Noah’s Ark Animal Sanctuary sued, accused of animal neglect

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - An animal sanctuary south of Atlanta is now being sued over alleged neglect.

The lawsuit targets Noah’s Ark Animal Sanctuary in Henry County.

A former vet at the facility and the non-profit Outreach for Animals accused the sanctuary of failing to adequately feed, house and care for dozens of animals.

The legal troubles come less than a year after Noah’s Ark was forced to temporarily close because of a bird flu outbreak.

More than 700 birds had to be euthanized.

Noah’s Ark sent Atlanta News First the following statement in response to the lawsuit.

“Thank you for contacting Noah’s Ark. Unfortunately, a citizen suit was filed this week by an aggrieved former team member and an individual from a defunct non-profit out of Dayton, Ohio. This citizen suit is another in a series of legal distractions, led by terminated employees, in an attempt to regain their leadership roles and undermine the hard work, determination and success of current Noah’s Ark staff and volunteers in providing high quality care to our animal residents.
Noah’s Ark rejects all allegations and insinuations. This citizen suit follows two actual lawsuits filed by dismissed team and former board members in September 2022 and again in December 2022. Both lawsuits went before a judge and were summarily dismissed. The second lawsuit was dismissed “with prejudice” meaning they could not bring up the same baseless and inaccurate claims a third time. This new citizens’ suit is another, third attempt –also baseless –again leveraging the same misplaced unsubstantiated accusations, and again with the intent to undermine Noah’s Ark’s progress and path forward.
This citizens’ suit contains false and unsubstantiated allegations about the care of animals at the sanctuary. ALL are denied. This citizens’ suit primarily focuses on three issues. That the former vet, Dr. Thomas, was personally harmed by being denied her aesthetic, recreational, educational and personal interest in seeing the animals’’. Second, that an individual from an organization based out of Ohio, with absolutely no affiliation or connection to Noah’s Ark’s mission, was somehow ‘frustrated’. Noah’s Ark’s only knowledge of this individual and organization or what it actually does is based on its extremely limited website.
Third, it cites six-and nine-month-old USDA reports. The issues in these reports, which occurred while Dr. Thomas was the vet of record, were immediately addressed months ago. No inappropriate actions occurred. Other examples of alleged wrongdoing are similarly baseless. The suit heavily focuses on events and reports from 2022-a report from six months ago and a nine-month-old USDA inspection from September 2022. The issues cited in these dated reports were the result of non-performance of duties by the former employees. These individuals held positions at Noah’s Ark at or around the time of the September reports and all of them have since been terminated. All violations mentioned in those dated inspection reports were addressed immediately by current administration and have been resolved through the hard work and efforts of current Noah’s Ark staff and leadership. These accusations brought forth by two citizens are preposterous and untrue.
We will not be deterred in our animal care mission. The public may rest assured that all of the animals at Noah’s Ark enjoy professional care, proper and expert-informed nutrition, and space to thrive.”
Noah’s Ark Animal Sanctuary