Wasatch Animal Rescue

2082 E Pinecrest Ln. Sandy, UT 84092, United States, Sandy
http://wasatchanimalrescue.org/

This is fraud and animal abuse. Be careful!!

This issue involves what I believe to be the abuse of animals as well as fraud.

We thought we had finally found the puppy we had been looking for ever since our beloved rescue dog of 6 years passed away of heart failure and old age. We emailed Heather with Wasatch Animal Rescue (email communication is the only thing that they will allow), and began the adoption process. After expressing interest in the dog AND already having a day scheduled to meet the pup, she informed us that we would have to pay the $550 adoption fee and have all adoption papers signed, otherwise they might give the dog to someone else.

We hurried and paid all the fees and read through/signed the contract. She then offered to come to us to meet the puppy. We offered to go to the shelter, but she would not disclose a location, and met us at a local PetCo to meet the dog. When I went to meet the dog, Heather knew VERY little about its history, vaccines, parents, etc. The tiny 12 week old puppy was filthy, scared, and smelled awful. He hadn't been groomed probably his entire life. Heather only let us hold him for about a minute before leaving with him, and yet my clothes smelled of the dog so badly that when I got to my home a few hours later, I had to wash them immediately. We needed a few days of preparation before we could actually bring the dog to our home, so we planned to pick him up that weekend. Heather claimed that the dog was currently with a foster home and usually "very bouncy and playful", but he appeared to be terrified. She also mentioned that he came from a puppy mill in Missouri and that is probably why he was so scared.

A few days later, (the DAY before we were supposed to pick up the puppy) Heather emailed us saying that she had "accidentally" gotten our pup mixed up with another one from the litter, because she was flustered from the snow storm and got confused. She apologized and said that she had already given OUR puppy to someone else, and that the other family was already in love with it (she did not try to exchange the puppies right away, she let the other family keep him for a few days) and we would have to pick between the two puppies that were left from the litter.

We felt sad to take our little puppy away from a family that already loved him, especially since we barely knew him, so we sadly agreed but asked if she would either give us a discount on the puppy since we didn't know much about it yet and were expected to just go pick it up from her without knowing, or if she could possibly allow us to adopt both puppies for the price of one. We also wanted a discount because of the trouble and for the breech of contract. She emailed back saying no. We could either choose one of the puppies that was left, or we could request a refund. No options besides those. Heather refused to help us and suddenly became very defensive and short, as opposed to her helpful demeanor before the issue occurred.

Since we had agreed to pay Heather through Venmo, we began to feel nervous about following through doing business with her, and we did some research on Wasatch Animal Rescue. Reviews online show that MANY OTHERS had similarly unsettling experiences. Multiple reviews and sources state that there are loopholes in her contract where she maintains ownership of the puppy after adoption, and that she does not in fact rescue the dogs she sells. Multiple reviews state that she admits to buying the puppies from auction from puppy mills, and that she brags about suing customers for $5,000 after a "breech o contract", since her contract says that she gets the puppies back after a certain amount of time. I would speculate that the "foster homes" are not actually fosters, but rather people who thought they had truly adopted the dog. Rumors say that the dogs are all micro chipped and are under full ownership of Wasatch Animal Rescue.

Finally, we decided it would be best to get a dog elsewhere and to not do business with Heather. We requested a refund, and have yet to hear back from her. We requested the refund through Venmo as well but have not received our $550 dollars back. Since Heather refused to give us any definite information on the business, we do not have any phone numbers or address at which we can directly contact her at.

Many people have been shortchanged by this business, and a lot of people have been lead to believe that she resells the puppies multiple times. No wonder that poor little puppy was so afraid!

Poor animals deserve to be rescued by real people who will care for them, rather than using them as pawns to cheat people out of their money. My main concern is the animal abuse. She needs to be put out of business in my opinion. I am frustrated as I believe that this is a complete scam. SPREAD THE WORD!