When it comes to cats there are lots of pleas for funds. The fundraising website is growing in popularity. Anyone can post a fundraiser. I don’t want to be cynical about this but…we cannot make the assumption that every request for funds on one of the many fundraising websites is genuine.
These sites get a hell of a lot of visitors. Millions per day some of them. The website, itself, has to be funded. It probably takes a proportion of the donations. That encourages a website to have lax controls. Cats are very popular on the internet. Cats are more popular on the internet than in real life!
What made me think this dark thought was the request for donations to “Save Snuggles”. Snuggles is a sweet looking long haired calico cat who scratches herself.
The cat’s caretaker, Beth Kululu Berryman, states that she wants funding to declaw Snuggles because it is the only way to save her life. Here is part of the request, verbatim:
I am honestly begging for your help in possibly saving her life. For reasons we have been unable to determine since I found her 2 years ago, Snuggles will scratch at her skin until it is raw..
Sorry, I have great difficulty in believing this because it is so stupid and using “declawing” makes it very emotive. It does not make sense. If a cat is scratching herself you take her to the vet and diagnose the reason, which will be itchy skin caused by an illness such as a flea bite allergy (a typical reason but one of many).
As a cat caretaker you don’t hold your hands up in despair on the internet and ask for money to declaw your cat!
Bizarre — and for me unbelievable. Think about it. It is so easy to post a picture of a sweet cat and plead for money. Where is the evidence? Don’t get me wrong. I am sure most requests for money are genuine. You can normally tell. However, there has to be a proportion of fraudulent requests. The Snuggles campaign seems to me to be one.
There is a lot of fraudulent behavior on the internet. Beware.
Note: I could be wrong about Snuggles. Of course. But if I am wrong then Beth is stupid. Sorry Beth.
Thanks so much for this article. You are absolutely correct- it tugs on the heart-strings. Playing devil’s advocate here: Perhaps it is legitimate; the fund-raising site appears ok in itself- and it is conceivable that this woman pleading for help to declaw her cat had no clue about the surgery or in fact about cats in general.
This said, I was extremely pleased with the comments on the site- and in the manner they were written. We always do better to educate rather than slam someone on the top of the head. I noticed that after all the excellent suggestions and advice offered by folks who are feline literate, that the cat was put up for adoption- asking someone to take the cat. She sounded rather desperate, in my opinion.
Your point is well made, Elisa, we always need to check something out carefully, do as much detective work as possible before we part with our money. This particular request was truly off the charts outrageous.
Its monitored more by the social media community than any government agency. Word gets around fast when someone is raising funds that won’t go to the pet. You don’t want to piss off the social media junkies. Look at the comments on the pig article.
I think fund raising like this is good because it saves cats but…there is a weakness. It is open to fraud and I not sure if anyone is monitoring this.
This is a major move in the right direction. We refused to give up until this man was charged with a felony. People in SC are sick and tired of animal abusers. http://www.examiner.com/article/charges-upgraded-to-include-felony-animal-cruelty-for-man-who-dragged-dog
It’s very common to hold fundraisers to help with unexpected vet bills. If you can keep the scammers from using this method to raise money that won’t be used for the purpose not involved in animal care. The news media in our area are also helping with these cases now and I never saw that until this past summer. Look at it this way-it’s a way to keep the injured pet from being turned into the shelter because the family can’t afford the vet bills. Here’s todays story http://www.examiner.com/article/marietta-sc-dog-is-the-latest-victim-of-animal-cruelty-donations-needed
Hi, this is interesting to me. I’ll read up on this today and maybe do something on it. Thanks for pointing it out to me. Happy Christmas.