Shall we share out the responsibility, please?

I simply cannot help being overwhelmed by Lucky’s rehoming today.  I just feel we are so, so fortunate to have met someone as responsible as Faris.  You might be able to understand why I am so overwhelmed and grateful when you read on.

It is too often that people call me up to ask if we can help an injured or sick dog/cat, and then conveniently leave (dump?) the dog/cat with us. We are not a shelter, we do not have fosterers, and we are not an adoption agency either. We can only provide spay-neuter services and subsidise medicals.

We also have people who emotionally blackmail us, ie. “If you do not take the dog, the dog will die” – how often have I heard this.  Once, a lady scolded me, “You don’t expect me to leave the cat there to die, do you?  Now that I’ve rescued it, you have to take the cat from me.  I’m going off for a holiday and I can’t take care of it!” 

“I have to?”, I asked.  

No, we don’t expect you to leave the dog or cat there. We will help you with the medical bills, but you have to rehome the dog or cat yourself, or engage the services of other organisations that do rehoming/adoption drives. We can help you advertise, but there is no guarantee of success. If there is a guarantee, I would not have had to adopt most of my own rescued cats!

I’ve also had people asking me, “How come nobody has responded?” (after I have advertised).  Gosh, I can only write a posting and put it up.  I cannot guarantee response. 

So, instead of dumping or pointing fingers at each other, let’s work together on this, shall we?

Doing animal charity is not easy. The responsibility has to be shared out. We each do what we do best.

From my own personal experience, when you rescue an animal, please have at least a back-up plan for the animal. Prepare for the worst possible scenario where you might have to end up adopting the animal should you fail to find it a home. That can happen, and it does happen, sometimes.

AnimalCare provides spay-neuter and subsidises medical treatments. As long as we still have funds, we are committed to doing free spay-neuter for your rescued animals. And as long as we have funds, we will subsidise your medicals. And whether we have funds or not, I will gladly give educational talks on CNRM and compassion to animals.

For rehoming and adoptions, please consult other organisations that provide this service.