The silly uncalled-for “problem” that I had to deal with

So what’s this “problem” that took up my entire day today?


Well, it’s that newspaper report which I am not happy about at all.  A woman who runs another organisation was quoted to have used AnimalCare’s name  – without our consent.  Apparently she had also claimed credit to CNRM, which is a term I coined for AnimalCare.  Whatever that was published in the article was translated verbatim from our brochure, but credited to her. 


But what upsets me MOST of all is that our name was mentioned alongside her organisation, then there was a listing of HER vet’s charges as well as the charges for spaying pregnant stray animals.  


This is extremely upsetting because it gives the impression that we are collaborating with her organisation (which we are definitely NOT) and we absolutely DO NOT spay pregnant strays. 


Unborn babies are alive, for goodness’ sake.  How could you spay a pregnant animal?  That amounts to abortion and KILLING. 


What is not right for humans, is also not right for animals.  And here we are, promoting no-kill, no-euthanasia, and definitely, no-abortion, unless under extenuating circumstances where the mother-animal’s life is in danger (same rules as humans).


So, I just had to put things right.  People cannot conveniently use our name and distort facts.  And it is not just one article, but two – one published on 9th October and another on 31st October.   

I called the tabloid and spoke to the reporter, and she agreed to meet me this afternoon.


The meeting was a very fruitful one.  She said there must have been a misunderstanding of facts.  I explained my position and requested for a correction to be published.  


The reported agreed that this must be done.  An interview has been set for sometime this week and she promised the correction will be published next week.  


What an utterly stupid and uncalled-for problem.  Like I have nothing better to do with my time? 


We have many animals to help.  Can these humans NOT give me extra problems, please?  


I wish to also convey my thanks to everyone who had called me to alert me to this very misleading article.  Thank you very much for your concern.  We appreciate it very, very much. 


Special thanks to Li Lian and all her friends for helping me with the translation of this article.   

***************************************

I would also like to clarify here that we do not need media publicity for AnimalCare and the work that we do.  My books are distributed free to the public and that is the education that we do – through true stories of our rescue work.  I also give public talks on kindness to animals.  And our work is documented in detail in our website postings. 

But now, because of this uncalled-for problem, the newspapers has to publish a correction and a write-up of our work and what we do, just to clarify and set the facts right. 

We are a small group of volunteers doing whatever we can, within our means, to help the stray animals, and I would like to keep it this way.  Our work is known by the rescuers and animal-lovers whom we have helped.  That is enough for us.  

And our website is read by people from 54 countries.  We spread the message of kindness to animals through what we DO.  Not what we say.  

We are not members of NATO (No Action, Talk Only).  

And we do not like to be associated with anyone or any organisation that just talks a whole lot and does nothing.   

UPDATES after one month: The Chinese newspapers did NOT publish any correction. The reporter who wrote the article has refused to pick up my calls.  So much for responsible reporting! We will leave it be now. We don’t have time to pursue this anymore. Hopefully people who want to know about our work will come into this website and read for themselves.