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.
That’s really upsetting. I do hope Michael does some dectective work on this- it really needs to be investigated. It is of great concern, since until reading this bbb report I assumed that ACA was a stellar organization, doing really good work for cats.
So many of us donate to ACA, volunteer, etc. Very disturbing report.
To add insult to injury here’s what they are trying to do to in social-media to back-peddle from everyone now finding out about them, to make everyone think they really are the noble philanthropic “good guys”.
alleycat D0T org SLASH page.aspx?pid=1562
$5,000 is only 0.1% of their assets, .08% of their yearly income.
They might as well just spit in the face of everyone that has ever donated to them.
Yes. It reflects badly on the basis for what it was originally intended, and there is no coming back from this. I have to say too, after a couple of minimal donations, I get far too many pages in the mail from them. I’ve tried to get it to stop coming, but to no avail. Electronic news is so much better as far as I’m concerned. They have wasted more on postage and paper than I have ever given them.
I was shocked about Alley Cats Allies too.
Corruption is everywhere, I guess.
It was disturbing to read about Alley Cat Allies. I’ve been fond of their work, and have donated a little. Feeling frustrated. I hope you do a piece on it Michael. I know they have done some good, but folks at the top are taking advantage it seems.
I agree Jo, it could be genuine but just misguided. But if she is misguided it is a very obvious case of misguidance because common sense says that the “cure” is not declawing. She does not say whether she has taken Snuggles to a vet. I would like to have that information. Vets have to deal a lot of cats who scratch themselves. It is a fairly common problem (an itchy skin).
I guess the point I am making is not that Beth is bad or whatever but that the fundraising sites do open a door to fraudulent behavior. It is a case of being savvy and making sure it is genuine.