Janganlah Menipu
AnimalCare 
May 2, 2012 
AnimalCare, NGOs 
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It has been brought to my attention that two rescuers (let’s call them No.1 and No.2) are planning to get someone else to put in some claims on behalf of them because they do not wish to reveal their names to us.
Hmm…but why? What is wrong with revealing their names? Unless they are running some clandestine operation which cannot see the light of day?
And do I know these two persons?
Well, I am, unfortunately, acquainted with No.1. She has claimed a number of cases from us previously, but in one of the previous cases, she double-claimed. What happened was this: There were 9 claims, and 3 had already been paid for by a friend of mine (who did not insist on any receipt as she is just an individual), but No.1 proceeded to claim all 9 cases from us. Luckily I found out, so I rang and asked her why she was double-claiming.
That was when I had to listen to half an hour of an argument of simple arithmetic whereby 9 -3 (nine minus 3) was not 6 but 12. Now, on which planet is 9 -3 = 12? It must be the patience inculcated after decades of teaching mathematics to various students of various calibre that made me endure the half hour conversation on the phone, which was, if I were to put it as politely as I can, painful. VERY painful.
As though that was not bad enough, she had plans to rehome these puppies as they were all (rescued) pedigree. And someone had advised her, with all good intentions, that she should redonate the adoption fee back to AnimalCare because we had paid for the neutering. To this, she said, “no need”.
So, that’s No.1 for you, and some people are rather ……. (well, I cannot think of a better word here so I shall refrain from using whatever comes to mind right now), she later applied to claim again. Bygones are bygones, and we start afresh? This time, I saw the poor puppy at the vet’s so alright, we’ll subsidise and we paid, directly to the vet, not to her.
My unfortunate acquaintance with No.1 goes back to before the days of AnimalCare when I was a nobody but just another pet-owner taking my pets to the vet for their routine visits. I had already heard about No.1 as some bigtime rescuer even then. There was once when she asked people to donate for a certain case and she told me (as I had the misfortune of being in the same clinic when she brought in an injured dog), very brusquely, “any amount you can afford! RM10 also can!!” Well, alright. I was told she was able to raise RM800 with the click of the finger and some phonecalls. No problemo, amigo.
Maybe, just maybe, that is why she and No.2 want to remain in the shadows and get someone else to claim on their behalf. They have their own funds?
Maybe…but I’ll never know.
There is a clause in our policy that says our funds are not used to help “recognised” organisations. By “recognised”, it means people know you as a group (or maybe, you even call yourself a name). By “organisation”, it means you are organised as a group and you raise your own funds. I mean, really, what’s the point of being a group if you’re going to ask for charity to sponsor your work, right? Why don’t you raise your own funds, or better still, get registered and make everything legal? It is just a one-week application. Not very difficult at all. Every year, get your accounts audited and submit it to the ROS. And you have a bank account in your society’s name, and that’s greater accountability for your group too. Start a blog and tell people where the money is channeled to. Build your credibility and people will support you.
Our funds are meant for the NEEDY individual rescuer – the makcik or pakcik, the retired aunty and uncle who feed the alley cats or dogs, the homemakers who cook extra to feed the strays, or any individual who is IN NEED of financial aid. You may even be a professional, but you are doing so much rescue work, so yes, we understand that you need the financial aid. And we will help you. And so, we don’t know how much you are IN NEED, we trust you’ll know yourself and be honest when applying. That is why we don’t question you when you apply. We don’t ask for your monthly income or financial status. After all the animals get helped in the end. But if you belong to a recognised group, that’s when you should raise your own funds, or have your own financial plan in carrying out your work, and not depend on another NGO to give you their hard-earned funds.
But of course having said this, we know there are wealthy professionals who ask their retired mother or father to apply. Can’t do anything about them, really, except to say: May you sleep well at night.
The other day, someone told me that a certain someone who has been applying to our funds actually OWNS two shops and business is thriving. Apparently, she even gives donations to other rescuers. Hmm…alright. I thought I’d wait for her next application and would ask her nicely if she really needed our funds. And I didn’t have to wait too long. She applied again. So I asked her point-blank, ie. Aunty, you have two thriving businesses, you need charity? Thereafter I received an extraordinary long text message where she told me all her financial problems. So, alright, please apply if you feel you need the help. She said “thank you”, and all is well. I’m waiting for her next form and receipt to arrive, and yes, we’ll pay. The alley cats get helped from this. The human is just a go-between.
So, back to my question – Why do these two bigtime rescuers want to remain in the shadows and get someone else to apply on their behalf?
Of course they could do that, if anyone is silly enough to let him/her use his/her name to support their clandestine intentions.
And if they successfully pull it off, they would actually feel victorious for having successfully cheated us? And sleep easy at night?
Two years ago, we had another bigtime rescuer. He sent some cats and dogs for neutering at two of our (then) panel vets, but he had a huge argument with our vet, tried to put medication for his own pets into our bill and tried to wrangle one week’s boarding at our vet’s (under our bill) for 6 neutered MALE cats which were already fine and dandy (ready to take on the world) by the evening of the surgery. Of course, the two latter attempts failed (no medication for his dogs at our expense and no free boarding for his 6 cats), but we could not stop his argument with our vet. Thankfully, our vet had a good enough sense of humour to pass it off as being “quite entertaining on an otherwise boring Friday afternoon”. I also got an earful from this rescuer on the phone and that was quite unpleasant, to say the least. He claimed his son was a millionnaire, so who needs your help, he said. Well and good, why apply then, I asked.
So, we blacklisted him because we couldn’t risk him offending our vet again, but after a few months, a young lady rescuer asked if we could help Mr Bombard (above) as Mr Bombard had taken in many dogs and he did not bother to get them neutered. I told Miss Young Lady that we will help Mr Bombard’s dogs, but not Mr Bombard. So, if Miss Young Lady could kindly bring the said dogs to our vet and get them neutered and take them back, we’ll sponsor (it was the days of full sponsorship then), but we will not have Mr Bombard anywhere near our vet if the case came under our sponsorship. Miss Young Lady decided not to proceed, for reasons unknown and unrevealed to us.
And so…the moral of these stories are….be nice and don’t cheat (I love this phrase by Datuk Ambiga last year in a press interview, “Janganlah menipu” – simple and straight to the point).
If you want to apply for a subsidy, you know our policies. If you think you are needy, please apply and we will help you and your animals.
If you are not really needy, but you wish to apply anyway, please don’t get someone else to apply on behalf of you, do it yourself, and we will help your animals and for you ,we wish you peaceful and restful sleep at night for the rest of your days.
Janganlah menipu…
Source: http://myanimalcare.org/2012/05/02/janganlah-menipu/
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