Animal Planet has a great reality show called Dr. Jeff, Rocky Mountain Vet. Dr. Jeff Young and his clinic provide low cost services to thousands of clients who couldn’t otherwise afford them in Denver, Colorado. They often rescue animals and do volunteer work, and can receive animals in need from hundreds, even thousands, of miles away. At the beginning of the show, Dr. Jeff says, “This is me. This is what I love.” Those words resonated with me. I love what they are doing to help people and animals. The last couple of months I’ve been working on an animal welfare project that I also love. It’s taken longer than I expected. But as I toiled away at it, even as a way to relax, I thought, “this is me, this is what I love.” A few years ago, I developed resource listings to help people who knew of a cat in need. Although I’ve always loved cats, it was only recently that I learned there were many cat-specific rescue groups, and even a local cat sanctuary. I wanted to give publicity to these groups, and created lists of cat rescues all across Canada. I consult them constantly, referring people to places where they can adopt a cat or get help. But I learned that because the information was only on Facebook, it wasn’t visible to people who weren’t on that platform. I needed a website. Canada is enormous. To prepare for the website, I needed to check all the website links, remove inactive groups, and add some new ones. That took time. I started in the west. When I reached Quebec, I learned something shocking. A rescuer I contacted there told me that one of the groups in my list was a hoarder. It was never my intention to showcase a hoarder. I’ve seen one, and it’s not pretty. A well-meaning person can take on too much and isn’t able to properly care for all the animals in their care. It’s truly a sickness, but I don’t want to enable it. The only way to prevent that problem with my listings was to research every rescue group. I needed to search online for how they were rated and how they were referred to in any news articles, and ask people in the cat rescue community for their input. I thought I was almost finished my website, but I had weeks of work ahead of me. It was a heavy weight at first, but it was also freeing. I had been going for comprehensiveness and had started including animal control agencies that didn’t have the best practices. Now I decided to remove any organization that killed healthy or treatable animals, including feral cats. It was great: I didn’t need to include a dark warning that some of the listed organizations killed cats. I just listed those who didn’t. Some people may not be happy not to be included. They are welcome to write me about their program; perhaps I was simply not aware of them. I will be frank if there is a reason they were not included, and give them a chance to explain how they have addressed those issues. Some organizations have turned around from a dark history. The past is not always a gauge of performance, but it may be the only indicator available. As I continued my research, it was heartwarming to learn of many beautiful programs offered by no kill groups. Some include:
Some programs stood out. The Lakes Animal Friendship Society near Burns Lake, B.C., offers resources for teachers, including a children’s book based on the story of how their program started, when children noticed cats in need. The Feline Friends Network in Stratford, Ontario, provides a cat behaviour hotline that can help prevent abandonment; they also have an annual Feline Film Festival. And I loved Cat Action Team's made-in-Canada catnip mice, from Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. There will always be more to add and corrections to make, but it’s fitting that on Global Cat Day I am publishing my Canadian Cats website. Please check it out and be amazed at the many wonderful people we have helping cats and other animals and their people in our vast country. - Irene Plett Photo: a summer day at the RAPS cat sanctuary Topics: animals, cats, animal rescue, cat rescue, veterinarians, cat behaviour, pet food banks, low cost spay/neuter, therapy pets
4 Comments
10/16/2017 05:54:59 pm
Thanks so much for creating this resource, Irene! I am sure it will be much appreciated and used. I'll spread the word amongst my fellow cat rescuers.
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Irene Plett
10/16/2017 06:52:08 pm
Thanks for your kind comments, Dania! It's my hope that many people will be helped by learning about what is available by the wonderful cat rescuers, like yourself!
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Brigid Coult
10/16/2017 08:44:31 pm
What a labour of love! Thanks for all your work on this really important project, Irene!
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Irene Plett
10/16/2017 09:23:12 pm
Thanks so much, Brigid! I know you have a big heart for kitties. I loved the video I took of you at the RAPS cat sanctuary!
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WriterIrene Plett is a writer, poet and animal lover living in South Surrey, British Columbia, Canada. Categories
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