Say the phrase "animal rescue" in any given circle of people and watch for a variety of reactions. Some people’s eyes will light up with hope and delight and others will start backing away with narrowing eyes, faces drawn with suspicion.
The latter is unfortunate, but the truth cannot be denied that some of the most unstable portions of society seem to be drawn to this activity. Hoarders are the worst-case scenario of this group, but emotions run high with rescuing animals, so it’s easy to be sucked into the drama that runs rampant.
Responsible animal rescue
Before I go much further, I want to make it clear that I am wholeheartedly a supporter of animal rescue. I personally ran my own Doberman rescue for 15 years. I got my start in dog behavior at a local animal shelter and am still considered a volunteer there. I currently volunteer behavior consult for a friend’s foster-based rescue group. That entails providing behavior assistance to dogs in foster care as well as screening applications as needed. The group has a policy that requires modern rewards-based training to be utilized on their dogs and enforces this post-adoption so it is my “job” to screen trainers and look for red flags on questionable applications. All but one of my dogs have come to me via rescue or shelter situations. I have many local and national friends who work in shelters as well as friends who participate in animal rescue both locally and all over the country. Rescue is in my blood.
So, this article is not about the responsible rescuers who work tirelessly day in and day out, saving animals without looking for kudos and without joining the dizzying array of fanatical social media discussions. Instead, I want to draw attention to irresponsible practices that sadly are becoming more and more common.
Signs of Irresponsible "rescuers"
One of the more repulsive practices surrounding animal rescue is social media bashing frenzies against anyone that holds higher standards and practices for responsible rescue and sheltering. Mention euthanasia for any reason, but in particular because of behavior issues in a dog, and “rescuers” come out of the woodwork with a vengeance that is frightening. When a shelter has to have police presence on their property because of the threats of “rescuers,” that’s when The Twilight Zone music should get cued. These actions alone can make so many people wary of those who participate in animal rescue. This behavior is often known in social media circles as “save all the furbabies syndrome.” You can read more on the subject of who should and shouldn’t be responsibly saved in a link contained further down in this article.
Shelters and rescues become the target, as does anyone with any knowledge that supersedes their own. These "rescuers" with misplaced anger behave much like wild jackals descending on prey. If they spent even half of that energy properly screening homes and providing proper veterinary care for the animals in their care, the world would be a much better place. Instead, they spend an inordinate amount of time on social media platforms making up stories about people they have never met or who might have disagreed with their version of the facts. This is the kind of behavior that the general dog-owning public at large sees as fanatical. This is also what drives people in droves to irresponsible breeders and puppy millers.
Misplaced anger
These irresponsible "rescuer" personalities also descend on someone who does something they disagree with that doesn’t affect them in any way. One frightening example is a case in my hometown last February where the director of a local humane society was viciously attacked on social media, to the extent of having a petition full of inaccuracies and false accusations leveled against her created. Her “crime”? Purchasing a responsibly bred puppy for her son, with the goal of that puppy being an emotional support animal for that child, who has since been officially diagnosed with Tourette’s Syndrome. She is wholeheartedly a supporter of rescue and has two rescue dogs in her family, as well as a number of rescued horses. The decision to add a well-bred puppy was made for several reasons, among them being that one of her adult dogs only tolerates puppies as opposed to adult dogs. The other is that she needed to be relatively sure of the temperament of the dog that was to be assisting her son. I make these statements in the past tense because she returned the puppy to the breeder because she feared for her family’s safety. Yes, that is what I said. Some of the threats made against her were so serious that official harassment charges were brought against several people. You can read more about her plight here and here.
Overcome by emotions
Blind breeder hate is another common theme among the fringe component of rescuers. These individuals are convinced that all breeders are responsible for shelter dog deaths. (More on this subject can be obtained in this article.) They band together to “punish” a breeder for being a breeder.
Irresponsible rescuers also act as judge and jury and claim that they know better who should have a dog, and ignore the dog's actual legal ownership, as this story shows.
This brings me to the scenario that prompted this article. A local shelter where I volunteer made the tough decision to euthanize a dog that had come through their doors several times and had been adopted out twice, with the same results. This shelter has a stellar behavior department, that I was once a part of. It is locally known that if a dog ends up here, he or she will be given the best opportunities available, both medically and behaviorally.
So when this shelter makes such a decision, it is not without having exhausted all other options, including the appropriateness of transferring a dog to quality interested rescue groups. Because this dog was a small breed, the outcry was even louder than a similar instance several years prior, over a large dog that killed another dog, meeting the same fate. Loud voices spread falsehoods and bullied others who actually were in possession of real facts.
In addition to spreading rumors, these individuals threatened everyone and anyone they thought even remotely associated with this decision. The masses slammed this wonderful shelter with so many negative reviews, that the supporting reviews are hard to find. For a frightening glimpse into the mind of the uninformed mob mentality that exists in extremist rescuers, feel free to read the reviews here. Sadly, there are no facts making an appearance in these words.
The decision to euthanize an animal available for adoption is a very individual one that should be based on many factors, which include the possibility and probability of making behavioral changes in a shelter or rescue setting as well as what type of adopter such an animal needs and the safety of the public at large.
Trash talk
Divisions are rampant among extremist “rescuers" who find numerous targets for trash talk, including breeders, people who disagree with them, shelters of all types, and animal control facilities. The debate over open admission versus limited admission shelters leads to some heated exchanges where no one is the winner. Animal control facilities are often targeted if they don’t align themselves immediately with the rescue groups who have usually just randomly assembled with little thought or resources that go into caring for the animals that they claim to want to rescue.
Judgments without facts
Some people have discovered that if you've had the misfortune to have a dog get loose and you go online for assistance in getting your dog back, be prepared to explain how you could possibly allow this to happen and that you are indeed a good dog parent and deserve to have your dog returned to you. I refer you back to the case of the breeder whose friend suffered a health issue and had the dogs get loose because of this.
Judgments are rampant among this group and evidently, nothing awry ever happens in their lives. In some cases, this kind of thought process can result in “rescuers” stealing dogs that are outside in yards or on tie-outs. I am absolutely not a supporter of dogs being left outside on their own but the law has requirements. Those requirements exist for a reason. Often that reason is because things are not as they appear to others and there is no cause for concern. Let a humane officer decide the difference.
Unintended consequences
Irresponsible "rescues" can lead to far too many animals living in one home or facility. Then animal behavior problems start to surface because someone bit off more than they can chew, relying on the internet or television reality shows for their behavior information. Vetting can often be minimal and placement procedures are frightening; this can include the placement of intact animals that might also have undisclosed health issues.
It’s very easy to get sucked into the "save them all" mentality, especially when one first gets involved in rescue activities. A hallmark of a newbie rescuer is saying "yes" to things that more seasoned rescuers say "no" to.
Responsible rescuers recognize the real-life circumstances, but keyboard warriors look at the extremists as heroes and have little understanding of the actual facts of what is appropriate. They know nothing of what happens after a dog is “saved.” They only focus on the "saving" and this reinforces actions that shouldn’t have happened in the first place. People bite off more than they can chew, taking in too many animals without the resources to do so. The act of “rescue” then becomes a matter of commodities, which amounts to animal flipping, with no regard to quality. It’s also a step closer to burnout for the “rescuer” or a tragedy for the animals in their care -- or both. Each time the goalposts get moved out a bit further so that incrementally it becomes easier to let guidelines slide “just this once.” This can often lead to these types of animal hoarding scenarios.
Animal hoarders posing as rescuers
Animal hoarding is the subject of this study here.
Adopting from the fanatical fringe is sadly easier than adopting from a responsible rescue group or shelter. These groups are not the rescuers that check your criminal record or even your veterinary care history if you already have animals in your care. Their goalposts have already been moved, if they existed in the first place.
These fringe operations can have frightening implications for animals in their care. Responsibly operated rescues and shelters screen potential adopters not only for the best possible match for the animal in question but for a history that might be a red flag, such as certain criminal charges as well as a poor history of veterinary care for past animals in their care. But the rescue fanatical fringe will turn over an animal in a parking lot without asking questions. It’s that easy in many cases.
This works out when the person in question is more responsible than the “rescuer.” In other cases, animals get passed around from person to person and get more stressed with each change of scene, culminating in a serious behavior issue that the final destination is ill-equipped to handle. Then if they are even more unlucky, they get handed off to someone who claims to “rehab” dogs, only to suffer the fate of forceful old-fashioned methods being foisted upon them.
Risks to animals and humans alike
Past bite histories are typically required by law to be communicated to anyone taking on a dog. But those wishing to “save all the furbabies” conveniently leave information like that out of the equation, knowing that many people aren’t looking for a project dog. This can place not only the adopter in a precarious position but also the neighborhood at large, depending on the bite in question.
Irresponsibly done rescue and sheltering is everyone’s problem, not just those that the extremists target for their ire. Fringe rescue tactics affect every pet-loving person out there, whether it be as members of a community where a dangerously misrepresented dog (either temperament or lack of proper vetting) has been placed, or as someone looking to acquire an animal via rescue who is uncomfortable with the actions of the rescuers that they have been exposed to. Sometimes "rescues" are just pipelines for backyard-bred dogs and puppy millers.
Speak up for responsible rescue
That is not the direction that we as savvy dog parents and dog lovers should want to take. Education is crucial to more responsible dog parenting overall. The public at large should be looking towards credible sources for their education rather than getting bombarded with misleading online messages from the fringe rescue movement. At some points, state laws need to be adjusted so that some, if not all, of these practices have consequences.
Additionally, it is the duty of everyone to stand up to bullying on the internet and let your rational voices be heard. A solidly knit, common sense community doesn't have to accept these travesties. Be the responsible change you want to see in the world.