Animal Rescue Scams Part 2: Rehoming, Red Flags & Real Solutions

Speaker: 00:00:00

Welcome back to Animal Posse.

Speaker: 00:00:01

I am your host Dixie.

Speaker: 00:00:03

In part two of my conversation with animal advocate Veronica Boletto,

Speaker: 00:00:07

we're continuing our discussion about protecting animals from exploitation,

Speaker: 00:00:12

but we're also digging into another major issue facing rescue, which is rehoming.

Speaker: 00:00:18

Are we making it too easy for people to give up their pets?

Speaker: 00:00:21

Could some of these situations be prevented with a little education,

Speaker: 00:00:25

support, or creative thinking?

Speaker: 00:00:27

We're also talking about adoption red flags, trusting your instincts, and

Speaker: 00:00:32

working together on real solutions.

Speaker: 00:00:34

Let's get back into the conversation

Dixie: 00:00:37

I can't fault rescues for , , getting scammed by people

Dixie: 00:00:40

. Because I understand a lot of people when they're going through these

Dixie: 00:00:45

adoption applications and people are checking all the right boxes, a lot

Dixie: 00:00:51

of people don't think more than that.

Veronica: 00:00:53

I did read that one of the rescues that was involved that had given

Veronica: 00:00:57

kittens to this torture guy he he had actually, the Richards, I think it was

Veronica: 00:01:03

Richards Rescue, they had a post on Facebook that said, "We've now changed

Veronica: 00:01:08

our adoption policy," which makes me wonder what it was to begin with.

Veronica: 00:01:13

And the girl from Facebook, the sleuth, just texted me.

Veronica: 00:01:17

I wonder if I should see what she has to say.

Dixie: 00:01:20

Sure.

Dixie: 00:01:20

Go ahead and read it.

Veronica: 00:01:22

Okay.

Veronica: 00:01:23

It says, it's, it…

Veronica: 00:01:28

You're get- It is very ironic you just contacted me because I was in the middle

Veronica: 00:01:31

of filling out another questionnaire for a YouTuber about the case.

Veronica: 00:01:37

And then she said she's just gotten home from work.

Veronica: 00:01:40

She has to cook dinner.

Veronica: 00:01:41

But it's been one of the most…

Veronica: 00:01:43

She said, "I would actually love, absolutely love to share

Veronica: 00:01:46

my thoughts about all of it.

Veronica: 00:01:48

It's really been one of the most difficult and soul-crushing experiences I could ever

Veronica: 00:01:53

imagine or that I've ever had in my life."

Veronica: 00:01:56

She says, "I hope that with all of us sharing information of the how and

Veronica: 00:02:00

why, we can devise a plan to prevent this from ever happening again."

Veronica: 00:02:06

- Dixie: I

Veronica: 00:02:06

like her already.

Dixie: 00:02:07

Yeah.

Dixie: 00:02:08

And she's absolutely right because that's what we do need.

Dixie: 00:02:11

We need a plan like that because,

Dixie: 00:02:13

It's so difficult to prevent something like that when you're

Dixie: 00:02:17

trying to adopt out animals.

Dixie: 00:02:19

I can't fault the rescues because, I could just see how they could

Dixie: 00:02:26

be scammed by these people, too.

Veronica: 00:02:28

If they're being scammed, though, so you know me, I'm a

Veronica: 00:02:30

little har- I'm a lot harder than most people, but I feel like if

Veronica: 00:02:34

they're being scammed, get scammed.

Veronica: 00:02:36

But also, if you're doing even a questionnaire and checking it, if

Veronica: 00:02:41

you're doing any research on a person, I don't feel you would get scammed.

Veronica: 00:02:45

There, there are instances it could happen, but I feel like I wish

Veronica: 00:02:48

I could find out what they, what their protocol was so we can all…

Veronica: 00:02:53

But I feel like if rescuers in general could start uniting and share one

Veronica: 00:02:58

stringent protocol, like what yours is-

Dixie: 00:03:01

Yeah.

Veronica: 00:03:01

Yeah, well- And then maybe everybody could agree to follow it,

Veronica: 00:03:04

Dixie (2): I'm sure-.

Veronica: 00:03:05

there's some that are a lot better than mine, too.

Veronica: 00:03:07

But for me too- I don't know, Jess

Veronica: 00:03:10

I, I like to go based off of my gut.

Veronica: 00:03:13

I go off of my intuition, I find that's important and, , I think it's

Veronica: 00:03:17

just like people are worried about hurting other people's feelings.

Veronica: 00:03:22

And- that's what it is … a- another thing for me is I don't like it when

Veronica: 00:03:25

somebody wants to adopt a kitten and the kitten doesn't like the person.

Veronica: 00:03:30

You know what I mean?

Veronica: 00:03:32

Oh … and I'm not even talking about the case where sometimes I'll have

Veronica: 00:03:36

shy kittens that people need to work with, and I make that perfectly clear-

Veronica: 00:03:41

… that, okay, this is a shy kitten.

Veronica: 00:03:42

You're gonna need to work with it.

Veronica: 00:03:43

I make sure I go through and find the right person for that.

Veronica: 00:03:46

But I've seen situations where, it's just the cat just does not like the

Veronica: 00:03:52

person at all, and I'm not saying that the person's a bad person, but that

Veronica: 00:03:57

just might not be the cat for you.

Veronica: 00:04:00

I adopted out a cat.

Veronica: 00:04:01

It was an ex-boyfriend, had a, him and his daughter, and I

Veronica: 00:04:04

knew him very well, of course.

Veronica: 00:04:05

He was a perfectly nice person, and his daughter was lovely.

Veronica: 00:04:08

She was, like, eight, I think, at the time, and I brought the kitten to them.

Veronica: 00:04:12

And then about…

Veronica: 00:04:14

I sat there for a couple hours while she, ran around the house and played

Veronica: 00:04:17

with the kitten, and she came and said it, the kitten hissed at her.

Veronica: 00:04:20

And I said, "Oh how did it happen?"

Veronica: 00:04:22

And she pointed her finger in the cat's face.

Veronica: 00:04:24

And there was something, like you said, like a feeling that came over

Veronica: 00:04:27

me, and I was like, "You know what?

Veronica: 00:04:30

I'm not gonna…"

Veronica: 00:04:31

I said, "You guys," I said, "Let's just think this over."

Veronica: 00:04:33

And they were really upset with me, but I took the kitten home with me.

Veronica: 00:04:36

And sure enough, can I tell you, I went back there the next time just

Veronica: 00:04:40

by myself to see my ex-boyfriend, and there was baby birds on a tree,

Veronica: 00:04:46

and the child had asked about them.

Veronica: 00:04:48

And I said, "Oh, don't touch them.

Veronica: 00:04:49

They'll all die if they fall out," blah, blah, blah.

Veronica: 00:04:51

So about a half hour after that, she had knocked all the baby birds

Veronica: 00:04:55

out of the tree onto the ground.

Dixie: 00:04:57

Aw.

Veronica: 00:04:57

And oh, they had all the…

Veronica: 00:04:58

And I don't know.

Veronica: 00:04:59

To me, this child I feel like was old enough.

Veronica: 00:05:02

She knew exactly what I was telling her not to do, and that they

Veronica: 00:05:05

would die, and she did it anyway.

Veronica: 00:05:06

And I was like, "Thank God I did not…"

Veronica: 00:05:09

And I just saw something in her eyes, like what I felt when she said the cat hissed

Veronica: 00:05:12

at her, and I'm just like, "Ugh, wow."

Veronica: 00:05:16

This is, this poor kitten.

Veronica: 00:05:18

I can't believe it almost had to live with this girl, 'cause I just

Veronica: 00:05:20

felt like at that point she's not…

Veronica: 00:05:22

I don't know.

Veronica: 00:05:23

I'm weird about kids.

Veronica: 00:05:24

I feel like they have empathy at a cert- If they don't have

Veronica: 00:05:27

empathy by age six, it's very difficult for them to acquire that.

Veronica: 00:05:33

So I felt like I made the right decision on the, the baby birds

Veronica: 00:05:38

Yeah … after, after I found out- Yeah … about the baby birds.

Veronica: 00:05:40

That was just a very weird, one of those weird things where I used my gut.

Dixie: 00:05:44

Yeah.

Veronica: 00:05:45

Even though everything else was saying leave the kitten,

Veronica: 00:05:47

and I just, I'm like- Yeah … the kitten kept hissing at her, and I

Veronica: 00:05:51

think it's 'cause she was just…

Veronica: 00:05:52

a lot of kids don't know boundaries.

Dixie: 00:05:54

Yeah.

Dixie: 00:05:54

, I think your gut , is a big thing, . I know some people just don't have it

Dixie: 00:05:59

have that intuition that they go off of.

Dixie: 00:06:02

But- They don't … but to me, it's like the first impression.

Dixie: 00:06:05

If something feels off, then , it could be something off.

Dixie: 00:06:09

It just, it just isn't meant to be, essentially, in my opinion,

Veronica: 00:06:13

and I think you're right.

Veronica: 00:06:14

I think people are scared of hurting feelings.

Veronica: 00:06:16

They're scared of getting in, quote-unquote, "in trouble" for, or if

Veronica: 00:06:20

the person, let's say, is of color or they're gay or they're even extra scared,

Veronica: 00:06:27

to say no, I feel like these days, because they don't want the person to think

Veronica: 00:06:31

that they're racist or they're bigoted.

Veronica: 00:06:34

And I feel when it comes to a, a life, all bets are off.

Veronica: 00:06:38

You can be polite to a person and still say no, and it has nothing to do, you

Veronica: 00:06:43

know that it has nothing to do with, their sexual preference or the color

Veronica: 00:06:47

of their skin, and that's enough.

Veronica: 00:06:49

If they're not, if you feel it's not a r- good fit, it's

Veronica: 00:06:53

not a good fit, just say no.

Veronica: 00:06:56

I think everybody's gotta h- toughen up a little bit.

Veronica: 00:06:59

L- look at what's happening to these animals.

Dixie: 00:07:02

Yeah.

Dixie: 00:07:03

Now I'll say another thing too that I notice sometimes on my adoption

Dixie: 00:07:07

applications, let's say I have somebody call me and I'm talking to the person.

Dixie: 00:07:11

, I always talk to them.

Dixie: 00:07:12

I'll ask them their name.

Dixie: 00:07:14

I'll basically run through all my application questions with them, and

Dixie: 00:07:18

then I'll refer them to the actual application for them to fill out.

Dixie: 00:07:23

And do you know how many times things change after I talk to them?

Veronica: 00:07:28

No.

Dixie: 00:07:29

It's just like , the application won't match what we

Dixie: 00:07:32

just discussed and stuff like that.

Dixie: 00:07:34

I consider that kind of a red flag too,

Veronica: 00:07:36

that is super, super smart of you to ask them the questions

Veronica: 00:07:40

just like in a conversational tone, to begin with, and then do the,

Veronica: 00:07:45

an appli- the actual application.

Veronica: 00:07:48

I like that a lot.

Veronica: 00:07:49

Put that in your policy for your trainings that you're gonna give around the country.

Veronica: 00:07:56

Put that in the manual, your training manual.

Veronica: 00:08:01

But that's, that's a very simple thing that people could do, and I think,

Veronica: 00:08:04

like I said, that a lot of rescues think that they have only two options.

Veronica: 00:08:08

We don't wanna make 'em work too hard, so they end up making 'em not work at all.

Veronica: 00:08:13

Where there's very, a non-intrusive option like what you're saying.

Veronica: 00:08:18

It makes a lot of sense.

Veronica: 00:08:19

It's just a very simple thing, and I don't think, people rarely probably have

Veronica: 00:08:25

a co- everybody I talk to that adopts an animal, a lot of them, they're like,

Veronica: 00:08:30

I'm like, "Oh what was asked of you?

Veronica: 00:08:31

Did they ask you what your lifestyle was like or if you have a backyard?"

Veronica: 00:08:35

It's "No.

Veronica: 00:08:36

We just went in and got a dog."

Veronica: 00:08:38

I'm like, "Okay," so they just adopted out a Belgian Malinois to

Veronica: 00:08:42

somebody that lives in a studio apartment with three other people.

Veronica: 00:08:46

I'm like, "Great.

Veronica: 00:08:47

That's not gonna work out."

Dixie: 00:08:49

Yeah I'll say you can see in these rehoming groups , on

Dixie: 00:08:53

Facebook the amount of people that have animals that they're rehoming.

Dixie: 00:08:58

And of course, that's another, thing when you try to tell people, "Hey,

Dixie: 00:09:01

just, just ask for a vet reference.

Dixie: 00:09:04

Just don't give the animal to anybody."

Dixie: 00:09:06

But it's the amount of people that are rehoming them that might have

Dixie: 00:09:11

adopted them less than a year.

Dixie: 00:09:13

And I'm always asking, "Hey, did you adopt from a rescue?"

Dixie: 00:09:18

Because, you can call that rescue.

Dixie: 00:09:19

Most of the times the rescues will take 'em back.

Dixie: 00:09:22

And, it's like a lot of them, they're getting them from,

Dixie: 00:09:28

places that won't take them back.

Dixie: 00:09:31

And it's really putting a burden on everything 'cause there's so

Dixie: 00:09:36

many of them that need homes now.

Dixie: 00:09:38

And so now you have all the ones that are being born this year, all

Dixie: 00:09:41

the ones that still needed homes, and then now it's, like, all the

Dixie: 00:09:44

people that adopted that decided, "Oh yeah, this isn't gonna work out."

Veronica: 00:09:49

And that's why I tell people, and I know that everybody thinks I'm

Veronica: 00:09:52

super harsh on Facebook, and I am.

Veronica: 00:09:55

I'm also…

Veronica: 00:09:55

But I also am very nice.

Veronica: 00:09:57

There's been many people that today I'm still friends with because they

Veronica: 00:10:00

wanted to rehome, and I've helped them keep their pet, sent food or bought

Veronica: 00:10:05

medical care or whatever they needed.

Veronica: 00:10:07

But a lot of these people are just, in my opinion, not good

Veronica: 00:10:10

people, or they're just…

Veronica: 00:10:12

I- that's my opinion.

Veronica: 00:10:13

But I just feel as though, in these rehoming groups, because

Veronica: 00:10:18

of the rehoming, animals in shelters are dying in there, right?

Veronica: 00:10:21

Because that's the home they would've maybe gotten.

Veronica: 00:10:24

And it's become such an epidemic of, doing what's easy instead of

Veronica: 00:10:28

what's right, and it's time to normalize keeping your pets, period.

Veronica: 00:10:34

Hard stop.

Veronica: 00:10:35

Rehoming is for tragedy, becoming unhoused, going into assisted

Veronica: 00:10:40

living, things like that.

Veronica: 00:10:41

It's not for too busy, baby, married, moving.

Veronica: 00:10:45

It's a bunch of bullshit, excuse my language.

Veronica: 00:10:47

But I feel…

Veronica: 00:10:49

I just wanna ask you this too before I forget.

Veronica: 00:10:52

In the groups, in the rehoming groups, how…

Veronica: 00:10:55

I don't know anything, let me say first, I don't know anything about how to admin one

Veronica: 00:10:59

of these groups, so that's why I'm asking.

Veronica: 00:11:02

If an admin of a group has a rehoming group, how difficult would it

Veronica: 00:11:07

be, and why don't groups do this?

Veronica: 00:11:10

Like, why don't groups in the rules that you sign up for, most of the

Veronica: 00:11:14

rehoming groups don't require anything but you promise to be respectful.

Veronica: 00:11:19

Why not have, a rehoming vet reference is necessary or a little bit of education

Veronica: 00:11:25

on how to safely rehome the pet?

Veronica: 00:11:28

Is that a difficult thing for an admin to, put on the back end?

Veronica: 00:11:32

Like I said, I don't know anything about it, but I'm just curious.

Dixie: 00:11:36

I guess it depends on how many people you have helping you.

Dixie: 00:11:39

Because I couldn't do , a group all by myself.

Dixie: 00:11:44

I have to have other people that would help with the group, for sure.

Dixie: 00:11:48

The other thing is I do have the rehoming group.

Dixie: 00:11:52

Part of the reason that I have the rehoming group is hopes of

Dixie: 00:11:56

helping the people not have to rehome, if that makes sense.

Dixie: 00:12:00

Now- Yeah … of course, you get the people in the rehoming

Dixie: 00:12:02

groups that, that don't care.

Dixie: 00:12:04

They just wanna rehome.

Dixie: 00:12:06

But my whole thing on it is…

Dixie: 00:12:08

And it's not to shame anybody, but you need to tell us what

Dixie: 00:12:14

has been done for this animal.

Dixie: 00:12:16

You need to tell us why are you getting rid of the animal.

Dixie: 00:12:21

Because it could be something that we could help out with.

Dixie: 00:12:25

You know- That's

Veronica: 00:12:25

great that you asked for that.

Dixie: 00:12:27

That's great.

Dixie: 00:12:27

Now- 'Cause

Veronica: 00:12:28

that's a big thing.

Dixie: 00:12:29

Yeah.

Dixie: 00:12:29

Now, a lot of people still post without that information, and the other moderators

Dixie: 00:12:34

might not necessarily catch it, but I think it's pertinent information.

Dixie: 00:12:39

I've seen people that are trying to rehome dogs that are aggressive to children.

Dixie: 00:12:43

Why are you in an, a rehoming group trying to rehome an aggressive dog that- Yeah.

Dixie: 00:12:49

A dog that's aggressive with children to a home with children?

Dixie: 00:12:53

I know.

Dixie: 00:12:54

Why are you doing that?

Dixie: 00:12:55

So you, you need to tell us why are you rehoming?

Veronica: 00:13:00

And I think that's, like you said the people that I see that

Veronica: 00:13:03

do tell the reasons and they're reasons that I think could be helped.

Veronica: 00:13:07

One, one lady was re-homing because she had lost her job and

Veronica: 00:13:10

she was, had to move somewhere.

Veronica: 00:13:12

She didn't know what to do.

Veronica: 00:13:13

And I said, "Hey," I w- I did…

Veronica: 00:13:15

I can feel who the good people are, and so I didn't do my normal shaming.

Veronica: 00:13:19

I said, "How can…

Veronica: 00:13:19

Thank you for being careful.

Veronica: 00:13:20

How can we help you?"

Veronica: 00:13:22

And sure enough, it was a temporary thing.

Veronica: 00:13:24

She said, "Thank God I didn't rehome my baby."

Veronica: 00:13:26

"I found another job," and everything worked out and I sent

Veronica: 00:13:29

her, flea medicine and food.

Veronica: 00:13:31

She just needed help for a month.

Veronica: 00:13:33

And now she still, has her cat and she just loves that animal so much.

Veronica: 00:13:38

And I, a lot of times the situation is just temporary that people are in, but

Veronica: 00:13:44

because of this mindset that the society has of easy, fast gratitude right away,

Veronica: 00:13:51

they don't really think it through.

Veronica: 00:13:54

They just go, "Oh my God, I have to move.

Veronica: 00:13:56

I…

Veronica: 00:13:56

Let me get rid of my pet."

Veronica: 00:13:58

And I just feel like it's important for ev- all of us to keep

Veronica: 00:14:01

educating people on social media.

Veronica: 00:14:03

Rehoming is not for inconvenience.

Veronica: 00:14:06

It is for tragedy, and it's gotten so out of hand.

Veronica: 00:14:10

And as long as it's out of hand, shelters will continue to be

Veronica: 00:14:13

overcrowded and killing to make space.

Veronica: 00:14:15

Breeders will be overlooked because there's just…

Veronica: 00:14:18

It's such chaos and anarchy that we can't really make any good progress,

Veronica: 00:14:24

so I feel like it's up to everyone to educate, people about rehoming.

Veronica: 00:14:30

I just, I don't know how it became such a norm.

Dixie: 00:14:32

Yeah.

Dixie: 00:14:33

I'm gonna give you an example of a situation that I just had So I

Dixie: 00:14:37

had my cousin reach out to me, and he's like, "Hey, you foster cats?"

Dixie: 00:14:42

And so I'm like, "Okay, what's up?

Dixie: 00:14:45

. , Turns out his son was losing the place where he was living,

Dixie: 00:14:50

so he was getting evicted.

Dixie: 00:14:52

He has two cats.

Dixie: 00:14:55

So o- of course, I'm like, "Okay, is this like, is he rehoming them?"

Dixie: 00:15:00

He loves these cats.

Dixie: 00:15:01

No, he does not wanna rehome them.

Dixie: 00:15:02

He just needs somebody to foster them for a few months, okay?

Dixie: 00:15:05

I'm willing to do it, but what is the situation?

Dixie: 00:15:08

Explain to me the situation.

Dixie: 00:15:10

So I'm, go through the whole thing.

Dixie: 00:15:11

Hey, cats spayed and neutered.

Dixie: 00:15:13

Yes, they're fully up to date on everything.

Dixie: 00:15:16

He spayed and neutered them.

Dixie: 00:15:17

He found them as kittens.

Dixie: 00:15:19

He had everything done for them.

Dixie: 00:15:22

So I'm like, "Okay, look.",

Dixie: 00:15:23

When do you need them to be fostered by?"

Dixie: 00:15:26

He has a week, so I'm like, "Okay."

Dixie: 00:15:29

And so finally I started working with him, and I'm like, "Why can't the cats go

Dixie: 00:15:35

to the place where he's gonna go live?"

Dixie: 00:15:39

And it's because they had a small dog.

Dixie: 00:15:42

So I'm like, "Okay."

Dixie: 00:15:44

What if I can give you one of these big pop-up, three-story kennels?"

Dixie: 00:15:49

You know which ones I'm talking about for cats?

Veronica: 00:15:52

Yeah.

Dixie: 00:15:52

Yeah, so I'm like, "What if I can give you one of those and you

Dixie: 00:15:56

can just put the cats in there?"

Dixie: 00:15:57

And I'm like, "Trust me, the cats are fine.

Dixie: 00:16:00

There's plenty enough room for them.

Dixie: 00:16:02

It would be the same as if you boarded them somewhere.

Dixie: 00:16:05

You let them out for a little while to have a little bit of exercise, but the

Dixie: 00:16:08

majority of the time they stay in there."

Dixie: 00:16:11

So come to find out, that's what we ended up doing.

Dixie: 00:16:15

So they came and they picked up the- Wow … kennel from me.

Dixie: 00:16:18

Cause the kennel is small enough, it's tall, so the cats have numerous

Dixie: 00:16:23

shelves that they can jump on.

Dixie: 00:16:25

Plenty enough room to put a litter box.

Dixie: 00:16:27

You put those hammocks in there for the cats to sleep in.

Dixie: 00:16:31

And so it takes a very small footprint on the floor because it's tall, so

Dixie: 00:16:36

it gives the cats- Oh, yeah … lots of jumping room and everything.

Dixie: 00:16:39

And so we were able to get it worked out, so he's looking for a new place

Dixie: 00:16:44

that's gonna, of course, allow his cats.

Dixie: 00:16:46

But in the meantime, that's where the cats are.

Dixie: 00:16:49

And it- I love it.

Dixie: 00:16:50

Yeah, it worked out so wonderfully for that, And I felt really bad for him, which

Dixie: 00:16:55

is why I would have taken them to foster for him if he couldn't get it to work out,

Dixie: 00:16:59

because he tried his best for these cats.

Dixie: 00:17:02

They're, he went and had everything done for them.

Dixie: 00:17:04

He was very upset over the whole thing.

Dixie: 00:17:05

Up-to-date on shots and everything- Yeah … means, yeah, they care- Yeah … a lot.

Dixie: 00:17:09

So and then we got it where it was worked out.

Dixie: 00:17:13

It's, perfect.

Dixie: 00:17:14

And so it's, there's situations where you can help people like that.

Dixie: 00:17:19

' I buy these pop-up kennels, I get , a special price on them.

Dixie: 00:17:22

I think I pay $55 for them.

Veronica: 00:17:25

I didn't even know you had…

Veronica: 00:17:27

When you said pop-up, I thought it was gonna be like the playpen one I

Veronica: 00:17:29

use when I foster, like a small one.

Veronica: 00:17:32

I didn't even realize they had tall pop-ups.

Veronica: 00:17:34

That's

Dixie: 00:17:34

like- Yeah this is- Great to know … they're the metal ones.

Dixie: 00:17:36

They're the metal ones.

Dixie: 00:17:36

So it's like the more metal crate, but they make them five to six feet tall.

Veronica: 00:17:41

But it's not something you have to put together with a hammer

Dixie: 00:17:44

and- No … a screwdriver- no … and all that.

Dixie: 00:17:45

No, it's like the dog crates.

Dixie: 00:17:47

That's amazing.

Dixie: 00:17:47

You know how they have the metal dog crates that you pop up?

Dixie: 00:17:49

Oh yeah.

Dixie: 00:17:49

Yeah.

Dixie: 00:17:49

Okay.

Dixie: 00:17:49

It's like that, but it's a, like a three-story version for the cats.

Dixie: 00:17:53

So it's like basically three of those stacked on top of each other.

Veronica: 00:17:57

And I think when you're in a situation, like when you're

Veronica: 00:18:00

having a life event that's, that's stressful you lose your job I feel

Veronica: 00:18:03

when you're in your situation, 'cause this happens to me, it's hard for

Veronica: 00:18:07

me to see outside of the situation.

Veronica: 00:18:10

So people don't see angles like, that kind of sit- what you did with the,

Veronica: 00:18:14

the indoor catio, with your cousin.

Veronica: 00:18:17

It's hard for people to see the other options when you're

Veronica: 00:18:20

entrenched in, a difficult time.

Veronica: 00:18:23

So I love that, though.

Veronica: 00:18:24

The s- the indoor catio.

Veronica: 00:18:26

That's great.

Veronica: 00:18:27

I never…

Veronica: 00:18:28

I didn't even think about that, and I feel like I think of a lot of things.

Veronica: 00:18:32

That's a really…

Veronica: 00:18:33

What's one?

Veronica: 00:18:33

I always assumed they had to be, like, outdoor and hammer and nails.

Veronica: 00:18:38

That's really good.

Veronica: 00:18:40

Yeah.

Veronica: 00:18:40

Thank you, Dixie.

Dixie: 00:18:40

Yeah, no, super easy.

Veronica: 00:18:42

That's what- I'm gonna suggest it to people,

Dixie: 00:18:44

Yeah.

Dixie: 00:18:44

Yeah, absolutely.

Dixie: 00:18:45

And you know what?

Dixie: 00:18:45

I'll send you a link or a photo to the one that I use, but I get them off of Amazon.

Dixie: 00:18:50

I buy them off of Amazon Prime, and because I have a business account on

Dixie: 00:18:53

Amazon Prime, I think the normal price on them is $99, but I get them for 55.

Veronica: 00:18:59

And that's a great thing for me to suggest to people who

Veronica: 00:19:03

are saying they're just not g- the two cats aren't getting along, or

Veronica: 00:19:06

the cat and the dog, and I'm always like, "Did you watch Jackson Galaxy?"

Veronica: 00:19:09

His methods really do work.

Veronica: 00:19:11

I like his videos a lot.

Veronica: 00:19:12

But this is a good thing for me to suggest to people.

Veronica: 00:19:15

"Try this while you're introducing."

Veronica: 00:19:16

They'll be like, "My apartment's too small to have different rooms

Veronica: 00:19:19

blocked off," but this would be-

Dixie: 00:19:21

Yeah

Dixie: 00:19:21

… Veronica: you know- Absolutely … this catio thing would be,

Dixie: 00:19:23

would work great for that.

Dixie: 00:19:25

Yeah, that's what we all use in cat rescue.

Dixie: 00:19:28

We have these and we can pop them up when we're doing

Dixie: 00:19:31

temporary fostering, of course.

Dixie: 00:19:33

And then that's m- And you fold it

Veronica: 00:19:35

up when you're not, when you're not

Dixie: 00:19:36

using it?

Dixie: 00:19:36

Yeah.

Dixie: 00:19:37

Yeah, you can fold it up when you're not- Okay … using it.

Dixie: 00:19:39

I've got five kittens and one right next to me right now, And they got-

Veronica: 00:19:42

Oh, no, they're so cute

Veronica: 00:19:44

… Dixie: they got plenty of room.

Veronica: 00:19:45

They jump on the shelves.

Veronica: 00:19:46

Now I let them out for exercise, that's all they need until they're

Veronica: 00:19:50

ready to go up for adoption.

Veronica: 00:19:53

Yeah, they're tiny babies, and they're so cute.

Veronica: 00:19:56

I've, I keep sharing your posts.

Veronica: 00:19:57

They're, ugh, they're adorable.

Veronica: 00:19:59

They all have such big eyes.

Veronica: 00:20:00

You're so good with them.

Veronica: 00:20:02

The little hissing ones, the hissy fit ones-

Dixie: 00:20:05

Yeah, the- … I

Veronica: 00:20:05

just saw.

Dixie: 00:20:06

Yeah, the two little calicos are still hissing at me, though.

Dixie: 00:20:08

The, the boys are sweet as could be, though.

Dixie: 00:20:10

I have , a tabby and two little orange ones, and those are all sweet as could be.

Dixie: 00:20:14

The- Aren't

Veronica: 00:20:14

calicos like personality, like strong personalities anyway?

Dixie: 00:20:19

I think it's because these are- I've heard … the girls.

Dixie: 00:20:21

The, the boys I find always tame up a little bit better than the girls do.

Dixie: 00:20:25

The girls are a little bit fussier.

Veronica: 00:20:27

Yeah.

Veronica: 00:20:28

My cat was…

Veronica: 00:20:29

I found her in a trash can in Arkansas, and she is, she's very sweet two

Veronica: 00:20:34

hours a day, but I don't think she…

Veronica: 00:20:35

She never really…

Veronica: 00:20:37

I feel I don't know my boy cats seem to like me better.

Veronica: 00:20:39

I don't know what that is.

Veronica: 00:20:41

But maybe it's, I don't know if it's 'cause boys like…

Veronica: 00:20:45

I assumed it was 'cause boys like girls better, and that's

Veronica: 00:20:49

why she's not that nice,

Dixie: 00:20:50

I find personally the boys are a little bit more easygoing.

Dixie: 00:20:53

The girls are affectionate, too, but the girls can just be moody.

Veronica: 00:20:57

Ah, yeah, okay.

Veronica: 00:20:59

Yeah, that makes sense, actually.

Dixie: 00:21:00

Yes.

Veronica: 00:21:00

I always preach- Yes … like they're just like

Veronica: 00:21:02

people, but it- they actually are.

Dixie: 00:21:04

Yep, absolutely

Veronica: 00:21:08

So I don't know.

Veronica: 00:21:08

Tixie, we need to devise something, come up with something.

Veronica: 00:21:11

Maybe there's there's some kind of protocol that can be shared,

Veronica: 00:21:13

and we can just maybe mass email it to rescues or something.

Veronica: 00:21:17

Just

Dixie: 00:21:19

do it.

Dixie: 00:21:19

Yeah I'd like any input from any other rescue, 'Cause it's a

Dixie: 00:21:24

difficult problem to combat, really.

Dixie: 00:21:26

Protecting yourself.

Dixie: 00:21:27

And I'm sure

Veronica: 00:21:27

somehow everybody worries about, I'm sure everybody worries.

Veronica: 00:21:31

All the rescues are probably worried.

Veronica: 00:21:33

They don't wanna make that mistake.

Dixie: 00:21:35

Yeah,

Dixie: 00:21:35

' Veronica: cause- I'm anxious to hear what this girl says.

Dixie: 00:21:38

I'm gonna send you as soon as I talk to her.

Dixie: 00:21:40

I think that maybe you guys should talk.

Dixie: 00:21:42

Oh, yeah, I'd love to talk to her.

Veronica: 00:21:45

Yeah, 'cause it sounds, I think that she probably has a lot of…

Veronica: 00:21:48

She seems pretty on the ball, and maybe she could give some

Veronica: 00:21:51

insight- Yeah … for your manual.

Dixie: 00:21:54

Yeah, and it sounds like you in a sense too, because, you're out there

Dixie: 00:21:57

looking at all these things, putting together all these connections too.

Veronica: 00:22:02

Yeah, the clues.

Veronica: 00:22:03

It's, Yeah, and she's…

Veronica: 00:22:04

it was like a year and something ago where she first started posting on

Veronica: 00:22:08

Facebook saying, "Hey I think this guy is harming animals, harming cats.

Veronica: 00:22:13

I need help."

Veronica: 00:22:15

And it was really pathetic.

Veronica: 00:22:16

I'm looking forward to hearing how long it took her to get help, 'cause there was a

Veronica: 00:22:20

lot of posts under that saying good luck."

Veronica: 00:22:23

That kind of thing.

Veronica: 00:22:25

And she was just urgent about it.

Veronica: 00:22:27

It was…

Veronica: 00:22:27

It broke my heart to see the pleas, she was putting out.

Dixie: 00:22:31

Yeah, I haven't come across her posts, so I'd like to go see them, so

Dixie: 00:22:34

I'm gonna have to go back and go look.

Dixie: 00:22:36

'Cause it makes you wonder, too would it have been resolved faster if more

Dixie: 00:22:41

people would've taken her seriously, too?

Veronica: 00:22:44

Yep, and that's one of the questions I asked.

Veronica: 00:22:47

How long did it take for you to, for people to start taking you seriously?

Veronica: 00:22:51

I'm also pretty proud.

Veronica: 00:22:53

Like, when the news mentioned that it was internet sleuths that, helped put the case

Veronica: 00:22:58

together, I was like, wow, that's amazing.

Veronica: 00:23:01

I love seeing social media being, used for good.

Veronica: 00:23:06

And I just…

Veronica: 00:23:07

Yeah, I'm interested to see, for her to say it was probably

Veronica: 00:23:10

a difficult experience for her.

Veronica: 00:23:11

She, she said it was the most soul-crushing experience.

Veronica: 00:23:16

But I love that she's open to talking about it, for sure.

Dixie: 00:23:19

Yeah.

Dixie: 00:23:19

Yeah, I can't imagine having to go through when you come across that.

Dixie: 00:23:25

'Cause it's…

Dixie: 00:23:25

Some of the stuff that we see is depressing enough, but to uncover

Dixie: 00:23:30

something like that , it's horrifying.

Veronica: 00:23:33

And then to find out you were com- she was completely right

Veronica: 00:23:36

about her s- assumptions is just…

Veronica: 00:23:38

Yeah.

Dixie: 00:23:39

That right there, too, tells you something about, like we were talking

Dixie: 00:23:42

about with the whole intuition thing,

Veronica: 00:23:44

Oh

Veronica: 00:23:44

… Dixie: something hit her the wrong way and it, and she said something about it

Veronica: 00:23:49

Exactly right, and it, and people were, didn't

Veronica: 00:23:52

take her seriously at first.

Veronica: 00:23:53

And I think the whole gut feeling is something that once people start

Veronica: 00:23:57

to trust it, it's like a muscle.

Veronica: 00:23:58

It gets stronger, the more you trust it, in it.

Veronica: 00:24:02

And then I was gonna say…

Veronica: 00:24:03

Oh, about the…

Veronica: 00:24:05

I don't know if people know this.

Veronica: 00:24:06

I just found this out about that torture guy that he was also fundraising

Veronica: 00:24:11

under saying he needed transgender surgery, which I thought was a very

Veronica: 00:24:15

bizarre twist to the whole saga.

Veronica: 00:24:20

Did you see that?

Dixie: 00:24:20

I did not see that.

Dixie: 00:24:22

It's crazy.

Dixie: 00:24:22

Oh.

Dixie: 00:24:22

The whole story's crazy.

Veronica: 00:24:25

He wasn't just abusing the animals for profit.

Veronica: 00:24:29

He was also fundraising saying that he need…

Veronica: 00:24:33

On a whole different platform he, I think he got over $300,000.

Veronica: 00:24:38

Oh my God.

Veronica: 00:24:38

He was dressed up as a woman, dressed as a woman, and he was on Reddit.

Veronica: 00:24:43

That's where it started.

Veronica: 00:24:45

He started on Reddit posting, "Hey, guys.

Veronica: 00:24:47

I'm wondering how to raise money for marketing."

Veronica: 00:24:51

He was talking about marketing.

Veronica: 00:24:52

He was in a marketing group, and someone gave him advice, and somehow

Veronica: 00:24:56

he turned that into a website and a GoFundMe for transgender surgery.

Veronica: 00:25:02

And he dressed up as a woman with makeup on and said, "Hey, I'm

Veronica: 00:25:05

trying to get transgender surgery.

Veronica: 00:25:07

I just don't…

Veronica: 00:25:08

it's a big…

Veronica: 00:25:08

I'll send you the link."

Veronica: 00:25:10

Crazy, and he raised over 300,000.

Veronica: 00:25:12

That was at the same time that he was doing this other…

Veronica: 00:25:15

And that's what the girl put together, the girl that I emailed

Veronica: 00:25:18

on Face- messaged on Facebook.

Dixie: 00:25:20

Wow.

Dixie: 00:25:21

That's just insane.

Dixie: 00:25:22

She put together- even the whole thing with doing the GoFundMes- Oh, it's-

Dixie: 00:25:25

for the cats, like to…

Dixie: 00:25:27

I don't know to like even think that up.

Dixie: 00:25:30

You know what I mean?

Dixie: 00:25:31

It's terrible.

Dixie: 00:25:33

It's horrifying

Veronica: 00:25:35

I, it's just it's so m- premeditated and just, step by step.

Veronica: 00:25:40

It just goes so deep.

Veronica: 00:25:42

I couldn't believe it when I saw that he was also doing the the

Veronica: 00:25:45

one for the transgender surgery.

Veronica: 00:25:47

And who knows?

Veronica: 00:25:48

There was probably other campaigns out there he was raising money.

Veronica: 00:25:51

It's just disgusting.

Dixie: 00:25:52

Yeah, and I wonder how long it actually went on.

Dixie: 00:25:55

, I know they had the whole list of all the cats and everything,

Dixie: 00:25:58

but did it go on prior to that?

Dixie: 00:26:01

You know what I mean?

Veronica: 00:26:03

I'm sure it's probably been going on for years.

Veronica: 00:26:06

And, TikTok is another one in my sights because, what's up with these bastards?

Veronica: 00:26:10

I can…

Veronica: 00:26:10

There's a, a video of animal being beat or something on Facebook.

Veronica: 00:26:14

I report it.

Veronica: 00:26:15

It never gets taken down.

Veronica: 00:26:17

"Sorry, there's not enough, evidence to take this post down."

Veronica: 00:26:20

I'm like, "Jesus, what?"

Veronica: 00:26:23

You know what I mean?

Veronica: 00:26:25

I have a menstrual product company, and if I say the word period on

Veronica: 00:26:28

Facebook, they take down my ad.

Veronica: 00:26:30

It's just crazy.

Veronica: 00:26:32

So I, they, that's gotta come to a head at some point but,

Veronica: 00:26:35

there's one step at a time,

Dixie: 00:26:37

yeah, and then that's another thing too with the whole GoFundMes.

Dixie: 00:26:40

He's torturing these animals to raise money to get them to the vet and it's a

Dixie: 00:26:46

shame for the people out there who are actually, like, trying to do good by their

Dixie: 00:26:52

pets, and actually, something happens and they don't have the money to do a surgery

Dixie: 00:26:57

for their pet or something like that.

Dixie: 00:26:59

And now it's gonna make everybody think twice for them,

Veronica: 00:27:03

it ruins it for everybody.

Veronica: 00:27:04

It sure does.

Veronica: 00:27:05

And I'm thinking I'll probably…

Veronica: 00:27:07

'cause I'm pretty quick.

Veronica: 00:27:07

I'll give money and I never really check anything, anybody out.

Veronica: 00:27:11

I never think to.

Veronica: 00:27:13

But now, I somewhat just stick with the ones that I have, that

Veronica: 00:27:16

I know and, donate to them.

Veronica: 00:27:18

But it's, it's a shame.

Veronica: 00:27:19

It's a real shame and at the end of the day, for all of these things, the only

Veronica: 00:27:23

people that, the only things that suffer are the animals, like, at, with, without

Veronica: 00:27:26

every sin- one of these scenarios.

Veronica: 00:27:29

And it's just there's enough suffering and enough animals are suffering.

Veronica: 00:27:33

It's just we gotta try to come up with something that isn't just talk.

Veronica: 00:27:38

It's not just someone do this.

Veronica: 00:27:41

It's someone doing it.

Veronica: 00:27:43

I don't know what that is yet, but I have a feeling you'll figure it out, Dixie.

Dixie: 00:27:47

Before we end our call what are your thoughts on what we need to do?

Veronica: 00:27:55

I believe that s- some-- I think it would be helpful if we could,

Veronica: 00:28:00

at least in our own city, and then maybe other cities would adopt it, if we could

Veronica: 00:28:04

have a g- make a group, like a task force or just, independent rescuers, not

Veronica: 00:28:11

501[c][3]s, where they meet, occasionally with an agenda, and you go down the list.

Veronica: 00:28:18

And everybody would just come up.

Veronica: 00:28:19

I think there needs to be just a more clean, direct approach, that

Veronica: 00:28:26

we have a lot of chaos in rescue, and it's because there's not any

Veronica: 00:28:31

infrastructure to a lot of it.

Veronica: 00:28:33

You see what I'm saying?

Veronica: 00:28:35

You gotta weed through all these comments on Facebook to find out if

Veronica: 00:28:38

some cat's been helped or what have you.

Veronica: 00:28:40

I just think there's a better way.

Veronica: 00:28:43

I don't know what that is exactly, but I think that we all need to get on the

Veronica: 00:28:47

same page, because if everybody's if everybody's just doing their own thing

Veronica: 00:28:52

without any united kind of core mission statement, then it's just gonna continue

Veronica: 00:28:58

to be chaotic, and animals are gonna continue to slip through the cracks

Dixie: 00:29:04

Yeah, it's a great idea.

Dixie: 00:29:05

Thank you for speaking with me this evening, Veronica.

Veronica: 00:29:10

Thank you so much, Dixie.

Veronica: 00:29:11

It's always such a pleasure to be on your show, and I thank you

Veronica: 00:29:14

so much for doing this podcast.

Veronica: 00:29:16

It's so important.

Dixie: 00:29:18

And that wraps up part two of my conversation with Veronica Boletto.

Dixie: 00:29:22

I think one of the biggest takeaways from this discussion is that we

Dixie: 00:29:24

can't keep doing things the same way and expect different results.

Dixie: 00:29:28

Whether it's preventing unnecessary rehoming, improving adoption screening,

Dixie: 00:29:32

or working together as a rescue community, there's always room to do better.

Dixie: 00:29:36

And I'd really love to hear from those of you involved in rescue, what

Dixie: 00:29:40

changes do you think we need to make?

Dixie: 00:29:43

What solutions have worked for you?

Dixie: 00:29:45

Because at the end of the day, we're all working towards the

same goal: 00:29:48

protecting animals and giving them the lives they deserve.

same goal: 00:29:52

Thank you for listening to Animal Posse.

same goal: 00:29:54

Until next time, keep advocating, keep rescuing, and most importantly,

same goal: 00:29:58

keep being a voice for the animals who can't speak for themselves