I have to say, Best Friends is just amazing. They have chosen a niche, and do it well. Once again they are responding to help a community who has found out their local "angel"--an animal sanctuary--has fallen for whatever reason into animal neglect.
Even if though it would be impossible for Best Friends to respond to every sanctuary disaster situation, their media machine is great at illuminating the problem without demonizing others, and promoting adoption, adoption, adoption, and responsible sanctuary management. They call for physical and labor donations (food and volunteers), not just cash. And they have an impact on behalf of every animal shelter in the country by showing that even the worst situation can become a solid program once again.
Because they are so "hands on" and offer education opportunities at their own sanctuary in Utah, people listen and remember. I can't count the number of people I've met (in my own region!) who have either gone out to, or aspire to visit, Best Friends. I even met a Best Friends adoptee on The Commons in Ithaca.
(Photo from Best Friends).
Story and video here. It looks like a well-built compound. Did the caretakers become emotionally overwhelmed (financially overwhelmed?) It appears they had an acceptable physical infrastructure.
This is why many responsible rescues are closed-door when full, as much as the public hates it, and as difficult as the rescue finds it to close their doors. It's hard to say no, but this is why you HAVE to say no if you don't have the resources. And resources are something more than JUST space or JUST food or JUST money. If you get so tired you aren't alarmed when things go downhill, you are in serious trouble.
There is definitely a need for open-door shelters. But there is nothing wrong about being limited-admission if your program is not capable of massive admission or open admission. So long as you are honest about the services you actually provide. If you are only saving a few animals, you can't claim to be saving the world. And there is nothing wrong with saving just a very small corner in your own neighborhood instead.
Speaking of which, I'll blog a bit about skating on the edge of resources later. Right now that video has stirred me to go out and do my serious Saturday cleaning!!!!
5 comments:
Best Friends is also heavily involved in a more local situtation, PetsAlive in Monticello, NY. The woman who ran the place recently died of cancer. She had minimal help while she was ill, and the place really went down hill fast. She had a lot of retired carraige horses from NYC there. Best Friends has been on scene for about 3 months, and the stories of the transformation are something. You can read about them here: network.bestfriends.org/petsalive.
From what I know (as I've had dealings with the woman who used to run the Nevada shelter), she was doing a good job. She started her own pet cemetary/cremation service to raise funds to finance her cat rescue, which I thought was very smart. I'd written to her a couple of times to ask for advice or suggestions, and she always wrote back the same day, and was always helpful. From what I could tell, she never turned a cat away, and that may have been the problem. Even animals with major health problems, she'd take them in and then send around an email asking for $10 or so to help pay the vet bill. She seemed very proactive to me, and always on the go. She was not secretive or reclusive, at least, not that I noticed. I didn't ever visit the main shelter facility.
The woman I'm referring was apparently removed from the board of the shelter in May or something, and I don't know if it's just gone downhill since then, or if was a problem before that. If she was using her income from the cremation services to fund the shelter, I would think the shelter would be in dire straits without her and that money. I really don't know. I just never had the sense that the situation was out of control while the previous director/president/whatever was in charge.
It can be tough to say no, you're right, but it's the most important lesson I ever learned. I may have been part of the path of sending an animal to its eventual death because I said no, but at least I came out with my sanity intact, and the ability to continue to give good, top-quality care to the cats I've got. I'm pretty sure I could care for 20 cats properly with some home modifications, and I'd like to make them, but I'm going to do it slowly. If I get to 14 cats and feel it's too much, I'll stop and rest for a while. I'm even on a bottle-feeding break right now because I'm exhausted, and I know I'm one of the few accessible bottle-feeders in town, but I just need a break. I wish I didn't have to say no, but I won't feel guilty about it. After all, the problem I'm being asked to fix isn't a problem I created!
I forgot to mention that now Best Friends is within reach, we don't have a car for the next week so I can't get out there to help! I'm not overly fond of the 112 degree weather, but I'd still love to participate in the cleanup efforts. They're looking for local rescues which can take in some cats, and I may offer to take two, but only if I can move out the two currently in my spare bedroom.
One thing that bothers me about this case is that so many people are just screeching for the heads of the folks who used to be in charge at FLOCK. I don't know the full story, but I know this wasn't hoarding. And I know it wasn't someone who hated cats and tried to make money from them. This was a situation of a person/people trying to help on a very large scale, and something went wrong very quickly. Volunteers from earlier this year and previous years say the place was always in great shape. I don't know what the proper punishment should be for whomever let the shelter go downhill so the cats suffered, but they must have felt trapped, knowing that revealing the situation would have meant certain death for the majority of the shelter's inhabitants when the ended up at the city pound. 72 hours then zap. What a burden to carry, and what decisions to make, with time flying by and resources waning. I don't need Joe Public to show sympathy for the person who caused this situation, but the talk of violence punishment is disturbing and unproductive. I'd much rather learn from this than just demonize it and walk away smugly. When a rescue like FLOCK has a problem, they've got no one to turn to. They are the end of the road. It must be such a huge psychological burden, and it exists because so many others don't spay and neuter, dump their kittens when they aren't cute anymore, move and leave their pets behind, etc. There's no safety net for the people who try to clean up the mess.
it's sad to hear that the best someone can do is not good enough. it can happen to anyone.
Nancy, I've been meaning to get out to PetsAlive to volunteer. I wonder if the two of us could do something together? With only one or two days, maybe two of us could do a project there that one of us couldn't manage.
And Leigh-Ann, I've been checking around the web, and the NV issue surely looks like a difficult one to untangle, as you mention. I don't envy those in the position of doing so. The most important thing is to take care of the cats and get the sanctuary set up to run properly in the future, if it continues. I hope Best Friends can manage that for them, as they appear to be doing for PetsAlive.
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