Update: Great news! The hellhole formerly known as "Angel's Gate, Inc.," has been shut down for good!

After PETA provided evidence that Angel's Gate had persistently failed to comply with reporting laws for nonprofits, the New York Attorney General's Office filed suit to dissolve Angel's Gate for receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars each year in donations without accounting for any of those funds, in alleged violation of state law.

The lawsuit's settlement prohibits Angel's Gate founder Susan Marino from caring for or harboring any animals other than her own “pets” and from being an officer or a director of an organization that holds charitable funds for 10 years. The settlement also requires that Angel's Gate provide all outstanding financial reports. The documents are to be closely examined to determine whether the money that well-meaning people sent to the organization was ever actually used to help animals or instead was misused.

PETA's undercover investigation of the Delaware County, New York, facility found shocking, systemic, severe, and fatal neglect of ailing and debilitated animals—but now, no animal will ever suffer again at Angel's Gate, as Tuxie, Malcolm, Scrappy, Mimi, Casey, Marley, Lexus, and countless others did over the years.  

Originally posted on November 7th, 2012:

There's some good news to report about the criminal prosecution of Angel's Gate founder Susan Marino on cruelty-to-animals charges following PETA's undercover investigation of the misery-filled hoarder warehouse, which posed as a "hospice and rehabilitation center." On November 7, Kortright, New York, Town Justice Yvonne Pagillo prohibited Marino from having any animals for six months, during which time the case is adjourned.

Since August 29, Marino and Angel's Gate have been banned from taking in any more animals or contributions, thanks to a lawsuit brought against them by the New York State Attorney General's Office. Let's hope the lawsuit's resolution shuts down Angel's Gate for good and that this hellhole's finances will be gone through with a fine-tooth comb for evidence of misuse of charitable funds.

Angel's Gate is not the only hellhole at which PETA investigators found suffering, death, and cruel conditions. Caboodle Ranch, Inc., was also a self-proclaimed "sanctuary" with a website that gives well-meaning people a false impression. Please help ensure that not another hard-earned dollar goes to cause, not relieve, animal suffering by urging the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services to cancel the ability of Caboodle Ranch to solicit contributions.

PETA has learned that Casey, a young, paralyzed St. Bernard, died recently at Angel's Gate, reportedly after suffering from a long-term urinary tract infection. Casey spent most of her short life at the mercy of Susan Marino—the founder and operator of the hellhole, which continues to keep hundreds of ailing and disabled animals in conditions that you wouldn't wish on your worst enemy. Marino faces criminal cruelty-to-animals and other charges; her next court date is March 20. We will be there.

Casey was among the animals whose systemic neglect we documented in our undercover investigation of the self-proclaimed "hospice and rehabilitation center." Our investigator routinely found Casey covered with her own waste and confined to a filthy crib, often without access to water. Routinely spending hours caked with excrement scalded the paraplegic Casey's skin around her hindquarters and genitals. We learned that in recent months, Casey was mostly kept on a mattress surrounded by baby gates, where she often lay in her own waste; that at some point, she had bloody urine; and that Marino often bemoaned Casey's "stink."

Casey as a pup, in September 2010.

Casey was not alone in her suffering. Several of the animals whose suffering we caught on video have since died, including Tucker, a sweet little beagle-hound mix with hydrocephalus who allegedly drowned a few weeks ago, evidently after being left unsupervised. Our investigation exposed the following:

• Paralyzed animals had bleeding ulcers from being forced to drag themselves around.
• Animals suffered from urine scald from being left in waste-filled diapers for up to two days.
• Animals were left outside in freezing temperatures or confined to bathrooms and bathtubs.
• Animals suffered from treatable conditions—including open wounds and infections so severe that one dog's rotted jaw snapped in half—but were deprived of veterinary care.
• Animals endured pain or seizures but were denied medications.
• Dead animals' bodies were left out for days among live animals.
• Animals were fed rancid, raw meat and left without access to water.

The Delaware County, New York, District Attorney's Office filed charges of cruelty to animals and criminal possession of a controlled substance against Marino, but hundreds of animals still remain in Marino's custody.

How You Can Help These Animals

Please urge the New York Attorney General's Office to dissolve Angel's Gate as a nonprofit corporation and make sure that Marino's victims are immediately seized and helped.

Angel's Gate, Inc., is a self-proclaimed animal "hospice and rehabilitation center" that promises guardians that "special needs animals" will "live out their days in peace, dignity and love." But a new PETA undercover investigation has revealed shocking, systemic, and sometimes fatal neglect of the animals taken to this deceptive Delhi, N.Y., facility. PETA has submitted a formal complaint to the local prosecutor and is calling for a criminal investigation and immediate veterinary assessment of all animals still languishing at Angel's Gate. PETA has also turned over evidence to the federal Drug Enforcement Administration and to various New York State regulatory officials.

 
PETA's investigation found that Angel's Gate executive director Susan Marino kept animals in crowded, inhumane conditions, leading to fights over space and food and injuries that were then left untreated. Animals were denied veterinary care and medications for pain, seizures, tumors, infections, and open wounds; one such animal, Malcolm, was left to deteriorate for roughly two weeks, until he could not stand, walk, or eat, before he finally died. Despite the availability of wheelchair carts, Marino forced paraplegic dogs to drag themselves around. Animals who needed to have their bladders expressed were placed in diapers until they urinated on themselves, resulting in urine scald. A miniature horse at the facility, Mimi, died after she was denied treatment for severe respiratory distress. Months after Mimi's death, Marino is still soliciting donations for the horse's care on her website.

Please take a moment to e-mail Delaware County District Attorney Richard Northrup Jr. and politely ask him to investigate Angel's Gate, get immediate help for the animals there, and file suitable cruelty-to-animals and other criminal charges against Susan Marino.

And please promise your animal companions today that you will always be there for them, especially in the most difficult times of their lives. They depend on us to prevent and alleviate their suffering; when veterinary care cannot provide that, please give them the relief and dignity of humane euthanasia. Shipping animals off to a facility in the hope that they will die there peacefully fails them, as this investigation clearly shows.

Written by Paula Moore