The Last Post The Last Post - Sanctuary or Scam? Falls Village Connecticut

The Last Post

Sanctuary or Scam?

95 Belden Street PO Box 259
Falls Village, CT 06031 (860) 824-0831

 State Animal Control Officer Richard Gregan has thrown ethics out the window as he and his wife Linda Leach-Gregan run a business that the State of Connecticut has hired him to regulate.  Gregan is a State Animal Control Officer that is involved in overseeing animal shelters, sanctuaries, breeders, pet shops, farms and all animal related business.

The Last Post is a “Cat Sanctuary” that demands $3,000-$5,000 to accept a homeless cat, which to those in need of finding a place for their pet, would be a financial impossibility.  To many caring animal welfare advocates, this type of fee appears to be the attempt to profit from the misery of unfortunate pet owners in difficult situations.

Gregan is Vice President and Operations Manager of The Last Post and under oath in sworn testimony claims to be on the Board of Directors, with a generous expense account and  where his wife Susan Leach-Gregan draws a generous salary and from The Last Post,  her husband as a full time salaried State Animal Control Officer (ACO) regulates the “competition” other Connecticut animal welfare organizations. Gregan spends an inordinate amount of time trying to put what he feels are “competing” animal welfare organizations out of business.

While his job as a State ACO involves his investigating or teaching shelter care and management, he was responsible for the death by fire of 29 cats at The Last Post through gross negligence. After a snowstorm and power outage in 2011, Gregan without the benefit of an electrician or permits plugged a propane heater into a generator and went home and went to bed and the shelter buildings burned to the ground.  The Last Post has represents  that there is someone on the premises 24 hours a day 365 days a year, this was not true when buildings burned to the ground.

Richard Gregan & Wife Susan Leach-Gregan were able to successfully spin a tale of an accident to the press when the true story was negligence and greed. It’s bad enough that Gregan’s State ACO job meant that he was never charged with negligence or cruelty. “If Richard Gregan was not a State ACO, he would probably have been charged with a crime.” Stated a source that prefers to remain anonymous.

The Gregan’s then used the “accident” to raise even more money to pay themselves, despite the fact that insurance policies paid for the damages to the buildings that were destroyed. To make matters worse, the 29 people that trusted him to care for their beloved pets were never reimbursed for the estimated  $117,000.00 that was given to The Last Post for the lifetime care that was clearly not provided.

“There is no accountability; clearly no one has held these two responsible. It’s bad enough that they raised money through fundraisers misrepresenting their own gross negligence but the poor folks that trusted the Gregans lost their pets and well over $100,000 that they gave for their care. The Gregans using shady ethics have profited and avoided prosecution for cruelty and corruption.” Stated our source.

We can only wonder what Last Post founder Pegeen  Fitzgerald  would have thought about the way her sanctuary has been run.

It’s interesting, The Last Post website seems to focus more on raising money through wills and estates of potential donors than the welfare of the cats in its care.  It is also remarkable that while despite stating that many of the cats at this shelter are available for adoption that the only photographs of cats on the website were taken in 2008 and in this day and age they may just be one of the only animal welfare organization in the Northeast that doesn’t even bother to list their pets online, Petfinder.com , Adoptapet.com or anywhere else on the internet. If the best thing for a homeless cat is a loving, happy home, then what is the Last Post really doing for pets???