I Believe in Community Not Division
I believe in community.
I always have. From the very beginning, I have shared the work of many organisations, not just mine. I have given up my platform so others can reach new audiences. I have amplified animal welfare efforts through my radio and magazine work. I have done this because collaboration saves lives, and because no single organisation can carry this burden alone.
Community is not about loyalty to one brand, one shelter, or one name.
It is about animals.
Until today, that belief had never been shaken.
Today, I shared a kind, supportive post encouraging adoption.
What followed was deeply disturbing to me.
When Support Becomes Harm
Some of the comments were not constructive. They were chaotic, abusive, and divisive. A small but vocal group used the post to undermine others in favour of their favourite organisation. Instead of lifting animals up, they tore parts of the rescue community down.
One commenter went as far as to say that shelters needed to raise their game via better storytelling in order to gain more support.
Let me be absolutely clear:
That mindset is dangerous.
Many shelters and rescue groups are operating on the brink of collapse. They are underfunded, overwhelmed, and working in impossible conditions. They are not failing because they lack professionalism or ambition. They are struggling because animal suffering is relentless and resources are finite. We are rescuers not entertainers. And while we show our work our eyes are always on our animals not how great our social media videos are.
To publicly dismiss them, shame them, or suggest they are somehow inferior because they do not meet an arbitrary standard set by outsiders is not supporting rescue. It is actively harming it.
Why This Cannot Be Tolerated
When people demean organisations whether it’s a local shelter, a rescue dog walking group or a foster network it hurts animals.
Small organisations are often the first to take the hit. They lose support, not because they are doing bad work, but because they are being publicly undermined. When small rescues disappear, the animals they cared for do not magically get absorbed elsewhere.
They fall through the cracks.
They are left behind.
They die.
There is no hierarchy in animal welfare that makes this acceptable.
We Are Not Competing We Are Surviving
The rescue world is not a competition.
We do not win by crowning a single organisation as the best while the rest are deemed not good enough. We survive by working together, respecting different capacities, and understanding that every organisation large or small fills a vital gap.
No one organisation can do everything.
No one individual can stop all suffering.
Believing otherwise is not confidence it is arrogance.
And arrogance has no place in rescue.
Zero Tolerance Going Forward
The post was eventually deleted because it had lost its purpose. It was no longer helping animals. It had become a platform for hostility and public undermining of organisations that exist solely to help others.
That made me angry. It should make all of us angry.
I blocked every person who used an adoption post for vulnerable dogs as an opportunity to attack or belittle other organisations. And not one potential adoptee was connected with a dog.
From this point forward, there will be zero tolerance.
Anyone who attempts to tear anyone down anyone whether shelters, rescues, or grassroots groups will be banned. This applies universally, not selectively. Community spaces must centre animals
A Final Reality Check
If we allow hostility to take root, it will rot the rescue world from the inside.
And when that happens, animals pay the price.
Community means standing together.
It means protecting the most vulnerable including the smallest organisations.
And it means remembering that rescue only works when we do.
That is the standard.
And it is not negotiable.
Will I continue elevating community?
Yes of course but there will be rules, rules which will protect us all but ultimately rules which protect the animals we all care for.