The Politics of Saving a Life
Wow, to say that I was taken aback is putting it mildly. Honestly, not taken aback; more disappointed. I certainly did not find myself surprised. I find myself very sad. Zane + Zara’s tries to do a Rescue Day each month. It is our way of giving back to our own community. We are firm believers in the rescue process. In our house we are all rescues. We were taken out of bad situations and given new chances. We are all grateful.
Up until now, all of our Rescue Days have been breed specific: Dobermans, Dachshunds, Pugs, Golden Retrievers, etc. What we have been lacking is a, how to say it, general Rescue Day. You know, come one come all, everybody, every size and shape, welcome. So we’ve gone fishing...and fishing, and fishing, and fishing. We’ve tried everyone that we can think of to no avail. And the excuses are completely understandable: “If we do a rescue at Zane + Zara’s during the weekend, then those are dogs that won’t be at the main facility and potential adopters will be less than please.” I totally agree. If people are used to shopping at one place why split the merchandise?
Not long ago I received a phone call from Chicago Canine Rescue. Mind you, they’ve sent me packing before so I was intrigued. You see, a number of their volunteers shop at Zane + Zara’s and I, shamelessly and with vigor, would always tell them that we’d LOVE to do a Rescue Day for CCR. So you can imagine I was more than happy to “chat up” the lovely young lady on the phone that day. We talked and talked and, as God is my witness, we seemed to be on the same page. Until...Yeah, there is always an UNTIL. She made mention that a member of their board of directors is, none other than (drum roll please) the owner of Dog-a-holics. OK, everyone who thought this was water under the bridge, raise your hand. Seriously, raise your hand. Mine’s up. Even Zane, Zara and Zelda’s are up.
Well, the brakes were slammed on the whole conversation. I explained that there was some bad blood between Zane + Zara’s and Dog-a-holics. I told the nice young woman that while I wasn’t sure what caused the bad blood but that it culminated with a phone call to Zane + Zara’s telling us to stop stealing their customers. I said that while I would be more than happy to forge a nice relationship with Chicago Canine Rescue, they are after all just 4 or 5 blocks from our front door, she had better clear it with the board member in question. That was the end of that conversation. And I thought the last I’d hear from CCR.
Until, there’s that UNTIL Monday night around closing. As I’m pulling in our sign in walks the young lady with whom I spoke. She came to deliver the bad news that CCR would never be able to utilize Zane + Zara’s. “It’s a conflict of interest,” she said. Now my reaction was rather nonplused as this was what I expected. Russell, on the other hand, was not happy. “All we want to do is help the dogs. How is it that one person can stop that process?”
“Well, it’s a conflict of interest.”
“Really? And what about all of the other sponsors? Just how did they get past this conflict of interest.” Take a moment and check out the CCR web-site. I see lots of conflicts. Just how did they get to make a difference?
She stopped, as if she actually didn’t know that CCR had other pet industry sponsors. They do, all you have to do is peruse the CCR web-site. Pet stores, photographers, trainers, etc, etc. Ugh!
You know, I’d be inclined to just let this whole thing drop but for the idea that a pathetic political game is being played with the lives of animals. The idea bandied about when we chatted on the phone was that we could have a Rescue Day where dogs in foster homes could spend a day at our store. These are dogs that really don’t get much face time with the public as they’re in temporary homes. What a perfect idea. They aren’t in the main facility so we would not interfere with that and they tend to be forgotten unless the foster family can no longer care for them. We also offered our video monitor in the store to display pictures of dogs in foster care with little notes about them.
Now I have to be completely honest here. From what the nice lady said, the issue was never even brought up to the owner of Dog-a-holiocs...as far as she knows. Other persons squelched the idea because they didn’t want to ruffle the feathers of said board member. What a load of crap. So dogs will go without forever homes just to mollify the ego of a bitter member of the board at CCR. I just want to vomit. I have to wonder is the Red Cross managed like this? What about the March of Dimes. Or, close to my heart, The America Cancer Society. Does PAWS operate like this? Should I not run the Chicago Marathon for PAWS because they have a relationship with, I don’t know, Wigglyville? What the hell people! Is this the Politics of Saving Lives today?
This is a call to arms....for the three people who actually read this blog. Pick up the phone and call Chicago Canine Rescue (773-697-8848) and lodge a protest. Tell them they are idiots for biting an outstretched hand. Tell them to reconsider. And then pick up the phone once again and call Dog-a-holiocs (773-857-7600). Tell them that this heavy handed approach to being on the CCR board must stop. Every avenue available must be taken when it comes to finding forever homes for homeless pets.
Your humble servant...pissed off again,
John Ira Smith
Zane + Zara’s
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