This Tops The List, Doesn�t It?

Today seems to be a day where lady luck isn’t shining on us.

First thing, this lady who calls herself a rescuer (with a rather unpleasant history with us) applied for a subsidy for the spaying of a cat (by the way, she asked her daughter to claim on behalf of her and I only found out after I keyed in the bank account no, and her name appeared!). The money was banked in about a month ago, and there was no acknowledgement from her or her daughter at all. I called her two days ago to ask if she had received the money and said she should at least acknowledge so that I can close her case. She wrote a very sarcastic letter to me after that attacking me on a personal basis and saying that I’m expecting too much from her. Apparently, asking for an acknowledgement, ie. a click of the email to say “money received” is “too much”. She even said it is not written anywhere in the policies that she must acknowledge receipt of the subsidy, so why should she? I almost could not believe I was speaking to a volunteer teacher here…

And what unpleasant history do I have with her? A few years ago, she spotted a box with two newborn kittens during her morning jog in her neighbourhood and texted to ask me to pick them up else they would die. I was in Klang giving a talk and told her to please pick them up first. She refused, but kept texting to say I’d better pick them up or they would die. I finally got back at 1pm after my talk, and yes, they were almost dead. They were in a cardboard box under the sun, totally dehydrated, not moving at all, and a few grains of rice (which had hardened) were scattered beside them. I took them home and nursed them back to life. They were later adopted.

My next unpleasant encounter with her was when she borrowed our cat trap. She did not return it after a month and others were waiting to borrow it, so I texted to ask that she returned it to my mother’s house. She drove to my mum’s gate and sat waiting in her car for my mother to take the trap. The trap is heavy and my mother is 79 years old.

Despite all this, we still subsidised the few cases that she had applied from us. But after this sarcastic letter, I think this definitely calls for a blacklisting. I’ve let my committee read her letter and they unanimously agree the letter is sarcastic, mean, impolite and uncalled for.

Second, we had previously been sponsoring (during our full sponsorship days) many spay-neuter cases brought in by this particular rescuer at our vet. At that time, he did not have to pay a single cent as we provided full sponsorship. But now that we have implemented a subsidy scheme, he only received our RM100 subsidy for his latest cat.

The vet charged him his fee, as per the clinic’s rescue rate which was more than RM100.

You won’t believe what this man did.

After getting our RM100 subsidy, he went and demanded for a refund of the balance from the vet!

This case tops the list, doesn’t it?

When the vet said there was no provision for any refund, the man demanded, in lieu of not getting the refund, other products from the clinic worth that amount.

Now we know why vets are so “afraid” of rescuers, don’t we?

I think I’m afraid of them, too!

Note: While it is true that we are here to help the animals and AnimalCare is for the animals first (and in the process, the humans get helped as well), we draw the line somewhere with totally obnoxious humans. No.1 had already been blacklisted as she is certainly not a “rescuer” when she can leave two newborns to die under the hot sun. No. 2, in our opinion, was very unreasonable to demand the vet for a refund of the balance or the products in lieu of not getting a cash refund. We do not want to encourage such behaviour from “rescuers” because it will only tarnish the reputation of genuine rescuers who do sincere work and have good rapport with the vets. Without the vets’ support, we and our animals lose a lot.

So yes, while we are here to help the animals, we also have a duty to protect the reputation of rescuers in our community. There are many genuine and sincere rescuers out there worthy of being helped. We don’t want a few bad apples to spoil the market.

Coincidentally, I just heard from the grapevine that certain vets have banned certain rescuers from their clinics. Again, the reason is their demanding behaviour and not settling debts. Rescuers sometimes forget that it is not the vets who are doing charity, but they themselves. So, they have no right to demand for discounts or IOUs. The demand that “…but you are a vet, you SHOULD help these animals for free” is unfair.

This is precisely why we did away with our panel vets and now we have a subsidy scheme. It is so that �rescuers� don�t have to demand for any rescue rate anymore. Just pay the bill and we�ll help you with a subsidy. We used to have panel vets who gave us a rescue rate, but after awhile, I felt bad that they were doing so many of our cases for a lower rate. It isn�t fair to them as they are running a business. Hence, we stopped having panel vets or rescue rates. Just go to any vet, get the animal treated, and we�ll help you with a subsidy. This way, it is fairer on both sides. If the vet gives a discount, let�s consider that a bonus and be thankful for it. I think this is a much healthier arrangement. Unfortunately, we now have cases like No.2 which is unbelievable!

And during the days of our panel vets, there was so much wasted energy dealing with the rescuers who brought in their animals to our vets:

1. Appointments were not kept.
2. Animals were not collected.
3. Rescuers gave our vets a hard time.

My phonebill skyrocketed because I had to keep calling these rescuers to keep the appointment as the vet had allocated the slot for them, or to collect their animals because the clinic was waiting for them at closing time. For surgery and prolonged treatment, I had to either personally visit the animals or call up for an update, because some rescuers did not even bother to update us even during the days where we sponsored in full.

And in the days when our maximum subsidy was RM200, there were rescuers who would ask the vet’s assistant to throw in petfood, shampoo and other things just to make up the amount to RM200. There was even a case of a rescuer asking the vet to put in a treatment which has not been done yet into our bill. Of course all these were fedback to me, and I felt really bad that because of what we offer (panel vets), these irresponsible rescuers were giving the vet a hard time. It came to a point where one of our vets said they preferred not to deal with a certain rescuer who had come under us. That’s where we had a blacklist. If we keep sending such rescuers to our vets, in no time, our vets would just blacklist us as well!

Then came the rescuers who complained that our panel vets were not good enough, and that their own vets were better.

Hence, the subsidy scheme. It is our lifesaver! Go to your own vets and the vets you are comfortable with. We’ll help you with the bill.

Coincidentally, a friend just told me that she overheard a group of rescuers planning on how to cheat us. The plan was that since we do not sponsor euthanasia, abortions and accessories, just get the vet to write it as other treatments. There’s no way we’d be able to tell, they said. And take a photo of another animal, they said. How would we know which is which?

Well yes, if rescuers want to cheat us, they can find a thousand ways. Ultimately, it lies with their conscience.

And if they cheat us, they lose; not us.

Source: http://myanimalcare.org/2012/03/29/this-tops-the-list-doesnt-it/

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AnimalCare is a registered society that promotes caregiving to street animals and helps in their neutering and medical needs. AnimalCare has a Medical Fund, Food Fund and Education Fund.

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