06/20/2025
Our group learned a hard lesson today. As animal advocates we always bond and get attached to every animal we come across. Each has a unique story and if we could responsibly keep them all, we absolutely would. Fostering isn’t easy. Sometimes a dog stays with you for days, sometimes it’s months. In some of our cases, nobody wanted them at all and they became ours by default. That’s the risk we run when we take them on. Most of the time, little dogs are sought after and the big dogs are discarded like trash. Well this case is no different. This dog was tied at the wildlife refuge and rescued by a sweet bystander. It was so late at night and despite our best efforts we couldn’t secure a foster. One person stepped up and offered. We know this person and although we don’t have the best relationship…we put our best foot forward for the pup and trusted them to foster temporarily. We made sure she was aware it’s temporary. Once we secure a foster we move quickly to get them seen by a vet, and prepare to have them adopted if they’re healthy. The foster knew this and like we all experience, she started falling in love with this particular dog. We informed her that people were interested and if they fell through we would consider her for adoption. We usually always allow our fosters the option to adopt first but this was different. We know this person already has animals of her own and we already know adopting another dog would be irresponsible of US. Immediately someone inquired about permanently adopting her. We secured the vet visit, got her vaccinated, are working to get her spayed and did a routine checkup. It seemed this dog would be in her new home in good time and we could relieve the foster of her responsibility. However things quickly changed and escalated. Today the foster decided she wanted to keep the dog. There was a post made of Facebook about how we’re ripping this dog away, how we’re breaking their bond, how the dog doesn’t even know the people adopting her etc. Many people encouraged her to keep the dog and withhold it from us. First, we move heaven and earth to ensure our dogs are going to good homes. We vet these adopters HARD. We check their criminal history, ensure they can provide for them and still check on them even after adoption. Second, there was a different way to go about this. Just deciding to take matters into your own hands and withhold a dog from us shows so much instability. Not to mention the fact that she already has 5 dogs and we were willing to help her get them situated because she’s already struggling to care for them. To say we’re breaking a bond and not thinking of the dog is completely wrong. It is YOU that was selfish and chose to try and ruin a loving and devoted home for this dog. You almost stole this opportunity from her because you can’t differentiate between your wants and this dogs needs. Lastly, to all the people that told her to withhold the dog and to keep it…shame on YOU. We paid for her, we provide supplies, we searched for a kind of loving home, we provided vet care and spent hours getting her this opportunity. She is under our groups name at the veterinarian and we received donations for her care so encouraging her to keep her from us is STEALING!
Law enforcement was contacted and she was quickly returned. We would like to thank Chief Marquez and Officer Michael Ortega for helping us get her back. She is now safe in her new home. We don’t post this to shame the foster, but to clear ourselves of some of the false comments on that post. We also post this to say things could have been so different in this situation if you would’ve acted appropriately but because of your own actions, trust was severely broken. Fostering and doing this type of work is HARD. It’s not for everybody. But most importantly it’s one of the most SELFLESS things you could ever do. This volunteer work often comes with breaking your own heart when you know it’s the right thing to do for the animal you’re raising above yourself.
Edited to add: all week, all night and into this morning this individual continues to slander, harass and threaten a member of Animal Advocates and our group as a whole.
