11/19/2024
**Statement Regarding Recent Rescue Post**
SALT Saving Animals’ Lives Together
Dear Cat Lovers,
Thank you for your continued support and attention. Recently, we posted an update about a rescue operation, but due to issues with language, information sharing, and cultural differences, some misunderstandings arose. We sincerely apologize for this and would like to clarify the following points:
We have been collaborating with the rescue organization "S" and were made aware that this rescue operation is both difficult and complex (though we did not receive all the detailed information). Given this, we decided to urgently share the news on social media to help raise awareness. In the post, we stated that all donations would go to our partner organization, "S." However, we later discovered that, in addition to "S," two other rescue organizations were also involved in the operation. Due to the gap in information, this caused some misunderstandings with other rescue groups.
Following the post, we received $190 in donations. To express our support for "S," we have decided to donate a total of $500 to the organization, and foster families from "S" will also be able to receive free cat litter at our store. We would like to extend our sincere apologies to all the rescue organizations involved in this operation, as well as to our supporters. We acknowledge that posting on social media without complete information was a mistake. Our intent was simply to help those cats in urgent need, and we acted with a sense of urgency.
With this, we would like to take a moment to reintroduce ourselves: We operate a cat café business, which is often met with controversy. No matter where we open, we face public opinion that we are "making money off cats." We are an independent business with our own rescue efforts; we do not receive government funding or support, nor do we have volunteers or foster networks. All of our expenses are self-funded. The medical costs for each cat—including health checks, vaccinations, and spaying/neutering—are over $500. If we were "making money off cats," why would our adoption fees only range from $10 to $350? These fees do not even cover our costs. Anyone who has cared for a pet knows how expensive veterinary care is, and we also go through large quantities of cat food and litter every month.
Since opening, we have successfully rehomed 188 cats. Our goal with the cat café is to give more exposure to those cats who may otherwise be overlooked. We do not support euthanasia, as we firmly believe that as long as a cat is alive, there is hope for it to find a loving home. We promise to care for every cat at LCC until they find their forever home.
This is our first time participating in adoption and rescue efforts. While we have learned a lot about the process, we still have much to improve on, and we are committed to doing so. We highly value the feedback and suggestions of every cat lover and rescue organization, and we welcome any guidance and oversight.
Regarding the following comments, we make the following statements:
1. **Establishing a nonprofit organization and deceiving donors**
We did establish our own nonprofit organization, but we have not used it to deceive donors or make money. Before collaborating with rescue organization "S," we discussed the matter and decided that all donations we received would be given to the organization "S," and this is not fraudulent.
2. **A woman’s male friend previously worked at LCC**
Since opening, we have only employed three male staff members, all of whom are our friends, and we still maintain contact with them. Please provide evidence of animal abuse, mistreatment, and mishandling, rather than making a judgment based on an incorrect statement about one male employee among the 19 employees we have hired. (Please confirm if this concerns LCC or another cat café in Markham.)
We are eager to use our platform to help more cats in need, giving them a chance for a new beginning. After all, our shared goal is to help more cats find a loving home.
This is both our first and last post on this matter. This post is for clarification only, and we will not respond to further inquiries. For more information, please refer to our Instagram:
Once again, thank you all for your understanding and support.
