shoulda, coulda...did

I'll be brief today. I'm just coming off a long couple of weeks of way highs and way lows. A distant acquaintance and I joined forces to save a stray, injured cat last week. We used Facebook as a tool, and it was effective. We set up a non-profit donation page overnight, and everything went off without a hitch. His vet bill is paid in full, both by us and the donations we received. I am thankful for this. We placed him in a new, caring home, and he is thriving after getting the full treatment at the vet, including a broken jaw repair. 

I swear I wasn't going to blog about this. After all, I only did it because his broken face broke my heart. To me, it was the only option. But now I'm pissed. As I was getting ready to put it all behind me, there came the thud. On a post that said how it was so great that people could pull things together and make an animal's life better, some jackass comments just this:

"Hurt animals in any town should be turned over to Animal Control."

Well, thank you for your input, lady. A little research, and it turns out the woman is the animal control officer for a town I will not name, except to say that I've worked there and this comment is just the type of response I'd expect from a town appointee. They don't like to mind their own business, and really, really like to tell other people how to do things, right or wrong. They also oppose a rail trail in their town. For why, I'll never know. Guess they like oily tracks better than a walking/biking path. 

In any case, it would make sense that she would advocate for her own job. I'm assuming she is paid for her work, and I'll concede that I may be wrong. Even so, people got together and did a great thing for one animal, and I can't imagine a reason so logical as to generate any negative/critical response. It's not like I took in a baby raccoon or something. I wouldn't. I would probably call Animal Control. But I refuse to "turn over" a domestic, abandoned, injured cat to someone who refers to it as "turning them over," as if I'm handing them a suspect. I feel in this case, I did a better job with him than most shelters are able to do given their overcrowding and lack of funding. I had funding of my own, and then I had funding from other people, so I committed myself to him for the time it required, and followed through. 

So thank you other people, who didn't fault me for trying to help. No, for actually helping.  Now my friend Jasper is in his new home, happy and healthy. I think I did the right thing. I hope you do, too. Otherwise, I may have to rant once more.

Sigh.