California charity taking credit, raising money off of Oklahoma husky shelter's work

A California woman with Hollywood celebrity connections has been using photos of dogs rescued by other groups to raise funds for her own organization, according to at least three other rescue organizations across the country, including one in Oklahoma.

Melissa Bacelar, of Wagmor Pets, recently pleaded with hundreds of thousands of her followers to help rescue husky dogs from euthanasia and transport them from California to Oklahoma. Those dogs, however, were actually rescued by Eufaula-based Husky Halfway House, or H3, which had already paid for everything.

The problem: Taking credit

H3, posted on Facebook that it saved 19 at-risk huskies from California shelters in June. H3 said it transported some dogs to eastern Oklahoma and that it paid third-party transporters over $1,000 to bring the rest.

But about the same time, Bacelar, of Wagmor, was posting a video to her account that she was raising money to save huskies from euthanasia in California. The photos Bacelar used were of the dogs H3 had already paid to transport, said Jenni Dietsch, H3's founder.

Dietsch wrote that the same thing happened again in August when H3 paid the same private transporter to bring another 13 huskies across the country. Bacelar posted a fundraising pitch to her followers, asking for money to save the dogs but without mentioning H3's involvement.

Dietsch said that she had never heard of Wagmor or Bacelar until she saw the videos.

"I paid in full for a transport company to bring them to my rescue in Oklahoma and this rescue has nothing to do with my work," Diestch wrote. "I don’t know this person and most certainly didn't give her permission to raise money with my work and keep it for herself."

Two other dog rescues have come forward in recent days with the same complaint that Bacelar was raising money for herself off the work they were doing. Missouri malamute rescue Decator's Place, and Illinois-based rescue and rehab organization K9 UP Project Free both posted that Bacelar had used photos of their dogs in her fundraising posts.

Public Eye reached out to Bacelar, but she did not respond to our questions.

What we found: Trouble with the truth

Wagmor has a history of misrepresentation in their fundraising attempts. In one post made this year, Bacelar used several photos of dogs in kennels and wrote that "…without help these dogs will die or worse be sold and used for breeding forever."

Every photo she used, however, was old. One image appears to be the work of a Russian photographer named Sasha Sashina who uploaded it to the internet in 2018. Another was originally taken by the Humane Society of the United States while rescuing dogs from a Michigan puppy mill in 2014. The third photo Bacelar used was from a 2022 puppy rescue in England. All of the photos were found using Google's reverse image search.

Bacelar made another post claiming someone sent her a photo of a trashy, unmaintained kennel. In the post, she asked her followers for $10,000 to "save these dogs." The photo was first uploaded to Wikipedia 11 years ago.

Wagmor Pets is popular with celebrities in Los Angeles and has a large social media following. Bacelar has appeared on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show," and "Entertainment Tonight" published an article claiming celebrities like Jennifer Aniston and Sandra Bullock "love" Wagmor for the work it does.

More: Public Eye investigates issues that impact you. This is what we've found so far

Bacelar's detractors, however, paint a more grim picture.

Kim Sill owns a California pet shop for rescued animals and decided to film a documentary this year to highlight groups like Oklahoma's H3. Sill was the first one to notify Dietsch that Bacelar was using photos of her dogs.

"Once I started talking to (Dietsch), I realized she wasn't working with Wagmor. She never had met Wagmor," Sill said. "I showed her, in her interview, footage that I had on my phone of Wagmor claiming the rights to all the money for raising for these huskies, and her and her lawyer were horrified. I'm horrified. This is not right."

What's next: Know where your money goes

Dietsch was so frustrated and saddened by someone else raising money off her work that she considered halting husky rescues. She currently has about 200 dogs at the rescue and is constantly organizing transports or driving across the country herself to save dogs from euthanasia and deliver them to new homes.

"It's pushed me over the top. I've had some definite issues with fraud and things like that in the past, but this takes the cake," she said. "I've got my own personal battle here going on about whether I want to deal with this. It's such a major violation, and it was done without me even knowing."

Some have filed formal complaints against Wagmor with the California attorney general's office, Sill said. The dog rescues have made several public posts calling out Bacelar, and Dietsch has reached out to an attorney handling a complaint filed last year against Wagmor that alleges it sells commercially bred dogs in a pet store, which could be a violation of California law.

While social media has made it easier for charities to raise money and grow a following, the same is true for organizations that aren't above-board. Charity Navigator recommends investigating a charity's performance, financial health and transparency policies.

That includes asking questions about a charity's mission and goals, along with reading publicly available documents to ensure the organization is reporting properly.

"When (Bacelar) sends out a plea off of dogs that are clearly not hers, it takes away from others," Sill said. "It shifts people from giving that $1 or $2 to Jenni, who deserves the money, who pulled the dogs, who's rehabilitating the dogs, and it's going to somebody who really didn't do anything for the dogs."

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This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma husky rescue says Calif. charity taking credit for its work