Most everyone probably remembers “show and tell” when they were in grade school.
Kids would bring all kinds of things to the classroom to “show” the class and “tell” the other kids and their teacher about whatever it is they brought to school.
Sometimes they’d even bring their pets, or even their Mom or Dad!
Not to be outdone, but putting a little “spin” on the game because its “all about competing”, the “retail rescues” have invented a new game called “TELL But Don’t SHOW”.
Now mind you, this is not a game or exercise that would be used in schools to teach children about disclosing facts and information, being honest, and being forth-coming with what they know about something they’ve brought to school to “show and tell” the other kids about.
Oh no, this not-so-cool game the retail rescues play is designed to deceive and NOT disclose.
The “rescues” that the public is “supposed to” TRUST to “TELL” them everything actually only “tells” them what “the rescue” thinks the supportive, donating public should know, which usually puts the “rescue” as the “heroes”.
They “try”, and are often successful, at distracting the trusting animal loving public from asking questions about a multitude of things, and they rarely answer any questions and instead engage in double-talk and diversion tactics.
The reason they behave in this EVASIVE way?
Because if many of these predominately, or wholly donation-funded animal rescues were to answer questions that are documented, they’d be implicating themselves in unethical, dishonest dealings, and in some, perhaps MANY cases, they’d “out” themselves regarding their involvement in crimes.
The beauty of their game is that they count on the public being too wrapped up in their own lives, or having super short attention spans, to question them.
The public WANTS to HELP “rescue animals”, but because they may not have the time, the facilities, the money, the volunteers, or all of those things, they support and donate to animal rescues in order to help THEM rescue animals in “jeopardy”.
Some predominately, or wholly donation-funded rescues are “the real deal” and they DO rescue animals.
Many of the honest and ethical donation-funded rescues have primary participants that have jobs outside of rescue and are often using their own money they earn by working to support their rescuing, along with *some* donation-funding.
And since they are working in jobs outside of rescue, they frequently are not very “showy”, their facilities may not be the nicest, most visually pleasing facilities, but they are functional, practical, and serve the purpose for which they are designed.
Not so for the retail rescue opportunists.
These people are real hustlers.
Many of the primary players at retail rescues don’t work in jobs outside-of-rescue because “rescue is their job”.
Many of these participants literally go from famine-to-feast because they have found a gold mine of “opportunities” in donation-funded animal rescue because there is relatively little OVERSIGHT.
They have no problem with asking for donations every day, sometimes several times a day, what with social media like Facebook being the perfectly free marketing and FUNDRAISING tool at their disposal 24/7/365 that actually condones and facilitates the crimes of fraud, misrepresentation, misappropriation of funds, racketeering, money laundering, and the list goes on and on.
They also “TELL” the supportive, donating public a lot of “stuff”, but do very little, if anything, in terms of “SHOWING” the public the important information that goes to accountability, transparency, ethics, and morality.
They will throw out a figure regarding an approximate number of animals they have at their facility, but will then turn right around and the numbers are RADICALLY lower just a month later but they aren’t SHOWING a bunch of adoptions, a bunch of animals euthanized, a bunch of animals in real foster homes and not mystery locations, etc.
But in the next breath will “tell” people animals are in “trial-adoptions”, they’re in “foster homes”.
These liars tell so many lies to so many different people, they can’t possibly keep them all straight!
And then there’s this little gem where an intelligent person is *wondering* WHY *some of the horses that were seized on a huge “rescue raid”, (which the “rescue” MADE a bunch of money off of in donations and sales of horses with no issues), were sent out of state to a “trainer” (maybe if the “trainer” is also a kill buyer perhaps):
“They also have a 200 mile radius for adoption but they shipped A LOAD of the seized horses to “an approved” trainer in TEXAS..gosh…does that mean there are NO good trainers between Maryland and Texas?…or…is it just convenient to the Mexican border?”
Then there’s the “swapping” some dog/small animal rescues do with animal controls and other high kill rate facilities:
the rescue shuttles the dog, cat, rabbit, to animal control, swap them out for a more “desirable animal”, pay the “kickback” or “incentive money” to the accommodating government employee, and that poor unwanted animal is literally “dead meat”.
So WHERE OH WHERE have ALL the animals GONE?
No one knows for sure because there is NO OVERSIGHT regarding DONATION-FUNDED animal rescues being REQUIRED to ACCOUNT for ALL of the ANIMALS they have “rescued” USING THE PUBLICS HELP WITH THOUSANDS UPON THOUSANDS OF DONATION-DOLLARS THAT THEY ASK FOR AND RECEIVE ANNUALLY!
Retail rescues shuffle animals here, and there, and everywhere, playing the shell game using animals as the pea or marble.
“Now you see em, now you don’t” is their motto, and the helpful, trusting public that are living their own lives, fall for these manipulations hook, line, and sinker because after all, “they’re a rescue”, they must be honest, compassionate people, right?”
WRONG!!!!!!!
And the individuals that suffer are the animals that are “supposed to be” “RESCUED”.
Oh yeah, and also the trusting public that sends these scam-artists their hard-earned money.
When “Competition Kills” (Like a dangerously ABSURD REALITY SHOW!):
The “rescue industry” is VERY COMPETITIVE.
Rescues compete for donations.
They compete for grant money.
They compete for followers.
They compete for praise and accolades.
They compete for media attention in print, on the TV screen with “reality” shows that no real rescue would ever participate in because its NOT reality (has anyone else ever noticed how many skeletons in peoples closets are EXPOSED when they grab for the gold ring and it ultimately results in some very shady dealings being REVEALED?), on the Internet.
They compete for “pulling” “desirable” dogs at animal shelters.
They compete for buying (calling it “rescuing”) “desirable” horses at sales and auctions.
Their whole lives and daily activities revolve around COMPETING.
Here’s the problem with that; COMPETITION and COMPETING in arenas and forums that DON’T HAVE ANY RULES brings out the vermin that demonstrate the negatives of human nature such as greed, dishonesty, being prideful, becoming “addicted” to various tangible and un-tangible things.
Some/many people turn into monsters that have no compassion, no empathy, no honesty, and no ethics.
They instead are “all about” making money.
Being the “best” (con-artists), most well-known “rescue”.
Having the “best” and nicest facility that is pleasing to the eye of the public where “image is everything” is a subconscious “must see”, but the reality is often an absurd joke and charade of what’s REALLY happening just below the shining-surface.
Being the “best” at cheating and lying to the public couched in the emotional tugging on the heartstrings of too-trusting people.
They are “all about” “taking out” their “competition” – USUALLY the honest rescues and rescuers that have ethical and moral values, and would never lie and cheat and/or “de-value” an animal and KILL or “disappear” them.
And they are “all about” the MONEY (oops, already said that, but it bears repeating because that is the PREDOMINATE reason people that run, and are involved with, retail rescues, “rescue”.
What is SUPPOSED TO BE THE RESCUING OF ANIMALS TURNS INTO A COMPETITION AGAINST OTHER RESCUES and RESCUERS!
But if, (and WHEN – tick tock, tick tock), they are exposed as shysters and scammers and the money goes bye-bye, they’ll go back to setting up scams in other opportunistic industries and areas and “animal rescue” will be a distant memory.
And so will the animals they killed and “disappeared”.
This is HORRIBLY TRUE because the PUBLIC that ENABLED these grifters at the “retail rescues” to run their scams didn’t care enough about the so-called “rescued animals” to ASK QUESTIONS ABOUT ALL of the “RESCUED ANIMALS” and keep track of WHERE they are and WHAT happened to them.
They didn’t care enough to MAKE SURE that “rescues” that were supposed to have well over 100 animals they collected donations on, reduced in mere weeks to less than 50 animals (and those animals aren’t even “safe” in the least when retail rescues must constantly “MAKE ROOM” for “new merchandise” animals so they can “stay in the game” AGAINST the other “rescues” COMPETING.
OR, as sometimes happens, these scam-artists in rescue sock-money-away in various accounts, fold shop, and take off with the money, usually BLAMING other people for WHY they folded.
Back to the game.
Their is a public movement gaining speed of “Show, Don’t Just Tell”.
Its a VERY SIMPLE game designed to weed-out those who deceive, distract, and deal-in-death to rescued animals.
All the compassionate animal loving public has to do in order to separate the real rescues from the “retail rescues” is ASK QUESTIONS whereby the rescue MUST SHOW them the ANSWER.
Its actually kinda fun to ask predominately, or wholly donation-funded rescues:
1. when you “tell” the public you offered “help” to animal owners BEFORE you seized/stole their animals. collecting thousands of $$$$$ to “help the animals” (yeah, right), can you SHOW us a detailed document of exactly WHAT KIND OF “HELP” YOU OFFERED THEM?
2. when you “tell” the public how “deplorable” or “horrific” (basic HOT-BUTTON words that are used over and over again) conditions were where you “rescued” animals from, can you “SHOW” numerous detailed photos and videos of the property you seized stole animals from?
3. When you “tell” the public that ALL or MANY of the animals were “starving”, “dehydrated”, had sores, cuts, lacerations, were sunburned, parasite infested, etc, can you “SHOW” DETAILED photos and videos of ALL of the animals you seized?
4. can you “SHOW” documentation, vet reports from your veterinarian (because many of these retail rescues make it sound like their vet practically LIVES at their facility and they’re ALWAYS NEEDING MONEY for yet another vet visit, and also chiropractors visits, groomers visits, farrier visits, massage therapists visits, etc and these professionals ALWAYS issue bills, with MOST of them writing detailed reports too UNLESS they too are “in on” the charade and scam – its called collusion and/or “kickbacks”) from your vet tech, your trainer/s, your “other professionals” where they have put pen to paper and signed their name as being the person that identified the “issues” and they take responsibility for their statements, and also if these statements are proven false?
5. can you “SHOW” and not just “tell” the public “WHY” an animal “HAD” to be euthanized, “put down”, given “the last act of kindness” (really?), given a “dignified death”, etc and “show” euthanasia reports and billings?
6. Can you “show” through a MONTHLY public posting on your Facebook page, that you market your rescue on, an accurate and detailed “head count” listing of ALL of the animals you have “rescued”, and also provide photos of ALL of the animals too (including those in “foster homes”, “in quarantine”, and also on “adoption-trials”)?
7. can you “SHOW” and not just “tell” the public your financials every month, and also after every seizure, purchase, surrender, etc when you ask for and receive donations for “rescued animals”, of how much money you “NEED” in order to “rescue”, and how much money it “COSTS” to operate your rescue (instead of “telling” the public what it costs and throwing numbers out haphazardly that not even an expert forensic accountant/CPA could keep up with and decipher)?
So much “TELLING” and so little “SHOWING” makes intelligent people very suspicious indeed.
The “real rescues” that are primarily, or wholly donation-funded WON’T have ANY PROBLEM “SHOWING” the information listed above, and also other information the supportive, donating public wants to “SEE” and not just be “TOLD”.
Here’s that link again with some good ideas on how to gauge a donation-funded animal rescue and if they are really an animal RESCUE, or if in fact they are nothing more than animal traders, brokers, dealers, and flippers posing as “rescues” that are actually “retail rescues”:
Taking it farther, the questionnaire below has some great questions that predominately, or wholly donation-funded animals can, and should be asked.
The questionnaire can also be sent to the donation-funded rescue, they can take 10 minutes to fill it out (mostly “yes” or “no” questions), scan it, and return the completed form to the sender.
Going forward, the choice is EASY: DON’T PLAY the “retail rescues” “tell and no show” game.
DON’T “enable” non-transparent animal rescues to engage in COMPETING USING YOUR MONEY because COMPETITION KILLS ANIMALS in the UNEVEN matches between RETAIL RESCUES and HONEST, ETHICAL and ACCOUNTABLE RESCUES
The beings that LOSE every time in this hustler game of competing rescues con-artists are the INNOCENT ANIMALS that are DEPENDING on the PUBLIC to PROTECT THEM by ASKING QUESTIONS and EXPECTING ANSWERS from donation-funded animal rescues BEFORE ANY DONATIONS ARE MADE.
NO ANSWERS=NO MONEY!
ASK QUESTIONS that have the power to save rescued animals lives,
that saves your hard-earned money
and EXPECT ANSWERS BEFORE you support and donate to a donation-funded rescue.
If the answers you seek are not forth-coming:
*DON’T SUPPORT or DONATE to them because they very well could be a “retail rescue”
*playing “the shell game” with animals,
*then “killing them off” at the end of the “game”
*and “TELLING” the public disrespectful fantasy-fiction stories of “why” they “had” to kill the animal and covering-up their dirty dealings and lies by “speaking for the vet” and NOT showing vet and euthanasia reports.
DON’T FALL FOR THE LIES THAT ARE DESIGNED TO GARNER MISPLACED SYMPATHY FOR THE PEOPLE THAT MADE THE DECISION TO KILL WITHOUT ACCOUNTABILITY
THE ANIMAL IS THE PRECIOUS BEING THAT IS DEAD, AND IT IS LIKE THEY NEVER EXISTED AT ALL.
When some “rescues” “tell” the public about a few “token” euthanasia’s of animals and they don’t SHOW vet or euthanasia reports, chances are high that more animals are killed then is being reported
and also doesn’t take into ACCOUNT that *maybe* some “rescued” animals are already LONG GONE after they were “rescued to death” by a retail rescue but nice animal lovers in the public are still sending donations for them!.
THOSE animals that have been killed at the hands of fake rescues will not have died in vain if and when the PUBLIC ASKS QUESTIONS and EXPECTS ANSWERS from donation-funded rescues that may in fact be RETAIL RESCUES.
Grace & Truth Spirit & Soul 