What happens to someone who starts out doing good things but something goes wrong along the way?

We have another person being pilloried in Attica, south of here. She runs a no-kill shelter for cats. Her volunteers walked out on her and have been writing letters to the editor saying she doesn't care for her animals. Finally, someone wrote that, yes, she does care for them. No one seems to know what the problems are. A no-kill shelter is a huge undertaking.

I hope this gets straightened out. I keep thinking of the Animal Planet programs where people go into someone's home and take perfectly healthy dogs and cats away from the owner and feel good about doing that. It really hit home when the person at the local animal shelter started harassing me and then threatened me--she was going to take away all my animals and make sure I never got to have an animal again.

I don't know what gets into people that want to hurt other people.

I don't know what Susan Marino actually did, but I hope all the animals involved are cared for properly. And I hope the same for the shelter in Attica.

I think they often become greedy as donations start to roll in, dori, and the monies aren't spent where it should be. And they begin to burn out, too. Looking after animals is often a thankless job, with 24 hour a day duties. It's not easy to recruit good help that's reliable. PETA does a good job most of the time, but their targets are sometimes given bad publicity when it's not deserving. In my local area, there's an annual "Possum Drop" party on New Years Eve. The local man who started it gets a live opossum, places in a large cage, and slowly lowers the cage from the roof of his store in a similar way the ball drops in Times Square. The possum is then allowed to go free. It's not harmed at all. Yet, PETA got wind of this activity and has given the fellow a hell of a time, saying that the possum is frightened and thus abused. More than 3,000 people attended this silly event last New Years Eve. It's a red-neck event with a womanless beauty contest and lots of singing and dancing to country music. Not my cup of tea at all, although the beauty contest is hilarious.

While I don't necessarily agree with the event, I don't think the animal is in any danger. It's fed and treated well, and then allowed to go free.

I hope you can keep your animals, too, dori. Without you, they would be starving or worse.

Now there is another animal shelter in trouble, this time in Niagara County. It is so depressing.

Like you say, people burn out, and the stress must be huge. Stress doesn't go away just because people can't keep up with it. I feel for the people trying to take care of animals, and I feel for the animals.

Yes, it must often be a thankless job. As I said, it is so depressing.

Btw, I agree that the possum drop isn't my cup of tea, but if the possum isn't hurt, PETA does have worse things to address. There is pleanty of cruelty in this world. Find something more deserving to fight.