21/04/2024
Are you missing your stuff?
Here’s another topic well known to most rescuers – but for some reason, seldom addressed. And that is equipment you loan out that never gets returned! How many times have you loaned out traps or cages, lost track of the time, then when you go looking for your stuff it’s gone? And you are left wondering “who did I loan that to?”
What IS it about rescue that makes other people think YOU can replace your equipment if they don’t return it? I was once asked to help a woman – a very nice woman – who was moving, and wanted to take her ferals with her. They were truly untouchable cats, but had lived outside her house for 2 years, were used to daily feedings, and the new owners said they couldn’t stay. Two years previously she had TNR’d these cats with the help of another rescuer, but because I had experience relocating cats she called on me. When I said we’d need to acclimate them to traps, she said “Oh I have a trap! 'Jane' left it with me when we trapped them the first time!” And I replied – “oh, good, she will be happy to get her trap back when we are done!” While she looked quite embarrassed, she didn’t even try to keep the trap.
I honestly think that woman meant no harm – and I don’t think most people mean harm either, when they keep the equipment we’ve loaned them. For some, it’s a matter of simply forgetting; for some, it seems unimportant – because who cares about a trap? But for many, I think there’s a mystique, something kind of exciting about those traps, those cages, those carriers…they are things the people wouldn’t buy for themselves, but they’re kind of nice to have on hand. Hmm. Yes indeed, they ARE nice to have on hand!
And sometimes, it’s your fellow rescuers. Some truly do just forget – and you get to know those people and know you will have to bug them to get it back. Some do so much rescue, your equipment gets mixed in with theirs, and next thing you know it IS theirs. And sadly there are a few who just want some free equipment.
So – the take home message is this.
• If someone is working to help YOU with a cat situation, please – remember to return their stuff (after you’ve cleaned it, please )
• If you are a fellow rescuer, please – label their stuff if they didn’t already do so, write yourself a note, and remember to return it (after you’ve cleaned it, please )
• If YOU are loaning out your stuff – create a little clipboard and keep track of who borrowed and who returned. You’ll save yourself a lot of time and money, AND frustration, if you will just remember to do this! (that’s the key, remember… so say I, who has never been able to remember to do this… )
Let’s all work together to help each other – rescue is expensive enough, without having to replace our stuff!