Steve Hindi & SHARK up the ante & call Alex Pacheco’s bluff

(SHARK Charity Cops image)

Hindi bets $10,000 that Pacheco can’t prove his claim to be developing a “spay/neuter cookie.”

            GENEVA,  Illinois––Raising $10,000 for dog-and-cat contraceptive development might never before have been so easy––if Alex Pacheco and his organization “600 Million Stray Dogs Need You” really had a scientific breakthrough to be developed,  even just in concept.

All Pacheco needs to do is share the evidence,  his intellectual property protected by a strong anti-disclosure agreement,  with a bona fide expert in animal contraception,  who can assure Showing Animals Respect & Kindness founder Steve Hindi that Pacheco has a credible idea.

(Beth Clifton collage)

Hindi on January 26,  2018 bet $10,000 of his own money that Pacheco will not be able to do it––and so far,  Pacheco has not responded.

Called Pacelle’s bluff two days before

Hindi issued his challenge through the SHARK YouTube series CharityCops just two days after calling former Humane Society of the U.S. president Wayne Pacelle’s bluff on a claim that HSUS had ended pigeon shoots in Maryland.   Simultaneously the Chronicle of Philanthropy,  shortly followed by ANIMALS 24-7,  published the first of the exposés of alleged sexual harassment of HSUS staff that led to Pacelle’s resignation on February 2,  2018.

Foreground: SHARK founder Steve Hindi, investigator Stu Chaifetz, and pigeon rescued from a shoot. Background: scene of the January 4, 2018 pigeon shoot in Henderson, Maryland.

(See Pigeon shoots––that HSUS said it stopped––continue in Maryland.)

“I will personally give you $10,000”

Wrote Hindi to Pacheco,  transmitting the message by a variety of media,  “Alex, I have an offer for you.  I would like for an undisputed dog/cat contraception expert to look at your ‘new technology’/‘scientific breakthrough’ formula for a contraceptive biscuit,”  as described in “600 Million Stray Dogs Need You” fundraising appeals.

ANIMALS 24-7 editor Merritt Clifton & SHARK founder Steve Hindi discuss spay/neuter cookies.
(Beth Clifton collage)

“The expert would first sign a nondisclosure/non-compete agreement,”  Hindi stipulated.  “If the expert renders a professional opinion that your claims are something more than a scam/rip-off,  I will personally give you ten thousand dollars,  and help promote your efforts.”

Showed Pacheco the money

Hindi reinforced the offer by posting video of himself holding and counting the money.  (See Scammer Alex Pacheco’s Latest Pitch.)

Pacheco for at least eight years now has been raising funds claiming to be on the verge of developing a “spay/neuter cookie” that could sterilize either male or female dogs or cats,  without even producing a hint,  since a short-lived partnership with the Arizona contraceptive research firm SenesTech collapsed in 2011,  of how he imagines this biologically and chemically unlikely feat might be done.

Alex Pacheco says he has eaten one of his cookies.  (Beth Clifton collage)

Rodenticide

The former partnership with SenesTech collapsed largely because the company itself had concluded that the product it was and is developing would have practical application only as a rodenticide.

Time and again,  after ANIMALS 24-7 and SHARK have repeatedly exposed the lack of verifiable investment in scientific work by “600 Million Stray Dogs Need You,”  Pacheco has dodged questions by changing the subject.

(See SHARK circles Alex Pacheco & “600 Million Stray Dogs Need You”.)

(Beth Clifton collage)

“Gunner” on boat with no guns

In April 2017,  for instance,  Pacheco purported to potential donors that he had been a “gunner” aboard the Sea Shepherd,  the original Sea Shepherd Conservation Society flagship,  which famously rammed the pirate whaler Sierra in 1979.

But the Sea Shepherd almost as famously carried no guns,  like every other Sea Shepherd vessel in the 39 years since.  The Sea Shepherd didn’t carry Pacheco when it rammed the Sierra,  either,  having earlier put him ashore.

Cookie seller Alexa Pacheco.
(Beth Clifton collage)

(See Alex Pacheco of “600 Million” says he was gunner on a boat with no guns.)

Cookie vendor

Opened the SHARK video challenge to Pacheco,  “In April 2017, SHARK uploaded a video exposing [alleged] scam artist and PETA co-founder Alex Pacheco,  who now runs an organization called ‘600 Million Dogs Need You!’

“The focus of 600 Million is a cookie,  which has supposedly been in development for a couple of decades,  that would sterilize a male or female cat or dog.

“Such a product,”  Hindi allowed,  “would be a godsend for the pet overpopulation problem.  What a game-changer it would be,  if it were real.”

After reading improbable claims from a ‘600 Million Dogs Need You!’ 2017 holiday season appeal,  Hindi said,  “I’ve called Alex Pacheco a scammer before,  and I’m calling him that again,  but there is always the possibility that I’m wrong,  so here is an offer for you,  Alex.

(Beth Clifton collage)

$10,000 in cash

“This is $10,000 in cash. It’s not SHARK’s money.  It’s mine,  and I am willing to give it to you if you will show that your claims are real.

“If you decide to take me up on my offer,  I will supply a well-known sterilization expert ––someone with impeccable credentials––to examine your information.

“The expert will have first signed a nondisclosure/noncompete agreement that will protect all aspects of the cookie formula.  None of that information will be shared,  even with me.  All the expert will have to do is render a professional opinion that your claim is viable.

If the expert says yes,  this is a real endeavor,  the money is yours.”

Fundraising appeals from “Peepless Pacheco.”  (Beth Clifton collage)

Not a peep in response

“I have sent this offer to Alex via his website,  and so far he has not responded,”  Hindi said in the video,  confirming to ANIMALS 24-7 nine days later that “Peepless Pacheco” still had not replied in any manner.

“Pacheco isn’t the first [alleged] nonprofit scammer SHARK has exposed,”  Hindi added.

“There are plenty of groups,  including and perhaps especially the big name groups,  and individuals,   who are scamming in the name of animal protection.  Some groups push back by claiming that SHARK wants their money.  That’s not true.  Pacheco, for instance, is claiming to work against pet overpopulation.  SHARK doesn’t work in that area, and we don’t believe that people who stop donating to Mr. Pacheco will start donating to us.

SHARK-endorsed organizations’ logos.

“We don’t like scammers”

“That’s not our goal,”  Hindi emphasized.  “Our goal is to get people to donate to groups who are really working on the issues they claim to be working on,  and who are actually making significant, verifiable progress for animals.

“In short, we don’t like scammers any more than animal abusers.  People who scam money from good-hearted donors are taking money from real projects to help animals, which is a form of exploitation of both people and animals.”

SHARK in early 2017 posted the video exposé Is Alex Pacheco Scamming Animal Rights Donors?,  produced by Stu Chaifetz and Steve Hindi,  described in the ANIMALS 24-7 article SHARK circles Alex Pacheco & “600 Million Stray Dogs Need You.”

Merritt & Beth Clifton

Both of those exposés followed up on the November 2016 ANIMALS 24-7 exposé “600 Million” reasons to toss Alex Pacheco’s alleged spay/neuter cookies,  which in turn updated previous exposés of unverified and unlikely claims from “600 Million” published in 2010, 2011,  and 2013.

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