I'd like to put my 2 cents in here, if I may. Kris happens to be a very
dear friend of mine and IMO I feel she is taking a lot of unnecessary
bashing for her posts. She has been made out to be a "newbie". Someone
who has no idea what she speaks of in regards to shelters and rescues.
This could not be further from the truth. She is definitely not a
newbie. She happens to be a very big hearted, generous, knowledgeable
person who is VERY supportive of rescues and shelters. Just because she
does not brag about her involvement in rescue does not mean she is
uninvolved or ignorant to the struggles of rescues. She has done quite a
bit of work with her local humane society, not to mention being a member
of Ferrets Across America--she has been working very closely with me on
numerous rescues and transports. I find her to be an asset as a friend
and fellow "rescuer".
Kris was not coming down on ALL shelters. She was merely asking
questions and bringing up points that IMO are totally valid about one
shelter in particular. Instead of these questions being answered, she
got flamed.
In using the term "nest egg", she was not referring to having thousands
or even hundreds of dollars sitting in a bank account somewhere. No,
not all shelters have extra funds laying around. I know; been there,
done that. But to not have 30 or 40 bucks for a single ADV test? C'mon.
She referred to this as an emergency. I do not consider money for one
single ADV test an emergency, especially from someone who hypocritically
downplayed the need for testing for ADV, not to mention vaccinating not
long ago. Also chalked the tests up as "the labs selling the tests think
they've found a way to make bookoo bucks on us ferret lovers."(her words,
not mine) and questioning the test results validity.
As far as Kim having a tough year..haven't we all? Been having one
myself, but I'm not going to post about it all over the FML. There are
just too many things that make no sense to me regarding SUMS. Why does
it seem like everytime Kim gets a shelter kid in, donations are being
asked for? Even for the simplest of things? Where is this money really
going? You even asked for donations (sorry, you held a "raffle") for a
pregnant cat you rescued? You have more raffles going on than I can
count--btw, did "Tucker" ever get his surgery with the funds from the
laptop raffle? You have received money from donations and these
raffles...you have money to ship out prizes, magnets and other items, but
you can't afford an ADV test? Hello? To me, an ADV test is a necessity
these days, not a luxury. Are all your shelter kids ADV tested and
vaccinated? Just out of curiosity, I hear of all these kids you take
in, but never anything about ones that get adopted out. Are they being
adopted out? Another thing that concerns me is how disorganized these
raffles are. "Disks" constantly disappear with people's addresses and
such on them, money gets lost(Paypal is eating it?), etc. It happened
more than once. What is the deal? Did I miss something? You're playing
Santa to kids on the Giving Tree--you can't remember who they are...
you're sending them stuff which I'm assuming involves money...yet no
money for ADV test, huh?
Kim is NOT the only shelter in MD that could have taken this baby in--if
money for an ADV test was such an issue, then she should have asked
someone else to take him in. It's called networking.
I am a shelter op myself. So I do understand how tight funds can be.
I'm not rich either, but I do not ask for nor accept donations. But
that's my choice. My husband works six days a week, 10-12 hours a day
to support our family, including our ferrets and the shelter kids. It's
a daily struggle.Don't get me wrong, I see nothing wrong with accepting
or asking for donations. I have the utmost respect for shelter ops,
believe me. Most, if not all of them are unsung heroes--they are not in
it for the attention or "glory". And most of them do not get it, even
though they deserve it. They don't play "martyr" either.
I think I've brought up some pretty valid questions here. I do not wish
to be flamed. If Kim would like to respond to this, please do. And
anyone else....that has actually been to her shelter.
Thank you for your time
~Nancy
=====
Director/Coordinator
Ferrets Across America
http://www.geocities.com/ferrets_america/
Weaselworks
http://www.geocities.com/imweeze/
[Posted in FML issue 3988]
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