Animal rescue infighting

Update for the week: I did complete my Master's degree and my mother is still alive, though there are signs that our time is winding down.

Among the things I have done to try and prepare for that was drafting an obituary.

I last mentioned that in January, I think. It's been a long haul. 

Part of that is second-guessing yourself. The part that has given me the most trouble has been the "in lieu of flowers" part. 

I don't even know if anyone would want to send anything, but if they did, I currently have Felines First and the Aloha Community Library Association: 

https://www.facebook.com/FelinesFirst

https://www.wccls.org/using-library/member-libraries/aloha-community-library

They were part of making some of her time with dementia better, though there have been many different phases. 

I did think about charities specific to dementia, but I couldn't decide which one and these are both small groups that don't get a lot of attention.

What might seem like a glaring omission to some is the lack of any greyhound groups. Those dogs were an important part of her life, as were the people that she volunteered with and dog sat for. 

What I have in the obituary is that the organization that she worked with disbanded, which is true. After greyhound racing ended in Oregon, Oregon Greyhound Association stayed around until every greyhound that either raced in Oregon or was born in Oregon (or both) was placed. 

That telling also leaves out the group before. 

There were many different adoption groups, basically sorted by region. There was another one that she worked in. Most of our dogs were adopted through them, and most of the volunteering and most of the friends happened through them. 

A new couple came in to that group from out of state. They had done a lot of rescue work so they came in with people kind of impressed, though I can't help but feel like their money was a factor. 

I am not naming the organization or people here, but I promise you that there are people around who would know what and whom immediately.

The new couple started taking over, alienating a lot of people we liked.

Some left and never came back. Some got away from greyhounds, but that's why Mom went to OGA. Our last dog came through them, but the numbers were going down already. They served their purpose. 

The other group still exists and I have feelings about them. 

I don't think they intended to wreak the devastation they did. Maybe there were certain people that they would have wanted gone, but I think in general they just wanted to do things their way and felt justified in doing so; they were so obviously superior.

Having known many people who work with animal rescue and adoption, none of them are ever surprised by this story. That problem is in no way exclusive to greyhounds.

To be fair, there were issues before. I knew people who had been in the group but left previously due to disagreements, again, where everyone on either side felt right.

There were disagreements about whether to be against racing or for it. If you were for it you could still disagree on whether that was because racing wasn't really that bad and look at what loving dogs it makes or because it was evil but you can't alienate the people doing it if you want to have access to the dogs so you have to put up with it.

There were passionate disagreements about proper care and feeding of dogs. I knew some people angry because their dogs were called fat and others pushed out after being called abusive because their dogs were so thin, but also sometimes those dogs had health issues where it was not whether or not they were getting enough food. 

I don't think there was ever anyone who didn't love the dogs; how can you not love them? But there were sure people who didn't love each other. Some could be petty or pushy or resentful, but they could be kind, too.

We saw it all, sometimes in the same people.

This problem is in no way exclusive to animal rescue.