We’ve all seen the sad ASPCA commercials with the trembling animals and Sarah McLachlan singing woefully in the background about angels. I’m not against the primary directive of the ASPCA, but what most people don’t realize is that it is a private shelter in New York City and not the headquarters of all the local SPCAs. Neither the ASPCA nor the HSUS have smaller affiliates in other areas. They are not connected in any way to your local humane group. They don’t fund local shelters, support local shelters, and rarely do they get involved with local shelters. Their grants are extremely difficult to obtain, and their area representatives seldom venture into the rural areas where the need is greatest.
Nonprofits like my rescue @TARC have a really tough time, especially in communities that are unsupportive. (See screenshot below.) We have some wonderful hands-on volunteers, like @cherielayne, @arrelaine13, and @catherine813. We also have a growing support network on the Steem blockchain, and Steemians have funded the rescue of several Appalachian dogs already.
This week we took in four dogs from a horrible situation where the owner was hospitalized, and her landlord was about as sympathetic to the dogs’ plight as she was to the cockroaches and rats living with them. Two of the dogs are surprisingly healthy, but the longhaired dachshund has a raging UTI with visible blood in her urine, and the senior poodle had skin that was nearly hairless and almost petrified with dead skin cells, in addition to a cataract in one eye and mammary tumors from being unspayed. The vet bill for these two dogs was $538.02. This does not include the deworming we do in-house, the vaccines we do in-house, the microchips, or the spay that the dachshund will need. (It’s possible that the poodle’s age by contraindicate surgery for her.) Rescue is expensive. And for a group like mine that rarely qualifies for grants and has little community support, the need is dire.
I’ve never understood why local leaders don’t see the PR and political potential that lies in animal welfare. In 2014, Boston University published the 21st Century Mayor’s Leadership Survey. “Out The Front Door” is a popular activist blog that published this statement on October 11, 2014:
On page 34 of the study is a list of the mayors’ responses to the question: “What is the most recent idea you have learned about from another city (domestic or foreign) and then brought to your own?” Of the 48 ideas listed, one is “No Kill animal shelter.”
There is proof in black and white that for the public and many officials, the state of a municipality’s animal control system is an indicator of the efficiency and success of their leadership. Yet in my community, this concept is about as foreign as chop sticks. Calling any type of public attention to the problem like I did with the situation involving these dogs and the realtor results in pretty significant backlash, and remarkably limited concern about the animals.
So I struggle. Daily. But I don’t regret being in this business. It has its rewards. And homes for these dogs will not be hard to find. They’ve already had an offer of transport to out of state rescue, and interest by adopters. That isn’t the problem. The problem is funding the work we do to make them eligible for that. I’ve not been disappointed in the Steem blockchain as a means of raising money to continue our charity work with animals. Post payouts have been good, Steem and SBD enjoyed a nice spike, and people donate. But the need is never-ending in this community. Until I’m able to fund the spay/neuter program I’ve proposed, I don’t think we’ll se any real relief from needing outside help to care for these dogs.
In the good news department, Miss Daisy is much happier today after her trip to the spa…er, I mean veterinarian. She enjoyed two exfoliating baths, a pedicure, and a haircut. Check out her before and after pics. Not sure what everyone else will see, but in the photo on the left, I see grief. In the photo on the right, I see tentative hope. @TARC was able to give her that. Her expression is even brighter today.
We also have three more dogs in need of the veterinary care required for adoption or transport across state lines. In other words, we need to finish their vaccine series, deworm them thoroughly, and have them spayed and neutered. This, too, costs money. So please consider upvoting this post and resteeming it so others can see and upvote it as well. This is a way you can contribute much more directly than donating to large organizations like the ASPCA where only a few pennies of every dollar actually go toward helping animals. Every single cent of every single dollar donated to TARC goes to food, shelter, veterinary care, transport, or overhead for running the sanctuary, NOT to salaries of executives or misleading ad campaigns.
For anyone wishing to donate FIAT, here is the best way: https://www.paypal.me/tazewellarc
Seriously—even if all you do is give this post a resteem, you’re giving our rescued animals more than the people who abandoned them ever did.