working very, very closely with Insert Name the founder of Insert Rescue Name, and Insert Name, founder of Insert Rescue Name, and shilling for donations for horses that come through the Insert State kill broker lots every week. I think it should be a matter of great concern to you that two of your horses are in the hands of a woman who is actively helping these two rescues scam innocent people out of their money and sending horses off to slaughter. She has no moral scruples about what she is doing.
I would strongly suggest you keep a watchful eye on this person. Again, I wish to remain anonymous. Thank you very much.
Every DAY, there are dozens of comments posted like this.
The latest and most egregious is a 40 minute video that was made and posted online in numerous social networking and video hosting sites in which you will see graphic slaughter pics, names and photos of rescue volunteers, photos of horses that were adopted out, etc. All of the photos were taken from facebook or the rescue website and used without permission.
There are "leaders" that start the slander and then comments are followed up by others. Again, this has been going one for many months and we have always taken the high road and just ignored the comments but it is escalating and I am not sure where to turn. Are there any laws being broken here, criminal or civil? I have heard that you can only sue for slander if a person has assets. We do not want the assets, we just want it to stop. I might add that both rescues are in good standing with their 501C3's in order.
Thank you!
