We have thought long and hard about whether to publish this statement. We are mortified, embarrassed, concerned about the impact on our passion project Woofability (people have been encouraged to leave negative reviews on our social media pages, to the point we’ve had to remove our reviews in the last few days), concerned for our own safety, the safety of our dogs, and the safety of others. But we have been left with no choice – we can no longer remain silent about the genuine fear we are experiencing.
For some time, we have documented online abuse, hostility and intimidation connected with a UK registered charity and an investigation we have been conducting over the last nine months – there is an open regulatory investigation case with the Charity Commission. More recently, comments have appeared and emails have been received, which have gone beyond keyboard warrior type behaviour. They include comments from an individual travelling from the United States in the next week in which he said, “THESE A-HOLES NEED TO BE TAKEN DOWN”, “THEY’RE GOING DOWN”, and referred to thoughts that would “LAND HIM IN PRISON” followed by deeply personal and abusive comments directed at Linda.
We are not the only ones who are frightened.
We will not speculate about what anyone intends to do, nor will we make allegations that we cannot substantiate. However, the combination of sustained online hostility, comments about visiting people and the prospect of an overseas individual arriving in the UK has heightened our concerns.
We are frightened for ourselves, for those close to us and, above all, for our dogs. We have retained evidence and logged our concerns with the police. We pray that nothing happens to any of us or our animals. This statement is not intended to provoke anyone, encourage confrontation or invite retaliation. It is being published so that there is a public record should anything happen to us, our properties, or most importantly, our dogs.
Our investigation concerns a registered charity, animal welfare, accountability and matters we believe deserve legitimate scrutiny that are in the public interest. We should be able to pursue that work without fearing for our personal safety and the safety of others.
Throughout this investigation, we have contacted numerous businesses, charities/rescues and individuals. Some have willingly helped; others have understandably declined to become involved. Some have been too frightened to speak, even when offered anonymity from a legal team.
IMPORTANT MESSAGE: To the individual who contacted the RSPCA, we do not know who you are, and your identity should remain confidential. Please DO NOT reveal your identity in an attempt to protect us or Helen Lomax from the wrongful accusations being made. Your safety comes first. Please remain anonymous.
OUR INITIAL POSITION WAS ONE OF GENUINE SUPPORT
The accompanying screenshot dated 17th NOVEMBER 2025 illustrates our initial enthusiasm about supporting a charity’s initiative and adding it to our rescue page. Our intentions at that stage were entirely positive, and we were happy to offer our support.
Our support went beyond words. Linda was so supportive that she arranged for the CEO to speak at an APDAWG meeting in Parliament on 24th February 2026. This demonstrates the goodwill with which we initially approached the organisation and our willingness to help raise awareness and support its work.
It was only later, after receiving an email from the organisation’s CEO that raised concerns, that we felt it necessary to look more closely into matters and undertake further enquiries. Our investigation was already underway when Linda attended APDAWG. We could quite easily have raised our concerns with APDAWG and asked them to reconsider CEO Tammie Fox’s invitation, but we chose not to. We believed it would have been unfair to interfere with an opportunity we had helped arrange. Also, out of respect for APDAWG, which we have supported and spoken at from the very beginning, having attended the very first meeting, Linda can be seen applauding Tammie Fox’s speech. What we certainly hadn’t expected was the hostility subsequently directed towards us and others.
In one of the accompanying screenshots, you will see a photograph taken in Parliament in which Tammie Fox has circled Linda, who is smiling lovingly at Pumpkin. Because regardless of any disagreement between two human beings, Linda has nothing but love for dogs. That has never changed, and it never will.
We believe it is important to establish this chronology because our concerns did not arise from an initial desire to criticise or undermine anyone, nor from a 4-year hate campaign as stated in numerous posts from the CEO. We only discovered Pumpkin & Friends Charity in November 2025. We began from a position of goodwill, trust and active support. The questions we subsequently raised arose from concerns that developed as information came to our attention.
WHY WE ARE PUBLISHING THIS CORRESPONDENCE
We are sharing this correspondence to help people understand how our position evolved and why we felt further enquiries were necessary – this will become evident once we launch our new website. They show that we approached Tammie Fox with genuine warmth, praised the charity’s work, offered support through Woofability and helped introduce her to an opportunity to speak in Parliament. The correspondence speaks for itself. Our starting point was support, not hostility.
We believe the public deserves to understand that history before judging why we subsequently began asking questions.
OUR HISTORY
Over 15 years we have investigated some of the most notorious puppy farmers and dealers in the country some of them in Lincolnshire to protect families there, and we’ve exposed contradictions linked to some of the UK’s largest dog welfare charities. Because of our work you’ll never see a puppy or a kitten for sale in a pet shop again, and many puppy buyers in Lincolnshire have received some level of justice and closure.
We have also campaigned on the ground in the United States against puppy mills, and from the UK our campaigning continued through supporting our American friends in their own efforts to tackle puppy mills. We also stood with our friends in Australia as they campaigned for Oscar’s Law.
However, never in all those years have we experienced the level of horrendous trolling and abuse that we’re experiencing right now which says as much about the charity’s CEO as it does about some of their most prolific trolls.
We have never once attacked this charity, we have asked legitimate questions and to date we’ve not received legitimate answers. We have never resorted to personal attacks, never been abusive and never trolled, but this has only inflamed the charity’s CEO and her followers to target us to the extent we have now had no choice but to release this statement.
We just want to live peacefully, protect our animals and continue our work responsibly. We do not want confrontation. We do not want anyone harmed. We simply want the hostility to stop, our safety concerns to be taken seriously, and everyone involved to respect the boundaries between online disagreement and real life.
We hope this statement will never need to be revisited.
Linda and Sue
