14/10/2025
I saw a post made by an acquaintance in rescue this morning (I’ve included her post/quote below) that I think you guys need to see. As many of you know we have been on an intake hold indefinitely this year because of lack of resources, space, and funding. The economy has been in crisis for a while and it’s hitting everyone hard, rescues and shelters included.
Even though we have been on intake hold, we’ve still had someone come through our gate at 8pm and knock on our directors door to give us a puppy in bad shape. We’ve had a mama cat and two kittens left in our donation box. We’ve had one FIV+ cat dumped here. A second cat dumped in the bend between us and our neighbors. And a tiny kitten left here.
We are getting hundreds of messages, calls, and emails daily right now. It started picking back up a few weeks ago and hasn’t slowed down since. People begging us to take animals and we literally cannot. We do not have the resources, space, or extra funding to be able to do so and we cannot put ourselves in a position like that if an emergency would arise for one of our animals that we have already committed to.
Sometimes we HAVE to say no. We have no other option. Sometimes that gets us screamed at and cussed out, sometimes people threaten to just dump the animals in the road in front of us or they threaten to kill the animal. I promise you, if you have that reaction we will call law enforcement and we will press charges.
Just know that right now we can’t help any more than we already are. We are doing our best, but it’s a really rough time in rescue right now and we’re loving and caring for everyone at Camp PPR…but we cannot help any additional animals at this time.
If you’d like to help support us through this rough time you can donate below:
💕DONATE TODAY! 💕
💕 PayPal.me/pitifulpawsrescue
🌈 Venmo (profile pic tie dye)
💕 Mail to P.O. Box 690 Ona, WV 25545
🌈 You can ship any supplies, dog food, etc to 1020 county road 35 Chesapeake, OH 45619
💕 You can also simply click the donate button on this post!
Amazon Wishlist: https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/3GOZA30HEN7M9?ref_=wl_share
“Animal rescuers, learn to say no.
Also, learn to let go.
When funds are too low, say no.
When capacity is reached, say no.
When you're frazzled, say no.
When an animal has low quality of life, let go.
When they have a poor odds of recovery, let go.
When they truly are dangerous, let go.
Taking on more than you truly can provide for long term hurts animals and the rescue world.
Allowing animals to go through too much because your emotions hurt is destructive and counterproductive.
These things have always been true and important, but in the world we have now, a world in economic crisis where the numbers of animals coming in or in need is higher than in a very long time, the best thing we can do is to say no and let go.
If we collapse under the pressures of the need, then there is one less rescue to help long term.
If we hoard and give too little to those in our care, we make donors to animal work lose faith in all rescue, create massive burdens to other groups that remain and harm animals already in our care.
So many roads the vear off were paved with good intentions at the start.
You can best help animals in crisis by taking on only what you actually can and never holding too long because of human emotions.”
Written by,
Tinia Creamer
Founder of Heart of Phoenix Horse Rescue
