Saving Yongsan's Cats

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Good evening, everybody, and welcome to Calling Out Creatures. I
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am your host, Lori, and as most of you know,
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my podcast is all about different animals, animal services, products,
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and tonight we have a really good podcast. We're going
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to be talking to Julie Choi from Yongsun's Cats. This
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is a rescue that is in Seoul, Korea. Julie is
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the founder and she is devoted to saving the cats
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over in Seoul, Korea. So that's what we're going to
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be talking about tonight and all of her trials and
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tribulations she gets to go through as a rescue over
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there and what all the great things are that she's doing.
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So Julie, thank you for being on the podcast tonight.
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I appreciate it.
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Hello, everyone. Thank you so much for having me today.
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And I am very excited to share more about what's
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happening in Seoul and what's happening with the rescues with
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young cats today. Awesome.
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Well, Julie, why don't we just kind of start at
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the beginning then? Can you tell me and our listeners
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a little bit more about yourself and what led you
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to become involved in cat rescue there in Seoul?
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Everything started out of the blue. I never had planned anything.
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I became involved after seeing neighborhood cats suffering and even
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being threatened with poisoning. And when the shelters and rescue
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groups I contacted were already overwhelmed and overpopulated like many
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places around the world, I realized I could not keep
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waiting for someone else to step in so then I
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started stepping in and I started seeing more problems and
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it just it gradually grew and it was very natural
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for me and yes here I am rescuing countless cats
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right now it is dreadful and grueling at times but
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we're making and we're saving some lives here.
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Yeah, and you know, it amazes me how many times
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I've heard, you know, people like yourself come on and say,
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you know, a lot of solution to some of the
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overpopulations of animals, not only in your country of South Korea,
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but other countries like Turkey and stuff. And it's like,
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I hear that a lot where they decide that it's
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better to kill, you know, poison or whatever, kill the animals,
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whatever they do to, you know, try to take care
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of the problem instead of trying to come up with
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a solution like you did. And it's a little disheartening,
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I guess, to hear that kind of stuff. I mean,
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I would hope that people could come up with better
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solutions than just killing the animals. I mean, obviously you
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came up with a solution and you started doing rescue yourself.
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So I'm assuming that because of some of this, that
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kind of inspired you to start your rescue. Um, is
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that when you kind of realized that, uh, you know,
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the need that there was for that type of work
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over there when you started hearing about how the rescues
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and all of them were so full?
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Uh, yes.
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And also it was more of, I realized that the
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overpopulation of especially cats in Korea is a major problem,
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but there isn't a solution for it and not many
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organizations or, governmental facilities are stepping in to bring a
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positive change instead of just getting them out of the way,
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if you know what I mean. You know, just even TNR,
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I feel like it could be improved. And, of course,
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adoption and helping the individual rescuers, that's not there. And
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the system itself is very, I would say, they have started.
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to care, but then it's not to the extent that
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it's going to make any progressive changes. And I also
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started with just one simple question of, you know, what
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can I do today?
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I helped one cat.
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I began noticing any injured abandoned or losing their territory
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from redevelopment. And that was when I understood that this
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was not an isolated problem. It required a whole community.
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I'm trying to work with a community from not only
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Korean communities, but most of the volunteers or adopter, foster
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and donors are actually expats living in Korea.
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Or who are from abroad.
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I'm trying to build, this has never tried before, and
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I'm trying to build this community where people can help
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each other and our voice can reach the right people.
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Facilities to make an actual.
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Change that's nice that would be nice huh if we
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could actually affect a good change in in something so
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now the cats that you're primarily helping there are these
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like say street cats are you actually taking cats out
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of some of the over full shelters i mean what's
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what's what's your primary um target when you're helping the
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cats over there.
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I believe in the equal opportunity for every cat.
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So I focus mainly on and especially also I focus
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on the cats that I see daily, I would say,
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and I encounter daily. So although before I started off
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with just my town cats. And then I came across
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an abandoned campsite where there were about 33 cats that
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got left behind at middle of nowhere.
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So then I happened to rescue our cats from there.
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And then afterwards, the major, I would say, rescue that
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has been going on is at a demolition site at
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the central Seoul.
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And this is very unique.
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Because we cannot do TNR, really, since the town is
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getting destroyed. it's becoming into going into ashes and it's
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getting destroyed. And it's not like normal demolition where you
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destroy one building at a time. It's divided into five
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zones and they have started three and two and they
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variegated entire boundaries of the zone. Meaning it's a, you
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were talking about a neighborhood, like whole town where over 15,000
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people lived. and there's yes so it's not just like
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oh you know whole one family house and we're estimating
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the whole destruction itself including all five zones they would
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include over 1,000 cats that is both abandoned or just
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stray from the local stray and they got left behind
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and how it works is that first they're gonna evict
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people second um they're gonna restrict the entrance Third, they're
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going to start destroying the windows and grounds of the buildings.
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Then they're going to turn off the electricity, and then
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they're going to start destroying the building.
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And during the process, if you reach to the part
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where they're going to restrict entrance and start destroying the
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internals of the housings, then the caregivers won't be able.
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To access the town to feed and help the cats.
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That's a major problem because they're going to get locked
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inside and they.
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Won't be able to come out.
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And we see many cats dying under the collapsing building
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or starvation.
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So that's the site that I'm working on at the moment. Wow.
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That's amazing. I mean, it's not amazing, but it's amazing
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that they're doing such big areas and stuff and, and,
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and the demolishing and, and things. So, So it sounds
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like you have a very limited amount of time to
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try to get in and get these cats out of
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there before they start demolishing and they end up killing them.
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Yeah.
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I believe they don't mean to kill them, but then
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because they're not doing anything and it leads to naturally, you.
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Know, death.
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Right. They're not quite Maybe they don't know that some
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of the cats are there, maybe?
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And also, I feel like there's no pre-planning of what
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should we do with all these stray cats. And if
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you think about it, the construction workers and companies, they
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have nothing to do with this town.
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They don't know the history.
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They just accepted the work and they walked into this
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town to demolish the buildings and They don't really sign
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up for, okay, so what are we going to do
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with the town cats?
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Right.
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So the discussion never happened before, which is why there's
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no system.
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And it's hard to.
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Blame someone for it because they never had a system.
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They are not obligated.
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So it's a very unfortunate situation.
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Right, right.
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It's too bad there's not a... someone that could start
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maybe kind of a system, you know, saying, hey, you know,
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we understand you want to demolish this town, but, you know,
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here's a little information. We have these animals in here.
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We'd really like the chance to try to, you know,
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rescue as many as we possibly can and get them
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out of there before you do this. You know, it's
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too bad that a system couldn't be established to try
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to help you rescuers out with that kind of stuff.
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Yes, and it's just.
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Life as a stray and community cat in Korea is
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not very easy.
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I'm sure it's similar elsewhere as well. Yeah. it's very
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fragile and uncertain.
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And they really depend on familiar shelters, feeding places, and
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few dedicated caregivers while facing traffic, extreme weather, illness, and also,
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you know, human hostility. So a small change in their
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neighborhood can suddenly take away everything they rely on, and
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that's what's happening here.
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Right. Now, do you guys, I'm assuming you have a
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little bit of a, I mean, I know you're doing
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a lot of it yourself. Is there any kind of
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like a little network out there with you rescuers where
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you have like maybe little feeding stations set up to
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try to draw the cats out of those areas?
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Yes.
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So how we work around it is we can never
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know the town more than the people who live there
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and feed there. So usually the people who used to
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live at the town becomes a regular caregiver. And if
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there's no caregiver, then we would have to monitor ourselves.
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But if there are, then from those feeding shelters, we
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monitor how many cats there are and everything.
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If anyone's sick, if anyone's pregnant, then on we plan.
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Out, do we even have resources to rescue or do
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we have a foster home ready or do we have
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an adopter?
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And if we cannot do anything, we try to raise awareness.
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But if we can, then we try to rescue. Okay.
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So it's the divided work. Right, right.
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So, and I'm glad you kind of went over and
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explained that because that was actually, you know, I was
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going to ask you about that kind of stuff because
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I did, you know, read that you guys have been
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experiencing a lot of significant redevelopments and I was wondering
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how it was affecting the cats that you had living
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in those communities. So, it doesn't sound like it's a
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real good thing for them. Now, so the people that
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are living, like say this particular town we're talking about
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right now, before the people actually left? I mean, were
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they told, hey, we're going to be destroying the city,
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you all need to relocate? I mean, did they have
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that opportunity to relocate and bring their animals? Or how
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is it working for these areas that are now being
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destroyed for new development and stuff?
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So it took almost 40, 50 years to get permission
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to start the redevelopment. And every household gets a notification.
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to move out until a certain timing. But that doesn't
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mean that they can. And also, when the redevelopment happens,
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we're talking about towns that have been there for ages,
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meaning a lot of the generations are elderlies. And also,
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these houses were... Of course, you know, the economy has changed.
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So... From this area, it was central Seoul, close to everything.
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And it has been there, for some people, it has
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been their generational life there, like, you know, 50 years,
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60 years.
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And you're trying to evict these people to a new location.
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First of all, the question comes up, will they be
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able to even come back to Seoul? Because the pricing
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is very different now. And even if, let's say, after
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the redevelopment, they get a space at a new town,
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will they be able to afford it because uh yes
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they might get the they might be able to maybe
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purchase it first but that doesn't mean that they can
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because it's going to be very expensive and that's why
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yes there is a notice of course but notice doesn't
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mean there's a preparation and um.
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And for the cats, there's.
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No preparation or no notice because they don't know anything
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about what's happening. They are not only removing the buildings here,
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it will erase the entire cat's world. And when residents leave,
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stores close, and feeding stations disappear, and fences may prevent
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caregivers from entering, the cats will.
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Get scattered again.
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Or trapped in increasingly dangerous areas, yet they are rarely
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considered in the redevelopment process. So, yes, notice is there,
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but notice doesn't mean everything else follows.
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Right, and here we see a lot of times in
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natural disaster situations, even though we know hurricanes are coming
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in and they're going to hit land, And people are
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told to evacuate and things like that. Obviously, it's not
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the same as with this when you're tearing down these
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towns and stuff. But in a way, it works the same.
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But a lot of people, when they leave, they leave
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their animals behind to try to weather that out. Do
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you encounter that? Are these cats that are already maybe
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living out on the street and wild that these people
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00:15:10.279 --> 00:15:12.039
have been taking care of? Or are these people's pets
252
00:15:12.080 --> 00:15:14.440
that they're leaving behind when they're leaving the area?
253
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Unfortunately, that seems to be universal.
254
00:15:19.169 --> 00:15:25.250
Yeah. I have encountered many abandoned cats, and also those
255
00:15:25.370 --> 00:15:28.090
ones that have been indoor-outdoors, they will leave them behind.
256
00:15:28.509 --> 00:15:31.399
Major reason is because the price, and also finding a
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00:15:31.460 --> 00:15:37.960
pet-friendly home in Korea is very difficult. And still, it's
258
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hard to understand why people will leave behind.
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00:15:43.399 --> 00:15:49.539
their families, like family and families, at a town that's
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00:15:49.559 --> 00:15:51.539
getting destroyed. There's no resources there.
261
00:15:51.639 --> 00:15:54.559
It's not even abandoning them at a place where there's
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00:15:55.039 --> 00:15:59.070
neighbors who may potentially be able to take care of them.
263
00:15:59.149 --> 00:16:03.529
It's literally just leaving them behind to die in the destruction,
264
00:16:03.629 --> 00:16:05.909
especially if they were indoor cats. It's going to be
265
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impossible for them to survive there. So it's unfortunate, but yes,
266
00:16:12.289 --> 00:16:14.149
we do see that a lot. And not only at
267
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a destruction, like demolition zones, but also elsewhere as well.
268
00:16:19.210 --> 00:16:20.830
Like I go down to.
269
00:16:21.490 --> 00:16:26.570
More of a less central areas like Pyeongtaek or Gyeonggi-do
270
00:16:27.409 --> 00:16:32.980
or Gimpo, Incheon. Yes, abandonment is everywhere. And it's very
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00:16:33.009 --> 00:16:43.399
upsetting because when you do rescues, You learn more about their...
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00:16:42.960 --> 00:16:45.440
I would say how they are when they go out
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and when they live on the street and when they
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live inside. And also, you realize that they're not as
275
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simple as, oh, they only need feeding.
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00:16:56.769 --> 00:17:00.990
They do have feelings and they do have... They do
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00:17:01.049 --> 00:17:02.769
connect emotionally with humans.
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And it's just hard to see and difficult to see how...
279
00:17:09.289 --> 00:17:14.190
they have shared a part of them to human community
280
00:17:14.390 --> 00:17:17.819
and then they get neglected or they get abandoned and
281
00:17:17.859 --> 00:17:21.059
then they end up back on the street or they just,
282
00:17:21.460 --> 00:17:24.200
they were never from the street, but they end up
283
00:17:24.259 --> 00:17:31.480
in a street and it definitely leads to car accidents
284
00:17:32.559 --> 00:17:40.119
or territorial fights or Not everyone loves cats here, so
285
00:17:40.160 --> 00:17:43.180
they might definitely face hostility.
286
00:17:43.960 --> 00:17:47.190
Right, right. Yeah, same thing here. You know, when they
287
00:17:47.210 --> 00:17:49.009
get left behind like that, it's the same thing. They
288
00:17:49.029 --> 00:17:52.660
face the same thing. And I don't understand people's mentality of...
289
00:17:53.849 --> 00:17:58.819
they're so, I don't think they really understand how it works.
290
00:17:59.559 --> 00:18:02.299
When you have a cat that's been an indoor cat
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00:18:02.799 --> 00:18:05.619
all of its life, how can you possibly think that
292
00:18:05.660 --> 00:18:07.920
you can just throw that cat now outside and it's
293
00:18:07.940 --> 00:18:10.140
going to know what to do because it's never hunted.
294
00:18:10.220 --> 00:18:12.509
It was never taught to hunt because it's always been indoor.
295
00:18:12.529 --> 00:18:14.549
It might have even been born to a, you know,
296
00:18:14.589 --> 00:18:17.009
its parent was an indoor cat first and now this
297
00:18:17.089 --> 00:18:19.569
is an indoor cat. So they don't have, I mean,
298
00:18:19.589 --> 00:18:21.829
they just think, oh, those instincts will kick in and
299
00:18:21.849 --> 00:18:24.509
they'll learn to go out there and hunt and everything. Well, no,
300
00:18:24.569 --> 00:18:30.029
not necessarily. They don't, you know, a lot of people
301
00:18:30.069 --> 00:18:33.039
don't understand. Yeah.
302
00:18:33.079 --> 00:18:36.190
And even for straight who lives on the street before too, I,
303
00:18:37.740 --> 00:18:41.559
from all the loss and fine situation I have mentioned before,
304
00:18:42.240 --> 00:18:46.130
what I have learned is, recently is that this cat
305
00:18:46.319 --> 00:18:50.519
was lived outside for about a year and you would
306
00:18:50.559 --> 00:18:54.980
expect and then he got he got adopted and then
307
00:18:55.089 --> 00:18:57.450
he lived inside for about a year and a half
308
00:18:57.529 --> 00:19:01.410
now so a year and a half indoor one year
309
00:19:01.630 --> 00:19:05.529
outside if these type of cats get lost you would
310
00:19:05.589 --> 00:19:07.849
expect them to be oh you know they might be
311
00:19:07.869 --> 00:19:10.210
able to adjust outside they will they might love it
312
00:19:10.269 --> 00:19:13.029
outside because they're returning and the reason why maybe they
313
00:19:13.069 --> 00:19:17.009
escaped was they wanted to go back outside that's such
314
00:19:17.069 --> 00:19:21.049
a knife thought that is um that is i think
315
00:19:21.089 --> 00:19:24.289
that's very dangerous thought because what i have seen as
316
00:19:24.349 --> 00:19:27.190
i was camping for one week entire entire week i
317
00:19:27.230 --> 00:19:30.559
was there At times I was there from I would
318
00:19:30.619 --> 00:19:33.720
say like 6 p.m. until the next morning 9 a.m.
319
00:19:34.299 --> 00:19:39.220
or 11 a.m. next morning 7 a.m. I was I
320
00:19:39.259 --> 00:19:41.349
was parked like I parked a car and I was
321
00:19:41.400 --> 00:19:44.470
inside monitoring that lost cat because I found where he
322
00:19:44.509 --> 00:19:45.410
was stationed at.
323
00:19:46.089 --> 00:19:49.690
No way he was adjusting There were pregnant cats around.
324
00:19:49.730 --> 00:19:50.609
There were kittens.
325
00:19:50.829 --> 00:19:54.049
He was getting chased by a five-month-old kitten on the street.
326
00:19:54.369 --> 00:19:58.750
And he's like double his size. And he couldn't fit
327
00:19:58.809 --> 00:20:03.359
in anywhere. So he was hiding under a dead car.
328
00:20:03.380 --> 00:20:07.539
And when he was trying to get to the feeding shelter,
329
00:20:07.579 --> 00:20:09.400
the one and only that he can access.
330
00:20:09.890 --> 00:20:11.869
that was doable distance for him.
331
00:20:11.890 --> 00:20:17.390
He was on a watch for one whole hour. And finally,
332
00:20:17.450 --> 00:20:20.779
when he was trying to grab a bite, there was
333
00:20:20.839 --> 00:20:23.039
a car coming. Then he ran off and it took
334
00:20:23.140 --> 00:20:24.980
another an hour and a half for him to come back.
335
00:20:25.460 --> 00:20:28.319
But still, he couldn't get any food. This is what
336
00:20:28.380 --> 00:20:30.420
I saw from a cat that used to live outside.
337
00:20:31.359 --> 00:20:32.940
And it was.
338
00:20:34.119 --> 00:20:36.289
Actually, I would say this was my first time seeing
339
00:20:36.329 --> 00:20:41.450
this live. I also had questions of, would they be
340
00:20:41.509 --> 00:20:45.250
able to adjust better than other indoor cats once they
341
00:20:45.309 --> 00:20:45.779
go outside?
342
00:20:45.819 --> 00:20:49.539
Nope. Cats are territorial, depending on the neighborhood. It's the
343
00:20:49.579 --> 00:20:50.099
same life.
344
00:20:50.319 --> 00:20:50.740
Horrible.
345
00:20:50.960 --> 00:20:51.900
And they cannot survive.
346
00:20:52.380 --> 00:20:55.339
And that's why I tell many people that even if
347
00:20:55.380 --> 00:20:59.130
they were outdoor cats before or they were strays before,
348
00:20:59.470 --> 00:21:02.799
let's say even they're not petable before, if you have
349
00:21:02.819 --> 00:21:07.190
them inside for long enough and you relocate them from
350
00:21:07.269 --> 00:21:11.529
their original territory, then it's hard for them to survive. Yes,
351
00:21:11.609 --> 00:21:13.190
they might find a way, but still.
352
00:21:13.289 --> 00:21:13.950
It's not easy.
353
00:21:14.549 --> 00:21:17.390
Right, right. You know, and that's, I think, something that
354
00:21:17.430 --> 00:21:20.980
people don't realize either unless they deal with cats on a,
355
00:21:21.380 --> 00:21:23.660
you know, a lot and are on a long-term basis
356
00:21:23.700 --> 00:21:25.240
like you do with rescues and like a lot of
357
00:21:25.299 --> 00:21:27.940
our cat rescues do. You mentioned, you know, like the
358
00:21:27.980 --> 00:21:30.329
TNR and stuff and the we kind of have the
359
00:21:30.369 --> 00:21:33.130
same thing that we have going on here, and especially
360
00:21:33.170 --> 00:21:36.930
in some of our larger cities, we have cat caregivers, and,
361
00:21:36.970 --> 00:21:40.390
you know, the cats get spayed or neutered, and then
362
00:21:40.410 --> 00:21:43.150
they live in their feral colonies with their caregivers taking
363
00:21:43.190 --> 00:21:45.319
care of them, feeding them, getting them medical attention, and
364
00:21:45.359 --> 00:21:49.420
stuff like that, but a lot of people, you know,
365
00:21:49.579 --> 00:21:53.220
before TNR really became a thing, and it was really understood,
366
00:21:53.720 --> 00:21:55.680
you know, most people would just go and trap these cats,
367
00:21:55.720 --> 00:21:57.359
and take them to the shelter, and drop them off,
368
00:21:57.519 --> 00:22:01.940
and And when you have a cat colony like that,
369
00:22:01.980 --> 00:22:08.160
like you mentioned, they have their territories. And those colonies
370
00:22:08.220 --> 00:22:12.279
of cats protect those territories and keep other cats from
371
00:22:12.339 --> 00:22:16.740
coming into those territories. But now you remove those cats,
372
00:22:17.299 --> 00:22:19.200
and you're going to have more cats now come into
373
00:22:19.220 --> 00:22:21.900
that territory and take it over because you removed the
374
00:22:22.000 --> 00:22:24.539
ones that were keeping the newer strays from coming in.
375
00:22:25.660 --> 00:22:27.839
So I'm sure this poor guy that just got out
376
00:22:27.940 --> 00:22:31.160
had a heck of a time, you know, because obviously
377
00:22:31.240 --> 00:22:33.849
he was probably in one of those situations. Here I am.
378
00:22:34.069 --> 00:22:36.690
I'm a new cat here, and I've got these other cats.
379
00:22:36.769 --> 00:22:40.009
It's whose territory it is. And so, yeah, they didn't
380
00:22:40.049 --> 00:22:40.549
want him there.
381
00:22:41.950 --> 00:22:43.869
I think, yes, I agree.
382
00:22:43.950 --> 00:22:47.730
And people often assume that stray cats are aggressive, dirty,
383
00:22:47.799 --> 00:22:52.880
or unwanted. But in reality, many are abandoned pets or
384
00:22:53.220 --> 00:22:57.319
gentle cats shaped by difficult circumstances. So some cats adjust
385
00:22:57.359 --> 00:23:01.119
beautifully to indoor life, while others may prefer living safely
386
00:23:01.180 --> 00:23:04.930
in the communities they already know if we provide the
387
00:23:04.970 --> 00:23:08.329
basic security, which is also not yet.
388
00:23:08.230 --> 00:23:10.990
Provided, unfortunately. Right.
389
00:23:11.910 --> 00:23:14.480
Yeah, that's the bad part about it. So, yeah, there's
390
00:23:14.500 --> 00:23:16.759
so many misconceptions, I think, when it comes to.
391
00:23:18.759 --> 00:23:22.180
Cats and territories and TNR and feral cat colonies, or
392
00:23:22.400 --> 00:23:24.730
even with you, not even all the time feral. Like
393
00:23:24.769 --> 00:23:27.230
you said, they're not all the time feral. They may
394
00:23:27.289 --> 00:23:29.799
be cats that have adapted to being able to live outside.
395
00:23:31.049 --> 00:23:33.829
after being indoor. It just depends, like you said, on
396
00:23:33.869 --> 00:23:35.509
your cat. But I know a good part of cats
397
00:23:35.529 --> 00:23:37.789
that are house cats are probably not going to make
398
00:23:37.829 --> 00:23:41.829
it in the wild world because, yeah, they don't know
399
00:23:41.869 --> 00:23:44.890
about cars, you know, and things like that. They don't know,
400
00:23:44.970 --> 00:23:47.269
you know, maybe the house that they were in, they
401
00:23:47.309 --> 00:23:49.009
had a dog and they were friends with that dog.
402
00:23:49.029 --> 00:23:50.890
They don't know there's dogs out there that are going
403
00:23:50.950 --> 00:23:53.470
to attack them and kill them, you know, if they
404
00:23:53.509 --> 00:23:55.980
get too close, things like that. So, You know, there's
405
00:23:56.019 --> 00:23:58.539
a lot of things that people don't think about or
406
00:23:58.559 --> 00:24:00.819
realize when it comes to cats and doing these kinds
407
00:24:00.859 --> 00:24:07.029
of things by just abandoning them outside. So we were
408
00:24:07.069 --> 00:24:10.589
just actually talking, you know, about the demolition or redevelopment
409
00:24:10.630 --> 00:24:13.549
and stuff that's going on. And obviously this is putting
410
00:24:13.789 --> 00:24:18.109
cats in danger because of it. So let's say that
411
00:24:18.210 --> 00:24:20.089
you're going to go in and you're going to try
412
00:24:20.109 --> 00:24:23.390
to rescue and help these cats. What does that rescue
413
00:24:23.470 --> 00:24:25.549
operation kind of look like for you to try to
414
00:24:25.589 --> 00:24:25.930
do that?
415
00:24:28.329 --> 00:24:32.390
So we first work with local caregivers or among ourselves
416
00:24:32.450 --> 00:24:39.130
to identify the cats, their routines, and the safest trapping locations.
417
00:24:39.599 --> 00:24:43.240
Then we monitor the area, try to use humane traps,
418
00:24:43.380 --> 00:24:44.940
and sometimes wait through the night.
419
00:24:45.500 --> 00:24:47.819
And that's same for the lost cats. But yes, we
420
00:24:47.920 --> 00:24:48.740
do a lot of waiting.
421
00:24:49.660 --> 00:24:53.910
And once rescued, each cat receives a veterinary examination before
422
00:24:53.950 --> 00:24:56.089
moving to a shelter or foster home.
423
00:24:56.150 --> 00:24:57.509
But we don't have a shelter now.
424
00:24:57.930 --> 00:25:02.289
So it's always a foster home now or the adopter home.
425
00:25:02.910 --> 00:25:05.619
But cautious cats may take days or even weeks to
426
00:25:05.640 --> 00:25:07.500
get rescued or months even.
427
00:25:08.079 --> 00:25:08.539
Oh, wow.
428
00:25:09.079 --> 00:25:09.359
Wow.
429
00:25:10.640 --> 00:25:12.619
Do you know how many shelters do you guys have there?
430
00:25:15.799 --> 00:25:20.779
For Yongsan cats? Or in general, like shelter for cats
431
00:25:20.920 --> 00:25:21.420
or dogs?
432
00:25:22.819 --> 00:25:25.220
I guess more in general because you just said you
433
00:25:25.240 --> 00:25:28.740
don't really have a shelter there right now, right?
434
00:25:29.259 --> 00:25:30.460
Our shelter got evicted.
435
00:25:31.160 --> 00:25:31.960
It got evicted?
436
00:25:33.430 --> 00:25:38.039
Yeah, because our temporary shelter was located at Zone 2.
437
00:25:38.039 --> 00:25:40.799
And this April 22nd, we got evicted.
438
00:25:40.920 --> 00:25:43.519
So that's why we had to take all the cats
439
00:25:43.539 --> 00:25:45.420
to foster homes, different foster homes.
440
00:25:45.859 --> 00:25:48.440
Oh, okay. So before you were able to, if you
441
00:25:48.480 --> 00:25:50.920
caught them, you did have kind of a shelter environment
442
00:25:50.940 --> 00:25:53.900
where you could take them to until they classified that
443
00:25:53.960 --> 00:25:55.279
zone for the destruction.
444
00:25:57.200 --> 00:25:59.569
Yes, and that was also unintentional as well.
445
00:25:59.650 --> 00:26:02.769
But then at zone three, we had such a limited
446
00:26:02.809 --> 00:26:05.410
time to rescue all that we needed a space where
447
00:26:05.430 --> 00:26:10.930
we can even temporarily place them. but in general in
448
00:26:10.950 --> 00:26:15.869
Korea we do have big organization that everyone knows about
449
00:26:15.910 --> 00:26:19.599
like two to three but then there's countless smaller shelters
450
00:26:20.799 --> 00:26:24.500
that got started from the caregivers you know they started
451
00:26:24.559 --> 00:26:27.240
off feeding the cats and then suddenly they you know
452
00:26:27.259 --> 00:26:29.700
their heart moved and then they started caring for more
453
00:26:29.759 --> 00:26:33.420
cats the numbers grew then they started having a small
454
00:26:33.460 --> 00:26:38.759
shelter or housing for these cats and Then we don't call,
455
00:26:38.950 --> 00:26:42.680
I don't think they are, some of them are official shelters,
456
00:26:43.339 --> 00:26:48.700
but we do have many smaller ones yet. It's not,
457
00:26:49.519 --> 00:26:52.589
it cannot be helpful in a situation when you need
458
00:26:52.640 --> 00:26:55.829
a lot of rescues because they're, you know, they're private individuals.
459
00:26:55.890 --> 00:26:59.029
Like they are already overpopulated and they're suffering themselves and
460
00:26:59.069 --> 00:27:00.450
you cannot ask them to do more.
461
00:27:00.970 --> 00:27:05.339
Right, right. Yeah, unfortunately, that's the stigma that goes with
462
00:27:05.380 --> 00:27:09.200
a lot of rescue work is, I mean, we're going
463
00:27:09.240 --> 00:27:11.779
through such a hard time ourselves here in the United
464
00:27:11.839 --> 00:27:16.230
States that with our animal shelters and stuff being so overfull,
465
00:27:17.049 --> 00:27:19.509
and the rescues, you know, are doing, you know, like you,
466
00:27:19.549 --> 00:27:22.349
they're doing as much as they can, but they're just
467
00:27:22.430 --> 00:27:25.819
as full as the shelters are. So where are these animals,
468
00:27:25.859 --> 00:27:28.930
you know, supposed to go? Unfortunately, there's not I mean,
469
00:27:29.029 --> 00:27:31.990
a lot of times you'll hear the stories here where
470
00:27:32.009 --> 00:27:35.410
there's loose dogs and stuff and you call animal control,
471
00:27:35.529 --> 00:27:39.079
the people are being, or if they found a stray dog,
472
00:27:39.210 --> 00:27:41.519
animal control might say, hey, can you get it scanned
473
00:27:41.559 --> 00:27:43.240
for a microchip or does it got any tags? And
474
00:27:43.259 --> 00:27:46.119
they'll try to find it at home. And a lot
475
00:27:46.160 --> 00:27:49.539
of times on the weekends, especially too, because a stray dog,
476
00:27:49.640 --> 00:27:51.720
for the most part, if it's not some type of
477
00:27:51.779 --> 00:27:54.119
an emergency involving an animal, they're not going to call
478
00:27:54.140 --> 00:27:57.700
the animal control officer out for a stray dog or
479
00:27:57.759 --> 00:28:01.759
cat they're gonna say let it go i mean that's
480
00:28:01.839 --> 00:28:04.200
literally what it's come down to at this point because
481
00:28:04.400 --> 00:28:08.289
everybody is so full people are being told to just
482
00:28:08.369 --> 00:28:09.859
let these animals go.
483
00:28:09.640 --> 00:28:14.690
Yeah and also um that's why there needs to be
484
00:28:14.710 --> 00:28:17.470
systematic change i think because.
485
00:28:18.630 --> 00:28:21.789
Um working with the governments i feel like governments are
486
00:28:21.910 --> 00:28:24.349
funding the big organizations.
487
00:28:24.069 --> 00:28:25.990
But big organizations does their work.
488
00:28:26.440 --> 00:28:29.579
But that doesn't mean that they are doing, they cannot
489
00:28:29.680 --> 00:28:32.259
do all the small works too, realistically.
490
00:28:33.160 --> 00:28:34.660
They are also overpopulated.
491
00:28:34.700 --> 00:28:36.730
But then I feel like there needs to be a
492
00:28:36.789 --> 00:28:38.529
system where they support individuals.
493
00:28:39.190 --> 00:28:41.269
It doesn't have to be a rescuer. They don't need
494
00:28:41.309 --> 00:28:41.750
a title.
495
00:28:42.009 --> 00:28:44.779
But anyone, any individual in the community, if they want
496
00:28:44.839 --> 00:28:47.640
to save a life, or foster, or find a home,
497
00:28:48.299 --> 00:28:50.619
then I feel like there needs to be a system
498
00:28:50.720 --> 00:28:53.950
that's coming from the community and the government and other
499
00:28:53.970 --> 00:28:57.829
bigger organizations where you support this person and you don't
500
00:28:57.869 --> 00:28:59.390
leave them behind to do it alone.
501
00:29:00.329 --> 00:29:00.589
Right.
502
00:29:00.650 --> 00:29:02.250
You know, that's a good idea. That would be a
503
00:29:02.269 --> 00:29:04.089
really good idea. It's too bad we couldn't get more
504
00:29:04.109 --> 00:29:07.430
people on board to do that, huh? Because that I
505
00:29:07.470 --> 00:29:11.410
think would make a big difference. And in the throwing
506
00:29:11.450 --> 00:29:13.390
this out I mean you know we hear a lot
507
00:29:13.599 --> 00:29:16.420
here you know a lot of people and everybody is
508
00:29:16.480 --> 00:29:20.299
pushing you know spay neuter spay neuter spay neuter and
509
00:29:20.920 --> 00:29:24.019
you know I'm hoping that we're maybe seeing a bit
510
00:29:24.059 --> 00:29:25.980
of a change because of a lot of the spay
511
00:29:26.000 --> 00:29:28.920
and neutering that's going on but another thing is like
512
00:29:29.079 --> 00:29:33.490
we hear uh people's dogs and I'm just going to
513
00:29:33.529 --> 00:29:35.150
go over the dogs here for just a second but
514
00:29:35.509 --> 00:29:38.009
you know people's dogs get out of their yards they
515
00:29:38.029 --> 00:29:41.059
get picked up by animal control they go into the shelter,
516
00:29:41.599 --> 00:29:45.720
and people don't go get their dogs and bring them
517
00:29:45.740 --> 00:29:49.359
back home. I mean, it's crazy. They would rather leave
518
00:29:49.400 --> 00:29:51.680
that animal in the shelter and just go get another one.
519
00:29:51.700 --> 00:29:56.349
It's such a throwaway society here. That literally a lot
520
00:29:56.369 --> 00:29:59.700
of people will leave that first animal in the shelter
521
00:29:59.819 --> 00:30:02.740
and just go get a new one, whether it's because,
522
00:30:02.900 --> 00:30:04.920
oh my gosh, I don't want, you know, they're afraid
523
00:30:04.940 --> 00:30:07.230
they might have to pay a reclamation fee to get
524
00:30:07.269 --> 00:30:09.970
their animal out. They're afraid they might get in trouble
525
00:30:10.029 --> 00:30:14.799
for their animal being out. You know, different reasons that
526
00:30:14.839 --> 00:30:17.559
people come up with for leaving their animals in the shelter,
527
00:30:17.599 --> 00:30:19.900
but you see it a lot. And unfortunately, you know,
528
00:30:19.960 --> 00:30:22.400
here we have, you know, 4th of July, we have
529
00:30:22.440 --> 00:30:26.660
the big fireworks displays. And that's especially that time of
530
00:30:26.700 --> 00:30:29.259
the year is horrible for the animal shelters and stuff
531
00:30:29.299 --> 00:30:33.200
here because so many dogs break out of their homes
532
00:30:33.240 --> 00:30:36.630
and their yards because they're scared to death. Yeah, they're
533
00:30:36.650 --> 00:30:39.839
scared to death of these fireworks. And literally you see
534
00:30:39.940 --> 00:30:42.230
it on, because, you know, I'm on Facebook and I,
535
00:30:42.400 --> 00:30:44.480
you know, I follow the shelters because I try to
536
00:30:44.529 --> 00:30:47.710
help cross posts on another page that I have. And
537
00:30:47.890 --> 00:30:50.190
you see it all the time. Hey, these dogs all
538
00:30:50.230 --> 00:30:52.890
came in because of 4th of July or, you know,
539
00:30:52.930 --> 00:30:55.750
we have these dogs that are straight. And people don't
540
00:30:55.849 --> 00:30:59.079
go get their animals. And I think to myself all
541
00:30:59.119 --> 00:31:02.950
the time, you know, everybody is pushing dogs. Spay and neuter,
542
00:31:03.009 --> 00:31:06.670
spay and neuter. And that's awesome. Yes, spay and neuter
543
00:31:06.690 --> 00:31:08.690
your pets so we can try to get this pet
544
00:31:08.789 --> 00:31:13.130
overpopulation under control. But if your animal gets out of
545
00:31:13.170 --> 00:31:16.380
your yard and you think it, check the shelter. And
546
00:31:16.410 --> 00:31:18.710
if it's at the shelter, for God's sake, go get it.
547
00:31:19.400 --> 00:31:20.779
Don't leave it there to.
548
00:31:22.569 --> 00:31:25.089
Try to find a new home you know or make
549
00:31:25.130 --> 00:31:27.970
the or make the workers you know try to find
550
00:31:28.190 --> 00:31:31.190
your pet a new home because you either didn't want
551
00:31:31.210 --> 00:31:32.970
to get in trouble or you didn't want to maybe
552
00:31:33.019 --> 00:31:35.660
pay any amount to go get your animal which i
553
00:31:35.720 --> 00:31:37.680
hate to say this in a good amount of the
554
00:31:37.720 --> 00:31:41.759
cases because everybody's so full here they're returning the animals
555
00:31:41.819 --> 00:31:44.720
free of charge they don't care they don't want your
556
00:31:44.759 --> 00:31:46.980
money they just want you to take your dog or
557
00:31:47.039 --> 00:31:51.440
cat back home with you and open up another space
558
00:31:51.500 --> 00:31:54.460
for the next one that needs it. You know, so
559
00:31:54.880 --> 00:31:58.589
it's crazy here. I see it so much. It's spay,
560
00:31:58.630 --> 00:32:02.150
neuter your pets and your animals. Yes, please do that.
561
00:32:02.210 --> 00:32:04.690
But for gosh sakes, like I said, if you know
562
00:32:04.730 --> 00:32:07.430
your animal got out of your yard, check at the
563
00:32:07.490 --> 00:32:11.339
local animal shelters. Keep checking. because you just never know
564
00:32:11.440 --> 00:32:13.559
when it might show up there, and if it does
565
00:32:13.599 --> 00:32:17.740
show up there, please go get it back, because you
566
00:32:17.799 --> 00:32:20.140
are part of the problem if you're leaving your animal
567
00:32:20.240 --> 00:32:20.900
in that shelter.
568
00:32:22.640 --> 00:32:27.710
I mean, that's... I am very surprised by the reality
569
00:32:27.809 --> 00:32:30.670
that I just heard, because I never expected that that
570
00:32:30.710 --> 00:32:35.069
would happen. Like, you know that your dog is at
571
00:32:35.109 --> 00:32:36.859
a shelter, and still you don't go get it.
572
00:32:37.289 --> 00:32:39.940
Okay, that's Yeah, it happens here a lot.
573
00:32:40.099 --> 00:32:40.799
I have no.
574
00:32:40.700 --> 00:32:46.200
Words to say for that because I cannot agree to
575
00:32:46.259 --> 00:32:47.019
that mindset.
576
00:32:47.339 --> 00:32:48.299
Yeah, it happens here a lot.
577
00:32:48.319 --> 00:32:50.039
Of not picking up your dog. Yeah.
578
00:32:50.400 --> 00:32:51.329
And I think.
579
00:32:52.789 --> 00:32:57.190
Another thing is I feel like many people are over-trusting
580
00:32:57.329 --> 00:32:57.910
of their.
581
00:32:58.589 --> 00:32:59.650
I know that you should.
582
00:32:59.690 --> 00:33:02.750
Like, of course, you love them, cats and dogs, but
583
00:33:02.809 --> 00:33:06.529
many people are very over-trusting of themselves plus their dogs
584
00:33:06.589 --> 00:33:10.029
and cats. because they don't understand at the end of
585
00:33:10.069 --> 00:33:13.130
the day, yes, you guys have a routine, they understand you,
586
00:33:13.170 --> 00:33:16.589
you guys have a pattern, and you would expect that, oh,
587
00:33:17.130 --> 00:33:19.809
I don't believe in the phrase of my dog or
588
00:33:19.829 --> 00:33:20.839
cat never does that.
589
00:33:21.890 --> 00:33:24.779
Because, you know, like humans too.
590
00:33:26.480 --> 00:33:28.980
Two years ago, me might not have done it, but
591
00:33:29.039 --> 00:33:30.779
maybe today me might do it.
592
00:33:31.039 --> 00:33:31.740
You know what I mean?
593
00:33:32.359 --> 00:33:35.220
So it's just the same thing as, there's still dogs
594
00:33:35.279 --> 00:33:39.839
and cats, and Never say never. When it comes to
595
00:33:39.960 --> 00:33:43.599
security and protection, you can never say never. There's no
596
00:33:43.660 --> 00:33:46.220
such thing as, oh, my dog has always been there
597
00:33:46.279 --> 00:33:48.619
and he will come back. My cats would always go
598
00:33:48.740 --> 00:33:49.359
out and come back.
599
00:33:49.740 --> 00:33:49.960
Yes.
600
00:33:50.200 --> 00:33:53.200
Yes, maybe today they will come back, but maybe tomorrow
601
00:33:53.220 --> 00:33:55.869
they might not because it doesn't matter if it's your
602
00:33:55.900 --> 00:33:58.710
dog or cat. They might get distracted by birds or
603
00:33:59.089 --> 00:34:01.430
other cats or dogs might attack them and they might
604
00:34:01.470 --> 00:34:04.910
move out from the territory. Someone might pick them up.
605
00:34:05.150 --> 00:34:07.660
They may get into a car accident. So there's no
606
00:34:07.720 --> 00:34:11.059
guarantee that they're going to come back. It's just that today,
607
00:34:11.079 --> 00:34:15.090
they made back safely. So I feel like if you
608
00:34:15.179 --> 00:34:19.710
really want to be cautious and protective, then you really
609
00:34:19.730 --> 00:34:22.570
need to learn to not trust them fully.
610
00:34:22.949 --> 00:34:25.570
You still need to understand that they can change. And
611
00:34:25.969 --> 00:34:28.809
with age, too. You know, they will change.
612
00:34:28.849 --> 00:34:33.360
Their patterns and lifestyle will change. And they have their favorites, too.
613
00:34:33.530 --> 00:34:35.420
And that can also change. Yep.
614
00:34:36.000 --> 00:34:38.530
Another good one I've heard here many times is, you know,
615
00:34:38.550 --> 00:34:42.030
people may not have, some people may not have fenced
616
00:34:42.090 --> 00:34:44.630
yards with their dogs. Oh, I can let my dog
617
00:34:44.670 --> 00:34:47.690
out in my yard. They don't leave it. Sure they don't.
618
00:34:47.889 --> 00:34:51.230
Sure they don't leave your yard. You may not see
619
00:34:51.269 --> 00:34:54.150
them leave their yard, but they leave their yard, believe me.
620
00:34:55.699 --> 00:34:58.039
Yeah, and that's very important.
621
00:34:58.489 --> 00:35:01.739
I think that's very dangerous because not only for you
622
00:35:01.800 --> 00:35:05.139
and your dog, but for others as well. And you
623
00:35:05.179 --> 00:35:08.619
don't know what will become their trigger. Also, they may
624
00:35:08.639 --> 00:35:11.619
be in danger too. They might just be walking around.
625
00:35:11.639 --> 00:35:14.559
It could trigger other animal and they might get attacked.
626
00:35:15.320 --> 00:35:19.880
So I'm always the type of person who is like,
627
00:35:19.980 --> 00:35:22.739
for cats too, I feel like window protection is a
628
00:35:22.780 --> 00:35:28.960
must because unless your house... It just has a huge
629
00:35:28.980 --> 00:35:32.619
wall where they cannot go outside. Even then, their cats,
630
00:35:32.699 --> 00:35:33.960
I think they can find a way.
631
00:35:33.980 --> 00:35:35.010
I think so too.
632
00:35:35.010 --> 00:35:37.409
And if you don't want to lose your cat, then
633
00:35:37.590 --> 00:35:40.630
you have to do windmill protection. Mosquito net might not
634
00:35:40.710 --> 00:35:44.800
always be enough because some mosquito nets are weak and
635
00:35:44.860 --> 00:35:46.039
you don't know what they.
636
00:35:46.139 --> 00:35:47.000
You know cats like.
637
00:35:48.050 --> 00:35:50.409
They don't think they're ripping it, but they might like
638
00:35:50.449 --> 00:35:54.179
to rip it. And once it gets ripped, it opens,
639
00:35:54.519 --> 00:35:57.320
and they might just escape out without knowing that they're escaping.
640
00:35:58.019 --> 00:36:00.070
I can never trust my cat. I have one of
641
00:36:00.119 --> 00:36:02.650
my cats. He's very cute. He loves me.
642
00:36:03.630 --> 00:36:04.929
But he's not the smartest.
643
00:36:05.570 --> 00:36:08.769
So I know that he might be ripping the mosquito
644
00:36:08.789 --> 00:36:12.230
net without knowing that he's ripping it. And once it's open,
645
00:36:12.429 --> 00:36:15.230
he will, oh, 100% he's going to walk out. He's
646
00:36:15.250 --> 00:36:17.090
going to walk out not because he wants to.
647
00:36:17.280 --> 00:36:20.099
He doesn't know that he's walking out and he will
648
00:36:20.139 --> 00:36:21.360
walk out and he will.
649
00:36:21.239 --> 00:36:21.760
Never come back.
650
00:36:22.340 --> 00:36:25.179
Yeah, yeah. And like you said, another animal, a bird
651
00:36:25.239 --> 00:36:26.679
or something might go by and he's like, oh, there's
652
00:36:26.699 --> 00:36:28.079
a bird. Let me go check this out. You know,
653
00:36:28.159 --> 00:36:28.780
and he goes.
654
00:36:29.260 --> 00:36:29.519
Yeah.
655
00:36:29.559 --> 00:36:32.239
You know, that's, I mean, you know, like dogs hear
656
00:36:32.260 --> 00:36:35.070
a squirrel, you know, and they run. So you just
657
00:36:35.130 --> 00:36:37.869
never know. And I love these people that actually do
658
00:36:37.949 --> 00:36:41.949
put in the effort to make these really nice catteries.
659
00:36:42.519 --> 00:36:45.719
For their cats where, you know, they really, they can't
660
00:36:45.760 --> 00:36:48.159
get out. I mean, I've seen some really nice elaborate
661
00:36:48.260 --> 00:36:50.130
ones where they all have them coming out like one
662
00:36:50.190 --> 00:36:52.829
window and around the house and back into another or whatever.
663
00:36:53.349 --> 00:36:56.170
So the cat can get all sorts of enrichment activities
664
00:36:56.389 --> 00:36:59.789
by being out in that. you know, area, but yeah,
665
00:36:59.889 --> 00:37:05.860
unless you really have a good sturdy type of material, yeah,
666
00:37:05.909 --> 00:37:08.719
you're exactly right. I mean, cats have claws. They're going
667
00:37:08.760 --> 00:37:11.420
to probably rip through a week or mosquito netting. You
668
00:37:11.440 --> 00:37:14.440
have to have something stronger than that. So, yeah.
669
00:37:14.559 --> 00:37:16.460
And also, yeah, and.
670
00:37:16.440 --> 00:37:19.400
Also I feel like, yes, some people might say that, oh,
671
00:37:19.440 --> 00:37:23.800
that's a harassment because then you're limiting your cats to
672
00:37:24.099 --> 00:37:26.699
a restricted area, like just your room, and depending on
673
00:37:26.760 --> 00:37:30.219
how big your house is it could be harassment but
674
00:37:30.260 --> 00:37:32.980
I feel like the world is not perfect for human
675
00:37:33.019 --> 00:37:38.599
too and it's the priority so if your priority is.
676
00:37:38.960 --> 00:37:42.460
I feel like for cats um most.
677
00:37:42.300 --> 00:37:47.670
Important thing when you are like for cats especially is
678
00:37:48.630 --> 00:37:52.449
not being able to go outside but being able to
679
00:37:52.469 --> 00:37:56.400
like receive the care and attention and love so let's
680
00:37:56.440 --> 00:37:59.219
say if they cannot go outside and they're restricted yes
681
00:37:59.260 --> 00:38:02.840
they're in like maybe limited and restricted but if you
682
00:38:02.909 --> 00:38:06.070
give enough attention and care and love they will still
683
00:38:06.110 --> 00:38:09.730
be satisfied they'll be okay and you play with them
684
00:38:10.489 --> 00:38:13.210
um yes if you have limited time to play with
685
00:38:13.230 --> 00:38:17.519
them but still it's that's life so you know You have.
686
00:38:17.440 --> 00:38:21.079
To choose priority. But the main priority for any animals
687
00:38:21.119 --> 00:38:24.260
that is under humans' care, I feel like, is attention, love,
688
00:38:24.300 --> 00:38:24.679
and care.
689
00:38:25.400 --> 00:38:27.820
And let's say you don't have time to play with them,
690
00:38:27.860 --> 00:38:29.699
but you still love them, and you look at them,
691
00:38:29.739 --> 00:38:32.059
you always tell them you love them, and you care
692
00:38:32.099 --> 00:38:35.219
for them at night and in the morning. Still, I
693
00:38:35.239 --> 00:38:37.239
think that is much more important than giving them an
694
00:38:37.320 --> 00:38:41.179
opportunity to, you know, harm themselves once.
695
00:38:41.000 --> 00:38:41.599
They go outside.
696
00:38:41.619 --> 00:38:47.170
Yeah, I mean, exactly. And that's a good point, because... Yeah,
697
00:38:47.190 --> 00:38:48.949
you hear that a lot. You know, people give up
698
00:38:48.989 --> 00:38:50.889
their animal. Oh, I don't have enough time. I don't
699
00:38:50.909 --> 00:38:52.949
have enough time. I've got this going on. I don't
700
00:38:52.969 --> 00:38:56.449
have enough time. Okay, so you don't have enough time
701
00:38:56.929 --> 00:39:00.309
to let your pet stay in your house where it's
702
00:39:00.369 --> 00:39:03.670
comfortable and getting food and water and love. I mean,
703
00:39:03.789 --> 00:39:05.389
you know, the love that you can give it, the
704
00:39:05.429 --> 00:39:07.630
little bit of attention you can give it. You think
705
00:39:07.690 --> 00:39:10.889
it's much better to put that animal in a small
706
00:39:11.010 --> 00:39:13.900
caged area in a shelter where there's all sorts of
707
00:39:15.469 --> 00:39:17.570
barking if there's dogs in the same shelter you know
708
00:39:17.610 --> 00:39:20.519
barking going on there's other cats that may not be
709
00:39:20.619 --> 00:39:23.360
real friendly with other cats you know there's all sorts
710
00:39:23.380 --> 00:39:26.239
of stuff that can stress your animal out so you
711
00:39:26.260 --> 00:39:28.170
really think it's better to put the animal in that
712
00:39:28.230 --> 00:39:31.769
situation than to keep it in your home i've never
713
00:39:31.849 --> 00:39:37.329
understood that mode of thinking either it's.
714
00:39:35.969 --> 00:39:40.420
Um i think when we start talking about these it's
715
00:39:40.719 --> 00:39:47.980
it's endless conversation because um it's um i feel like
716
00:39:48.039 --> 00:39:52.219
when you are rescuing And when you're trying to find
717
00:39:52.280 --> 00:39:55.760
a family, you have to stay flexible and stay gray zone.
718
00:39:56.079 --> 00:39:59.420
But that doesn't mean that you agree upon everything. You
719
00:39:59.440 --> 00:40:03.760
have to definitely respect people's lifestyle. And they're not wrong,
720
00:40:04.000 --> 00:40:09.179
you know, because it's just different lifestyle. But the core is,
721
00:40:09.260 --> 00:40:12.039
I think one core thing that I hope everyone can
722
00:40:12.079 --> 00:40:17.920
have is that when you decide to commit to life,
723
00:40:18.300 --> 00:40:24.980
whether it's cats or dogs, they bond with you. Under
724
00:40:25.000 --> 00:40:28.960
the circumstances that you do care and you give them love,
725
00:40:29.480 --> 00:40:33.820
they do bond closely with you. So, you are their home.
726
00:40:34.159 --> 00:40:37.070
It's not the house that you live in. Literally, you
727
00:40:37.309 --> 00:40:40.610
as a person is their home and their everything. So,
728
00:40:41.670 --> 00:40:45.849
let's say it becomes expensive for their medical care. It
729
00:40:45.929 --> 00:40:47.369
becomes expensive for whatnot.
730
00:40:47.389 --> 00:40:49.090
You don't have time. But still, at the end of
731
00:40:49.130 --> 00:40:53.059
the day... they would prefer to stay with you.
732
00:40:53.699 --> 00:40:56.199
And even if it means that they might die at
733
00:40:56.239 --> 00:40:58.139
a younger age because they might not be able to
734
00:40:58.179 --> 00:41:01.380
get medical care, if you care enough for them, they
735
00:41:01.440 --> 00:41:06.989
might prefer being next to you than anywhere else. So
736
00:41:07.659 --> 00:41:09.869
I think that's a thought that I want everyone to
737
00:41:09.909 --> 00:41:14.469
have is it's just not as simple as, you know,
738
00:41:14.929 --> 00:41:17.349
I'm not enough for them.
739
00:41:18.250 --> 00:41:21.599
Everyone is enough for their age. cats and dogs. It's
740
00:41:21.639 --> 00:41:24.000
just human thoughts that we're not enough for them.
741
00:41:24.599 --> 00:41:27.199
Right, exactly. And I'm glad you kind of said the
742
00:41:27.239 --> 00:41:29.110
house and the home thing because I actually, I think
743
00:41:29.150 --> 00:41:30.949
it was a commercial, I saw a commercial or something
744
00:41:30.969 --> 00:41:33.730
the other day and it stated in it, you know,
745
00:41:34.429 --> 00:41:39.469
you buy a house but you make a home. So,
746
00:41:39.840 --> 00:41:43.119
you know, then that's kind of what you were saying there. Okay,
747
00:41:43.139 --> 00:41:45.420
you may have a house but you are the home
748
00:41:45.480 --> 00:41:47.719
for that cat. Yes, they live in that house but
749
00:41:47.800 --> 00:41:51.949
you're their home because You're what makes them comfortable. You're
750
00:41:52.010 --> 00:41:54.800
giving them the attention, the love, whatever. And, you know,
751
00:41:54.820 --> 00:41:57.340
it's too bad we have all these really great rescues,
752
00:41:57.420 --> 00:42:01.039
rescuing animals and stuff. I wish we had more organizations
753
00:42:01.139 --> 00:42:06.630
that would maybe learn more about doing some fundraising and
754
00:42:06.829 --> 00:42:10.670
have some fundraising done to where they can have some
755
00:42:10.730 --> 00:42:14.170
money put aside to try to help people out a
756
00:42:14.190 --> 00:42:16.199
little bit more when it comes to, say, some of
757
00:42:16.219 --> 00:42:17.920
these medical costs and stuff, you know.
758
00:42:18.480 --> 00:42:21.210
Yes. Certainly, certainly.
759
00:42:21.309 --> 00:42:23.030
I mean, vets and stuff do try to do the
760
00:42:23.090 --> 00:42:26.250
most they can to help where they can and discount
761
00:42:26.269 --> 00:42:28.650
where they can, but obviously the vet has to get
762
00:42:28.690 --> 00:42:31.570
paid to be able to afford the stuff they need
763
00:42:31.630 --> 00:42:33.949
to treat more animals and pay their staff and stuff
764
00:42:33.989 --> 00:42:37.150
like that too, although sometimes I think vets do charge
765
00:42:37.170 --> 00:42:40.429
a little bit higher than what they should. But again, yeah,
766
00:42:40.489 --> 00:42:43.329
it would be nice to have more organizations out there
767
00:42:43.389 --> 00:42:45.710
to help people out when it comes to medical costs.
768
00:42:47.469 --> 00:42:47.929
Yeah, I think.
769
00:42:49.170 --> 00:42:52.969
when people, especially the families who have a heart and
770
00:42:53.070 --> 00:42:57.070
love and care, but when it comes to unpredictable medical expenses,
771
00:42:57.090 --> 00:43:04.219
I don't think anyone can blame them because life happens
772
00:43:04.300 --> 00:43:06.840
and things can happen. And I just wish that there
773
00:43:06.900 --> 00:43:11.320
is a system where these people can get supportive so
774
00:43:11.360 --> 00:43:14.329
they can stay with their family, like their cats and dogs.
775
00:43:15.230 --> 00:43:17.929
Yeah, most definitely. I think that would be a, That
776
00:43:17.949 --> 00:43:21.269
would maybe someone out there listening will maybe take that
777
00:43:21.369 --> 00:43:25.300
charge up and hopefully start something, you know, and get
778
00:43:25.340 --> 00:43:28.320
the ball rolling and get some more help out there. Because,
779
00:43:28.639 --> 00:43:30.300
I mean, there are, don't get me wrong, there are
780
00:43:30.340 --> 00:43:33.809
some organizations out there that are doing it. Unfortunately, they're
781
00:43:33.889 --> 00:43:36.170
few and far in between when it comes to that
782
00:43:36.230 --> 00:43:39.039
kind of stuff. And like you said, I mean. you
783
00:43:39.079 --> 00:43:42.469
never know when something's going to pop up. I mean, I, myself, I,
784
00:43:42.719 --> 00:43:44.789
I don't have any cats now. I've had cats in the,
785
00:43:45.039 --> 00:43:48.820
in the previous years, but, um, you know, I had
786
00:43:48.840 --> 00:43:52.619
a thing, I had one of my dogs that, uh,
787
00:43:53.360 --> 00:43:57.769
she had, uh, a type of cancer. And I mean, it's,
788
00:43:58.030 --> 00:44:05.400
it's called the silent killer. It's I mean, and then I'm,
789
00:44:05.739 --> 00:44:07.500
you know, that's like you're talking about. It's one of
790
00:44:07.539 --> 00:44:09.739
these unexpected medical things. You know, all of a sudden
791
00:44:09.780 --> 00:44:12.480
my dog is now, you know, I'm looking at thinking
792
00:44:12.519 --> 00:44:14.280
my dog's going to die. I'm rushing her to an
793
00:44:14.340 --> 00:44:18.019
emergency vet, which, number one, is so expensive to try
794
00:44:18.059 --> 00:44:21.199
to do. But, I mean, I was looking at if
795
00:44:21.559 --> 00:44:24.119
she had been able to have the surgery, which she
796
00:44:24.179 --> 00:44:28.119
wasn't able to, and I lost her, unfortunately. But, you know,
797
00:44:28.219 --> 00:44:30.179
I was looking at around $ 10, 000 to do this surgery
798
00:44:31.019 --> 00:44:32.360
for my dog.
799
00:44:32.400 --> 00:44:32.519
Yes.
800
00:44:34.769 --> 00:44:38.690
And, yeah, that is something that is just, you know, crazy.
801
00:44:39.090 --> 00:44:42.920
And people can, I mean, especially if, you know, I understand.
802
00:44:43.380 --> 00:44:47.559
I am one of those lower middle income type people,
803
00:44:47.719 --> 00:44:51.039
and I completely understand what it's like to not be
804
00:44:51.119 --> 00:44:55.329
able to afford an emergency medical expense like that because
805
00:44:55.369 --> 00:44:58.550
you live paycheck to paycheck. And, you know, I love
806
00:44:58.590 --> 00:45:00.409
all these people. Well, you should save money. Well, how
807
00:45:00.429 --> 00:45:02.929
do you save money if you're literally living from paycheck
808
00:45:02.969 --> 00:45:07.090
to paycheck to support yourself? So, you know, saving money
809
00:45:07.130 --> 00:45:12.449
a lot of times isn't conducive. So, yeah. So more
810
00:45:12.610 --> 00:45:15.530
organizations out there helping people with those kinds of things
811
00:45:15.570 --> 00:45:18.860
would be awesome. Yeah.
812
00:45:18.880 --> 00:45:23.500
And when you do rescues, you see the biggest challenges
813
00:45:23.619 --> 00:45:27.840
and realities that needs to be helped at each stage. Right.
814
00:45:28.000 --> 00:45:33.219
And it's never easy. You know, like everything.
815
00:45:32.820 --> 00:45:39.159
Is about access and timing. so um and medical care
816
00:45:39.300 --> 00:45:42.239
is one of the critical ones it's unpredictable and it's
817
00:45:42.519 --> 00:45:44.199
expensive and um.
818
00:45:45.880 --> 00:45:47.239
Yes it's just um.
819
00:45:47.159 --> 00:45:53.699
The aftercare and the course of whole process it would
820
00:45:53.739 --> 00:45:57.860
be amazing if there could be a communal help or
821
00:45:58.409 --> 00:46:05.579
governmental support for the some of the uncertainties, especially for shelters.
822
00:46:05.260 --> 00:46:06.260
And rescues, I would say.
823
00:46:06.679 --> 00:46:06.920
Right.
824
00:46:07.280 --> 00:46:09.500
Well, you know, unfortunately here in the United States, we
825
00:46:09.559 --> 00:46:13.199
can't even get our people in the government to get
826
00:46:13.300 --> 00:46:17.409
a decent health care system for people, let alone animals, unfortunately.
827
00:46:18.050 --> 00:46:20.829
I mean, we've been hearing for, I can't even tell
828
00:46:20.849 --> 00:46:22.469
you how many years, oh, yeah, we're going to fix
829
00:46:22.489 --> 00:46:25.309
the health care system. We're going to make it better.
830
00:46:25.329 --> 00:46:26.949
We're going to do this. It never happens.
831
00:46:26.969 --> 00:46:27.150
Right.
832
00:46:27.679 --> 00:46:29.860
And we're still in the same rut that we've always
833
00:46:29.929 --> 00:46:33.190
been in. So, you know, trying to get a government
834
00:46:33.230 --> 00:46:35.710
to do something along the lines to help out animals,
835
00:46:35.789 --> 00:46:37.909
my God, if you could help out the people, it
836
00:46:37.949 --> 00:46:40.730
would be great. But let alone helping out the animals,
837
00:46:40.789 --> 00:46:45.369
it's like pulling teeth to get anything done. And it's ridiculous,
838
00:46:45.489 --> 00:46:47.469
I think, because a lot of this stuff could be
839
00:46:47.550 --> 00:46:49.949
solved if they just wanted to sit down and, like,
840
00:46:50.030 --> 00:46:52.449
really think about it. And the same with animals. There's
841
00:46:52.550 --> 00:46:56.349
so much out there that could be done to help out, but...
842
00:46:57.340 --> 00:47:00.119
why endeavor to do that? You know, it's not their problem.
843
00:47:00.159 --> 00:47:03.059
What do they care? But it would be, like you said,
844
00:47:03.079 --> 00:47:04.900
it would be great if the government would get more
845
00:47:04.960 --> 00:47:08.820
involved and help do some of this stuff. But I
846
00:47:08.840 --> 00:47:11.599
don't see it happening anytime soon, unfortunately.
847
00:47:11.619 --> 00:47:15.440
I just try to focus on the life directly in
848
00:47:15.480 --> 00:47:15.800
front of.
849
00:47:15.780 --> 00:47:18.300
Me instead of everything that I cannot control.
850
00:47:18.619 --> 00:47:20.969
Yeah, that's all you can do. That's all you can do.
851
00:47:20.989 --> 00:47:21.110
Okay.
852
00:47:22.489 --> 00:47:24.070
And I'm glad, you know, you kind of brought up,
853
00:47:24.090 --> 00:47:27.400
you know, like with you, you're talking about the medical
854
00:47:27.440 --> 00:47:29.340
care and stuff, because I was actually going to, you know,
855
00:47:29.420 --> 00:47:31.579
ask you what some of the bigger challenges are at
856
00:47:32.380 --> 00:47:35.059
kind of each stage of your process when you're doing rescue.
857
00:47:35.099 --> 00:47:37.039
So you've, we've, you know, kind of talked a little
858
00:47:37.079 --> 00:47:39.750
bit about the medical care, but even with that, what about,
859
00:47:39.789 --> 00:47:42.190
you know, for like your fostering and your finding homes,
860
00:47:42.650 --> 00:47:46.389
I'm assuming you like a lot of, well, I don't
861
00:47:46.409 --> 00:47:48.650
know about your rescue there, but I know like our
862
00:47:48.690 --> 00:47:52.369
rescues here have you have a foster home, obviously you're
863
00:47:52.409 --> 00:47:54.389
providing a lot of, you know, if they have to
864
00:47:54.409 --> 00:47:56.289
go to the vet and get medical care, you know,
865
00:47:56.590 --> 00:48:00.349
the rescue will pay for that. If food and stuff
866
00:48:00.409 --> 00:48:02.449
is needed, a lot of times the rescue will provide
867
00:48:02.469 --> 00:48:05.179
that to the fosters. Sometimes the fosters are great because
868
00:48:05.199 --> 00:48:08.099
they know rescues are strapped already and they'll, you know,
869
00:48:08.139 --> 00:48:09.860
pay for that stuff on their own and donate it,
870
00:48:09.920 --> 00:48:12.599
which is awesome. But, you know, what are some of
871
00:48:12.639 --> 00:48:15.039
the big challenges that you kind of face in those
872
00:48:15.159 --> 00:48:17.000
aspects with your rescue?
873
00:48:17.019 --> 00:48:19.090
You just, You just mentioned everything.
874
00:48:19.110 --> 00:48:20.650
Oh, you're awesome.
875
00:48:20.670 --> 00:48:22.130
So, you know, during.
876
00:48:21.889 --> 00:48:25.730
The rescue, like I said, access and timing are major challenges,
877
00:48:25.849 --> 00:48:30.340
and medical care are always unpredictable and expensive. While suitable
878
00:48:30.389 --> 00:48:34.780
foster homes are always limited, and adoption is another careful
879
00:48:34.840 --> 00:48:37.659
process because our goal is not simply to place a
880
00:48:37.699 --> 00:48:42.159
cat quickly. It's to find a stable, lifelong match. And,
881
00:48:42.260 --> 00:48:45.500
of course, the aftercare, when there is a lost cat
882
00:48:45.539 --> 00:48:47.909
or rehoming, That's a challenge, too.
883
00:48:48.070 --> 00:48:48.440
But I.
884
00:48:49.949 --> 00:48:53.849
Think it all comes down to every part of rescue
885
00:48:53.889 --> 00:48:58.349
depends on limited resources, funding, foster homes, volunteers, and time.
886
00:48:59.269 --> 00:49:05.460
And right now, rescue should not depend on and rest
887
00:49:05.659 --> 00:49:09.400
on one exhausted person. But that's what's happening right now.
888
00:49:09.699 --> 00:49:09.960
And it is.
889
00:49:12.889 --> 00:49:17.380
Somehow, it's on a stage of survival mode, but then
890
00:49:17.760 --> 00:49:20.719
it has to become sustainable only... and it will only
891
00:49:20.780 --> 00:49:24.219
become sustainable only when the responsibility is shared.
892
00:49:25.019 --> 00:49:26.420
And that's what I'm trying to create.
893
00:49:26.539 --> 00:49:30.789
But right now, the logistics and everything, for example, fundings,
894
00:49:31.510 --> 00:49:37.530
even trying to fundraise, going to the vet, medicals, finding
895
00:49:37.570 --> 00:49:42.260
foster adopters, communicating with volunteers, communicating.
896
00:49:41.579 --> 00:49:44.980
With everyone, transporting the cat, it's just me.
897
00:49:45.699 --> 00:49:48.139
And I do have friends now who does help me,
898
00:49:48.340 --> 00:49:55.340
who does major help in communication with a doctor and fosters,
899
00:49:56.159 --> 00:49:59.219
because sometimes they may have an urgency, but I cannot
900
00:49:59.260 --> 00:50:01.269
get to them on time because I'm talking to too.
901
00:50:01.170 --> 00:50:02.130
Many people at once.
902
00:50:02.730 --> 00:50:05.659
Then I do have people who's trying to make the
903
00:50:05.699 --> 00:50:09.519
system where I wouldn't lose track of all these inquiries.
904
00:50:10.280 --> 00:50:11.539
But that said, all the.
905
00:50:11.480 --> 00:50:19.079
Major tedious and stressful works, I have to bear it myself.
906
00:50:19.380 --> 00:50:22.960
And I'm in the process of trying to create the
907
00:50:22.980 --> 00:50:29.630
balance because, you know, I have also learned that caring
908
00:50:29.650 --> 00:50:32.030
for myself is part of the caring for the cats.
909
00:50:32.610 --> 00:50:38.449
And sustainable rescue requires compassion, but it also requires boundaries, rest,
910
00:50:38.530 --> 00:50:39.670
and support from others.
911
00:50:40.510 --> 00:50:42.710
So I'm trying to find that balance.
912
00:50:43.090 --> 00:50:46.590
I'm trying to seek those helps because I'm hitting the
913
00:50:46.659 --> 00:50:47.260
limits now.
914
00:50:49.429 --> 00:50:52.860
And, you know, that's great because, I mean, obviously... You know,
915
00:50:52.909 --> 00:50:56.090
rescue work can be emotionally demanding, like you said, and
916
00:50:56.130 --> 00:50:58.550
you're exhausted because you're basically the only, I mean, like
917
00:50:58.590 --> 00:51:00.530
you said, you do have some friends now, but you've
918
00:51:00.550 --> 00:51:05.170
been doing this by yourself. And I wanted to mention
919
00:51:05.250 --> 00:51:07.190
because you kind of brought up, you know, you went
920
00:51:07.210 --> 00:51:09.070
and you were camping out for a week trying to
921
00:51:10.090 --> 00:51:12.130
get this cat back that got out in a way.
922
00:51:12.849 --> 00:51:15.130
And you've actually had, I mean, it hasn't just been
923
00:51:15.210 --> 00:51:17.449
one for you. There were what, like two or three?
924
00:51:18.190 --> 00:51:21.289
That got out at the same time, more or less.
925
00:51:21.389 --> 00:51:24.170
And so you've been running for the last couple weeks,
926
00:51:24.309 --> 00:51:27.079
literally trying to catch these cats and get them back.
927
00:51:27.920 --> 00:51:29.860
And it's been just you doing it, correct?
928
00:51:30.920 --> 00:51:35.190
Yes. And some families do help, others don't.
929
00:51:35.869 --> 00:51:36.119
And....
930
00:51:37.900 --> 00:51:40.940
That's the reality. So that's what I'm facing all the time.
931
00:51:41.059 --> 00:51:47.320
But luckily, this time, the difficulty came from families not supporting.
932
00:51:47.400 --> 00:51:49.679
It was more of a distance. It was very far away.
933
00:51:50.889 --> 00:51:57.489
And yes, they were all adopted cats. So technically, some
934
00:51:57.530 --> 00:52:00.190
people may say, oh, you know, they're adopted. You need
935
00:52:00.210 --> 00:52:04.050
to have the families do everything. But when it comes
936
00:52:04.159 --> 00:52:06.420
to foreign country and also.
937
00:52:07.309 --> 00:52:08.510
These cats are the cats.
938
00:52:08.849 --> 00:52:11.909
I mean, they weren't even adopted long ago. It was
939
00:52:12.050 --> 00:52:15.289
only half a year to one year ago that they
940
00:52:15.329 --> 00:52:20.230
got adopted. And I feel like I know how life
941
00:52:20.329 --> 00:52:22.679
is when they leave the house. So it's the least
942
00:52:22.780 --> 00:52:25.059
I can do for them to try to help them
943
00:52:25.099 --> 00:52:25.739
find them back.
944
00:52:25.840 --> 00:52:27.780
And fortunately, I found all of them back.
945
00:52:28.460 --> 00:52:34.880
But then after this is the next task. First is
946
00:52:35.059 --> 00:52:38.150
a I would say first can be a mistake and
947
00:52:38.289 --> 00:52:42.869
unfortunate mistake that can happen to anyone. But I hope
948
00:52:42.909 --> 00:52:45.190
the second and third doesn't happen in the same household
949
00:52:45.510 --> 00:52:49.820
because I hope that everyone learns their lesson after going
950
00:52:49.860 --> 00:52:54.480
through this tedious process with me because I hope everyone
951
00:52:54.500 --> 00:52:58.420
can understand that finding a cat back is not as
952
00:52:58.480 --> 00:53:02.789
simple as, oh, you know, Someone else is helping me.
953
00:53:02.849 --> 00:53:05.750
We put out a poster and we just wait and
954
00:53:05.769 --> 00:53:06.809
they come back. Nope.
955
00:53:06.949 --> 00:53:08.889
You have to search. You have to seek. You have
956
00:53:08.929 --> 00:53:09.329
to wait.
957
00:53:10.010 --> 00:53:13.090
And it's very, very grueling process. I would say it's
958
00:53:13.269 --> 00:53:16.940
harder than rescuing a cat. It's harder than finding a home.
959
00:53:17.159 --> 00:53:20.559
It's harder than rescuing a cat. It's harder than fundraising.
960
00:53:20.820 --> 00:53:24.239
The hardest is the, by far, the hardest part of
961
00:53:24.320 --> 00:53:28.920
my entire community rescue work is getting their cat back
962
00:53:28.960 --> 00:53:29.719
when they get lost.
963
00:53:31.480 --> 00:53:34.280
And you just mentioned, you know, obviously first time can
964
00:53:34.300 --> 00:53:38.690
be a mistake. But say what happens, like, okay, now
965
00:53:38.710 --> 00:53:42.989
this cat got out. Okay, a second time, okay, maybe
966
00:53:43.010 --> 00:53:44.750
we'll give him another chance. But if it happens a
967
00:53:44.769 --> 00:53:46.349
third time with the same family, do you give the
968
00:53:46.389 --> 00:53:48.320
cat back at that point or do you just say, nope,
969
00:53:48.340 --> 00:53:48.679
we're done?
970
00:53:51.139 --> 00:53:54.019
We will discuss and I will discuss.
971
00:53:54.380 --> 00:53:58.409
Consider all the circumstances of how their stages what they
972
00:53:58.449 --> 00:54:02.550
have been doing and what they're actually and their thoughts
973
00:54:02.650 --> 00:54:04.769
as well because I feel like if you lose the
974
00:54:04.809 --> 00:54:08.130
cats for the third time it clearly tells me that
975
00:54:08.190 --> 00:54:09.929
you know they might not care too much about the
976
00:54:09.969 --> 00:54:14.630
cats because if they have lost once or twice they'll
977
00:54:14.670 --> 00:54:17.730
know how hard it is to get them back and
978
00:54:17.769 --> 00:54:21.460
making it happen again the third time I'm not sure
979
00:54:21.659 --> 00:54:23.500
if that could be a mistake or that could be
980
00:54:23.519 --> 00:54:24.019
a neglect.
981
00:54:24.300 --> 00:54:25.019
You know what I mean?
982
00:54:25.900 --> 00:54:31.289
It's just, I need to make, sometimes, sometimes, at times,
983
00:54:31.570 --> 00:54:35.050
they're great individuals, but they're just naive and they're coming
984
00:54:35.070 --> 00:54:40.730
from a country where indoor-outdoor situation was very common and
985
00:54:40.769 --> 00:54:43.239
they just don't understand that Korea is different.
986
00:54:44.360 --> 00:54:47.559
Then maybe there is a room for a discussion.
987
00:54:48.289 --> 00:54:52.849
And also, I do know when I'm trying to.
988
00:54:52.809 --> 00:54:56.510
Search for a lost cat, I feel when the family
989
00:54:56.550 --> 00:54:58.750
cares for them or not. It's very obvious.
990
00:54:59.630 --> 00:55:02.070
And if I feel that they really care for the cat,
991
00:55:02.630 --> 00:55:05.300
then of course I will have a room for a discussion.
992
00:55:05.820 --> 00:55:09.500
But then if I feel.
993
00:55:09.280 --> 00:55:12.340
That they're not getting any attention or love or anything,
994
00:55:12.940 --> 00:55:17.530
then we do sign a contract upon adoption. So we'll
995
00:55:17.550 --> 00:55:20.079
discuss the next step of, I think, you know, it's
996
00:55:20.119 --> 00:55:22.460
time for them to just go to a new home
997
00:55:22.539 --> 00:55:25.340
who can actually handle them and take a.
998
00:55:25.320 --> 00:55:26.059
Better care of them.
999
00:55:28.019 --> 00:55:30.690
Well, that's good. I mean, yeah, because obviously, like you said,
1000
00:55:30.710 --> 00:55:33.349
obviously when you get to probably at least that third time,
1001
00:55:33.409 --> 00:55:35.909
you're really going to start looking a little harder at, okay,
1002
00:55:35.929 --> 00:55:39.800
what's going on here? And, you know, because seriously, and
1003
00:55:39.840 --> 00:55:41.760
like you said, you can tell when people care and
1004
00:55:41.780 --> 00:55:45.650
when they don't care. So, um, I'm, I'm, you know, it's,
1005
00:55:45.789 --> 00:55:48.650
it's unfortunate if it comes to that situation. And like
1006
00:55:48.670 --> 00:55:51.050
you said, hopefully after one time they've learned that they
1007
00:55:51.070 --> 00:55:53.010
figure it out, they do what they're supposed to be
1008
00:55:53.050 --> 00:55:57.750
doing and it doesn't happen again. So, um, yeah, that's
1009
00:55:57.789 --> 00:56:00.010
a crazy, sometimes I'm telling you, I believe me, I've
1010
00:56:00.030 --> 00:56:03.429
done this. I know people, you just cannot understand sometimes
1011
00:56:03.469 --> 00:56:06.090
what people are thinking when they're doing or thinking things.
1012
00:56:06.880 --> 00:56:11.070
So I think I need it. I was very fortunate.
1013
00:56:11.530 --> 00:56:16.349
I met amazing families and volunteers and community members through
1014
00:56:16.429 --> 00:56:18.610
rescuing from Yongsan Cats.
1015
00:56:19.269 --> 00:56:23.230
But there are always one or two.
1016
00:56:23.889 --> 00:56:26.289
You know, there's like hundreds of people who are amazing
1017
00:56:26.320 --> 00:56:29.239
and there's always one or two who are.
1018
00:56:29.199 --> 00:56:31.039
Dreadful and deadly.
1019
00:56:31.760 --> 00:56:36.380
And they push everything down. That's why I feel like
1020
00:56:36.420 --> 00:56:38.280
the skills that you need to learn is how to
1021
00:56:38.320 --> 00:56:40.940
disconnect yourself from those negativities.
1022
00:56:41.760 --> 00:56:46.840
Right, right, exactly. And that's actually kind of leading into
1023
00:56:46.880 --> 00:56:49.539
my next thing I want to talk about because rescue
1024
00:56:49.559 --> 00:56:54.320
work can be emotionally as well as physically demanding and stressful.
1025
00:56:55.070 --> 00:56:59.289
So how do you yourself kind of handle or cope
1026
00:56:59.369 --> 00:57:02.070
with the heartbreak that can sometimes come with seeing these
1027
00:57:02.170 --> 00:57:06.639
animals in difficult situations or having a bad outcome where
1028
00:57:06.699 --> 00:57:10.099
unfortunately maybe the cat got into a car accident and
1029
00:57:10.119 --> 00:57:11.519
didn't make it or something like that?
1030
00:57:13.300 --> 00:57:18.289
Fortunately, those incidences didn't happen too much after the lost cats.
1031
00:57:18.329 --> 00:57:21.269
But then, yes, there were incidences where you rescue and
1032
00:57:21.780 --> 00:57:26.380
parvo happens and you have cat kittens dying or heart
1033
00:57:26.440 --> 00:57:28.380
attacks and etc.
1034
00:57:29.239 --> 00:57:33.010
Um it's not easy at all uh i don't prefer
1035
00:57:33.110 --> 00:57:34.110
to go through.
1036
00:57:33.829 --> 00:57:38.210
The emotional stages of losing a cat or losing any
1037
00:57:38.309 --> 00:57:43.139
animal because um you know they're fact that I'm trying
1038
00:57:43.159 --> 00:57:46.440
to help animals means that I do have empathy and
1039
00:57:46.460 --> 00:57:49.429
sympathy and I do care a lot about animals meaning
1040
00:57:49.489 --> 00:57:52.050
seeing them going through a pain or any of a
1041
00:57:52.110 --> 00:57:58.210
difficult situation is not a pleasant sight or feeling so
1042
00:57:58.289 --> 00:58:01.210
what I try to do is and also it's not
1043
00:58:01.289 --> 00:58:05.530
me trying the circumstances that I'm in right now is
1044
00:58:06.369 --> 00:58:08.389
forcing me to actually.
1045
00:58:07.909 --> 00:58:11.630
Um pick the priorities.
1046
00:58:11.989 --> 00:58:15.710
Basically, even if negativity happens, I turn around and there's
1047
00:58:15.730 --> 00:58:18.389
so many other cats that need help that it's under
1048
00:58:18.429 --> 00:58:19.409
my responsibility.
1049
00:58:20.230 --> 00:58:20.849
So I have to.
1050
00:58:20.809 --> 00:58:26.940
Learn to be more, you know, embrace the pain for
1051
00:58:27.039 --> 00:58:30.420
one day and return back the next day.
1052
00:58:30.639 --> 00:58:31.800
That's what you have to learn.
1053
00:58:31.880 --> 00:58:37.099
And also, yes, when you're rescuing, there's countless cats and
1054
00:58:37.139 --> 00:58:38.099
dogs that need help.
1055
00:58:38.719 --> 00:58:39.719
But I feel like.
1056
00:58:42.500 --> 00:58:46.440
If you want to be a responsible rescuer or a
1057
00:58:46.500 --> 00:58:51.659
responsible human and person, unfortunately, you need to learn to
1058
00:58:52.570 --> 00:58:56.530
wait or find an opportunity where you can actually handle
1059
00:58:56.550 --> 00:59:00.150
the task. Because when you rescue a life, it doesn't
1060
00:59:00.269 --> 00:59:02.889
end from, oh, I trapped the cat, the cat got
1061
00:59:02.909 --> 00:59:03.710
the vet care.
1062
00:59:04.510 --> 00:59:05.550
It doesn't end that way.
1063
00:59:05.909 --> 00:59:08.090
You have to find the foster home if any happens
1064
00:59:08.130 --> 00:59:10.670
in the foster anything happens in the foster home you're
1065
00:59:10.730 --> 00:59:13.409
responsible because you took the cat out from the street
1066
00:59:13.449 --> 00:59:16.849
then you're responsible for the foster care and any other
1067
00:59:16.949 --> 00:59:20.840
uncertainty unpredictable situations and then let's say they get adopted
1068
00:59:20.860 --> 00:59:24.440
if it happens to be rehoming or losing the cat
1069
00:59:24.980 --> 00:59:28.119
you cannot just push all the responsibility on the adoptor
1070
00:59:28.159 --> 00:59:31.900
family and saying oh it's your fault Instead of blaming, yes,
1071
00:59:31.960 --> 00:59:33.699
you can blame, but if you want to blame, then
1072
00:59:33.719 --> 00:59:34.920
you should also act as well.
1073
00:59:34.960 --> 00:59:35.900
You have to work together.
1074
00:59:35.920 --> 00:59:40.199
And you have to really consider at the end of
1075
00:59:40.239 --> 00:59:42.079
the day, let's say they got rehomed.
1076
00:59:43.039 --> 00:59:45.420
What are you going to do? You have to help them.
1077
00:59:46.099 --> 00:59:50.400
So when you're trying to rescue a single life, you
1078
00:59:50.440 --> 00:59:53.719
have to consider if can you do it? And this
1079
00:59:53.820 --> 00:59:57.159
is what I learned the hard way. I had to
1080
00:59:57.219 --> 01:00:00.019
rescue so many at once. I didn't know what I
1081
01:00:00.059 --> 01:00:03.530
was coming and what I was expecting. Then I came
1082
01:00:03.590 --> 01:00:07.329
to this stage right now where I see so many
1083
01:00:07.409 --> 01:00:11.190
cats at zone 2, 1, 4, 5 that needs help.
1084
01:00:11.369 --> 01:00:13.949
That's exactly the same as zone 3.
1085
01:00:13.949 --> 01:00:18.869
But I cannot rescue all right now because I'm realistically,
1086
01:00:19.010 --> 01:00:21.289
as a one person, I just cannot handle all these.
1087
01:00:21.789 --> 01:00:24.570
I cannot sustain. And there's so many cats, like 50
1088
01:00:24.570 --> 01:00:26.769
plus cats that needs forever home right now.
1089
01:00:27.710 --> 01:00:27.969
So.
1090
01:00:28.829 --> 01:00:31.409
it comes down to I'm doing what I can do
1091
01:00:31.690 --> 01:00:34.110
at a time. So I will take care of and
1092
01:00:34.150 --> 01:00:36.329
try to find homes for all the 50-plus cats that
1093
01:00:36.710 --> 01:00:39.829
I have already rescued, while for the demolition site cats
1094
01:00:39.869 --> 01:00:43.269
that's on the spot right now, I'll try to raise
1095
01:00:43.289 --> 01:00:46.130
awareness and see if I can find an opportunity to
1096
01:00:46.570 --> 01:00:49.679
help at least one at a time. It's very challenging
1097
01:00:50.099 --> 01:00:52.880
and demanding, but I think.
1098
01:00:56.449 --> 01:01:00.300
to be responsible for your emotions as well. Yep.
1099
01:01:01.019 --> 01:01:03.639
You know, you may be interested in, I'm not going
1100
01:01:03.659 --> 01:01:05.420
to go into it yet, but you may be interested
1101
01:01:05.460 --> 01:01:09.179
in my next podcast after this one because I'm going
1102
01:01:09.199 --> 01:01:12.179
to be talking with a lady named Jen Blau and
1103
01:01:12.199 --> 01:01:16.599
our podcast is excuse me, is actually going to be
1104
01:01:16.659 --> 01:01:24.349
talking about animal shelter workers, rescues, veterinarians, and stuff like that,
1105
01:01:24.530 --> 01:01:28.449
that are at risk of, well, we really kind of call,
1106
01:01:28.489 --> 01:01:31.570
it's PTSD, but we call it compassion fatigue in the
1107
01:01:31.630 --> 01:01:34.190
animal field. And she's going to be on with me,
1108
01:01:34.230 --> 01:01:37.510
and we're going to be talking about compassion fatigue and
1109
01:01:37.550 --> 01:01:40.610
how it affects rescues and vets and stuff like that.
1110
01:01:41.329 --> 01:01:44.960
She's researched it, and she's actually written a book And
1111
01:01:45.000 --> 01:01:48.909
stuff about it. So she'll be on my next podcast
1112
01:01:48.949 --> 01:01:50.750
and we're going to be talking all about that. And
1113
01:01:50.829 --> 01:01:54.869
it's going to be interesting because I was actually talking
1114
01:01:54.909 --> 01:01:58.030
to a friend today and telling them about having her,
1115
01:01:58.190 --> 01:02:02.360
she's going to be on. because of what I used
1116
01:02:02.400 --> 01:02:04.139
to do and some of the things that I've seen
1117
01:02:04.199 --> 01:02:07.250
and experienced. I was even talking about it, I was
1118
01:02:07.289 --> 01:02:09.489
starting to get choked up at that point because I
1119
01:02:09.510 --> 01:02:12.010
was remembering some of the, you know, bad things that
1120
01:02:12.090 --> 01:02:15.349
I've seen and how hard, because I literally, I do
1121
01:02:15.389 --> 01:02:19.179
have compassion fatigue. I don't have an actual doctor diagnosis
1122
01:02:19.199 --> 01:02:21.219
because I've just never gone in and said, hey, can
1123
01:02:21.239 --> 01:02:25.039
you diagnose me with PTSD or whatever, but I know
1124
01:02:25.119 --> 01:02:29.449
it's there because I really have to be careful of
1125
01:02:29.530 --> 01:02:33.110
things I see or I talk about because it triggers me.
1126
01:02:33.849 --> 01:02:36.070
And then I'm sitting here crying for half an hour,
1127
01:02:36.610 --> 01:02:40.489
you know. So, yeah, it's really hard. But that might
1128
01:02:40.510 --> 01:02:42.469
be an interesting, you might want to listen in to
1129
01:02:42.530 --> 01:02:44.469
that one and check out and see what she's got
1130
01:02:44.510 --> 01:02:46.920
to say. Maybe she'll have some tips that can kind
1131
01:02:46.980 --> 01:02:48.760
of help you out a little bit with dealing with
1132
01:02:48.780 --> 01:02:50.860
some of the stuff you have to deal with in
1133
01:02:50.900 --> 01:02:52.599
your line of rescue and stuff, so.
1134
01:02:53.420 --> 01:02:54.539
Yes, I will definitely do.
1135
01:02:56.500 --> 01:03:01.099
Okay, back to ours now. I just thought I wanted
1136
01:03:01.139 --> 01:03:02.860
to let you know that just in case because it
1137
01:03:02.880 --> 01:03:07.079
might be an interesting thing to listen to. So when
1138
01:03:07.119 --> 01:03:10.280
you're adopting out a cat, what would you kind of
1139
01:03:10.320 --> 01:03:14.099
like maybe people to understand, especially if you're adopting a
1140
01:03:14.159 --> 01:03:16.639
cat out that may have come from a difficult background?
1141
01:03:16.679 --> 01:03:18.920
What would you like them to understand about that cat?
1142
01:03:20.300 --> 01:03:24.300
Major is important. Healing does not follow a fixed schedule.
1143
01:03:25.219 --> 01:03:26.559
Some cats settle quickly.
1144
01:03:27.139 --> 01:03:32.099
While others need weeks or months to feel safe.
1145
01:03:32.119 --> 01:03:35.880
Adopters should be prepared to respect the cat's boundaries and
1146
01:03:35.940 --> 01:03:40.869
understand that trust, once earned, is incredibly meaningful. We look
1147
01:03:40.909 --> 01:03:46.210
for patience, stability, and realistic expectations, and really a willingness
1148
01:03:46.230 --> 01:03:47.650
to understand the individual cat.
1149
01:03:49.769 --> 01:03:50.110
Perfect.
1150
01:03:50.789 --> 01:03:54.809
And that's just it. You really need to understand where
1151
01:03:54.829 --> 01:03:58.289
this cat came from and the type of life it
1152
01:03:58.329 --> 01:04:00.369
may have had. Or you never know what kind of
1153
01:04:00.389 --> 01:04:02.690
trauma it may have went through, like you were saying,
1154
01:04:02.730 --> 01:04:04.929
out there in the wild. Maybe it was attacked by
1155
01:04:04.969 --> 01:04:08.210
other cats. Maybe people were mean to it. You just
1156
01:04:08.309 --> 01:04:11.190
never know what a background is, not just with cats,
1157
01:04:11.210 --> 01:04:13.650
but with any animal, basically, I think, that goes into
1158
01:04:13.710 --> 01:04:16.989
a shelter-type environment or a rescue and gets rescued. You
1159
01:04:17.030 --> 01:04:19.909
just never know. a good part of the time, no
1160
01:04:19.949 --> 01:04:22.960
one knows the backstory on these animals. So you just
1161
01:04:23.000 --> 01:04:26.139
have to have a lot of patience and love and,
1162
01:04:26.159 --> 01:04:29.179
you know, just deal with things as they come and
1163
01:04:29.280 --> 01:04:32.769
get a hold of you know, people out there that
1164
01:04:32.809 --> 01:04:35.909
might have more experience or knowledge, like you as a
1165
01:04:35.969 --> 01:04:38.949
rescue or any other rescues out there or vets or whatever,
1166
01:04:39.530 --> 01:04:42.329
and get advice if needed. And, you know, don't give
1167
01:04:42.449 --> 01:04:45.949
up because it's really worth, you know, putting that time
1168
01:04:45.969 --> 01:04:48.030
and effort in because you're going to get a really
1169
01:04:48.090 --> 01:04:49.150
great companion pet.
1170
01:04:50.349 --> 01:04:54.210
Yeah, and also I feel like no expectation is the
1171
01:04:54.230 --> 01:04:56.929
best because it's.
1172
01:04:56.110 --> 01:04:59.590
Like children's as well.
1173
01:05:00.460 --> 01:05:05.980
Even if you want them to become something, they will
1174
01:05:06.960 --> 01:05:09.260
highly likely that they're not going to become what you
1175
01:05:09.300 --> 01:05:15.050
have expected. Because individual humans are different. And cats as well.
1176
01:05:15.710 --> 01:05:18.570
Yes, you rescue thinking that you want.
1177
01:05:18.650 --> 01:05:21.570
Let's say you had had a cat before, a dog before,
1178
01:05:21.590 --> 01:05:24.829
who was very cuddly, who were this and that. But
1179
01:05:24.849 --> 01:05:29.650
you cannot expect another similar looking being to become exactly
1180
01:05:29.690 --> 01:05:33.539
the same. Because they're too different. And I feel like
1181
01:05:35.679 --> 01:05:41.769
having no expectation is the key to the patience. Because
1182
01:05:41.909 --> 01:05:44.829
I often see many people trying too hard.
1183
01:05:45.489 --> 01:05:46.889
And I have.
1184
01:05:48.010 --> 01:05:51.380
For my cat, I rescued the mom and the son
1185
01:05:51.420 --> 01:05:52.239
from the mountains.
1186
01:05:53.000 --> 01:05:55.719
The mom was not pettable at all. She was just
1187
01:05:55.760 --> 01:05:56.460
a wild cat.
1188
01:05:56.599 --> 01:05:57.019
And then.
1189
01:05:58.489 --> 01:06:01.530
I happened to rescue it because someone wanted to adopt
1190
01:06:01.570 --> 01:06:04.369
them but it didn't go through and they were getting
1191
01:06:04.409 --> 01:06:06.829
fostered at my home and I ended up just foster
1192
01:06:06.869 --> 01:06:11.570
failing the son came around after six months he finally
1193
01:06:11.610 --> 01:06:13.650
came around but even now like he doesn't like to
1194
01:06:13.690 --> 01:06:16.329
get picked up now I think that's just his personality
1195
01:06:16.929 --> 01:06:19.090
but he likes to greet me greet me in the
1196
01:06:19.110 --> 01:06:21.940
morning he loves to get brushed but he's not a
1197
01:06:22.360 --> 01:06:24.280
huge fan of nail clipping.
1198
01:06:23.860 --> 01:06:26.340
He's not a huge fan of getting picked up the.
1199
01:06:26.300 --> 01:06:30.460
Mom oh she took six months just to get out
1200
01:06:30.539 --> 01:06:33.119
from her little closet that she was always hiding.
1201
01:06:33.920 --> 01:06:35.239
And she was always observing me.
1202
01:06:35.719 --> 01:06:39.260
And then for one year, she didn't really, she allowed
1203
01:06:39.320 --> 01:06:41.579
me to, after one year, she allowed me to pet
1204
01:06:41.619 --> 01:06:44.579
her and like be around her. But then at times
1205
01:06:44.639 --> 01:06:46.800
she will just scratch me out of the blue. Like
1206
01:06:46.840 --> 01:06:49.159
she wouldn't, she wouldn't give warning. She would just scratch
1207
01:06:49.199 --> 01:06:52.000
me and maybe something I was doing she didn't like.
1208
01:06:52.480 --> 01:06:53.320
So I just let her be.
1209
01:06:54.030 --> 01:06:58.469
And then finally, now, today, for the first time, actually
1210
01:06:58.489 --> 01:07:02.630
it was this morning. So recently she allowed me to
1211
01:07:02.690 --> 01:07:04.849
stay on bed with her. When she's on the bed,
1212
01:07:04.869 --> 01:07:06.530
I can sit next to her and I can pet
1213
01:07:06.570 --> 01:07:09.590
her and everything. But today, in the morning for the
1214
01:07:09.639 --> 01:07:13.059
first time, I woke up and she was on my
1215
01:07:13.119 --> 01:07:14.400
bed trying to greet me.
1216
01:07:14.420 --> 01:07:15.980
Oh, wow.
1217
01:07:16.559 --> 01:07:19.300
Yes, and I did not do anything. I tell people,
1218
01:07:19.619 --> 01:07:23.480
I have no tricks. I just let her understand me.
1219
01:07:24.170 --> 01:07:27.889
And I give her time to understand herself and this environment.
1220
01:07:29.050 --> 01:07:31.710
And that just took years, like one year and a
1221
01:07:31.730 --> 01:07:35.849
half or two. But I mean, for some people, it
1222
01:07:35.869 --> 01:07:39.210
could be long. But I feel like it's okay because,
1223
01:07:39.630 --> 01:07:43.110
you know, we go to work, we wake up, we
1224
01:07:43.150 --> 01:07:48.340
watch TV, we meet friends. And the time will eventually go.
1225
01:07:48.579 --> 01:07:52.539
And if you give them time, the cats, they'll come around.
1226
01:07:52.599 --> 01:07:55.599
And also what I mean by, I feel like for
1227
01:07:55.880 --> 01:07:58.760
me also, I never had a cat before. So I didn't,
1228
01:07:58.900 --> 01:08:03.780
I never had an expectation of how my previous cats were.
1229
01:08:04.380 --> 01:08:06.860
So for me, what I'm seeing with them is my
1230
01:08:06.940 --> 01:08:08.070
first cat behavior.
1231
01:08:08.489 --> 01:08:12.010
And when I see real friendly cats, I'm always.
1232
01:08:11.769 --> 01:08:14.090
Surprised because I'm like, Oh, I didn't know cats can
1233
01:08:14.110 --> 01:08:18.399
be this friendly. But, um, I often see that people
1234
01:08:18.439 --> 01:08:21.380
who have had cats before, they tend to have an
1235
01:08:21.439 --> 01:08:26.340
expectation of this cat will become like this eventually. But
1236
01:08:26.500 --> 01:08:30.539
I always tell them and warn them that even after
1237
01:08:30.560 --> 01:08:34.369
years of being with them, they might like you to
1238
01:08:34.970 --> 01:08:37.550
pet them. They might be petable and they might sleep
1239
01:08:37.590 --> 01:08:39.250
with you, but that doesn't mean that they're going to
1240
01:08:39.270 --> 01:08:43.430
be easy going with picking up and strangers and going outside.
1241
01:08:44.210 --> 01:08:50.300
So I think that's the key is just no expectation
1242
01:08:50.640 --> 01:08:53.600
and accept what you get and adjust together and just
1243
01:08:53.640 --> 01:08:54.199
live together.
1244
01:08:54.220 --> 01:09:02.199
I know a lady, she's had... an outside wild cat
1245
01:09:02.359 --> 01:09:06.100
for I don't even know how long now, but she
1246
01:09:06.119 --> 01:09:09.560
had had the cat for several years and the cat
1247
01:09:09.920 --> 01:09:13.250
was finally coming up and allowing her to pet it.
1248
01:09:14.340 --> 01:09:15.880
it would kind of follow her around out in the
1249
01:09:15.899 --> 01:09:17.539
yard a little bit, and it would allow her to
1250
01:09:17.579 --> 01:09:19.939
pet it just a little bit, but I mean, she
1251
01:09:19.979 --> 01:09:23.119
had been working, like you said, for several years to
1252
01:09:23.210 --> 01:09:25.369
even be able to just touch and pet that cat,
1253
01:09:25.449 --> 01:09:28.390
but that was the extent of it at that point. Otherwise,
1254
01:09:28.430 --> 01:09:31.649
the cat, other than that, would not allow anything, any
1255
01:09:31.710 --> 01:09:34.130
other interaction but that little bit of petting that she
1256
01:09:34.170 --> 01:09:37.289
was able to do, and And I don't even know
1257
01:09:37.350 --> 01:09:40.569
to this day if, you know, the cat is still
1258
01:09:40.609 --> 01:09:43.119
around or if she's been able to do more than
1259
01:09:43.180 --> 01:09:45.460
just pet it at this point. But, you know, she
1260
01:09:45.500 --> 01:09:49.739
was trying her best to, you know, let the cat
1261
01:09:49.779 --> 01:09:52.779
understand she wasn't going to hurt her. And like I said,
1262
01:09:52.840 --> 01:09:54.699
she would let her, you know, anybody else come around,
1263
01:09:54.720 --> 01:09:57.520
the cat would run off. But other than that, you know,
1264
01:09:57.579 --> 01:10:00.239
so she was happy she was actually able to be
1265
01:10:00.279 --> 01:10:02.159
able to pet the cat. So, yeah, it takes a
1266
01:10:02.199 --> 01:10:02.779
long time.
1267
01:10:03.899 --> 01:10:08.189
Yes, and One other thing is I feel like some
1268
01:10:08.229 --> 01:10:12.090
people will categorize that as a stray cat behavior. But
1269
01:10:12.489 --> 01:10:14.850
as a person who has... It's different, but I have
1270
01:10:14.890 --> 01:10:18.810
a dog too. And my dog is not an easy dog.
1271
01:10:19.369 --> 01:10:19.609
He.
1272
01:10:22.069 --> 01:10:25.020
Barks a lot and he bites when he doesn't like
1273
01:10:25.060 --> 01:10:26.979
it and he's a small dog though he's like tiny
1274
01:10:27.020 --> 01:10:30.420
maltese so he's not gonna harm anyone and yes he
1275
01:10:30.460 --> 01:10:32.460
might bite me but he will never bite other people
1276
01:10:32.520 --> 01:10:34.979
because i would i wouldn't have him get near other
1277
01:10:35.020 --> 01:10:39.729
people and also um he's a just a coward he's
1278
01:10:39.789 --> 01:10:41.970
small in size so he was that kind of cat
1279
01:10:42.189 --> 01:10:46.350
dog since two months old and he hasn't changed since
1280
01:10:46.399 --> 01:10:49.289
then and As a person who had, and.
1281
01:10:49.289 --> 01:10:53.289
He never lived outside. But also, I'm only saying the negatives,
1282
01:10:53.390 --> 01:10:54.970
but he's the cutest at home.
1283
01:10:55.029 --> 01:10:58.289
He loves to cuddle. He loves kisses. But for him,
1284
01:10:58.430 --> 01:11:00.670
he has a temperament. So when he doesn't like it,
1285
01:11:00.770 --> 01:11:05.710
his expression is biting. So that said, if anyone else
1286
01:11:05.750 --> 01:11:08.029
sees him, they're going to be like he has a
1287
01:11:08.090 --> 01:11:11.520
behavioral issue. And he's not a feral dog. He lived
1288
01:11:11.560 --> 01:11:14.979
with me for entire life almost. And what I want
1289
01:11:15.020 --> 01:11:19.369
to say is even for cats, I have seen many
1290
01:11:19.850 --> 01:11:23.689
indoor cats that always lived inside having a behavioral issue.
1291
01:11:24.409 --> 01:11:26.609
But when it comes to indoor.
1292
01:11:26.229 --> 01:11:30.149
Cats having a behavioral issue, they say it's a behavioral issue.
1293
01:11:30.670 --> 01:11:33.750
But then when it comes to cats that's from the
1294
01:11:33.810 --> 01:11:37.020
street having a behavioral issue, I feel like people say, oh,
1295
01:11:37.060 --> 01:11:39.640
because they're feral and they're from the streets and they'll
1296
01:11:39.659 --> 01:11:43.899
never change. And that may be true, but I think
1297
01:11:43.920 --> 01:11:47.359
that's a dangerous statement because.
1298
01:11:48.899 --> 01:11:50.119
it's, it doesn't matter.
1299
01:11:50.279 --> 01:11:53.380
Some of the, for example, you know, the mountain cat,
1300
01:11:53.460 --> 01:11:56.100
the son that I have, I think he's nicer than
1301
01:11:56.119 --> 01:11:58.729
my dog that I had for almost entire life, you know?
1302
01:11:59.210 --> 01:12:02.529
So I got bitten more than getting scratched.
1303
01:12:03.109 --> 01:12:07.689
So what I'm saying is, um, and yes, some people
1304
01:12:07.729 --> 01:12:10.369
might say, Oh, it's because, you know, I'm a bad
1305
01:12:10.449 --> 01:12:11.229
dog owner.
1306
01:12:11.270 --> 01:12:13.069
So I don't know how to train a dog. But
1307
01:12:13.489 --> 01:12:13.829
at the.
1308
01:12:13.729 --> 01:12:18.369
Same time, I think, um, It's just sometimes it's the
1309
01:12:18.390 --> 01:12:22.189
personality and you just adjust to their boundaries. And like
1310
01:12:22.289 --> 01:12:24.640
I said, he's an easygoing dog when it comes to
1311
01:12:24.739 --> 01:12:28.239
everything else, except it has his temperament. He has just
1312
01:12:28.279 --> 01:12:32.399
short temper at times. And I feel like it's just
1313
01:12:32.560 --> 01:12:38.430
understanding that everyone like human can have a behavioral issue.
1314
01:12:39.510 --> 01:12:42.949
It doesn't matter if you're, you know, for example, like
1315
01:12:43.250 --> 01:12:45.449
when it comes to humans, like it doesn't matter if you're,
1316
01:12:45.689 --> 01:12:48.300
it doesn't matter your age, your gender and your race.
1317
01:12:48.840 --> 01:12:51.659
Everyone's different. And cats and dogs are the same.
1318
01:12:51.720 --> 01:12:54.340
It doesn't matter if they're from indoors, outdoors, or if
1319
01:12:54.380 --> 01:12:57.819
they're like their age, it doesn't really matter. It's their
1320
01:12:57.840 --> 01:13:03.539
personality and they might grow into improving, but that may
1321
01:13:03.600 --> 01:13:05.060
take time and also time.
1322
01:13:05.579 --> 01:13:08.859
They might never grow into improving. But when every, you know,
1323
01:13:09.199 --> 01:13:11.520
it's like every species. When they get older, it's going
1324
01:13:11.539 --> 01:13:11.979
to get better.
1325
01:13:13.079 --> 01:13:17.729
Right, right. And, you know, and sometimes it's not always even,
1326
01:13:17.829 --> 01:13:22.090
I mean, you know, a living situation, whether they were
1327
01:13:22.170 --> 01:13:26.289
outside or not. And it could be a behavior issue. But,
1328
01:13:26.310 --> 01:13:28.409
you know, people need to stop and think, too. It
1329
01:13:28.560 --> 01:13:32.020
could also be something medical going on. I mean, it
1330
01:13:33.159 --> 01:13:35.310
could be, you just never know. Sometimes, you know, you
1331
01:13:35.350 --> 01:13:36.930
might want to get them checked out just to make
1332
01:13:36.989 --> 01:13:40.689
sure because certain things can make animals very cranky. I mean,
1333
01:13:40.729 --> 01:13:42.189
obviously not in your Malteses and.
1334
01:13:42.149 --> 01:13:42.550
Stuff, but.
1335
01:13:43.319 --> 01:13:45.869
You know, if you have an animal that's all of
1336
01:13:45.909 --> 01:13:48.630
a sudden maybe starting to act out of the ordinary or,
1337
01:13:49.189 --> 01:13:52.369
you know, acting badly, it might not be, you know,
1338
01:13:52.409 --> 01:13:55.130
maybe take them in and make sure there's nothing medically wrong. And,
1339
01:13:55.630 --> 01:13:58.489
you know, and I don't know, I'm assuming that cats
1340
01:13:58.529 --> 01:14:01.720
can have anxiety just like dogs. And, you know, sometimes
1341
01:14:01.770 --> 01:14:05.500
dogs need to go on medication to help curb some
1342
01:14:05.539 --> 01:14:07.800
of the anxiety that they have just so they can
1343
01:14:07.880 --> 01:14:10.640
actually be a normal dog and have a normal life.
1344
01:14:11.119 --> 01:14:14.479
you know, life and do normal dog things without being
1345
01:14:14.920 --> 01:14:17.680
always in this high state of anxiety that makes them,
1346
01:14:18.060 --> 01:14:21.720
you know, a little crazy sometimes. So, you know, there's
1347
01:14:21.760 --> 01:14:24.939
so many different things that can attribute to an animal
1348
01:14:25.149 --> 01:14:27.189
and the way they behave or what they might do.
1349
01:14:27.789 --> 01:14:31.270
It's always worth, you know, trying to eliminate, if you can,
1350
01:14:31.390 --> 01:14:33.770
some of the things. And like you said, you know,
1351
01:14:33.810 --> 01:14:37.270
with your dog, it's just kind of his personality. He
1352
01:14:37.449 --> 01:14:39.430
sometimes has a little short temper and he lets you
1353
01:14:39.470 --> 01:14:41.960
know and Cats can be the same way. I know
1354
01:14:42.260 --> 01:14:44.859
I've owned them, and sometimes they get upset with you,
1355
01:14:44.960 --> 01:14:45.720
and they let you know.
1356
01:14:45.739 --> 01:14:49.399
Yeah, they're very clear. Oh, yes, they are.
1357
01:14:49.520 --> 01:14:50.079
Yes, they are.
1358
01:14:50.140 --> 01:14:51.979
Believe me, I know. I have to tell you, this
1359
01:14:52.060 --> 01:14:55.380
is a funny story real quick. Back when I did
1360
01:14:55.420 --> 01:14:58.090
have a cat, we actually, I was still living with
1361
01:14:58.100 --> 01:14:59.850
my mom at the time, me and my brother were,
1362
01:15:00.050 --> 01:15:02.210
and we had a male and a female cat get
1363
01:15:02.229 --> 01:15:04.630
dropped off at our house, and, of course, the female
1364
01:15:04.670 --> 01:15:10.050
was pregnant, and she had kittens. And my mom, she
1365
01:15:10.109 --> 01:15:12.149
ended up with a few cats out there at her house.
1366
01:15:12.210 --> 01:15:14.970
But anyway, my brother and I adopted two of the
1367
01:15:15.010 --> 01:15:18.840
boys for our own cats out of the litter. And
1368
01:15:18.960 --> 01:15:23.199
they both grew up to be fairly good-sized male tomcats.
1369
01:15:24.380 --> 01:15:24.779
And I mean.
1370
01:15:25.390 --> 01:15:27.920
And they were indoor-outdoor. They could go out when they wanted.
1371
01:15:27.939 --> 01:15:29.779
We lived in the country. They would go out and hunt.
1372
01:15:30.180 --> 01:15:32.659
I swear, I'm not even going to... I swear, I
1373
01:15:32.699 --> 01:15:35.079
think they brought a raccoon down. I found raccoon fur
1374
01:15:35.119 --> 01:15:36.819
all over out in the garage one day, and I
1375
01:15:36.859 --> 01:15:39.819
don't know where it came from. So I think they
1376
01:15:39.840 --> 01:15:41.039
might have done that together.
1377
01:15:41.600 --> 01:15:41.779
But.
1378
01:15:44.220 --> 01:15:47.500
I moved in with my boyfriend, and, you know, my
1379
01:15:47.539 --> 01:15:51.199
cat came with me. And one night, my boyfriend and
1380
01:15:51.279 --> 01:15:55.180
I were having a disagreement, and I was laying on
1381
01:15:55.220 --> 01:15:58.260
the couch, and he had gone and sat in the chair,
1382
01:15:59.119 --> 01:16:02.279
and my cat, this whole time, had been under the chair,
1383
01:16:02.420 --> 01:16:04.380
and he had heard, like, you know, he had to
1384
01:16:04.399 --> 01:16:06.560
have been listening to the disagreement, let's just put it
1385
01:16:06.600 --> 01:16:09.359
that way. And the next thing I know, he came
1386
01:16:09.460 --> 01:16:12.399
out from underneath the chair, he jumped up on my
1387
01:16:12.939 --> 01:16:15.899
boyfriend and he walked right up onto his chest and
1388
01:16:15.960 --> 01:16:19.880
he smacked him across the face with his paw and
1389
01:16:20.779 --> 01:16:22.819
oh yeah it was quite funny i just looked at
1390
01:16:22.859 --> 01:16:24.739
my boyfriend and i said see don't mess with me
1391
01:16:24.810 --> 01:16:28.069
my cat will protect me you know and i mean
1392
01:16:28.369 --> 01:16:30.609
it wasn't even to that point it was literally just
1393
01:16:30.750 --> 01:16:33.010
a disagreement that we were having but yeah he did
1394
01:16:33.069 --> 01:16:34.930
he got out from under come right up walked right
1395
01:16:34.970 --> 01:16:36.829
up on his chest and just smacked him right across
1396
01:16:36.850 --> 01:16:40.000
the face oh I thought that was one of the
1397
01:16:40.039 --> 01:16:42.899
funniest things I've ever seen. He never did it. He
1398
01:16:43.239 --> 01:16:44.899
didn't do it after. I never saw him do it again.
1399
01:16:44.930 --> 01:16:48.149
Oh, but smart cats?
1400
01:16:48.689 --> 01:16:51.170
Yeah, and he was one of the smarter ones I
1401
01:16:51.250 --> 01:16:53.729
ever owned, but my gosh, he was so much fun.
1402
01:16:53.770 --> 01:16:58.869
And then I had another cat later on, and she
1403
01:16:58.890 --> 01:17:02.199
was a smaller cat, and we actually named her Kitty
1404
01:17:02.239 --> 01:17:04.239
Bod because she was a cat, but she had like
1405
01:17:04.260 --> 01:17:08.310
a kitten-sized body. and she would just get the zoomies
1406
01:17:08.390 --> 01:17:11.199
and she would go flying around the living room area
1407
01:17:11.319 --> 01:17:12.840
and at that time you know it was back when
1408
01:17:12.859 --> 01:17:15.739
you had the stereos in the glass case and the
1409
01:17:15.779 --> 01:17:19.479
big stand-up speakers and stuff like that and she would
1410
01:17:19.520 --> 01:17:22.029
go flying around the room and she'd hit the top
1411
01:17:22.090 --> 01:17:24.090
of one of those speakers and she would just go
1412
01:17:24.229 --> 01:17:26.430
sliding across it on her belly and it looked like
1413
01:17:26.449 --> 01:17:30.149
she was flying you know She was just so much
1414
01:17:30.229 --> 01:17:34.029
fun to watch play and run around that room. So
1415
01:17:34.149 --> 01:17:39.069
totally different personalities. But I've had some really interesting kitty
1416
01:17:39.090 --> 01:17:42.350
cats over the years when I've had them. But I'm
1417
01:17:42.369 --> 01:17:44.729
a dog person, so I mainly have dogs. But I
1418
01:17:44.770 --> 01:17:47.489
have had cats, and I've had fun with them.
1419
01:17:48.609 --> 01:17:52.079
I love dogs and cats. Their personalities are very fruitful
1420
01:17:52.380 --> 01:17:54.300
once you get into individual ones.
1421
01:17:54.779 --> 01:17:59.500
And, yes, I... 100% believe you. And I can see
1422
01:17:59.520 --> 01:18:00.060
that happening.
1423
01:18:00.659 --> 01:18:02.880
Yeah, it was funny. I wish I'd had, you know,
1424
01:18:02.899 --> 01:18:04.399
at the time we didn't have, you know, like the
1425
01:18:04.560 --> 01:18:06.970
video thing. You didn't have cell phones and videos. You know,
1426
01:18:07.010 --> 01:18:09.130
we still had, I think, landlines and stuff at that point.
1427
01:18:09.170 --> 01:18:16.170
But because, yeah, I'm giving away my age now. But anyway, but, yeah,
1428
01:18:16.229 --> 01:18:18.069
so this is not like we had a phone that
1429
01:18:18.090 --> 01:18:19.890
you could pull out and get the video of the
1430
01:18:19.930 --> 01:18:22.130
cat doing that to prove that he actually did it.
1431
01:18:22.149 --> 01:18:24.199
But he did it, and I can tell you right now,
1432
01:18:24.239 --> 01:18:26.539
you could ask my ex-boyfriend about that, and he will
1433
01:18:26.560 --> 01:18:30.439
tell you that that did happen. So, yeah, we both
1434
01:18:30.479 --> 01:18:34.909
thought it was quite funny after it happened. So, yeah,
1435
01:18:35.029 --> 01:18:36.890
they have some personalities, I'm telling you.
1436
01:18:37.689 --> 01:18:38.550
Yep, they do.
1437
01:18:40.060 --> 01:18:42.710
So right now, what would you say are some of
1438
01:18:42.770 --> 01:18:45.170
your biggest needs there at Yongsun Cats?
1439
01:18:47.789 --> 01:18:49.909
Our most urgent needs are dependable long-term care.
1440
01:18:50.180 --> 01:18:54.220
Foster homes and, of course, medical fundings and committed adopters.
1441
01:18:55.000 --> 01:18:58.510
You know, even fostering one cat or sponsoring one veterinary
1442
01:18:58.550 --> 01:19:00.350
bill creates space for another life.
1443
01:19:00.170 --> 01:19:00.770
To be saved.
1444
01:19:00.789 --> 01:19:05.229
And ultimately, Also, very importantly, numbers. So we need more
1445
01:19:05.289 --> 01:19:08.710
followers on our Instagram or Patreon. For Patreon, whether free
1446
01:19:08.909 --> 01:19:13.090
or paid, it doesn't matter because yes, it matters if
1447
01:19:13.149 --> 01:19:15.109
it's paid, amazing, but still, even if.
1448
01:19:15.100 --> 01:19:19.119
It's for free, it does help greatly because we are
1449
01:19:19.140 --> 01:19:19.500
trying to.
1450
01:19:19.479 --> 01:19:21.960
Build a community where we can gain weight on our
1451
01:19:22.020 --> 01:19:25.039
voice so that we can, even if it's a small change,
1452
01:19:26.079 --> 01:19:29.979
we want to try to bring systematic change. And in
1453
01:19:30.020 --> 01:19:35.979
order to do so, numbers always matter to the facilities
1454
01:19:36.079 --> 01:19:40.550
or organizations who can actually bring a change. And we
1455
01:19:40.590 --> 01:19:45.329
are in a growing process, but yes, just following also
1456
01:19:45.529 --> 01:19:49.710
from afar, it definitely helps because most of our followers
1457
01:19:49.770 --> 01:19:52.090
are not from Korea as well.
1458
01:19:52.550 --> 01:19:54.270
They do live abroad, but.
1459
01:19:54.029 --> 01:19:59.689
Like I said, starting on, animal love is universal. It
1460
01:19:59.720 --> 01:20:04.199
doesn't matter where you're located. And I want everyone to
1461
01:20:04.239 --> 01:20:07.550
understand that one voice is very powerful, and.
1462
01:20:07.489 --> 01:20:08.430
It does make a change.
1463
01:20:09.449 --> 01:20:11.890
Yeah, it sure does. I mean, and it's really important
1464
01:20:12.350 --> 01:20:16.550
for rescues like yours to have these volunteers and fosters
1465
01:20:17.149 --> 01:20:20.409
and donors and, of course, the local community support in
1466
01:20:20.510 --> 01:20:23.010
order for you guys to be successful in what you're doing.
1467
01:20:23.510 --> 01:20:28.369
I mean, that's for any rescue or shelter even out there.
1468
01:20:28.489 --> 01:20:32.149
I mean, it's so important. for you guys to have
1469
01:20:32.390 --> 01:20:37.159
those people and the community, especially the community, because, you know,
1470
01:20:37.180 --> 01:20:39.920
I used to have a sign in my office that said,
1471
01:20:39.960 --> 01:20:45.119
you know, animal... overpopulation isn't a shelter problem, it's a
1472
01:20:45.159 --> 01:20:49.500
community problem. And it really is a community thing. I mean,
1473
01:20:49.539 --> 01:20:52.590
the community has to come together to try to remedy
1474
01:20:52.750 --> 01:20:56.529
and help with, you know, rescues and what they're doing
1475
01:20:56.810 --> 01:20:59.689
and trying to save these animals' lives. So it's very
1476
01:20:59.750 --> 01:21:03.899
important for you guys to have them. Mm-hmm. So I'm
1477
01:21:03.960 --> 01:21:07.810
hoping that with you getting the word out more and more,
1478
01:21:08.600 --> 01:21:11.569
doing all these different podcasts and interviews and stuff, that
1479
01:21:11.970 --> 01:21:14.810
hopefully you will start to build a much better base
1480
01:21:14.949 --> 01:21:16.829
and you'll start getting a little bit more help. And
1481
01:21:16.850 --> 01:21:20.470
hopefully you'll get a few more people to volunteer and
1482
01:21:21.430 --> 01:21:23.489
take some of the burden off of you trying to
1483
01:21:23.529 --> 01:21:26.840
do a lot of this by yourself and get you
1484
01:21:26.859 --> 01:21:27.720
the help that you need.
1485
01:21:29.619 --> 01:21:32.170
I truly hope so as well because....
1486
01:21:33.020 --> 01:21:36.789
It's right now the stages we're trying to raise voice
1487
01:21:36.970 --> 01:21:40.229
and see and reach as many people as possible to
1488
01:21:40.270 --> 01:21:41.869
see if we can get an opportunity.
1489
01:21:43.829 --> 01:21:45.750
And that kind of leads us up to, you know,
1490
01:21:45.810 --> 01:21:48.609
kind of our final question here for the podcast. We've
1491
01:21:48.630 --> 01:21:50.470
gone a little over and I thank you for staying
1492
01:21:50.649 --> 01:21:54.270
on and talking with me because it's been a great conversation.
1493
01:21:55.069 --> 01:21:58.579
But what are your hopes and goals for Yongsan Cats
1494
01:21:58.699 --> 01:21:59.640
Rescue in the future?
1495
01:22:01.939 --> 01:22:11.010
I truly hope to build a stronger network in which rescuers, neighbors, veterinarians, organizations, and.
1496
01:22:10.949 --> 01:22:12.409
Local authorities work together.
1497
01:22:12.970 --> 01:22:16.430
So I do not believe our future depends on finding
1498
01:22:16.470 --> 01:22:20.250
a home for every single cat. It really depends on
1499
01:22:20.470 --> 01:22:26.210
creating a balanced system where adoption, fostering, TNR, responsible feeding,
1500
01:22:27.029 --> 01:22:31.789
and community support can work together And where no one
1501
01:22:31.989 --> 01:22:34.090
who chooses to save a life has to.
1502
01:22:33.970 --> 01:22:34.590
Do it alone.
1503
01:22:36.409 --> 01:22:36.670
Good.
1504
01:22:37.130 --> 01:22:41.210
That's great. That's great hopes and goals. And hopefully, you know,
1505
01:22:41.229 --> 01:22:44.449
in the future, you'll be able to accomplish everything that
1506
01:22:44.489 --> 01:22:47.939
you want to. I know you did mention that you're
1507
01:22:48.000 --> 01:22:50.520
on like Instagram and you have the Patreon and stuff.
1508
01:22:50.930 --> 01:22:53.569
Do you have any contact information or anything you'd like
1509
01:22:53.590 --> 01:22:55.529
to throw out there in case anybody would like to
1510
01:22:55.569 --> 01:22:57.640
get a hold of you to, you know, if they're
1511
01:22:57.680 --> 01:23:01.500
in your area to help you out with stuff? Or if,
1512
01:23:01.899 --> 01:23:03.420
you know, you said you have a lot of people
1513
01:23:03.479 --> 01:23:05.840
abroad and, you know, if anybody would like to get
1514
01:23:05.880 --> 01:23:08.060
more information and maybe try to help you out with
1515
01:23:08.100 --> 01:23:11.819
donating and stuff like that. Do you have something you
1516
01:23:11.859 --> 01:23:12.600
can throw out there for them?
1517
01:23:13.539 --> 01:23:13.800
Yes.
1518
01:23:13.899 --> 01:23:21.100
For Instagram, everything is Yongsan Cats, by the way. It's Y-O-N-G-S-A-N.com. C-A-T-S.
1519
01:23:21.109 --> 01:23:25.500
That's our Instagram handle. And also for our Patreon, you
1520
01:23:25.539 --> 01:23:27.899
just type in Yongsan Cats, you're going to find us.
1521
01:23:28.300 --> 01:23:32.979
And we do have a website as well, YongsanCats.com. You
1522
01:23:33.000 --> 01:23:38.100
can learn more about us from YongsanCats.com or mainly Instagram.
1523
01:23:38.189 --> 01:23:40.829
And also if you follow us on Instagram, you're going
1524
01:23:40.850 --> 01:23:43.369
to see my daily life throughout my stories.
1525
01:23:44.130 --> 01:23:47.649
I try to post more, but then posting takes longer.
1526
01:23:48.369 --> 01:23:52.779
So I usually share my daily routine on stories and
1527
01:23:53.199 --> 01:23:57.500
you'll see when I'm struggling. Certainly you'll know because you're
1528
01:23:57.520 --> 01:23:59.880
going to see me traveling everywhere, moving back and forth
1529
01:23:59.899 --> 01:24:03.420
to the vet and then all the emergency cats. So yes,
1530
01:24:03.880 --> 01:24:05.899
if you want to learn more about us, please follow
1531
01:24:05.939 --> 01:24:09.329
us on Instagram. And if you can also join our Patreon.
1532
01:24:09.350 --> 01:24:10.770
Awesome.
1533
01:24:11.310 --> 01:24:13.789
Well, Julie, this has been great to have you on
1534
01:24:13.829 --> 01:24:18.510
tonight and learn more about Yongsan Cats and all the
1535
01:24:18.550 --> 01:24:20.949
great stuff that you're doing over there in Seoul and
1536
01:24:21.029 --> 01:24:24.369
helping out in these zones that are being demolished and
1537
01:24:24.409 --> 01:24:27.989
stuff and trying to save the animals there. So I
1538
01:24:28.229 --> 01:24:30.720
really hope that you get some more help there so
1539
01:24:30.739 --> 01:24:34.619
you're not running yourself too ragged. And I appreciate you
1540
01:24:34.659 --> 01:24:39.020
coming on and talking about your organization and hopefully raising
1541
01:24:39.060 --> 01:24:40.779
some of that awareness that you're trying to raise.
1542
01:24:42.539 --> 01:24:45.350
Thank you so much for having me, and it has
1543
01:24:45.390 --> 01:24:49.210
been a great conversation for me as well. When I'm
1544
01:24:49.489 --> 01:24:55.130
struggling daily, it's always great to just talk with someone
1545
01:24:55.550 --> 01:24:58.979
and chat, and this has been very relaxing and.
1546
01:24:58.939 --> 01:24:59.680
Comfortable for me.
1547
01:25:00.260 --> 01:25:02.859
Well, I am glad that we were able to help
1548
01:25:02.899 --> 01:25:06.020
you relax a little bit, especially after the last couple
1549
01:25:06.060 --> 01:25:09.119
weeks that you've had, poor girl, chasing down those cats again.
1550
01:25:10.729 --> 01:25:12.649
I needed this. Thank you.
1551
01:25:13.569 --> 01:25:16.699
Well, you are doing great and amazing work and kudos
1552
01:25:16.779 --> 01:25:19.699
to you. And I hope you're able to continue doing
1553
01:25:19.800 --> 01:25:22.180
it well into the future and helping out all these
1554
01:25:22.239 --> 01:25:24.100
cats because I think you're doing a great job there
1555
01:25:24.149 --> 01:25:26.630
in Seoul. And I hope, like I said, you get
1556
01:25:26.670 --> 01:25:29.729
some more help. And with that being said, I am
1557
01:25:29.789 --> 01:25:33.229
just going to now talk about the next couple podcasts
1558
01:25:33.289 --> 01:25:36.090
I have coming up. So I know you've probably got
1559
01:25:36.130 --> 01:25:38.399
some stuff you need to be taken care of, and
1560
01:25:38.909 --> 01:25:40.880
you can jump off now. But if you'd like, you
1561
01:25:40.920 --> 01:25:43.239
can also stay on and listening to what I've got
1562
01:25:43.279 --> 01:25:45.600
coming up. It's up to you. Most people jump off.
1563
01:25:46.560 --> 01:25:49.020
Yeah, I want to stay, but then I have to
1564
01:25:49.060 --> 01:25:52.739
go to the vet. So I'll go to the next schedule.
1565
01:25:54.119 --> 01:25:56.779
Well, good luck to you and hopefully you don't have
1566
01:25:56.810 --> 01:25:59.069
to go chase too many more cats over the next
1567
01:25:59.130 --> 01:25:59.609
few weeks.
1568
01:26:00.529 --> 01:26:03.449
Yes, please. Bye, good night.
1569
01:26:03.529 --> 01:26:14.029
Bye, good night. Okay, so Julie has jumped off. That
1570
01:26:14.050 --> 01:26:17.069
was great talking with her and finding out more about
1571
01:26:17.109 --> 01:26:20.439
her rescue efforts over in Seoul. So Hopefully you guys
1572
01:26:20.460 --> 01:26:23.159
will go check her out, join her Patreon and stuff
1573
01:26:23.180 --> 01:26:25.050
like that and give her some help over there because
1574
01:26:25.130 --> 01:26:27.149
it sounds like that poor girl needs it with all
1575
01:26:27.189 --> 01:26:31.069
the stuff she's running around doing. So with that being said,
1576
01:26:31.329 --> 01:26:35.090
so let's talk about my next podcast coming up. So
1577
01:26:35.329 --> 01:26:38.079
as I was kind of letting Julie know, the next
1578
01:26:38.239 --> 01:26:42.359
one is actually with Jennifer Blau and we are going
1579
01:26:42.420 --> 01:26:47.460
to be talking about who rescues the rescuers, which... I'm
1580
01:26:47.539 --> 01:26:50.210
hoping we will be able to get a lot more
1581
01:26:50.270 --> 01:26:56.930
information out there for shelter workers, veterinarians, and rescue organizations, obviously,
1582
01:26:56.970 --> 01:27:00.229
like Julie's and many of the other ones, not only
1583
01:27:00.270 --> 01:27:03.119
here in the U.S., but all over the place. So
1584
01:27:03.159 --> 01:27:07.380
Jennifer is an animal advocate and a professional counselor. She's
1585
01:27:07.460 --> 01:27:11.189
spent actually more than 10 years researching compassion fatigue, trauma,
1586
01:27:11.239 --> 01:27:14.250
and grief in animal welfare. And as I mentioned, she
1587
01:27:14.310 --> 01:27:16.829
has written a book, well, she's probably written more than
1588
01:27:16.930 --> 01:27:19.439
one book, let me say, but the one we're actually
1589
01:27:19.449 --> 01:27:22.699
going to talk about in our interview is called Beyond
1590
01:27:22.760 --> 01:27:27.500
Compassion Fatigue, Trauma Resilience and Recovery in Animal Care and Advocacy.
1591
01:27:28.880 --> 01:27:35.939
And she explores trauma and secondary traumatic stress and stuff
1592
01:27:35.979 --> 01:27:40.399
like that. So I am glad she is going to
1593
01:27:40.439 --> 01:27:43.810
be on the podcast, although like I said, I'm also
1594
01:27:43.930 --> 01:27:48.029
kind of a little apprehensive just because I'm kind of
1595
01:27:48.130 --> 01:27:50.930
in that boat. I understand it, but who knows, maybe
1596
01:27:50.970 --> 01:27:54.609
I'll get some tips from her to help me deal
1597
01:27:55.600 --> 01:27:59.840
with my own compassion fatigue. We'll see how that goes.
1598
01:28:00.960 --> 01:28:04.239
And hopefully, maybe I'll be able to share a little
1599
01:28:04.279 --> 01:28:06.899
bit of my story that kind of put me over
1600
01:28:06.939 --> 01:28:09.659
the edge because it wasn't just one thing, but there
1601
01:28:09.699 --> 01:28:12.289
was one that was bad, that was major, but We'll
1602
01:28:12.310 --> 01:28:14.789
see how it goes if I talk about it or not.
1603
01:28:14.829 --> 01:28:17.569
But I am really looking forward to having her on
1604
01:28:17.750 --> 01:28:20.500
and talking about this subject because I don't think that
1605
01:28:20.520 --> 01:28:23.300
there's enough awareness out there about compassion fatigue in the
1606
01:28:23.380 --> 01:28:26.159
animal welfare society. And I think there needs to be
1607
01:28:26.220 --> 01:28:31.159
more because people need to understand that animal welfare advocates
1608
01:28:31.399 --> 01:28:36.550
go through compassion fatigue. I mean, understandably, people that go
1609
01:28:36.689 --> 01:28:39.909
into military war zones and things like that or have
1610
01:28:39.930 --> 01:28:42.600
to deal with different things that go on in the
1611
01:28:42.640 --> 01:28:47.770
military end up with PTSD. And unfortunately, with the things
1612
01:28:47.829 --> 01:28:50.369
that we deal with in that line of work, we
1613
01:28:50.449 --> 01:28:52.729
end up with what they call compassion fatigue. But it
1614
01:28:52.970 --> 01:28:56.319
is a form of PTSD. So I'm really looking forward
1615
01:28:56.340 --> 01:29:00.449
to having Jennifer on and talking about that. And then
1616
01:29:00.470 --> 01:29:04.890
I am, next one after Jen is going to be
1617
01:29:04.949 --> 01:29:10.300
October 29th. And I'm sorry, Jennifer's is actually on the
1618
01:29:11.039 --> 01:29:13.699
15th of October. I guess I should probably say that, huh?
1619
01:29:14.319 --> 01:29:18.140
And then on the 29th, I'm going to have Leith Olsen.
1620
01:29:19.050 --> 01:29:22.550
Leif talks on with me and he is founder of
1621
01:29:22.670 --> 01:29:28.020
International Orangutan, Tiger, and Elephant Projects. I am looking forward
1622
01:29:28.060 --> 01:29:31.939
to talking to him too and learning more about all
1623
01:29:32.260 --> 01:29:36.659
these international organizations that he has founded and works with
1624
01:29:36.840 --> 01:29:40.000
and helps out with the orangutans, tigers, and elephants. I
1625
01:29:40.050 --> 01:29:42.649
think that's going to be an awesome podcast as well.
1626
01:29:42.770 --> 01:29:46.829
So I hope you guys can tune back in for
1627
01:29:46.909 --> 01:29:49.710
both of those because I I think it's going to
1628
01:29:49.850 --> 01:29:55.430
be very informative podcasts, and I'm looking forward to talking
1629
01:29:55.470 --> 01:30:00.279
with both of these guys. So with that, that's pretty
1630
01:30:00.319 --> 01:30:02.819
much the end, guys. Thank you for staying so much
1631
01:30:02.899 --> 01:30:06.460
later with me and listening in to our conversation tonight.
1632
01:30:07.039 --> 01:30:09.800
It was great, and I loved talking with Julie and
1633
01:30:09.840 --> 01:30:13.199
learning more about her organization, like I said. And again,
1634
01:30:13.300 --> 01:30:16.010
come on back on the 15th and listen to what
1635
01:30:16.050 --> 01:30:19.180
Jen has to say about compassion fatigue. Until then, I
1636
01:30:19.399 --> 01:30:21.319
hope you guys all stay safe. I hope you all
1637
01:30:21.359 --> 01:30:26.229
enjoy your weekend and have a great weekend. And we'll
1638
01:30:26.270 --> 01:30:27.390
be talking to you again soon.
1639
01:30:28.050 --> 01:30:28.329
Bye now.