Along the way, there have been many late-night text conversations with tears, horror, and even despair. My friend is emotionally wrung out. The first days of working this rescue saw many kittens relocated to her home, several of them sick or recovering from ammonia exposure. Why to her home? Because people weren’t taking the situation seriously. But she was. She paid their vet bills and ran at least one store out of kitten food.
I applaud my friend; her tenacity, persistence and unwillingness to back down from getting justice in this difficult situation was key to getting these animals the help they needed. If it wasn’t for that, these cats would still be in a living hell.
That being said, there’s still work to do. Yesterday these animals were finally relocated to both Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania SPCA shelters…two shelters because 50 plus animals need a lot of space. Those shelters need donations to get these animals back on their feet. Please consider dropping off or shipping donations.
Before yesterday, I reached out to many folks in my network, asking for their help with this situation; as fosters, adopters, or by donating food. To the people who took the initiative early on, thank you. You know who you are.
What amazes me further is watching how humans responded to the situation, based on context. My requests for help were often met with apathy or no response; and I’ve had some of these same pictures on my phone from the source, shown when privately asking people directly for help.
It took the shiny wrappings of a media presentation on FB or an authority figure finally endorsing the cause to actually mobilize people to get off their butts and do something. Think about that for a second. I wonder how many other problems we would have a better handle on if we listened and did something when the problem was on our radar in the early stages….versus waiting for it to be a headline or a cause. Or a Facebook post.
Obviously, if folks don’t know…that’s one thing. But some folks here actually knew there was a situation and had an option to help…and were silent.
Metaphorically, this reminds me of the Joshua Bell busking experiment here in DC. Someone tried to tell me, of that experiment, “That’s just people in DC”. I think he is wrong; it’s just people. As this article even says, “It just goes to show, that busker you walked past the other day might just be someone special – you just didn’t stop to check.” Same for other artists, emerging talents and their work…or even animals and people in dire straits.
As I said earlier; to my friends who mobilized early on, thank you. You guys are the best. Literally.
If you know me or are local to me; my friend needs donations of kitten food, litter and foster/forever homes for kittens. Message me and I’ll get you in touch. If you want to help and you are not local, reach out to the shelters, they definitely need your donations right now.
Time to go talk to Ananda about the possibility of a feline baby sister…
