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.
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.
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.
We did! Many times! Had it not been for Facebook posts our Tortie Abby would have been killed as a kitten in the high-kill Rome, GA shelter. Seeing a picture and story of our Calico, Penelope, spurred us to adopt her from Princeton’s Meow in Concord, NC. Had it not been for Facebook, I would not have seen our Tortie, Olivia, (pictured a year ago when she first came to our house) that Zach’s Rescue in Monroe, NC took in after she was found abandoned in the parking lot of local shopping center. Altogether we have six rescue cats and HALF would not be with us had it not been for Facebook.