07/26/2022
“Rescues scooping kittens”…
In the world of Cat Rescue, it is very important that we all work together. Rescue is not a game, it is not a “win-lose” situation where you choose a side and gamble you are on the winning side. It is not a profit motivated endeavor – indeed, as most come to find, it is a profit LOSING undertaking, where those involved spend their time, money and emotions all for one purpose – helping the cats. All cats – young, old, feral, friendly, healthy, disabled, and most of all – those in need. Working together we build a camaraderie that enables us to get the support and services we all need, in order to help the cats.
We received an email the other day that we’d like to share (identifying remarks have been removed from the quoted source):
“I have a topic for you - Large well known rescues coming in and scooping up all the kittens then handing out trappers names to come deal with the adult ferals. This has been happening for years and its getting old. Most of us don't even keep the kittens but sometime we do to adopt out to offset the cost of the adults and also to pay for vet care of the kittens. These rescues actually hand people our phone numbers and tell them they don't do ferals call us. This is not fair or right. If your going to take kittens you need to make sure the adults are taken care of also.”
That this is happening is distressing – and this is not Rescue. We continually advocate for “don’t forget the moms and dads” when trapping kittens – leaving unaltered adults behind just ensures there will be more kittens shortly; it does nothing to solve the problem. Thinking that “well known rescues” would basically dump the work on the true rescuers is, quite honestly, despicable. Rescuing kittens is definitely a big part of Rescue – but in conjunction with spay/neuter of all. Going out to just “rescue” kittens has unfortunately become a social media phenomenon – cutesy pictures that “sell” the rescue, and sells the kittens as well. It not only does not solve the problem; it creates disharmony in the Rescue community – especially when you are avoiding the responsibility of taking care of the adults.
This email did not come from our local area. In our immediate community, it has been wonderful to see people working together: Rescues and independent trappers, shelters and lay people. But Rescue is a community that extends beyond one local area – it is our county, our state, our country – our world. Please, if you are involved in Rescue – or you claim to be – take time to really assess HOW you are doing Rescue, your goals and how you are interacting with your fellow rescuers. Use your cute pictures to promote Rescue – to show how to help stop the endless cycle of unwanted kittens, and to detail how you TNR’d the moms and dads when you took those kittens. Reach out to your fellow rescuers to see how you can help them – because Rescue needs to be a give and take. It is not about you – it’s about the cats. Working together we can all make a difference.
