12/23/2025
Now this is liquid gold! Read this- and understand why we do what we do and why it costs money to operate a search and rescue. Liquid gold information!!🙏🙏🙏👍👍💯💯💯💯💯🐾🐾🐕🦺🐕🦺
***LONG POST***
I have talked about this in a post before but after the last couple of days I have sat with some things that have happened and I want to speak my thoughts on it. There seems to be a heavy belief that pet recovery should always be a free service and that if someone charges for this work, they must have bad intentions.
So, I want to talk about that. We know that when a pet goes missing, families are scared, emotional, and desperate for help. That emotional weight is real, and it deserves compassion. But compassion does not mean skilled labor has no value. I have myself and also witnessed many times where other recovery specialists will request fees for the search and recovery of a lost pet. I have also refused more times than not, someone's generosity to donate to my services.
I think about it like this. Because anyone charging during this type of crisis is said to be a scammer in most cases, so lets look at funeral homes. Funeral homes provide services during one of the most emotionally devastating times in a family's life and they charge for those services. They charge thousands of dollars for the service. Emergency plumbers, tow truck drivers, veterinarians, therapists, and locksmiths all respond during moments of crisis. They are compensated not because people are “profiting from pain,” or "lining their pockets" but because skill, equipment, availability, and experience matter.
Pet recovery is no different. This work requires specialized knowledge, equipment and tools, fuel, time, planning, and coordination. Not to mention emotional labor and decision-making under pressure and most of the time years of experience and countless unpaid hours learning what works and what doesn’t.
Not everyone who does this work has the ability, funding, or structure to operate as a non-profit. And many people don’t realize what actually goes into starting and maintaining one. A non-profit does not mean "free". It means regulated, restricted, administratively heavy, and often personally subsidized. And many recovery specialists still work full-time jobs. Many pay out of pocket MOST of the time. Many sacrifice sleep, personal time, and financial stability to help others even if they "charge" for the service.
Charging a fee or accepting compensation through donations or services does not make someone unethical. It makes the work sustainable. What is unrealistic is the belief that skilled, high-stress, time-sensitive services should be provided endlessly without compensation. This work has value. Experience has value. Showing up when someone else can’t has value.
Compassion and compensation are not opposites. They can and should coexist.
But why do people have the mindset that it doesn't? This mindset comes from several deeply rooted places such as emotional projection. When someone is panicking about their missing pet, their nervous system is in crisis mode. In that state anything that feels like a “barrier” (money, process, boundaries) feels unfair and people unconsciously equate free with caring and paid with detached. It’s not logical but it’s emotional survival thinking.
There is also confusion between volunteerism and skill. People are used to seeing animal control, shelters, rescues or volunteers. They assume all pet-related help falls under “volunteer work,” not realizing that recovery is a specialized service, not casual help. They don’t see the failed recoveries, the planning, the training or the cost of equipment. They only see the moment they need help.
There are also too many misunderstanding the non-profit reality. Many believe non-profit equals free and paid equals for-profit greed. In reality non-profits still pay for equipment, labor, insurance, admin, fuel, and training. Many are run at a loss by the founders. Many depend on one or two people quietly carrying the financial burden which causes members to leave. People romanticize non-profits without understanding the personal cost still behind them.
I also understand that we live in an internet scam culture. Unfortunately, scams exist and that has created suspicion around anyone charging in emotional situations. Instead of learning how to vet someone's services, some people default to “If you charge, you must be a scam.” That’s fear .... not a fact.
We’ve been conditioned to believe that caregiving is a self-sacrifice, animal work is charity and asking for compensation is selfish. This mindset burns out the very people doing the hardest work and then society wonders why the help disappears. And the truth most people miss is you can be deeply compassionate and fairly compensated for it. You can care and still set boundaries. You can help and still value your time, experience, and resources.
The problem isn’t charging. The problem is a culture that undervalues caregiving labor ... especially when animals are involved. And speaking up about that doesn’t make you heartless. It makes you honest.
