My Time at The Right to Live

This write-up is about the skepticism and frustrations that have grown in me as time went by volunteering with TRTL. However, because I don’t want to be “marked” by the shelter as problematic and eventually turned away when I come to volunteer, I never raise my concerns — I love the dogs too much. Ultimately, I hope this write-up can enlighten the committee of volunteers or whatever (I don’t even know what the structure is. Who makes decisions? Who do we go to for certain questions??) about the issues seen from an outsider’s point of view.

Let me preface this story by mentioning that I’ve been a volunteer at TRTL since they were located near Changi. They have since moved to The Animal Lodge at CCK (so, about 3–4 years). Admittedly, I am an infrequent volunteer and come in every 2 months for about 4 hours each time. I have also donated around $500 to TRTL.

I give as much as I can to this shelter both financially and with the limited time I have. I love so many of the dogs at TRTL and each time I come, I discover another super lovely dog to add to my list of “mega adoptable dogs”.

Today, is a wonderful day. It is also the day that I choose to surface and make public my issues with TRTL. Here’s 3 main things I’ll talk about:

• Lack of transparency with donation money
• Are dogs really getting adopted?
• Turning away volunteers

Lack of Transparency with Donation Money

TRTL is lucky to have volunteers and givers who donate generously to these dogs. In fact, TRTL recognizes this since they have posted 26 instagram posts this year thanking #trtldogsponsors (refer to image below)! 4 other posts also provide information on how to donate/sponsor a dog. So this year 30 out of their total 41 instagram posts have something to do with sponsoring/ donating.

I’m extremely happy that these dogs are getting outside support from kind and generous donators. They really deserve a better life.

But… where is this money going?

There was recently a call for donations for Black Boy for a total of $3311.62. As a donor myself, I wanted to know how he was doing but, time and time again the only updates I was getting from TRTL’s instagram were posts thanking #trtldogsponsors. I think this was the first instance where I was aware of my slight frustration with TRTL.

In fact, I checked the give.asia link for the fundraising campaign again just this morning and there is an excess of donation of >$100. What is being done with this extra amount?

I wish to see more transparency with donations going to TRTL like other shelters or non-profits that screenshot medical bills and give updates on what donations have gone towards.

Are dogs really getting adopted?

With all the talk about donations, to be very honest, who really cares about where the money goes to if the dogs are getting adopted by good families right? That’s what we volunteers hope for. We come down for hours at a time cleaning poop, walking and loving the dogs just so we can see them be happy and healthy and ultimately ready for adoption.

However, at TRTL, again from a casual volunteer’s perspective, all I know is that 0 dogs have been adopted this year. Of course, this is based on the logical assumption that a dog shelter would celebrate dogs getting adopted and post about the event on social media. However, all I see on instagram are posts thanking #trtldogsponsors.

On the other hand, scrolling through OSCAS’s (another wonderful shelter) instagram just within the month of September, I get information that 2 dogs have been adopted.

This of course raises eyebrows — are dogs actually getting adopted?

A volunteer’s hard work and time and a donor’s hard-earned money would be a waste if there is no effort on the shelter’s part in getting the dogs adopted. In the case of TRTL, based on my own experience, they are not trying to facilitate the adoption process. Recently, I recommended TRTL to my friend since he was interested in adopting/fostering a dog. As an excited volunteer, I jumped in to help him with the process but unfortunately faced many obstacles:

1. There is no access to information on a foster / adoption process ANYWHERE on their channels.
2. That’s fine. Instead, I directly messaged TRTL on Instagram asking about the process and was directed to the owner (who I’ve messaged before since I have volunteered for a few years). He supposedly deals with all the adoption questions.
3. I waited 2 weeks for a response and even followed up but I got 0 response.
4. Eventually, I DM-ed the TRTL Instagram account again to alert him or her about the lack of response & what next steps I should take.
5. Was asked to try again.

Despite the help of the person who had been corresponding with me on TRTL’s Instagram (who I must say has been super helpful and responsive), the whole process of adoption was simply too much of an obstacle for anyone.

Ultimately, my friend gave up because he ended up wanting to foster first with the end goal being adoption but TRTL does not allow fosterers apparently (which I feel is an important piece of information that should be made known to donors).

I can only hope for TRTL to do better with helping these wonderful dogs land a good home. This brings us to the next point.

Turning away volunteers / Refusing help

I can only hope for things to get better because no matter how much help I tell them I can offer (even if its admin work and not directly dealing with the dogs) they don’t wish to take it for some reason. Maybe there is a legitimate reason for not wanting extra help and if there is, and I knew what it was and that it was legit, I would not have much to say about this issue.

However, I do not know the reason.

This is a huge problem to me because clearly there is a lack of help around TRTL. There is no live website. There is no one but the two owners to handle the adoption matters and it seems like they themselves are overwhelmed with work because I did not receive a reply for 2/3 weeks. There is no proper documentation of donation proceeds for maximum transparency. All this can be solved with manpower and willing volunteers…

Final thoughts and comments

The reason I have decided to surface all these issues is because I got a text from one of the owners today mercilessly (*cries*) disallowing me and my friend from volunteering at TRTL because of a careless mistake — he forgot to pick up some poop as he ran out of newpapers/plastic that fateful walk with Lai Heng.

Despite me coming for 3–4 years and giving so much to TRTL, I am denied from volunteering for a mistake I did not make. But that’s okay. I finally feel free to air my thoughts on how TRTL has been running as an organisation after years of closely watching from the outside.

(Actually, I already had a feeling that they were irritated with me since I did bring up SOME my concerns, albeit conservatively, with the shelter through Instagram DMs so the immediate “ban”, through no fault of my own and just by association kinda makes sense)

TLDR; I hope TRTL can provide more transparency with everything they do from using donation money to laying out the adoption process. I hope they know that it is not fair to donors and volunteers if they are not trying their best to help the dogs find a good home.

I’m ending this write-up with mixed feelings — sad that I won’t get to interact with the dogs anymore but also relieved that I finally, get to share my perspective. I wish TRTL all the best and will miss the the dogs so very dearly. I hope they all find good homes.