I've been doing this work for a long time and we've always had bullies. It's not a phenomenon specific to Japan.. but all over the world. The abusive rescue culture is everywhere with groups and volunteers and individuals pitted against each other, looking for fault and to smear others names.
I've always tried to take the high road but I am human and sometimes snap under the pressure. This work is hard enough with the suffering we see and endlessness of animals in need. It hurts when others with the same goal as ours are trying to bring us down.
We will be celebrating three years since our clinic opened next month. We will surpass 5000 cats spayed/neutered on site this month. We've sacrificed a lot to offer this affordable/high-volume clinic for the people and cats of Tokushima. And we have been being harassed on-line for the past 5 months by TNR/cat rescue organization in our same city. The reason for the bullying: ear-shape.
Due to cases of ear-notch cats being abandoned at TNR sites, etc. last year, we decided to change Tokushima Spay Clinic ear cut to ear-tip in order to identify cats that had been spay/neutered at our clinic. With 300 clients bringing cats to our clinic and the large volume of cats coming in, it was impossible to identify cats from photos and fur color alone. Financially we aren’t able to microchip each cat but with a straight cut, we can be certain that a cat was vetted at our clinic and take the appropriate action.
I couldn't have imagined the backlash. Not from our clients or other volunteers doing TNR in Tokushima, but from one specific TNR/cat rescue group. To date we have received only two phone call expressing objections: one from the ringleader of that group and one from another TNR person that they know in Osaka. Two e-mails from individuals outside the prefecture and one instagram message. So a total of 5 people.
We contacted a number of large organizations in Japan to make sure we weren't stepping on any toes, and all said that there wasn't any problem with ear-tipping.
Despite the lack of backing, said group have started an on-line petition demanding we change back to ear-notching and the relentless on-line harassment is unbelievable.
I really don t know what they wish to achieve because we will not be bullied into obeying. Ear-tipping or ear-notching are both acceptable methods of identifying a spayed or neutered community cat. And the most important point is the spaying and neutering.
We are all supposed to be working towards the same goal but too much time is spent on tearing others down. I want to say that if we all worked together, that's when we can make the biggest difference for animals but almost two decades of animal rescue has taught me that working together can't be an option with some people and the only ones that suffer are the animals.
