Say it ain't so, Trow ....

Once upon a time there was a man with what many felt was a soft heart. A great BIG cushy heart that loved animals – all animals – loved them to distraction. This man no doubt meant well – but what this man didn’t get is that loving animals extravagantly, loving animals passionately, loving animals to the point where balance, compassion, understanding and awareness are no longer part of the equation really isn’t loving at all – it is obsession.

It is hoarding.

It is narcissism to the highest degree.

For it is sad, but true, that sometimes in loving, we have to let go. True courage and a strong, enduring love give us the strength to recognize our limits. It gives us the courage to know what is best for the animal – not what is easier on our hearts or our own selfish needs.

It describes a man who is a genius at  manipulation.

Whose obsession continues after 20+ years to the extent that rather than allow the THS to blossom as it should ... rather than allow the new, strong THS to grow, his selfish, self-serving, obsessive need to dictate and control are making him take a yet another run for the Board of this beleaguered organization.

Still reeling from the allegations and mismanagement under his reign, the THS is only now beginning to become what it was meant to be.

This man claims to be the voice for the animals.

I wonder who spoke for Diva as she lay dying in her kennel?

I know a volunteer did – begging that a kind word, warm hands and a compassionate needle would release her from her torment. Instead, big hearted Trow who “loved” animals so much refused permission for compassionate euthanasia (for a dog riddled with cancer and dying in pain).

Who spoke for the cats stacked row on row on row, huddled in small dirty cages, sitting in their own feces and urine, desperate to stretch and play and jump as cats should. Yet there they sat, week after interminable week.

Because this man’s “big” heart said he couldn’t say no. This man’s heart said the THS could handle it.

But it couldn’t.

Need volunteers? Caring, compassionate hands to nurture and pet and hold with tenderness and care even for a moment those poor cats? No, according to Mr. Trow, there were “more than enough”. I know because two of my daughters sought to be volunteers twice over the course of a year and were told no volunteer positions were available … there were “more than enough”.

And so the cats sat. Unseen. Uncared for other than the basics of food and sometimes water. No tender hand. No brush along rough fur. No interaction.

While those who loved them, those who cared passionately about them, those that stayed despite all, ran themselves ragged trying to give compassion to far too many.

I remember a long, brutally hot summer when the heat beat down like punishment on the pristine grass which Mr. Trow insisted be laid each Spring. A summer when one of a series of firings of ACWs and staff that I personally experienced left kennels bursting with needy dogs. Dogs with issues. Dogs with no outlet for their boundless energy. No opportunity to spend any but a few stolen moments relieving themselves outside.

A summer when arriving for my early morning shift to walk, instead I spent several hours just filling empty water bowls. Over and over. Because there were no people you see to deal with all these dogs and while the staff that remained had huge hearts and cared desperately, few hands can only accomplish so much.

I remember filling those bowls over and over … finishing the rows upon rows of kennels only to start again as the desperately thirsty animals had already finished what I had poured.

Volunteers and sadly depleted staff would scuttle along the corridors of the THS, frantic to relieve for a moment the awful tedium of a pointless existence for the animals trapped within its confines … heads down, keeping ourselves small and non-offensive.

Because narcissism demands an audience.

Self-obsession and an unshakeable belief in your own inalienable right to make every decision require instant obedience.

Why did we stay?

Because when all was said and done, those few of us that survived those years, did so because we felt the animals were better off with us there rather than not.

We stayed because at its core, without the burden of a super-ego and a man who thought himself God, the core values were right. Which makes it sadder – that his vision in many respects was wonderful – it was just in the doing that his ego took precedence.

The THS has been, was, and will again be the voice of the animals.

It should and will stand as a beacon for the unwanted, the neglected, the lost, the hurt and the needy.

If Tim Trow TRULY loved the animals he wouldn’t now be running for the Board together with his cohorts and minions.

If Tim Trow TRULY cared about the future of the THS he would accept his defeat with dignity and stand down.

If Tim Trow TRULY cared about the animals he purports to “love’ he would accept that the direction the THS is now taking is what is right and best for the animals.

But he doesn’t.

His ego, his sense of self-entitlement, his obsessiveness and need to control supersede the reality of a thriving THS.

Because it is, in the end, all about Tim.. not the animals.