here i go being terminally libra again--ON THE OTHER paw.....
this is a pretty closed list, with people particularly attuned to the needs of special-needs cats, so not as public as some. many, many of us in rescue had heard things about angel wings, and we did nothing. we didn't want to cause trouble, we didn't want to make false accusations about a place that had once been a really good place; we ignored a LOT of warning signs. there needs to be a middle ground between doing nothing, and rushing to judgment. i'm not sure what it is, but i don't want another angel wings. if you're in rescue, you CONSTANTLY hear of rescues and sanctuaries that turn out to be bad, and that fooled a lot of people..... MC On 2/5/07, Kelly L <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
At 11:51 AM 2/5/2007, you wrote: We can and should only relay facts as we personally know them, and do our best to do it privately if at all possible, If we have misgivings, it is our duty to protect the animals, We all have different standards. My cats have dirt to play in and bushes,,,and it is comfortable for the ferals to have their seclusion, Someone else might not like it, They are litter boxes and grass I need to clean,,,,The cats love it,,,Regardless, I have just seen to many good rescues hurt my well meaning people imposing their own standards on others, We can email each other off list . and I do it frequently if I do not it is suited to the group. Kelly www.kellyscats.zoomshare.com Hey, I understand. I can understand where both the person who had volunteered to take Simms and Rude Ranch, are coming from. RR has a business to protect for the sake of the animals under its care, and they can only continue if the people who entrust the animals to them continue to help pay for the cats care...I get that. And I understand this woman who agreed to help me, doing so out of the goodness of her heart b/c of her love of animals...I understand and respect that. As for the conditions on her farm and the charges under her care, since they were not up to MY standards, as I believe I would want to live, so I found another alternative for the charge under my care. While I believe that perhaps I should have alerted AC, I didn't because she IS working with all these other rescue organizations. All these places, people, who start with the best of intentions do good work. The level of "good" is relative to each individual's personal reality. IF what she had said was true about RR shifting cats onto her, which she seemed very proud of- to be able to help...I felt it MIGHT help someone reading about RR to understand that there may be a POSSIBILITY that a cat placed with them, might not stay with them, and if sent away, might not wind up in a place as nice as their's. I admitted in my e-mail that I had no personal knowledge of the workings of Rude Ranch, only relayed my experience with someone who claimed to...and because she knew them by name and seemed joyed to help them & because several other rescue operations I had spoken to recommended her to me, I had no reason to believe that she wasn't telling me the truth. But as saying even the least little thing bad about a place can cause harm, so can saying a place is wonderful .... My only intention with my original post was to caution. I know I have dropped animals at "WONDERFUL" shelters in the past, places I personally supported financially for years...then eventually volunteered there only to learn awful things about the running of the organizations (again...NOT referring to Rude Ranch, I've never been THERE)....but...If a place seems TOO wonderful, its often too easy to reliquish the care of a beloved animal to it and not feel any guilt. Whereas IF all the facts were researched, perhaps a better place/person could be found if just given a little more time and research. I had/have no intention to villify people who care and are trying to help...even when they've lost their way. EDUCATION to those trying to place felv+ cats is the best security for the animals, whether education on the disease itself, or on HOW to investigate anyone or place where one might leave an animal who is trusting you to care for them. I never said RR was bad, or absolutely did shift animals onto an overloaded foster home, I just relayed what little information I personaly heard from someone who claimed to have a good, working relationship with RR. So that if anyone had seen them on Animal Planet they wouldn't automatically assume them to be the "be-all-end-all" (which they may actually be-who knows) just because they were on tv. Speaking as a rescuer myself, who is more than willing to help others ...I prefer to do so when they've exhausted all other avenues...and NOT be their first call...being too good at what you do, can get you in WAY over your head. T TenHouseCats <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: exactly..... it only takes one person with their own agenda to cause irreparable harm. we were once contacted by someone who wanted us to take her two FeLVs, from quite a distance away. as FeLVs don't do really well on long transports, we tried to work with her on more local options. every place she went to, she found major fault with, yet every time we tried to set up transport arrangements with her, she has one excuse after another about why it wouldn't/couldn't work. i had many long emails and phone calls with her, and finally, she just stopped responding. about two months later, she started posting hissterical messages about these same two cats on the lists. again, i wrote and reminded her that we were willing to take them--on the lists, she wrote really nasty letters about how i'd never responded to her before, and that if it had been up to me, those cats would have been dead by now, then she went on about how she wasn't going to send them to a place where the cats lived in cages in tiny rooms all their lives--which was not at all the case where we were--i'd sent her many photos of our facilities..... when i reminded her, off list, of our phone calls and emails, she went back on the lists, saying that i was harassing her and that she was going to tell everyone to have nothing to do with our sanctuary and that if she ever heard from me again she'd report me for stalking.... i reported HER to all the lists she was posting on, actually.....and considered sending her the bill for the long-distance phone calls i'd made to her.... some people will never be satisfied, and sadly, some people really do exist solely to make trouble for others. MC On 2/5/07, Kelly L wrote: > I do not know personally of the place but be careful when saying > something negative like that on line, You could really hurt someone > trying to help. > I have a small sanctuary and would never allow anyone in here with > out an appointment, There are many many crazy people out there > unfamiliar with what it takes to manage multitudes of cats...All it > takes is for one cat to vomit in a corner and another boy baby to > spray someones shoes.. Yup it happens. I know of two wonderful caring > rescuers ( not hoarders) who lost al their cats when an novice cat > person decided it was messy etc,,,,they called the authorities and as > a result I imagine many cats lost their loving home and perhaps their lives, > for a person getting rid of cats for any reason, why do they expect > others to be able to do what they themselves are willing to do,,I > have both FIV and FELV.... > I do recommend that any time a cat is placed a home check is in > order,,that is common sense. > Kelly > www.kellyscats.zoomshare.com > > > -- Spay & Neuter Your Neighbors! Maybe That'll Make The Difference.... MaryChristine AIM / YAHOO: TenHouseCats MSN: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ICQ: 289856892 Get your own web address. Have a HUGE year through Yahoo! Small Business. No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.1.411 / Virus Database: 268.17.25/669 - Release Date: 2/4/2007
-- Spay & Neuter Your Neighbors! Maybe That'll Make The Difference.... MaryChristine AIM / YAHOO: TenHouseCats MSN: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ICQ: 289856892
