Hi All,
I'm with an organization that is working hard to help cats and their caretakers, in our local area. We handle lots of calls and do a lot of TNR support, adoption, and advocacy for feral cats and cats in general. I handle a lot of the initial contact with caretakers and concerned members of the public. Most days, that's fun, actually!
But there are days when I feel very frustrated, because I talk with someone who is doing all the right stuff, but doing it all alone, and spending tons of his own money on it and all, but kind of, from my perspective, not getting very far. Sometimes, after several efforts, we get such individuals into working with our program. But lots of times, we don't. Either they will get speuter help from one group, adoption help from another, and so on, or, they just go it all alone completely.
I am convinced that it takes more than a lot of individuals working alone to make real change. I know that a lot of people want us to change laws and change thinking about cats. However, sometimes, these same people complain to me when we spend resources on such things as advocacy and long-term planning for cat care.
I'm wondering, if you don't work with any one organization right now, and if you had an opportunity to do so, what would be important to you for the organization to do? We loan traps, provide low cost speuter, coordinate aftercare, help with colony monitoring, provide educational materials and speakers, and network caregivers so they know they are NOT all alone. Is there something we are missing? What would it take for you to give up being a "lone ranger" and work with a group? Or do groups have SUCH a bad reputation that you just don't want to have ANYTHING to do with 'em?
If the opposition to TNR can more effectively create alliances than we cat advocates can, I am afraid we are in for some very sad times!
I'm with an organization that is working hard to help cats and their caretakers, in our local area. We handle lots of calls and do a lot of TNR support, adoption, and advocacy for feral cats and cats in general. I handle a lot of the initial contact with caretakers and concerned members of the public. Most days, that's fun, actually!
But there are days when I feel very frustrated, because I talk with someone who is doing all the right stuff, but doing it all alone, and spending tons of his own money on it and all, but kind of, from my perspective, not getting very far. Sometimes, after several efforts, we get such individuals into working with our program. But lots of times, we don't. Either they will get speuter help from one group, adoption help from another, and so on, or, they just go it all alone completely.
I am convinced that it takes more than a lot of individuals working alone to make real change. I know that a lot of people want us to change laws and change thinking about cats. However, sometimes, these same people complain to me when we spend resources on such things as advocacy and long-term planning for cat care.
I'm wondering, if you don't work with any one organization right now, and if you had an opportunity to do so, what would be important to you for the organization to do? We loan traps, provide low cost speuter, coordinate aftercare, help with colony monitoring, provide educational materials and speakers, and network caregivers so they know they are NOT all alone. Is there something we are missing? What would it take for you to give up being a "lone ranger" and work with a group? Or do groups have SUCH a bad reputation that you just don't want to have ANYTHING to do with 'em?
If the opposition to TNR can more effectively create alliances than we cat advocates can, I am afraid we are in for some very sad times!