The owners of Noah’s Park Retreat in Goshen are demanding $385,000 and the return of 45 animals that they claim were seized illegally more than a year ago.
Rebecca Vives and Diana McGowan accused the Hudson Valley SPCA and board members Eugene Hecht and Joan Kay of unreasonable search and seizure and intentional infliction of emotional distress, in a complaint filed Feb. 20 in U.S. District Court, White Plains.
The SPCA has failed to return the animals despite a court order, the complaint states, causing Vives and McGowan “to suffer mental distress and negative health consequences from the continued separation from the animals they have cared for, loved, and raised.”
The SPCA did not reply to a message asking for its side of the story.
Noah’s Park Retreat describes itself as a nonprofit organization, licensed and inspected by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, whose mission is to rescue and care for exotic, domestic, and farm animals. For nearly four decades it has also offered classes and tours for school children in the Hudson Valley.
Hudson Valley SPCA runs a no-kill animal shelter in Newburgh. It is also authorized to investigate and prosecute animal cruelty, abuse and neglect, according to its website, and to conduct warrantless searches and seizures.
Vives and McGowan claim that the SPCA seizes animals to use in social media fundraising campaigns and to replenish declining revenues.
In September 2022, an animal protection hotline received an anonymous call alleging neglect of animals at Noah’s Park, according to the complaint.
The SPCA seized 45 animals, including chickens, a donkey, ducks, a goose, horses and pigs.
Vives and McGowan were charged with misdemeanors under the state agriculture and markets law.
“There was no evidence of neglect at the retreat,” the complaint states. The defendants cannot “produce a single video or legible picture that would support the false allegations.”
The trial court eventually dismissed the criminal charges, according to the complaint.
Last July, ten months after the animals had been seized, Justice Court in Goshen ordered Hudson Valley SPCA to return the animals within 10 days.
“As of the date of this filing,”
the complaint states, “defendants have acted with complete and utter disregard for the authority of the court by failing to obey a lawful order.”
The complaint also charges the SPCA with conversion of assets, unjust enrichment and malicious prosecution.
Vives and McGowan are represented by Manhattan attorney Stephen Mullkoff.
