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Sit, Stay, READ!
February 14, 2012
The continuing problematic economy has created two major problems for animal rescue groups: 1) animals (dogs, cats, horses, you name it!) are being turned in by their owners in record numbers and creating a massive financial burden on the groups that take them in; 2) more competition for few dollar donations (and not all of the competition comes from honest rescues). As a someone who wants to give and support rescue, how do you know who is worthy of getting your donation? Does the group do what they say they do? How is your money being spend - on animals or marketing materials? This month we discuss giving to rescue and what to look for in a "worthy" rescue.
If you have a story you’d like to tell us about, write me. We love hearing about people or animals or groups that make the world a happier, better place to be, and if we use your story you'll get a free pound of cookies!
The Unworthy Rescue Organizations
There was a story in the news recently about two women who were involved in a routine traffic stop as they traveled from Long Beach, California to Roanoke, Virginia. The stop happened in Tennessee, outside of Memphis, by a state trooper who noticed a tail light on their U-Haul truck was out. The trooper reported that as soon as he made the stop he knew the situation wasn't right. He discovered that the women had loaded the back of the truck and the minivan they were towing with 128 dogs and one cat. Cages and crates were stacked upon one another in a dark, airless space. The animals had not been let out, watered, or fed since the time they'd been put into the crates in Long Beach four days earlier. Surprisingly, there was only one dead dog among the group. The women were jailed, held on $100,000 bond each and are facing 128 counts of animal cruelty.
One would think that this nightmare could only be the work of mentally ill, cruel or criminal people. While the issue of sanity is debatable – and what they did was undeniably cruel to the point of criminal – the sad truth is that these are two women who were relocating their rescue operation, Hearts for Hounds. The website for the group, which was pulled down and put into “maintenance mode” shortly after the arrests were made, states that they were established in 1997 and have rescued over 12,000 dogs. I have no doubt that they believed that what they were doing was in the best interests of the dogs in their care. Now those dogs are evidence in a criminal case, but once released they will once again be put into rescue (hopefully) or a shelter (more likely) to face an uncertain fate.
The story fascinated me. I couldn't wrap my head around what would allow these women to think that what they were doing was right by the dogs they'd taken in to "save". The more I dissected the information released to the public, the more I thought about how this was done by a rescue group. Of course, just because a person has good intentions and is motivated by a higher purpose doesn't mean that he or she will act rationally - or continue to work with the goal in mind. Sadly, there are plenty of times when rescues stop functioning in the best interests of the animals – and there are also many groups who use the word rescue to prey upon caring people’s desire to help in order to make a quick buck.
The entire Tigertail Foods’ organization has been involved in rescue in one capacity or another. We’ve rescued privately. We’ve been dues-paying, card-carrying members of large and small rescue groups. We’ve fostered. We’ve adopted. We’ve donated. We’ve transported. There are few aspects of rescue we haven’t experienced firsthand – and what we haven’t seen for ourselves, we’ve heard about from friends and clients who are deeply involved in their own rescue groups.
Between being a private donor and the voice of Tigertail Foods, company that gives away thousands of dollars every year to rescues, I find that I have to be very wary of the groups I 
give my own money to and promote publicly in the name of the company. I want the money that I donate and that is donated in our customers’ names to be spent as wisely as possible. To that end we don’t give to groups that use their funds to pay for administrative payroll costs. We believe that rescue is something that one does from a sincere desire to help – not pay the rent. We also believe that if a person gives money to a cause that money should go to work for that cause, not to pay someone’s salary. Case in point, we will not send our Rescue Rebate money to HSUS because they do not actually do anything to support shelters or rescues or, for that matter, any animals with the donations they take in. Actually, that’s not fair – the tax records show they give less than ½ of 1% of their donations to hands-on care for dogs and cats. Where does the money go? Well, they spend 49% of their income on fund raising – so for every dollar they take it, just slightly less than half of it goes back out to make more money. They have over $111 million in assets – enough to spay and neuter every stray dog and cat in the country, but that isn’t the mission of HSUS. HSUS never states that their mission is to rescue or otherwise save animals’ lives; however, the images they use to capture our attention are those of poor, suffering and neglected animals in shelter situations. We are left fill in the gaps and assume, incorrectly, that our money must be going to help those animals. It may not be utterly misleading to show animals, since the main focus of HSUS is to lobby for anti-cruelty laws, but wouldn’t it be more truthful to show photos of lobbyists doing their jobs? Because the mission of our Rescue Rebate Program is to help save animals through supporting rescues that actually do hands-on work, we deemed HSUS and other organizations like it unworthy. If your local shelter needs money, food, blankets or supplies, then give directly to that shelter. On the other hand, if you want to give money to an organization that spends its funds, not on saving animals, but on lobbyists that help push bills before state and federal governing bodies, fund raising materials and administrative payroll then HSUS is right up your alley.
Which leads nicely into the next topic of when rescue goes bad. Fraud. Scams and cons are all-too rampant in the world of rescue. Unscrupulous people know that showing a photo of a pitiful kitten or puppy is an easy way to separate you from your money. By relying on the good, trusting nature of people who want to help “rescue groups” can bring in donations that never go to help pay for the care of anyone but the person who cashes the checks.
A year ago the New York Times ran a piece on one reporter’s investigations that uncovered how the largest charitable organization for retired race horses, the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation (TRF), had taken millions of dollars in donations, but ran at a deficit and did not reliably or consistently pay for the upkeep of the horses it took in to the farms and barns with which the organization contracted. The administrative payroll was being met; however, the horses suffered neglect and starvation because the money to feed and care for them wasn’t paid out to caregivers. If the farm owners demanded more money for the upkeep of the TRF horses, the foundation took the horses and moved them to farms who were less demanding financially. [Read the whole article here] (ed note: TRF is still very much in operation and has filed a slander and libel suit against the trustee of the Mellon Foundation, one of the largest donors to TRF and the most publicly vocal in complaining how TRF handled its finances.)
When a large-scale organization pulls financial shenanigans, they can claim something along the lines of “oh, we didn’t know!” simply because of their size and shrug off the allegations without too much of a stain on their reputation. However, when a much smaller group diverts funds for private use, it is undeniably a scam set up to take money from well-meaning individuals by pulling at heartstrings. The internet has made it possible for individuals to set up shop as a “rescue” – they post videos and photos of dogs, promote how much good they are doing and then hit up the viewer for money. Recently, I was sent an amazing video of a dog rescued from a high kill shelter. The dog was an example of a great dog who was terrified and hiding under matted, filthy fur. The video was associated with a rescue run by two people who claim to help hundreds of dogs every year. Something about it rang wrong to me. I have no proof that this group (of two) isn’t everything it say it is, but when I see an organization where there is one or two people and they supposedly take in and rescue hundreds of animals a year big red flags are raised for me. I know how hard it is for a big group with hundreds of active members to rescue and rehome 200-300 dogs during the year. Sadly, after one runs across the fake rescues that don’t do the work but are happy to take your money, these groups – large and small – make donors very wary of who is telling the truth and even more hesitant to help for fear of being taken in by lies.
Like all things in life, nothing remains constant. Just because the group or shelter you support was everything you wanted it to be in a worthy rescue organization last year, doesn’t mean that it will be next year. Keep looking into the state of things with your favorite rescue and make sure it is still the group you think it is. Remember those two women who were arrested in Tennessee, the ones from Hearts for Hounds? While I was trying to find out more about their organization I ran across their Facebook page and their Yelp listing. They were, it appears at one time, a real rescue that saved lives and united dogs with loving, forever homes. Who knows what changed for the founder, and we probably will never find out – but, the fact is, one day they were fighting the good fight and the next they were being charged with animal cruelty.
Now that you’ve read the bad news, how do you know who to give to and which group will actually use your money the way you want them to? One incredibly simple guideline is keep it local. Does your money stay in your town and help the area’s animals or is it being funneled away to a larger group? There are plenty of “small” animal-cause groups that are, in fact, overseen by much larger, parent groups like HSUS (which has numerous small groups under its control). Another way to give with assurance is to donate to a group that is active, visible in your local community and respected within the rescue community. Do you see the rescue group holding adoption days or having regular meetings to review the group’s status? You should be able to ask people active in the animal community about the rescue group and get some feedback – granted, you might hear negative things about the people associated with the rescue, but find out if the rescue itself does the work they say they do. Lastly, do they want you or just your money to be involved? A real boots on the ground rescue will not turn away the offer of helping hands. Usually, a respected rescue – one you want to give to – is one that actively solicits for physical help, not just financial. And really, if you want to help rescue, get involved in whatever capacity you’re able. Transport, foster, adoption days – rescues need all the help they can get right now.
