NC: ‘Due to some negative feedback regarding a particular rescue, the shelter does not feel confident in posting cats any longer’

Due to negative comments on a particular cat rescue, Facebook: Friends of Davidson County Shelter Cats will no longer be posting photos of stray or owner-surrendered cats on their community page.

Bluebell found a forever home thanks to a photo like this

The Davidson shelter is located in Lexington, North Carolina. The June 14 post reads

**** PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT ****

“This page is no longer of service as the shelter is no longer photographing stray/owner surrender cats. We will not be adding any more kitties unless the shelter decides to change their mind. We are very saddened by the shelter’s decision and feel the cats need exposure to be saved. However, due to some negative feedback regarding a particular rescue, the shelter does not feel confident in posting cats any longer.

Please note: We do not know outcomes of the cats currently listed in the ‘Most Urgent’ album. If you would like to know the status of a particular cat, please call or email the shelter directly.

We do apologize for the inconvenience!”

When a follower of the page asked if calling the shelter and voicing concern would help the kitties, Ashley Elizabeth explained how the banning of shelter cat photography came about.

“Well, it was the anger, death threats and such calls to the shelter that put us in this predicament. So if you are just going to call in anger or with threats, it would only hurt the kitties. Maybe if we start with concern and compassion for the place irresponsible pet owners have put the shelter in, then we will all get the outcome these kitties need and deserve.”

Anger and death threats in one form or another have hurt the cats in a lot of shelters. North and South Carolina have been hit hard with this type of behavior and it’s the cats who pay the ultimate price!

I rarely get on Facebook anymore. The fighting is unreal and it’s not just on the animal advocacy pages. The diet groups, as well as pages on health care, have turned into fighting matches. I have a good friend who’s a professional herbal healer who has totally gone off of her Facebook page (including Messenger).

Until animal advocates can get along, my guess is we can expect more shelters to follow suit and ban photography of available shelter pets.

Although I don’t know which rescue was receiving threats, I’ve learned Facebook ‘hate comments’ can arise out of posts that are political, animal, religion, health, and diet (as in what you do or don’t eat) posts.

26 thoughts on “NC: ‘Due to some negative feedback regarding a particular rescue, the shelter does not feel confident in posting cats any longer’”

  1. The author of the best comment will receive an Amazon gift of their choice at Christmas! Please comment as they can add to the article and pass on your valuable experience.
  2. This sort of horror seems to have been happening for years.

    I thoroughly dislike the pledging system, it reeks of coercion. Like KC above, I think that rescues and shelters need to formalise the way they manage their funds.

    “Pledge now or this cute kitty dies at the hands of a bored tech in a back room, who had never been taught how to find a vein” is the implied message again and again.

    The situation is different in the UK. We have Dog Wardens who deal with strays, but no authority funded shelters. We have huge problems here with the fighting between charity rescues big and small. Cats killed by one rescue just to show they mean business and cannot be touched, relentless cat churning, cats disappearing whilst in the ‘care’ of a rescue, cats adopted straight into dog fighting, funds disappearing with no accounts and an almost 100% lack of transparency.

    For a country who has extensive animal welfare laws, we have a disorganised choir of rescuers, vets, individuals, animal charities all gagging to get donations and every single one of them singing from a different page.

    It’s too often a shambles that harms the cats and loses the goodwill of those who just want to help the cats.

    I think that rescues must learn to hit ‘ignore’ if they are being mindlessly attacked/threatened online, report to the authorities, make sure that their own house is in order and deal professionally with legitimate concerns from the donating/adopting public.

    Resorting to action, or in this case, inaction, that results in fewer cats rehomed and more cats killed tells me that both the shelter and the rescues have lost all sight of their basic purpose – to save the lives of cats by providing vet care, fostering and rehoming.

    It’s harsh but I consider those who enable these inhumane, vengeful decisions as parasites without purpose.

    Poor cats.

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  3. Oh come on, try a little resiliencey. If you don’t like what someone says hang up the phone or don’t answer it or even respond. Anger can create anger, learn to walk away. Don’t respond with punishing the animals. This should not be allowed. As posting pictures on fb is free and a very useful tool to adoption. Sad very sad!

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  4. This was bound to happen. Too many Rescues are not transparent. They don’t run their organization professionally but rather rely on random fosters and pledges to stay in business. Certain states seem to be a magnet for these Rescues, NC is one of those states.

    Hundreds of cats that are pulled by these dubious rescues are not as safe as people think- many have ended up in hoarding situations, been transferred anonymously to out of state rescues, or died in unchecked foster homes due to lack of proper vetting.

    The solution would be for every shelter to require the names and addresses of everyone involved in caring for a pulled animal- from puller, to transporter, to vet, to foster home and ultimately adopter. The shelter must be notified if pets are transferred to another rescue after pulling.

    It will also require a shift in mindset from the hysterical search for someone anyone to pull/ foster to a more proactive approach of having foster homes available for newly pulled pets before they are needed. Taking the time to do a basic background search plus a home check will help ensure a potential foster has the time, skills and investment in any pet placed.

    Thirdly,a rescue who depends on pledges alone is a very poor money manager. Fundraising should be ongoing, not something left up to people not legally accountable to the rescue. All rescues should have a reserve fund for betting, pledges should be used to replenish what is spent, not the sole source of income.

    I hope Davidson reconsiders their decision later on. Perhaps if locals were to get more involved, that may happen.

    My local AC has a 501C3 that runs it’s sharing page. The nonprofit is not a rescue, it doesn’t play favorites and no pledges are allowed on the page, although one can contact the page and donate to a specific animals vetting.

    The non-profit not only takes photos with the shelters permission, they also do short BIOS and volunteer at the shelter several times a week.

    The majority of pets are either adopted or pulled by local approved rescues. My state requires that a rescue be licensed and inspected by our Department of Agriculture. That by itself weeds out alot of the dubious rescues.

    Reply
    • Right, because the shelters have the time, money and personnel to follow that trail. Dream on.

      I do agree that any rescue that relies on pledges to fund its operation is a disaster waiting to happen.

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    • Locals are involved, but I do agree more people could be. Our shelter is in a rural area. It is a small shelter that fills quickly. This shelter has worked hard over the past year or two to make things better than they were. I can understand their reluctance to trust after what happened
      Most of the rescues who pull from area shelters are wonderful rescues. Rescues in NC are licensed and inspected by the Dept of Agriculture.

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        • Can you explain that Patty? I’ve read a lot of reports where shelters were fined when the NC Department of Agriculture inspected the shelter and fined it for violations.

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          • Only shelters are licensed and regulated in NC. Rescues that use only foster homes are not regulated although legally they are supposed to have no more than 9 fosters in a single home. More than that and they are supposed to register and be licensed as a shelter. Lots fly under the radar though.

            Reply

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