06/03/2024
It has been brought to our attention that there is a derogatory social media post being circulated that targets Pets Without Parents. The post is from a former employee. The pictures that were posted and the accusations made do not accurately reflect how the animals in our care spend their time at our facility. We do typically walk in to find many overnight messes and the first few hours of each (and EVERY) day is spent cleaning up those messes, as well as feeding and administering medications. We continue to tidy up new messes while providing enrichment and care throughout the day. The process repeats 7 days a week.
As shared, Columbus Humane was contacted by the poster and took the complaint seriously. They opened an investigation and, after performing an on-site inspection of PWP, closed the case.
We are concerned about the harm a negative post like this could cause to our program and, ultimately, to the animals. It is disheartening that someone who was hired and trusted to provide care (ironically, one of their main tasks was the cleaning of the pets’ areas), is being hurtful instead. We are not a new rescue and hope our reputation helps readers feel confident in PWP. We’ve been in operation for 23 years and take a great deal of pride in what we accomplish. This is not just a job to us, this is our life. There are many things about this job that are difficult. This quickly makes helping to care for the animals lose its fascination for some people. The former employee who is being so critical worked at PWP less than 46 hours over the course of 3 weeks. We think that is hardly enough time to have enough information to substantiate the criticism.
We do not own our facility, we rent it. We pay for some improvements and the landlord pays for others. This is an old building and lacks sufficient infrastructure to support a central air conditioning system, more adequate lighting, and an upgrade to the plumbing to facilitate more efficient cleaning. We don’t think it is good stewardship of our donations to make all improvements to someone else’s building and we have been trying to put a plan together for a new facility. In spite of that philosophy, we are replacing much of the flooring to help make cleaning and sanitation more efficient. We did just replace our 2013 van that had 250,000 miles on it when it was suddenly inoperable. It was replaced with a used vehicle. PWP’s vehicle is needed for transporting animals to veterinary clinics, picking up supplies for the shelter, and transporting animals from other shelters where they are at risk of euthanasia.
We understand that anyone sharing the other post is someone that cares for animals. That isn’t lost on us. We appreciate that people are reaching out and are doing what they think is best based on the information they have.
So let’s use this opportunity to do more good! We have 23 years of good reputation in the shelter community, success stories, and supporters. We have good working relationships with veterinary clinics and other rescue operations. We need all the animal lovers we can get on our team! We hope that some of these people will, in turn, contribute to the care that PWP gives each animal and the resource we are to the community. We hope that more attention on our pets will lead to more adoptions or foster homes and that we may gain some more volunteers and boosters along the way. If you are interested in being a board member who will readily “set foot in the place”, we would love to talk to you. We are asking our supporters to not engage with the post. Instead, please post the good you have experienced at PWP. Share a pet’s bio far and wide. Send a link to one of our webpages or help us move forward with our floor replacement project. We are open to answering kind questions. Our favorite is, how can I help? There are so many awesome ways to make a difference in rescue. Thanks again to all those that care so dearly.
www.petswithoutparents.net
