26/04/2024
Hello everyone,
I know the page has been quiet lately. I’ve needed to take a pause from social media and even having a social life. I’m currently working full-time and have gone back to university to further my studies, because of that, I really haven’t had much time to be online, but after seeing what has been going on, I felt I needed to make this post.
I’m sorry the post is so long, but it needs to be said. I’ve known Kimmy Clarkson for many years and have witnessed first-hand her dedication and love for animals. She is the type of person who goes above and beyond for anyone who asks her for help. For a long time, I have helped her behind the scenes with her rescues. Mainly by offering help picking up rescues and transporting them to and from vet clinics, sometimes to the airport as well. I have first-hand experience of how much she cares for her animals and the lengths she will go to for their care and well-being. For all the years that I’ve known her, she has never charged me a single Riyal for her help. She has arranged the paperwork and travel for any animal I ask her for help with and has never charged me. She’s also helped with boarding an animal for me for almost a year without ever charging me a single Riyal. Kimmy is not in this for money or recognition. She does it out of a pure love for animals. She’s only one person; she might not be able to help everyone, but she helps more people than every other rescuer in Qatar, myself included. No one does more for the animals of Qatar than Kimmy Clarkson.
Kimmy is one of the few rescuers who routinely takes in dogs in critical condition, sick, starving, or abused, and goes above and beyond to rehabilitate them. I’ve witnessed her do this time and time again. She works non-stop just to be able to afford the care of her rescues. They are her world. I’m writing this to let you know how amazing, caring, and dedicated this woman is. I have witnessed first-hand over many years her dedication and the love she has for her rescues. Time and time again, I have seen her put her animals above herself. I have seen her take in dogs that are starving, abused, and in bad condition and rehabilitate them. I’ve visited her place and seen how loved, happy, well-fed, and healthy her dogs are.
Unlike most rescuers, Kimmy takes in animals who are sick, starving, and abused. So when you see them, that is how they appear. That is not how she treats them. Unlike most people, she is willing to suffer the financial and emotional burden of rehabilitating them. If you see all her animals, you will know how well-fed, healthy, and loved they are. In the rescue community here, sadly, there are a lot of people who care more for themselves than the animals. Kimmy is not one of them. I know that for a fact.
I know there’s been a lot of chatter going on. As someone who has known Kimmy and her rescues for many years now, I can say the rumours are 100% false. The people spreading them have never entered her home or seen her dogs. They are wrong about the number of animals she has in her home, their condition, treatment, and, well, everything. I know this because I’ve been to her home. I’ve seen the animals year in and year out. At this point, the individuals are doing nothing but defaming her for their own personal gain. You can ask, what are they gaining? Well, it’s you, your support, and the recognition you provide them.
Kimmy has been a pillar of the animal rescue community for years for a reason. It’s because of her big heart, selfless nature, and overwhelming willingness to help anyone. This has unfortunately led to people abusing her kindness for personal gain over and over again. It’s sad to see someone so selfless be used so much, but that is the price of having a good heart. For this, I know she will always be blessed through the hard times. She is a good person and, at the very least, deserves the benefit of the doubt before harsh judgment is made against her by those I myself have witnessed pull this same tactic before on other rescuers and myself. I don’t want to involve myself in the pettiness, but I can’t in good conscience turn a blind eye when I know for a fact that all that’s being said are lies, spun for personal gain.
Before I started this rescue page, I’d been doing rescue for over ten years, at the time, 100% self-funded. It was my dream to make this rescue so that, with the community’s help, we could do more together. I haven’t stopped doing rescue; I’ve just stopped posting about it because I’m spread too thin right now. With work and school, I’m still trying to find a new balance to do it all. That said, because I’ve been doing this for many years, a lot of vets know me, and a lot of other rescuers and people in the field know me. They know why I do this and how much I care about my rescues and animals in general. It ended up coming back to me because our community is so small. This same person/people who are going around and saying all of this tried to go around and say, “Have you seen Noora’s dogs? They’re still in boarding…how could she?” etc., etc., they tried to spin similar lies to get me discredited for a while now. I’ve just been ignoring it because I know there’s no reason to sink to their level. In the end, people will say what they want and think what they want. The truth is the truth, and it always comes out.
My dogs may be in boarding, but they are happy, healthy, and well cared for. I’ve always had an open-door policy and constantly ask people to visit and hang out with them. Sadly, right now, adoptions are down everywhere. Mixed breeds are also much more difficult to rehome. I haven’t given up on them, but I won’t settle to send them anywhere or give them to someone I know won’t treat them as well as they deserve. My dogs are all friends with each other, and if you see my videos of them playing and the smiles on their faces, you will know they are happy. Just visit them, and you will know. Thankfully for me, because I’ve always been transparent and open and have years of experience working around animals, their rumours couldn’t stick. I don’t know why, for Kimmy, they are. Maybe because her animals are in her private home and not in a public place like a shelter or clinic, you can’t go check yourselves, so you’re believing what someone is saying.
Repeatedly, I’ve seen this person spin and create a web of lies to make themselves appear like the better person, championing for the animals of Qatar. I don’t involve myself with them anymore as I don’t want to be around that behaviour or have their attempts at manipulation affect my mental health, but this time, they have taken it too far, and I need to say something because what is happening to a woman I have witnessed for years be so selfless to her rescues is being attacked. The worst part is people are believing it. Kimmy is only one person, and she does all of this on her own. The profits from her job all go towards her rescues. She treats them so well. If only people tried to verify the rumours before spreading and attacking her over them. It’s breaking me to see someone I know be so selfless and caring to her animals now be attacked over lies. The claims are just so outlandish. How so many are willing to follow along baffles me.
Here in Qatar, we have a parvo problem; that’s no secret. Go to any rescuers page, and you will see posts about how puppies were picked up with parvo and how they passed from it. It’s heart-wrenching but a sad reality. Kimmy takes in a lot of sick animals because most won’t. She tries her best, but she is not God. Instead of helping, people are quick to condemn for what reason, a woman trying her best? Posting photos of skinny dogs instead of showing the entire picture. The thin dogs are isolated from the others (as is standard practice) so they can be rehabilitated. So they can be fed a high-caloric diet away from the rest of the dogs. This is so other dogs don’t eat the food, and they can get all the nutrients they need to recover. Instead of applauding her for doing what most won’t and taking in these dogs, and doing her best to rehabilitate them, we now have people condemning, threatening her, and sending abusive messages because they think she is starving the dogs. She’s the one feeding them. They look like that because they were found like that. I’m sorry to go public with all of this. This is getting too out of hand. Please stop harassing Kimmy and her business over someone else’s lies and need for attention. Kimmy doesn’t deserve it. I am a witness to the fact she doesn’t deserve it, and all that’s being said are lies. Please don’t believe what you yourself can’t prove. It’s so wrong. I don’t know what else to say, but I needed to say this. God is good and the best of planners. I pray this gets sorted out. The truth always comes out, and the good are always protected. That knowledge gives me solace that the truth will prevail and Kimmy will be okay. I will end my message here, as I really don’t know what else to say. If you can send her some love and nice messages, please do, she could really use the support and positivity right now. Thank you.
[All photos were taken of Kimmy’s dogs and at her home over the past five years]
