It Takes a Village to Save Lives with Stephanie Smith

Dixie: 00:00:02

Welcome to Animal Posse, the podcast dedicated to the

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people and rescues making a

difference in the lives of animals.

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Hi everybody.

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This is Dixie with Unwanted Feline

organization, your host of Animal posse.

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Joining me today is Stephanie Smith.

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Stephanie is an animal lover, animal

advocate, and an independent rescuer.

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Hey, Stephanie

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Stephanie: hey.

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Dixie: Welcome to the show.

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I know the other day we spoke briefly on

the phone and you were talking about all

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these stories and rescues that you've

been involved in, and you talked about

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how you had a very successful social

media page that was getting a lot of

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information out there that got shut down.

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So I definitely wanna

talk about all of that.

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But before we get into that, can you

tell us a little bit about yourself?

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How is it that you.

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Became an independent rescuer,

an or an animal advocate.

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Stephanie: Let's see, back in 2022 I had a

friend call me, asked me if I could go and

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check this crate on the side of the road.

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Went and checked it.

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It was not a good thing

called animal control.

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They come out.

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It took a while to unscrew

the container the dog was in.

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It was in a container that you normally

take your dogs to the vet in or cats.

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The puppy, it was probably a six

month old puppy, probably younger.

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It was deceased.

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I'm not gonna go into details what was

going on with it because it was not good.

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And then I realized there was a problem.

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So I've always rescued

animals and took care of 'em.

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But that day I really got

involved with contacting.

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The mayor, Commonwealth attorney,

the Sheriff's Department trying

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to figure out what we could do

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and the problem that people

don't see is there's not enough

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manpower in these positions.

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And there's not enough people

like me , what I'm seeing is

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people get on the computer and

we call 'em keyboard warriors.

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If those keyboard warriors would actually

get up from behind that computer and

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start attending these city council

meetings the county meetings, , because

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there is two different entities

people need to understand there.

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, It is a true meaning when it

says it takes a village because

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it really does one person.

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Can make a little change, but it's

gonna take more than just one to get

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laws changed to help these animals.

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So let's fast forward a little bit.

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I had this page, it was going great.

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Had 14,000 followers.

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We were getting things done.

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We were getting animals rescued

from bad situations meeting a lot of

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other rescues from different states.

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I was on the phone.

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It's just me.

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I keep saying.

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We, but it was me.

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I made phone calls.

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I talked to sheriff's

departments in different towns.

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People would send me

photos, videos of an animal.

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I stayed in close contact with

different sheriff's departments

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'cause I couldn't actually get

in my car and drive 500 miles.

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But what information was coming into

me, I was translating back to them.

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I got a lot of animals

rescued just by doing that.

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Staying in contact with judges,

sheriffs, and you've got to be kind.

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You've gotta be kind.

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You can't go in there like

a bull in a China shop.

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You know these people.

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They work hard and there's not a lot

of them and I really feel bad for 'em.

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'Cause they do try and they get the blunt,

, people think they don't do anything.

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They really do try.

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They just don't have the manpower.

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Dixie: Let me interrupt

you for just one second.

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Stephanie: Sure.

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Dixie: What is the area that you are in?

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What state are you in?

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Stephanie: I'm in Kentucky, but I was

mainly gonna focus on Kentucky on my page.

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But I had so many people reaching

out from other states needing help.

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It's just not Kentucky,

it's just not Illinois.

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It's the whole United States

that's having problems.

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Dixie: So you were basically

sitting in front of your

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computer on your page, helping.

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Hundreds and hundreds of miles

away just by making phone calls

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and doing all those things.

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Yes.

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Wow.

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That's wonderful.

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Yes.

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Stephanie: I was not

being a keyboard warrior.

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There's a difference here.

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Dixie: Absolutely.

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Stephanie: When I say keyboard

warrior, I'm talking about someone

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that goes you need to go do something.

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Why don't somebody go help

that person or help that animal

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that is a keyboard warrior.

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I was seeing there was a problem and

I was taking those extra steps in,

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making phone calls collecting videos

from people that send it to me.

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Pictures, addresses people's names,

and I was getting it out there.

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To the correct people, like the police

department or the judges or who it may be.

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And I'm gonna tell you, I met a

lot on the phone, didn't meet 'em

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in person, and I'm over the phone.

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I met a lot of very kindhearted

sheriffs, judges, lawyers.

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They care.

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They care, but they can only go so far.

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And then it takes the citizens to jump in.

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It really takes a village.

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It takes all of us.

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Dixie: When you say that you need

the citizens to jump in, explain

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why you need that to happen.

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Stephanie: Okay.

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Let me give an example.

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I'll just give you an example that

something that happened to me if I was

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someone that did not get involved I seen

someone physically beating their dog.

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This really happened beating

their dog, kicking it, punching

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it really abusing this dog.

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Now, see, if I didn't get involved,

I could just shut my door and the

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problem would never get solved.

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The animal would continue to be

abused, but the person I am and

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the community and the citizens

getting involved, I stepped out.

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And said, you don't need

to hit that dog no more.

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And I was filming.

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People need to understand they

need, and I'm talking, they

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judges, lawyers, sheriffs.

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They need that proof,

that video, that photo.

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They need that proof.

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To be able to prove that

this is what's happening.

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So I took the initiative to get involved,

take the video, take the pictures.

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I called 9 1 1 and said,

Hey, send somebody out here.

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And that's what I mean

by getting involved.

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I didn't shut my door and.

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Just let it continue to

happen every single day.

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I got involved, I got it

stopped, and I had to stay on it.

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It's not something that resolved

that very day because it takes time.

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People think I did report it.

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Okay, just because you reported it.

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It takes time.

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They've got to build up the evidence and

get their, because when you go in front

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of a judge, you've gotta have proof.

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If somebody come up to you and said, Hey

John down here,, that's just an example.

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He's down here punching his dog well.

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You don't know if you can believe

it or not, but if they've got video

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evidence that's really happening,

that's what it's gonna take to get

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done.

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The citizens need to get involved.

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That's why it was called Citizens

Against Animal Abuse and Neglect,

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because it takes the citizens

getting involved, not just one.

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Not just one citizen.

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It takes the citizens,

everybody getting involved.

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I would go to meetings

down at the courthouse.

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They're gonna listen to 50

people instead of just one.

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And when you're the

only one standing there.

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It makes it look like you're the

chopper, because it's okay, wait,

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why is there just one of 'em?

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She's not, really pleading her case here.

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But if you've got 50 people behind you or

30 people saying the same thing, believing

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in the same thing, you're gonna get

more of a response, something happening.

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You've got to stick together.

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It does take people getting involved.

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Dixie: I'm glad you said something

too about the videoing because this is

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something that I see a lot of, especially

with people who trap and dump cats.

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You constantly see people saying,

oh, somebody trapped and dumped my

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cat, and they'll go on social media.

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They will complain and complain about it.

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And I'm like, today there is no reason

for you not to have video with the

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cell phones that we have available.

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Correct.

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It's easy to get video

and then not only that.

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If you are suspecting that somebody

is trapping and dumping, which is

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illegal, by the way, if you are

suspecting that somebody is doing that,

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you can even go get a game Camera.

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Game cameras are inexpensive,

so you can hide it somewhere

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where you can get that video.

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But a lot of people wanna invest

all that time complaining.

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Like you said, they don't go out and

physically do anything, and people

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will even tell 'em, you have to

go out, you have to get the video.

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You can't just say, so and so

is trapping and dumping cats.

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You need to get some kind of video proof

of it, and with, yes, with everything

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available, there really is no reason that

you can't get something like that done.

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It's easy, and if you can't afford.

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A game camera to set up, ask somebody else

because they might have one to lend you.

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Stephanie: They may even

have cameras on their house.

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I have even went to the extent of

people saying this is happening,

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and if it is in my area, if it's

not, I go on Google and look around.

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People may have cameras on their house.

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There's too many cameras.

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Too readily available nowadays.

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There's no excuse not to have cameras.

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And I'm glad that you said the trapping

and what you're saying, they're the cats.

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They don't want 'em in

their neighborhoods.

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And is that what you're getting at is

people's trapping 'em and relocating 'em?

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Dixie: So like in our area, okay.

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Yes.

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We have the TNR cats are considered Yes.

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Community cats.

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So yes, in my area they

are allowed to be there.

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A leash law does not

apply to a community cat.

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So if they're ear tipped and they're

around in an area and they're in

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A colony where they're well cared

for, they're allowed to be there.

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And you'll have people

that are just cat haters.

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Or animal haters.

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, They don't want to even see 'em.

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The cats don't even need

to go on their property.

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They don't wanna see 'em there, though.

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That's the problem.

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I understand situations where

they could actually be a nuisance

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and people, might not even be

feeding them in the correct place.

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They might not be feeding them enough.

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They might be.

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Feeding 'em to where they're leaving

food all around and then it does

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create a little bit of a nuisance.

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But to the ones that do it the correct

way, you'll just have these people that

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almost try to lure them into their yard

just so they could trap 'em and dump

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them, even if they're not bothering them.

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It's just like the sight

of them bothers them.

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They don't want them to be there, period.

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So they'll admit to neighbors that,

oh yeah, I trapped and dumped that

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one 'cause I didn't want it here.

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And it's like people will come out and

they'll be like, yeah, so and so that,

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lives next door to me trapped my cat.

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You don't have proof of it.

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They can tell you, there you

go, all they want that they

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trapped and dumped your cat.

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And you don't have any

proof of that though.

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So you need to have proof.

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You have to record it.

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, Exactly.

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And if you love animals, then you will

take that extra step to protect them.

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Stephanie: People need to realize

that animals don't have voices, so

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you have to be that voice for them.

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They've gotta remember.

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It's all hearsay unless there's proof.

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Video proof.

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Photo proof.

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I love video though.

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Let me tell you I started TNR

down at a place that I go to.

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I realized there was a big, major problem.

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So when I went to leave, I

immediately got on the phone.

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And this is what I'm trying

to get people to understand.

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It takes.

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You one person to get the ball rolling.

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I seen there was a problem, so

I financially could not do it.

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'cause there's 60 cats there and I

picked up the phone and made phone

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calls to people, I was like, Hey,

do you know somebody that can help

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me financially get these cats fixed?

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What do I need to do?

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Who do I need to call?

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And it ended up I did find

somebody that had a grant and

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was like, let's get 'em fixed.

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So let me tell you when I go and feed

'em, 'cause I feed 'em once a day.

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I do have an Amazon wishlist because I

can't financially feed all these cats.

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And plus I got cats of my own.

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I have a page, it's

called pet Blessing Box.

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It's got a blue box.

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And I'll talk about that in a

minute, but I do film when I go.

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First off, I did not start this just

by, Hey, I'm gonna start doing it.

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No, I found out who the

manager was of this park and.

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I asked them, it's a trailer park.

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I said, is it okay that I do this?

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This is what I'm gonna do.

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I'm gonna bring these cats back.

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They're gonna be fixed.

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They're going to have their

rabies shots and they'll have

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an ear tip when they come back.

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And if I'm lucky, can get 'em a home.

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Absolutely thrilled to

death that I was doing this.

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I have talked to, not all, but.

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90% of the residents in that

area, I'm very kind to 'em.

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I'm not rude.

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Some of them come out and said,

please don't fix these cats.

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I don't know who your

cat is out of 60 cats.

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I do film.

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I film when I feed.

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I don't film the people.

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I don't have the camera

filming everybody's.

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I'm very respectful.

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I film the cats when I feed 'em.

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I do take pictures of

the cats and I post it.

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That's one thing people need to

do to show what you're doing.

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If you're doing TNR, 'cause there's

somebody else in our area that does

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it too and does the same thing.

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It's to show the community

what you're doing for one,

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and also to protect yourself.

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And there's just a lot of

reasons that you need to do it.

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But if people are trapping these

cats and taking 'em and dumping 'em,

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people need to get that on recording

or maybe, go up to push record on

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your phone and go up and talk to 'em

and say, Hey, are you doing this?

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And if so, why?

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How can we fix this?

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Because I had a neighbor in

my neighborhood doing the

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same thing, trapping the cats

that I was getting fixed.

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He said, I didn't like the

cats coming in my yard.

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And I said there is

deterrence that you can buy.

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There's stuff that you can put around in

your yard and I do tell 'em the benefits.

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Cats keep mice and snakes and

things that you don't want coming

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in your home or around your home.

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They keep 'em down.

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So maybe talk to 'em about that

as well, if that's what they're

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doing, but definitely get that.

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Proof that they're doing it.

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Dixie: Yeah.

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See, I had a situation

a couple of months ago.

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We have a feral and he

had passed away suddenly.

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Stephanie: Oh no.

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Dixie: I went back on my cameras and

I looked, from . The time that we fed

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him the day before to the time that

we found him, we looked at all angles.

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Just 'cause I wanted to make

sure that nobody did come,

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intentionally put some food out.

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Or something to harm him.

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In this case, no.

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It turned out when we told my vet , her

best guess would be like, he threw like

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a blood clot or something like that,

and that just caused him to pass away.

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But it was beneficial to have those

cameras to know that we knew that

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nobody came and gave him something

that he wasn't supposed to get.

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Nobody came and harmed him.

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And at least that gave us some bit of

closure on that, because it's upsetting

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when they're fine one day and they're

like that the next and you just

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don't know what could have happened.

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You don't want somebody coming up and

kicking him or hitting him or leaving out

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something that he should not be eating.

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And at least with those cameras,

it did give us that peace of mind.

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'cause and it took us a long

time, but we went back and we

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watched every single angle.

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To track him to see where he was.

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And he never left the property.

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He stayed within the property,

so nobody did harm him.

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So it was just, like I said,

peace of mind knowing that

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: 00:19:32

Stephanie: Oh absolutely.

324

: 00:19:33

Yeah.

325

: 00:19:34

You've got to have that

proof most definitely.

326

: 00:19:38

Dixie: Tell us a little bit

about the pet Blessing box.

327

: 00:19:43

Stephanie: I noticed that there was on

the pages that I follow, people would

328

: 00:19:47

be on there asking for cat food or

dog food, that they couldn't make it.

329

: 00:19:54

Maybe a couple of days until

their next payday or whatever.

330

: 00:19:59

So at my church, we have a

blessing box for the people and

331

: 00:20:04

I thought this is something that

nobody has around here for pets.

332

: 00:20:09

So I talked to my church

and they were great with it.

333

: 00:20:13

They said That would be awesome.

334

: 00:20:16

I gave my husband a plan

on how I wanted it built.

335

: 00:20:19

So he built it and we installed it.

336

: 00:20:22

Because I didn't have my

Citizens page anymore which

337

: 00:20:26

I have been trying to appeal.

338

: 00:20:29

Since May of what?

339

: 00:20:30

Of 2025?

340

: 00:20:32

I'm still trying to get it back.

341

: 00:20:33

It's just sitting there.

342

: 00:20:35

I went ahead and made the

pet blessing box page.

343

: 00:20:39

People send me food to feed the

cats in the colony down here.

344

: 00:20:45

And they also send me food or.

345

: 00:20:49

People can stop and put food in the box.

346

: 00:20:52

The box has helped a lot of people.

347

: 00:20:55

I've had people contact me and say,

Hey, just for a couple of days,

348

: 00:21:00

a lot of times I'll take it to

'em, 'cause some people don't have

349

: 00:21:05

cars, so I'll take the food to 'em.

350

: 00:21:08

Sometimes they'll meet me over there.

351

: 00:21:11

To make sure that they actually get the

food, 'cause I don't wanna put it in the

352

: 00:21:15

box and somebody else come and take it

when this person's in need right now.

353

: 00:21:21

So the box is there basically . A person

can put food and they'll have like pet

354

: 00:21:26

clothes and collars and that's just fine.

355

: 00:21:30

Anything for a pet people put in it.

356

: 00:21:34

And I've known it's helped a lot of

people and I'm really thrilled because

357

: 00:21:40

it was something I was hoping that would.

358

: 00:21:43

Be like a virus and spread, people

would start picking it up and

359

: 00:21:47

doing it, other places would do it.

360

: 00:21:51

So now out by the mall area, they

have a pet blessing box out there now.

361

: 00:21:58

It's taken time, but it's happening

and I'm glad that it's happening.

362

: 00:22:06

Because . We don't need just one.

363

: 00:22:09

We need more than just one

box because it's just not in

364

: 00:22:14

this area that needs help.

365

: 00:22:16

It's all over.

366

: 00:22:18

I do ask people, I put a sign in

there because, and I know this is

367

: 00:22:22

going off topic, but I did reach out

to people and talk to 'em in other

368

: 00:22:28

states that had pet blessing boxes.

369

: 00:22:31

When people put things in boxes,

this is even in the people box,

370

: 00:22:36

they need to cut that barcode off.

371

: 00:22:39

'cause I didn't know people actually

take the items and try to return 'em.

372

: 00:22:45

I learn something every day.

373

: 00:22:47

A lot of times I write donated on the food

because people will take it and resell it.

374

: 00:22:54

Even if the barcode's gone

they try to resell it.

375

: 00:22:58

It's just part of it.

376

: 00:23:00

Dixie: Wow.

377

: 00:23:01

Stephanie: But that was off topic, so

378

: 00:23:03

Dixie: It's good information

to know because I will tell

379

: 00:23:05

you I feel inspired now.

380

: 00:23:07

I am already thinking about going

to approach a few churches in

381

: 00:23:11

my area with a pet blessing box.

382

: 00:23:13

'cause that is a phenomenal idea.

383

: 00:23:16

Stephanie: I'm gonna tell you something.

384

: 00:23:18

It says a lot about a church when.

385

: 00:23:23

They love animals.

386

: 00:23:25

To me that means a lot.

387

: 00:23:27

And I've had people reach out from

Wisconsin California, different

388

: 00:23:33

areas and ask where the church is.

389

: 00:23:35

I'm like it's in Kentucky, and they

said if it was here we would go because

390

: 00:23:42

with a church caring about animals also.

391

: 00:23:47

That means a lot.

392

: 00:23:48

And another thing that I'm gonna talk to

my pastor about is having pet blessings.

393

: 00:23:54

Set aside a day aside for our pastor

to bless an bless animals, for people

394

: 00:24:04

to come up and bring their animals

to be blessed because to me, animals.

395

: 00:24:12

Have souls and they're gonna go

where we're going and they're

396

: 00:24:15

gonna wait up in heaven for us.

397

: 00:24:17

I just, I feel that way.

398

: 00:24:19

I feel that they've been put here

to comfort us, to show us what

399

: 00:24:24

true love is, and they should be

treated kindly and they, they need

400

: 00:24:33

blessings too, just like we do.

401

: 00:24:37

So that's something I've been

meaning to talk to my pastor about

402

: 00:24:41

is ha setting a day up for that.

403

: 00:24:45

Absolutely.

404

: 00:24:46

And encourage people to to donate.

405

: 00:24:51

And also the news station

around here did a story on it.

406

: 00:24:56

On the box to try to get the

word out so people know that

407

: 00:25:00

the box is there to donate.

408

: 00:25:04

Let's help each other.

409

: 00:25:05

'cause we do come up on hard

times, especially nowadays,

410

: 00:25:11

and there's a lot of elderly

people that has called and

411

: 00:25:14

said, I don't know what to do.

412

: 00:25:17

Do I feed myself?

413

: 00:25:19

Do I buy my medicine?

414

: 00:25:20

Or do I get my pets some food?

415

: 00:25:24

If you can offer just a little

bag of food that takes a lot of

416

: 00:25:29

pressure off of somebody, and

plus you're feeding that animal.

417

: 00:25:34

Dixie: Yeah, it does.

418

: 00:25:34

And it keeps them in a home because I

don't think a lot of people realize how

419

: 00:25:39

difficult it is to rehome an adult animal,

and not just because of the scarcity of

420

: 00:25:47

homes for them, but it's also so stressful

for the animal that a lot of times

421

: 00:25:52

, especially like an older cat will grieve

themselves to death because they're used

422

: 00:25:58

to being with one person their whole life.

423

: 00:26:00

If you're on hard times, it's a

lot easier for you to ask for help

424

: 00:26:04

and ask for food and ask for litter

than it is to rehome that animal.

425

: 00:26:09

Stephanie: Yes ma'am.

426

: 00:26:10

And I've got an example, matter

of fact, he's listed on my page

427

: 00:26:14

on the Pet Blessing Box page.

428

: 00:26:16

I need to film him.

429

: 00:26:18

Prime example, this very elderly

orange cat shows up at my house

430

: 00:26:25

not a couple of weeks ago.

431

: 00:26:27

It is very heartbreaking.

432

: 00:26:29

It hurts my soul to no

end because this cat.

433

: 00:26:35

Walks around crying, crying, walk, comes

in the house, goes room to room, crying.

434

: 00:26:41

I know he's looking for somebody.

435

: 00:26:44

So he come in one day and he had a

little blood on his lip, so I took

436

: 00:26:48

him to vet and yes, this cat is

elderly and she did agree with me.

437

: 00:26:56

Someone dumped him.

438

: 00:26:57

I think maybe an elderly person passed

away or maybe got put in a nursing

439

: 00:27:04

home and the family didn't want it.

440

: 00:27:08

So they thought, oh, let's drop

it at Stephanie's house 'cause

441

: 00:27:11

she's got all these other cats,

and boop, they dropped it.

442

: 00:27:15

What people don't understand.

443

: 00:27:18

Animals imprint on us, and they

can Google it, they can read it.

444

: 00:27:22

They are just like people.

445

: 00:27:25

They imprint on us.

446

: 00:27:27

They love us.

447

: 00:27:28

We are their family.

448

: 00:27:30

We are their mom, we're their dad.

449

: 00:27:32

We are their human.

450

: 00:27:34

And that's what's important to them.

451

: 00:27:38

And this poor cat is walking around

looking for its person and can't find it.

452

: 00:27:46

He cannot find his person and he cries

453

: 00:27:50

and he's grieving.

454

: 00:27:52

The first couple of days he didn't eat

and because I took the time with him

455

: 00:28:01

and I held him and just showed him some

compassion, he's starting to eat now,

456

: 00:28:09

but he's still looking for his person.

457

: 00:28:12

Because I'm not his person.

458

: 00:28:16

And people don't realize what

they do to these animals.

459

: 00:28:21

Dixie: Lately in my area, we've been

having a lot of people trying to

460

: 00:28:26

rehome senior cats and Yeah, currently

they're in a home and they'll have

461

: 00:28:31

these random reasons why they cannot

keep their 10, 11-year-old cat.

462

: 00:28:36

But I'm gonna say in the last week it was

about eight cats that I saw that people

463

: 00:28:44

were trying to re, that is so broken.

464

: 00:28:47

And I know I've spoken to two different

people and I'm very frank with them

465

: 00:28:52

because as a rescuer, I feel it's my

responsibility to, to educate them.

466

: 00:28:57

And I will tell them that, look.

467

: 00:29:00

, I understand you might have something

going on in your life, I understand

468

: 00:29:04

that, but I also want you to understand

that rehoming, these elderly cats,

469

: 00:29:09

'cause I mean they are seniors at

this time and I'm like, yeah, they've

470

: 00:29:12

been with one person their whole

life and I'm like, rehoming them.

471

: 00:29:16

They are likely going to

grieve themselves to death.

472

: 00:29:20

And it happens all the time.

473

: 00:29:22

And I've had two people cry this

week because I've told them that.

474

: 00:29:27

But at the same time, it's also something

that needs to be said because a lot of

475

: 00:29:32

the times I think they just think they'll

just go into a new home and they're fine.

476

: 00:29:37

And it does, they'll never be fine.

477

: 00:29:38

Yeah.

478

: 00:29:39

It doesn't work that way, and a

younger one you might have a better

479

: 00:29:42

chance at, but even the younger ones

grieve, they get really pissed off.

480

: 00:29:46

Stephanie: I read because I wanted to

find out when they imprint on a person.

481

: 00:29:51

I'm thinking it takes now,

don't quote me on this.

482

: 00:29:57

I think they could get up to six months

old or six weeks old and imprint on you.

483

: 00:30:05

They imprint fast.

484

: 00:30:07

People need to take that in consideration,

they need to sit and think that's

485

: 00:30:14

like getting rid of their child?

486

: 00:30:16

I know people get mad at me when I

it's different than a human child.

487

: 00:30:21

I get that, but.

488

: 00:30:23

They love us.

489

: 00:30:25

These animals love us.

490

: 00:30:27

And when you take an animal,

you take that animal for life.

491

: 00:30:31

Don't take that animal just 'cause

it's cute, and it's gonna get older and

492

: 00:30:36

you're gonna get older and life changes.

493

: 00:30:38

And you just need to know

that when life changes, that

494

: 00:30:43

animal's gonna stay with you.

495

: 00:30:46

I don't think I've ever

re-homed an animal, not mine.

496

: 00:30:51

All the cats that I

have been dumped on me.

497

: 00:30:54

When the pandemic hit, I never had cats.

498

: 00:30:56

Not that I hated 'em, I

just had dogs and chickens.

499

: 00:31:00

But when the pandemic hits, someone

dumped 22 cats on me and I thought,

500

: 00:31:07

oh my gosh, what am I gonna do?

501

: 00:31:10

What I did, I reached out, I

got 'em fixed, and there you go.

502

: 00:31:18

And I feed 'em every day.

503

: 00:31:20

And they love me and I love them.

504

: 00:31:25

I didn't ask for 'em.

505

: 00:31:26

They just were dumped on me.

506

: 00:31:28

But I'm not gonna be mean to 'em.

507

: 00:31:30

Dixie: Let me ask you

before we end the call.

508

: 00:31:34

You had this very successful

social media page, you said it

509

: 00:31:39

was citizens against Animal Abuse

and Neglect, so it got shut down.

510

: 00:31:44

Yes.

511

: 00:31:44

What led to it Getting shut down

512

: 00:31:47

Stephanie: and I had no idea why

Facebook did not send me an email.

513

: 00:31:53

All my admins were took

off and . I've sent appeal.

514

: 00:31:58

I've all but begged.

515

: 00:32:01

Please somebody call me, email me, let

me know why my page was, the page is

516

: 00:32:07

sitting there, it's just sitting idle.

517

: 00:32:10

And I knew something was up because a day

or two I wouldn't be able to get on it.

518

: 00:32:19

And then I'd be able to get on it and

then I wouldn't be able to get on it.

519

: 00:32:24

And then I had to go through the back

door through Instagram to get on it.

520

: 00:32:29

And so I put on there, to follow my

Instagram account because I was trying

521

: 00:32:35

to keep my page going and they shut

my Instagram down and my Facebook.

522

: 00:32:45

They didn't shut it down.

523

: 00:32:46

It's still floating out there.

524

: 00:32:48

I can't get on it.

525

: 00:32:50

It's, I don't know what happened.

526

: 00:32:54

Like I said, I never got

any kind of notification of

527

: 00:32:58

why no explanation, nothing.

528

: 00:33:04

And so I have wrote.

529

: 00:33:07

Facebook since May.

530

: 00:33:11

Please, what do I need to

do to get my page back?

531

: 00:33:14

This page made a lot of differences

in animals' lives and what do I need?

532

: 00:33:20

And never have I heard

anything back from anybody.

533

: 00:33:23

So I know a lot of people didn't like

me and and everybody knows in rescue.

534

: 00:33:30

I don't understand it.

535

: 00:33:31

I may never understand why one

rescuer may not like the other one.

536

: 00:33:38

That makes no sense to me.

537

: 00:33:39

If we could all work together,

what a difference we could make.

538

: 00:33:45

If it was reported, I

would know who did it.

539

: 00:33:49

I can't prove, so it's just

my mind thinking, who did it?

540

: 00:33:53

Because there is people that felt

offended because, and rescue, if

541

: 00:34:04

you do one step ahead of anybody

else, they're gonna get angry.

542

: 00:34:09

And what better way to lash

out than to keep reporting and

543

: 00:34:14

try to get your page shut down?

544

: 00:34:15

And they succeeded.

545

: 00:34:17

Whatever, whoever did it,

whatever, they succeeded because

546

: 00:34:23

now I can't access the page.

547

: 00:34:26

So if anybody knows of anything, anybody

I can reach out to, they'd be great.

548

: 00:34:34

I've tried to figure out

how to get back on it.

549

: 00:34:37

I've reached out to people

and they're like me.

550

: 00:34:40

They don't.

551

: 00:34:42

Really know how Facebook works.

552

: 00:34:46

Dixie: Yeah.

553

: 00:34:46

It's a shame when you're out there trying

to do so much good and then something like

554

: 00:34:52

that happens and then, the ego with some

people that are in rescue is a lot too.

555

: 00:34:58

'cause you do have these

people that are selfless.

556

: 00:35:00

They will help anybody, they'll

help any rescue, they don't care.

557

: 00:35:04

They just wanna get animals to safety.

558

: 00:35:06

And then you have these other

people, they just want the glory.

559

: 00:35:10

Stephanie: Yes.

560

: 00:35:11

Yes.

561

: 00:35:12

And I will say another thing that I've

seen that questions that makes me question

562

: 00:35:20

, if you're gonna start a Facebook

group that is a lost in found group.

563

: 00:35:27

Don't block people.

564

: 00:35:29

Those kind of groups do

not need to block people.

565

: 00:35:33

Whe whether you don't like people or

not, because that is strictly for helping

566

: 00:35:40

the animals, and it shouldn't be about.

567

: 00:35:45

Getting you the glory.

568

: 00:35:47

Because we do have several groups in our

area that are lost and found and they

569

: 00:35:55

block all the rescue groups in this area.

570

: 00:36:00

So how is that group even helping animals?

571

: 00:36:06

They're really not.

572

: 00:36:09

That's another big thing.

573

: 00:36:11

You need to put your feelings

aside when it comes to this.

574

: 00:36:18

Does that make sense?

575

: 00:36:19

Dixie: Definitely.

576

: 00:36:19

I actually run a few lost and found pet

groups , I'm not the only admin, there

577

: 00:36:24

are several admins on these groups.

578

: 00:36:26

Yes.

579

: 00:36:27

And what we do is a lot of the

times we pre-approve the rescues.

580

: 00:36:32

Because we want them on our pages

looking to make sure that either they

581

: 00:36:37

don't see that animal or, and we've

had many successful reunions because

582

: 00:36:43

we have so many rescuers on there.

583

: 00:36:45

They can spot a difference between

a cat and another cat or a dog and

584

: 00:36:49

another dog like you wouldn't believe.

585

: 00:36:51

And so there's so many pages that when

they're on there and they see matches.

586

: 00:36:57

We get 'em reunited all

the time because of that.

587

: 00:37:00

Because we have all

these rescuers on there.

588

: 00:37:02

And the shelters too.

589

: 00:37:03

Yeah.

590

: 00:37:03

Stephanie: You need all hands on

deck, and the more the merrier.

591

: 00:37:08

I know these groups around here,

they even have animal control.

592

: 00:37:12

The shelter, they have 'em all blocked.

593

: 00:37:16

And that's, I know that's off topic, but I

could go on for hours about things that I

594

: 00:37:24

wish people would see what they're doing.

595

: 00:37:29

A lot of people, I feel like they

get into it for the wrong reason.

596

: 00:37:33

I think they get into it for the glory,

the shine, the get their name out there.

597

: 00:37:40

That's not what it's about.

598

: 00:37:42

It's about saving animals and

making life for animals better.

599

: 00:37:47

Dixie: Absolutely.

600

: 00:37:49

Thank you so much for coming

on to speak with me today.

601

: 00:37:52

I enjoyed listening to everything

that you do and like I said, I'm

602

: 00:37:55

definitely gonna start reaching

out about getting PET Blessing

603

: 00:37:59

boxes around, because that is Yes.

604

: 00:38:02

Phenomenal idea.

605

: 00:38:04

Stephanie: Yes.

606

: 00:38:05

If anybody knows anything I need to do

to get that page back, citizens Against

607

: 00:38:10

Animal Abuse and Neglect have them contact

me because I've really tried hard to

608

: 00:38:18

get it back and I've been unsuccessful.

609

: 00:38:21

And check out my page Pet Blessing Box.

610

: 00:38:25

'cause I do post about a lot

of animals and what I do.

611

: 00:38:31

Because I dibble into a lot of things, not

just TNR and, anything to do with animals.

612

: 00:38:37

I'm gonna try my best to help 'em out.

613

: 00:38:41

Dixie: Yeah, definitely.

614

: 00:38:42

I'll get that page from you and

I'll include that in the show notes,

615

: 00:38:45

so anybody that wants to check

it out can go take a look at it.

616

: 00:38:49

Stephanie: Okay.

617

: 00:38:50

Thank you so much.

618

: 00:38:52

. Dixie: That's it for today's episode.

619

: 00:38:53

I wanna thank everybody for

listening and supporting us.

620

: 00:38:57

If you wanna take that an extra

step, consider becoming a member.

621

: 00:39:02

We just added this to our

website, animalposse.com,

622

: 00:39:06

scroll down, look for the support tab.

623

: 00:39:08

Our membership program is going to

help us directly support animals

624

: 00:39:15

in need, whether that be through

vaccinations, food or spay neuter efforts.