My review of having worked with Uptown Cats Rescue in NYC.

Des Calderon, of Uptown Cats Rescue, used my artful cat rescue photos, without my knowledge or permission, and put “Uptown Cats” on them.  He appropriated my property and my rescue work and is taking credit for both  I am a professional artist and volunteer cat rescuer.  I represent www.165rescue.wordpress.com.  Des did not properly credit my rescue work, calling work that I did, work that “we” did.  He made videos with my photos and he published my emails, all without my knowledge or consent.  I reached out to him regarding the rescue of the black and white cat, called Pepper, on the 167st construction site (those are my photos he used repeatedly for audience impact and for the benefit of his organization) and for the uptenth time, he ranted about how will he pay his morgage and support his wife And save a cat too?  He said that Pepper would be expensive and ‘have I reached out to other organizations’.  He made this sweet angel of a cat, that badly needed help, out to be nothing but a financial burden.  He endlessly complains about his personal finances and makes rescuing cats seem like a cross which is really unprofessional, repulsive, and counter-productive.  It conveys that he is not up for the job.  Per my experience with him, he is a rude, controlling, under-handed, and arrogant man.  He operates covertly with information and/or photos you give him. I told him to properly credit my photos and rescue work or take it down- he refuses to do either.  He also wrote a deliberate lie about me on his FB page to make himself look good.  “The woman gave us misinformation that she was the primary feeder”  is False.  He assumed things I never said, so he is the one with the misinformation.  He’s decided to ignore me.  Something really really disturbing is that he has cut me off from following up on the well-being of, Pepper, the b/w rescue cat from 167th street with the frost bitten nose that I asked for help with.  He will not tell me the status of her health or anything further about rescue plans for the cats at that location.  He has turned other people I coordinated with against me.  I coordinated this rescue.  I told him that cat rescue involves Team Work.  I guess he liked that too because he ripped it from me and used it to describe his “saintly” work to his public, while blocking me at the same time from his FB rescue page.  In reality, he doesn’t respect or understand team work. This man is petty, sly, vindictive, and mean; I will not work with him again.

The world of cat rescue is full of shady people and organizations.

One wouldn’t think it, but I know, first hand, that the world of cat rescue is full of shady people, illegal activities, and lies.  There is soo much to write about this subject that I will have to address it in multiple posts.   In brief, some of the things that go on are:

• Fake rescue stories posted on their sites.
• Operating covertly.
• Taking credit for your work as a feeder and rescuer and making up lies about you to make themselves look good.
• Publishing your words, emails, and photographs, without your consent or knowledge, for their benefit.
• Cat trafficking:  Stalking and Trespassing onto private property in order to abduct a certain cat for a paying client.
• Stalking cat feeders in order to gain logistical information about how to abduct the cat/s they provide care for.
• Judging and condemning cat feeders as an excuse to confiscate the cat/s and sell it for their own profit because they are: well-fed; healthy; own a beautiful coat of fur, and are socialized from interactions with their feeders.
• Self proclaimed Trap-Neuter-Return rescues that, in fact, DO NOT do trap-neuter-return for the benefit of street cats.
• Fake fees.  Rescue organizations have TNR trappers that can get cats spayed/neutered and vacinated for Free.  Yet, they ask adopters for a $125-150 “adoption fee” to cover, “the cost of spay/neuter and vacinations!”.   Always ask to see the proof of “medical fees.”
• Hefty fees that they call “donations” just to trap a cat and have it spayed/neutered; something they should be doing voluntarily as a public service and a non-profit rescue organization.
•  Troubled and emotionally unstable, “rescuers” that can be offensive and dangerous to interact with.
• Rescues that are NOT interested in cats that are truly in need, because they take too much time, cost too much money, and are less profitable for them.
• Rescues that want a specific breed of cat to sell for adoption.  For example: Main Coons, Rag dolls, cats with long hair, cats with spots or certain colors.  They have a superficial preference for who they actually decide to save.
• Stealing cats from registered colonies with certified caretakers.
• Targeting female cats because the kittens can each sell for over a hundred dollars. $
• Not reaching out to help male cats because they are less profitable.

It’s disturbing, don’t you think?  To be continued.