The ripple effect

The ripple effect is the gift from pest control that just keeps giving 😠 

The 9th of October 2022 was our last "normal" day. 

Since that day we have been on a rollercoatster of hell.

I will work through the list of knock on effects which have been caused by our boys being removed.

1. The vacuum effect. (Further reading here: 

https://www.alleycat.org/resources/the-vacuum-effect-why-catch-and-kill-doesnt-work/#:~:text=The%20Vacuum%20Effect%20occurs%20when,dip%20will%20only%20be%20temporary.

Pest control removing our boys now means we have 6 stray cats out the front of our villa. The neighbours original complaint was to remove strays. Maybe its their karma. We feed and tnr the strays.

2. Noms was ran over. (Further reading regarding death of a bonded pair here: 

https://www.thehealthyjournal.com/faq/when-one-of-a-bonded-pair-dies

Restricting her to the garden had a huge negative effect on her, especially as she was very closely bonded with Monty. She bolted when she saw the opportunity. If only she could have waited a few more weeks. Now we have Monty back he looks for Noms. A never ending viscious circle we have been forced into.

3. It's been emotionally traumatic to discover the horrors of the street cats situation.  (Further reading regarding compassion fatigue amongst rescuers here: 

https://missiondrivengoods.com/blogs/stories/what-is-compassion-fatigue-in-the-animal-rescue-community#:~:text=According%20to%20a%20recent%20study,by%20firefighters%20and%20police%20officers.

Many rescuers end up mentally and emotionally burnt out if their financial status hasn't broken them beforehand. We were not and still are not, quite fully fledged rescuers. Searching for our boys led us to this devastating consequence on our emotional health. To see so many suffering and not being able to save them all is traumatic. Its a terrible lucky dip for who we can help.

4. We are very proud people. We created microchipped.ae ourselves. We noticed the need for the microchip data base quite early on in our journey. We initiated and commissioned the build of the platform, working closely with a web developer. We agreed, from the very inception of microchip.ae it would be a free service gifted to pet owners to record their pets basic details. A safety net should they ever go missing. 

5. Our escalating veterinary care bills are due to searching for our boys, and rescuing the ones we can. The ones that need it most.

6. We use various social media platforms to keep our boys profile current. Again, this has a detrimental health effect. Constantly monitoring and hoping for that one photo, like Montys,  to ease our anxiety searching for Blacky and Winnie.

7. My phone was stolen. Stolen whilst rescuing a puppy. My phone was full of memories I had never got round to backing up. I have never 'lost' a phone. I didn't lose this one. It was stolen. Along with the only record of important events in our life and notes about plans for our future.

8. Time. We are losing time. We do not have enough. We search, manage the administration of the boys groups, feed strays, medicate the sick ones we saved, drop sacks of food to feeders, and are striving to enforce change for Animal Welfare here. 

9. Apart from our boys suffering, the saddest consequence is our change of opinion for a country we have loved and called home for 10 years. All our happy memories will now be forever tarnished with the events that started on 9th October 2022. The struggle we had seeking any help or support. The indiscriminate taking of our boys. We feel completely let down. However, if we have the opportunity to use our experience for the good of this country and Animal Welfare, we will strive to ensure, from the foundations up, that the UAE becomes a Nation with an exceptional and outstanding reputation in Animal Welfare.  A country to be admired for their compassion and commitment. We have been approached by several entities  to apply our drive to their  hopes for change. We will do whatever we can.

If one more pet or family are put through what we have been through, it's one too many.

We will continue our search for our boys. We will educate ourselves in AW and participate wherever we can to change the current situation which is only going to get worse without a clear and enforceable mandate.

We will not give up.