For the past month, we have done our best to communicate that we are both overwhelmed and understaffed, we have had a number of emergencies at our main foster house which resulted in the loss of our office and our president being displaced from her home along with 5 rescues, making everything more difficult to access and follow up on. This has put a large amount of work on the few volunteers we do have. We do not have a full-time 9-to-5 staff. We are a foster home and volunteer based nonprofit organization. Our volunteers work full-time jobs and spend almost all of their spare time strictly for the rescue. They drive for hours on end every day for meet and greets, events, owner surrenders, and adoptions. They have done this at the expense of their personal relationships, social lives, family obligations, and their own health, as they skip meals or stay up late stay up night after night working to find the perfect home for a dog. Rescue work is very tiring, but at the end of the day its always easier to know that no matter how difficult it is, weve done it for the dog, and they have a new home. However, when a volunteer cannot even feel satisfied knowing they helped place a dog, because they know that following an announcement they are going to be met with a deluge of insults and angry comments through online, phone, and in-person communication, it causes them to become worn out and make them lose their passion for rescue work. While the general community has been nothing but positive for the rescue and for our volunteers, recently negativity and hostility directed towards our volunteers has crossed over into the realm of inappropriate language and behavior, and in some cases, direct individual harassment. As a result, we have lost several volunteers and we are in danger of losing even more if we do not take control the situation and help them. Following the recent announcement of a dog adoption, certain communications from angered individuals pushed the situation to critical moment, forcing us to make a difficult decision. Beginning on Monday, July 7, we will be temporarily suspending operations of the rescue. During this time will be working with our current volunteers and searching for new volunteers to train. Our focus during this time will be on the dogs that we currently have in rescue and new dogs coming in. We will continue to process owner surrender and emergency intakes. We will handle a limited number of adoption applications which will be announced each week until our office is once again accessible. We will not respond to individual inquiries during this time, either through email or social media. We will not provide training or nutrition guidance, or other assistance during this time. We will not be post as frequently on social media. We will focus instead on the rehabilitation, health, wellness, and training of our rescues as our volunteers cover for our president who is trying to get her home livable again. Our hope is that during this time as well people will consider how they communicate with any non-profit volunteers, so that when we resume operations, we can all keep our focus on the dogs and not expend precious time and energy on resolving interpersonal situations. We understand that searching for dog is emotional process. We understand it is disappointing when someone does not get the dog for which they apply. However, that does not mean we will allow our volunteers to be abused. We ask people before sending an email consider how they would react to receiving such a email themselves. Would they want to respond to this person? Would they want to see a dog placed with someone who lashes out so? Would they even want to continue volunteering for an organization in which they are treated this way? The goal of the rescue is first and foremost rescue and placement of dogs. We are not and will not be a shopping service for individuals. Adopting a dog does take time, and unlike with purchasing a dog, with a rescue there is no guarantee that someone will get the dog for which they apply. If you are in search of a dog and do not wish to go through the adoption process, you can research the reputable Shiba Inu breeders. It is truly upsetting to us that we have to take this course of action. While this was not an easy decision, the fact is that we have to look out for our volunteers, because without them, there is no rescue. To all of you who have continually encouraged us and supported us, we genuinely thank you, and we hope you understand that while we dont enjoy having to do this, we would not do so if it wasn’t necessary. We have many wonderful supporters, and we are sorry that the repeated actions of a minority are affecting everyone.
Posted on: Mon, 07 Jul 2014 10:33:46 +0000
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