Effective today, please be informed that we will no longer be able to publicise for fostering unless it is for our sponsored animals. We will, however, still publicise for adoptions.
The reason is, we can take full responsibility for our sponsored animals, but we cannot do the same for the animals of other rescuers.
Off and on, we encounter cases where some rescuers who ask for fostering help through us do not honour their word of taking back the animals after the agreed period of time. We have received feedback from fosterers (who responded to our blogposts out of goodwill and trust) lamenting that they have been dumped with the animals whom they agreed to foster. There are also cases of some rescuers who promised to supply food or pay for the medical needs of their rescues, but there is no follow-up from them once the fosterer has taken over the animals. Some do not even answer the phone or reply text messages.
“Can you hold on one more day? Can you hold on one more week?”, “Can you hold on until I find an adopter?”. No, please. When rescuers go back on their word, the fosterer then has to either adopt the animal or look for other fosterers or adopters. This is unfair as the fosterer had only agreed to FOSTER for an agreed period of time. Not to rehome, and certainly not to foster for a longer period than what had been agreed upon.
Being the middle-person, we have to source for new fosterers to take over for the sake of the poor innocent animal and the fosterer who has offered help out of goodwill. If no new fosterer can be found, we also cannot take over the animal as we do not have a shelter. What happens to the poor animal if no one can look after him/her then? What happens if the fosterer really cannot hold on anymore?
As for the case of rescuers who promise to supply food or pay for the medical needs but “disappear” after that, we would like to suggest that fosterers ask for a fee upfront, to at least cover food and medical expenses. But no fee can cover the responsibility incurred once an animal has been dumped on the fosterer. It is a living being, and money cannot buy everything. The whole future of that poor animal then lies with the fosterer – this is a responsibility which the fosterer had never bargained for when he/she first agreed to FOSTER.
Granted, there are many responsible rescuers, but there are also those who are not. We have received emails from fosterers saying they will “never ever” foster again because of the latter. I don’t blame them at all as I had also been previously dumped with kittens, so I know exactly how it feels.
I have also been told that some rescuers resort to emotional blackmail on the fosterers, ie. “If you insist that I take back, I will dump the animal on the street”, knowing the fosterer would have already formed a bond with the animal during the period of fostering and would not want the animal to be dumped, especially very young ones.
So, as of today, we will no longer publicise for fosterers anymore. Should you need fosterers, please ask for help in pet forums and other channels.
We will however, publicise for fosterers only for our sponsored animals because we can take full responsibility for them. Currently our sponsored animals are Russell, Sweetie, Doby and Jackie (with Meiji since 2010) and Sunshine (with Lydia since 2011). As stated above, we do not have the resources to take responsibility for other rescuers’ animals because we do not have a shelter. If the rescuer refuses to take back the animal, and the fosterer comes back to us for help, we will be put in a very difficult position.
With this announcement, should you refer to our old posts and respond to those who seek fostering help, please do so at your own risk.
We will publicise for adoptions, but not fostering services.
Last but not least, we wish to record our very grateful thanks to all fosterers who have responded to our past appeals and have done a great job at fostering these rescued animals. We wish to also thank all rescuers who have acted responsibly and we acknowledge that there are many of such out there.
The “bad apples” are a minority – thank goodness for this! Still, one bad experience can change people’s perception, sometimes for life. We need to act responsibly at all times, because if animal welfare gets a bad name, the animals suffer the most.
To everyone – Thank you for your kind understanding. We can only do so much.
Our rehoming policy: http://animalcare.my/rehome/
Comments
10 responses to “No more publicising for fosterers, only for adoptions”
You know Dr.Chan,
I was drafting on this topic few days back, but decided not to post on my blog as I was afraid that will ruffle a few feathers. As you pointed out above, Yes, that’s one of the reason I too quit my fostering and only foster my own rescue cases 😛 Sometimes, some don’t realise “foster” means not just sit there and look at them, give them milk and play. ON a separate note, I would like to mention, the rescuer of ODD clan was 1 in million! She’s probably the only rescuer whom I dealt with was very very understanding.
I had a similar experience once but not fostering.
I agreed to cat-sit this cat, free of charge, for 4 weeks. On the agreed day of collecting the cat, the owner didn’t turn up. I had to call the owner, worried that cat would be a dumping case. Took me awhile to get the owner to reply and owner came 2 days later to collect cat.
Needless to say, after that incident, I told myself to never cat-sit other people’s cat without collecting any fees. Actually, I scraped the whole idea of cat-sitting as my own cats were so stressed with an outsider cat in the house. For my own and my cats’ peace of mind, I decided to never cat-sit another cat again.
I can understand how fosterers feel when rescuers don’t keep to their word-total annoyance and betrayal of trust. Rescuers who don’t keep to their word are being irresponsible and unfair to fosterers.
Dear Dr Chan,
I am appalled by the irresponsible attitude of some rescuers who dumped their rescues on fosterers who have agreed to take care of their rescues for a agreed period of time.
Their irresponsible attitude will only drive fosterers away and at the end of the day the poor animals will suffer.
I know of friends who are very reluctant to foster animals for the reasons that you mentioned in your post.
Katie
We can only do so much…How true that statement is. We have even read of Humans who do this to humans as well. Dump babies, children and the elderly.
But i’ll still rescue and foster and love, doing my lil bit to make a difference and change the perception of how a human is actually meant to do so much more.
We were meant to live for so much more…Have we lost ourselves?
Hi, Bern — I’m sad to say I’m one of those people who has finally decided NOT to foster any more animals unless the rescuer is one of my personal friends, whom I know and trust to take the animal back when promised.
At this point, in my experience, fostering animals for others is every bit as risky as taking in a stray and hoping to re-home it soon. In other words: you really have to be prepared to keep the animal for the rest of its life. The rescuer dumps the foster animal; an adopter never materialises. Unfortunately, I’m not in a position to take on another pet, so I must stop fostering animals for people I don’t know and trust.
To all so-called “rescuers” who ask people to foster an animal then fail to keep your word: You are doing enormous harm to homeless animals. As fosterers like me get burnt a few times, most of us will swear off fostering. I wonder, do you pat yourselves on the back for doing a fine job of “rescuing” a dog or cat after you’ve dumped it onto a fosterer with no intention of taking it back? Tak malu!
On a happier note, Bern, I hope you and your furry clan are enjoying life in Oz! 🙂
I couldn’t agree with you more! This is an extremely wise move. I feel that too many people want to ride on the wave ‘coz it seems like the in-thing to do. But oft times they conveniently forget about the responsibility that comes with it!
I wish i have endless supply of money, then I can build a place like Cat House on the Kings, where all these problems will be solved. All rescues, fostering, boarding, placing of strays, and more, could be placed in this santuary… with a small fee of course. Nothing comes free.
That’s why in Ipoh SPCA, we have surrender fee and adoption is free (by donation) 🙂
i do understand this issue and im very upset of this ‘dumping problem’.
but it also explains to me, why no one wanted to help me. i cant blame anyone for it, if things like this happen; i guess i wouldnt act differently. and the resold is this, ppl like me who cant foster for themselves and need help, cant find help.
so im wondering, how can i insure a foster that i will keep my promise and help?
Hi Karolin, We made the decision of not publicising for fosterers simply because fosterers come back to us lamenting that they have been dumped with the animals by rescuers whom we publicised on behalf of. This puts us in a spot because I have no resources to keep taking in animals (we don’t have a shelter) and I cannot be sure if I can get a replacement fosterer. Many of the rescuers who write to us are total strangers to us, so we cannot vouch for their integrity. We’ve been “hit” too many times now.
But this doesn’t mean you cannot publicise it elsewhere, like on facebook or other pet forums. I’m sure there are many other avenues to do this. Also, one thing you could do to prove your sincerity, is to send text messages to enquire about the animal, provide food, etc. I suppose it all boils down to trust.
Been there. Once the animals are inside our home the sad stories come out on why they cannot take the animals back. And worse, they have the audacity to request that we find adopters who would take the animals as a pair or as a threesome bacause they are family.
That’s why I will never foster unless it is for a friend……and NOT a Facebook friend.
Sadly though, it does mean there will be some stay animals that may not get rescued because the rescuer may not be able to take it home or find a fosterer.
Thank you for this long awaited post. I have many times witnessed the physical, emotional and financial hardships fosterers have to endure due to the irresponsibility of rescuers. To do a good job as a fosterer means sleepless nights, night feeds, hours of cooking for the cats and kittens and countless trips to the vet for treatments. All self paid as the rescuers ‘ buat tak tahu’ and think that by passing the rescued kittens to someone else, their job is done and they have performed their good deed for the day. So, again, thank you for highlighting this.
Regards,
Lynn