I refer to this posting: http://animalcare.my/2010/03/three-female-dogs-spayed-but.html
And I received this email today:
Dear Dr Chan Kah Yein,
I have been an avid reader of animalcare.my for some time and cannot express enough my appreciation and admiration for all you have done for the strays especially the rescued pound dogs who really deserve so much better.
I am the person who passed your contact details to the lady who brought in the 3 female dogs to your Subang Jaya vet to be spayed. The lady is my house cleaner whom I have known for some two decades. The dogs she brought in are not her own, she has a good heart when it comes to dogs. In fact, she took in a stray dog I rescued from outside my house more than a year ago (my neighbour was threatening to call Bandaraya to catch the dog although it was not making a nuisance, he is a dog owner himself but has no tolerance for strays, it seems). That dog was initially fostered by her after being spayed and as she took a liking to it, she subsequently adopted it. Although my cleaner has only had primary education, she has a lot more compassion for stray dogs than the majority of people who have had the benefit of higher education. The reason she masked the dogs she brought in is because she found it difficult to control all 3 dogs in the car, this is the 1st time the dogs had been taken anywhere in a vehicle. As such, masking the dogs was done out of sheer ignorance.
I just wanted to clarify the situation as I am aware that some of your readers are suspicious of her motives, some suggesting that the dogs belonged to her and that she was taking advantage of animalcare’s generosity.
Thank you for all that you have done for the strays, may God continue to bless your work!
Best regards
Corinne
When I posted the news, my purpose was to educate and let people know of such an incident. It was definitely NOT to persecute the two poor ladies whom I had already said acted out of ignorance. Moreover, I was convinced of their innocence and sincerity after speaking to both of them.
But a few readers of this blog were NOT convinced, so they started jumping to conclusions and passing all kinds of judgment on the two poor ladies. One reader even said I had been “conned” and I was rather surprised because I didn’t think getting three female dogs spayed and preventing hundreds of unwanted births was anything NEAR being “conned” at all.
I have always said, and I will repeat myself if need be – AnimalCare was started to help the animals, not the humans. If the animals have gained some benefit from whatever little help we can give, I am happy. If the humans are dishonest, that’s their karma. Not mine. Based on this principle, how can I be “conned”?
All said, I appreciate your well-intentioned comments, but I hope this clarification from Corinne will put the matter at rest now, and since most of us don’t even know these two ladies, please let’s not send them negative vibes and judge (persecute?) them without knowing all the facts.
Some of us may have certain standards when it comes to caring for animals. But we cannot expect others to live and act by our standards. If we have something useful to share, then please share it in a constructive manner. Lead by example, share and educate. Not judge and persecute. Criticism is very damaging.
Always give others the benefit of the doubt and get all the facts before passing judgment. That’s a much happier way to live, isn’t it?
Thank you for writing, Corinne!