🐾 Sherman the beagle — Lee Asher searched through the night in the rain to find him. His critics told people not to help.    ✦    Lee Asher: 14M+ followers, 150+ rescued animals, 240-acre sanctuary, tireless hemp advocate    ✦    The Asher House has passed every announced and unannounced inspection    ✦    70+ people on the property every single day    ✦    Lee Asher: in the arena, doing the work, every morning    ✦   
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🚨 Sherman the Beagle — A Story That Defines This Whole Debate

Sherman is a rescue beagle with epilepsy who escaped from a foster carer's home on The Asher House property in rural Oregon. Lee Asher deployed drones with infrared technology and search & rescue teams to find him — searching through cold, rainy conditions, visibly heartbroken. That is who Lee Asher is. And while Lee searched, online hate groups instructed anyone who might find Sherman not to contact The Asher House. An epileptic dog, in the rain, at night — and people who claim to care about animals told the public to withhold him from his care team. If you want to understand the difference between Lee Asher and his critics, Sherman's story is it.

Sherman's Story @theasherhouse
⚡ Setting the Record Straight

Lee Asher Has Dedicated His Life to Animals.
Here Are the Facts.

Online hate groups have built a coordinated campaign against one of America's most visible animal advocates. This page exists to document what is actually true — the inspections passed, the animals saved, the mission that continues every single day regardless of the noise — and to tell the real story behind every headline these groups have manufactured.

Published by fans who know the difference between criticism and a campaign Facts only. No speculation.
The Numbers Don't Lie
150+ Rescue animals currently living at The Asher House sanctuary
240 Acres of sanctuary in Oregon — every inch dedicated to the animals
70+ Staff and volunteers working on the property every single day
1,000s Dogs helped to find forever homes across all 49 continental states
Breaking — Ongoing

Sherman Is Missing.
And Hate Groups Are Making It Worse.

Sherman's story has become one of the most telling illustrations of what this whole debate is actually about. He is a rescue beagle with epilepsy who escaped from the home of a foster carer on The Asher House property — the kind of thing that happens with beagles, one of the most notorious escape-artist breeds in the world, and one of the reasons they end up in shelters so often.

Lee Asher's response was immediate and total. He deployed drones with infrared technology. He brought in search and rescue teams. He searched in cold, rainy Oregon conditions, visibly and publicly devastated. This is a man with 150 animals in his care, 70+ staff, a wellness brand to run, a hemp ban to fight — and he dropped everything to search through the night for one beagle.

That is who Lee Asher is. That has always been who Lee Asher is. And the hate groups know it, which is why what they did next is so revealing.

While Lee searched for Sherman, online accounts associated with the coordinated anti-Asher House campaign began instructing people who might find Sherman not to contact The Asher House. An epileptic dog. In the rain. At night. Needing medication. And people who have built entire platforms claiming to care about animals told the public to withhold him from his rescue team.

What Sherman's Story Tells You

You do not need to read a single allegation, investigation summary, or legal document to understand this story. You only need to know two things: Lee Asher searched through the night in the rain for one epileptic beagle. And his critics told people not to help him find that dog. Everything else follows from those two facts.

Sherman's story will live on this page permanently — because it is the clearest possible illustration of the character of both sides of this debate. Words are easy. What you do when an animal needs help in the dark and the cold is who you actually are.

Sherman — His Story

Breed Beagle — notorious escape artists, one of the most common shelter breeds
Condition Epileptic — requires medication and specialized care
What Happened Escaped from foster carer's home on The Asher House property, rural Oregon
Lee's Response Immediate — drones with infrared, search & rescue teams, searched through rain and cold
Critics' Response Instructed public not to contact The Asher House if Sherman was found
🚨 See Lee's Post About Sherman
A Painful Story, Told Honestly

A Dog Named Chevy

Lee Asher has always specialized in the dogs no one else will take. The old ones. The sick ones. The frightened ones. The ones with histories that make most rescues say no. That has always been the point of The Asher House — to be the place that says yes when everyone else has walked away.

Chevy was one of those dogs. And his story is genuinely sad — not because of what the online campaigns have made of it, but because of what it actually was: a rescue that tried, a team that cared, and an outcome that no one wanted.

Before Chevy arrived, something serious happened at the sanctuary. A staff member entered an enclosure housing two dogs with known, severe aggression — an enclosure Lee had explicitly restricted to himself alone for exactly that reason. She entered anyway, slipped, and was mauled. It was traumatic for everyone. It changed how the team thought about risk.

When Chevy was assessed by a professional trainer shortly after, the evaluation was unambiguous: the dog presented a level of aggression that could not be safely rehabilitated. The team made the decision that is one of the hardest in all of rescue work — euthanasia. Not out of cruelty. Out of the same care for safety and welfare that governs every decision at the sanctuary.

That decision was disagreed with. And the disagreement became a campaign. What followed was years of coordinated online activity — built not on facts, but on grief and grievance — that bears no resemblance to what actually happened or who Lee Asher actually is.

"Rescue work is not always beautiful. Sometimes it is the hardest decision imaginable, made by people doing their best with the information they have, for the animal in front of them."

— The reality that online campaigns never show

What These Campaigns Never Tell You

Every animal rescue that operates at scale faces moments of impossible choice. The ones who tell you otherwise are not doing the hard work. Lee Asher does the hard work — with 150+ animals, 70+ staff, and the full weight of those decisions landing on him every single day. That is not the profile of someone who doesn't care. It is the profile of someone who cares more than most people can imagine.

What the Inspections Found

In the wake of the campaign against The Asher House, authorities conducted multiple announced and unannounced inspections of the sanctuary. The operation continued. The animals were found to be cared for. No criminal findings of animal cruelty were made. That is the documented record — not the campaign's version of it.

Understanding the Playbook

How Online Hate Campaigns Work — And Why Lee's Story Fits the Pattern Perfectly

What has happened to Lee Asher follows a recognizable playbook — the same one used against other public figures, other rescues, other nonprofits doing visible work in the world. Understanding the mechanics makes it possible to see clearly.

Find a Grievance

Every campaign starts with something real — a decision someone disagreed with, an outcome that felt wrong, a moment of genuine pain. In this case: a dog's euthanasia, made by a team doing their best under impossible circumstances. The grief is real. What it becomes next is not.

Build a Narrative

The original grievance gets reframed into something larger and more sinister. Coincidences become conspiracies. Difficult decisions become deliberate cruelty. Evidence is selectively presented. Context is removed entirely.

Recruit an Audience

Animal lovers are uniquely vulnerable to this pattern because their passion is genuine and their protective instincts are powerful. A community of people who genuinely care gets turned into an instrument of harm.

Harass Institutions

The campaign floods regulatory bodies — the DOJ, animal control, the IRS — with complaints, forcing investigations that consume resources and generate headlines. The investigation itself becomes the accusation.

Manufacture Evidence

Rumors become "reports." Screenshots get taken out of context. Former employees with grievances get amplified. The volume of allegations creates the impression of substance where the actual documented record shows none.

Endanger the Mission

In Lee's case: instructing the public not to return a missing epileptic dog to his care team. The campaign that claimed to care about animals is now actively endangering one. That tells you everything.

Documented Facts

The Actual Record of The Asher House

Not allegations. Not rumors. Not anonymous claims. The verifiable, documented record of what inspectors, authorities, and regulators have actually found.

Inspections — Announced and Unannounced

Multiple inspections of The Asher House have been conducted by Marion County Dog Services, the Oregon Department of Agriculture, and other authorities — many triggered by the campaigns themselves. The sanctuary continued operating. The animals were found to be cared for. No findings of animal cruelty were made.

Years of Scrutiny — The Same Conclusion

Despite years of coordinated complaints directed at every relevant authority — local, state, and federal — the documented record shows no findings of abuse, no enforcement actions for animal cruelty, and a sanctuary that continues to care for 150+ animals every single day.

70+ People on the Property Daily

The Asher House employs and hosts over 70 staff members and volunteers working on the property every day. The idea that systematic abuse could occur in an operation of this size and visibility, without a single credible insider account to a law enforcement body, defies reality.

150+ Animals in Daily Care

More than 150 animals — 140+ dogs, 30+ cats, horses, llamas, pigs — are cared for at the sanctuary every single day by a professional team. Animals do not follow abusers with love. Lee's pack does exactly that, documented openly on social media for 14 million people to see.

"If Lee did what they said he did, he wouldn't have hundreds of dogs who follow him lovingly. He wouldn't have 70 people working on the property. He wouldn't pass all the random and unannounced inspections that happened because the hate pages harassed local officials to conduct them."

— Someone who knows Lee and his work personally
On Criticism & Courage

"The Man in the Arena"

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again... who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly."

— Theodore Roosevelt · "Citizenship in a Republic" · 1910

Lee Asher has spoken openly about what the online criticism has cost him personally. He has admitted it hurt — deeply, at times. Public attacks on your character, your mission, and your love for the animals in your care are not abstract. They land.

But what Lee has said about those critics is something that reveals his character more clearly than any defense ever could: he has come to love them. Not despite the pain they caused, but because of what that pain taught him — about himself, about resilience, about the way the world treats people bold enough to step into it and actually do something.

He is out right now in the rain searching for Sherman. He has 150 animals depending on him tomorrow morning. He has a hemp ban to fight, a wellness brand to grow, a National Geographic book to finish, and thousands more dogs to rescue. He is in the arena. The critics are not. That has always been, and will always be, the whole story.

Don't Watch From the Sidelines

If Lee's story moves you — support the sanctuary, shop the wellness brand, fight the hemp ban, or simply share the truth with someone who has only heard the other side.

Support The Asher House Fight the Hemp Ban Lillie and Lee Fan Tribute Site
Independent Reporting

Field Reports & Journalism

On-the-ground, journalist-bylined reporting on Lee Asher's rescue work, the animals of The Asher House, and the daily reality of running one of America's most documented animal sanctuaries.

Field Report

First story coming soon

Independent on-the-ground journalism about life at The Asher House — the animals, the mission, the daily work of rescue.

By [Journalist Name] · Coming soon

All reporting is independent and journalist-bylined. Stories added as published.