An animal rescuer’s heated conversation with an anonymous hater has revealed the toxic reality that not everyone in the animal rescue community is as welcoming and supportive as they may seem.

TikTok Creator and Animal Rescue Advocate Carley Self is the founder of Nola Kitten Nursery, a mammal nursery based in New Orleans. With over 200 rescues this year alone, Carley has been very vocal about her passion online, spreading awareness to other rescuers and viewers.

However, other alleged animal rescuers have used this platform to put Carley’s methods on blast, labeling them as “unsafe” and accusing her of inadvertently causing the deaths of the animals she cared for.

Carley Self, a TikTok creator and animal rescue advocate, revealed the toxic side of the animal rescue community after a fiery exchange with a hater

Image credits: nolakittennursery

An anonymous account had contacted Carley’s moderator back in early September with a request to send her supplies for pinkies—a term rehabbers use to describe newborn animals. The unnamed person had then given a list of Carley’s practices, deeming them unsafe before blaming those actions on the TikTok creator’s lack of care and time.

“If time is a problem maybe she can give them to someone who has some to give the correct care,” read the message. “This is why people are turning her in. She is aspirating babies on live!!” 

They later addressed Carley directly, saying, “There are some things you are doing with your squirrels that is not safe and needs to be addressed” and added, “you WILL inadvertently cause deaths.”

According to Carley, many of the suggestions included different ways of feeding baby animals—and while the methods she had been using weren’t incorrect, they may “not look like how you give them care.” 

After the animal rescue advocate tried to defend herself, the anonymous account labeled her selfish and egotistical

Image credits: nolakittennursery

Carley called the accusations “pretty big assumptions” and claimed her methods have yielded favorable results.

“Too bad your ego has the best of you,” read a response from the faceless account. “Poor squirrels.”

They continued, saying, “The only reason I am using a different account is because I have you blocked on my other one, so when I’m scrolling I don’t have to watch someone aspirate a 20 gram baby,” and later claimed the suggestions were coming from a group of rehabbers with over 100 years of experience.

“So yeah, unwind your panties hun,” the account said after Carley began posting about the drama.

Image credits: nolakittennursery

Another similar incident happened last year when someone Carley considered a friend turned her back on her. 

A moderator who frequently chatted with Carley posted on social media, insinuating that the animal rescuer did not deserve many of the things she had and that it was “really hard for [me] to watch people who haven’t been in rescue as long as [me] get things that others are deserving of.”

Later, when Carley posted a video about “losing” several animals, the same woman allegedly created several accounts online to blame Carley for being careless and inexperienced in her line of work, saying it was her fault the animals had died.

“She actively trolled me on a very vulnerable, very hard emotional video,” Carley said, adding that she “really [hasn’t] been the same on this app since.”

Carley has since chalked up the exchange, along with most of the drama in the animal rescue community, to past trauma

Image credits: nolakittennursery

@nolakittennursery It’s a tough job and it’s made tougher when we aren’t on the same team. If you don’t all have to rescue the same way. We all don’t have to process things the same way. Hell we don’t even have to work together. What we shouldn’t be doing is working against each other. #animallover #mentalhealth #animalrescue #thetea #childhoodtrauma #therapytok ♬ original sound – NolakittenNursery

The social media creator explained that many animal rescuers are in this field because of the “comfort and solace and unconditional love and acceptance in animals.” 

“They saved us,” she said. “And so we return the favor.”

But Carley said there is “a lot going on behind the scenes” when it comes to caring for animals, and many rescuers haven’t found the right coping mechanisms and communications skills to “deal with people day-in and day-out.”

Image credits: nolakittennursery

“We are a group of emotionally, physically traumatized beings trying to manage our mental health crisis by helping animals who cannot communicate with us,” Carley stated.

And while drama within the community may not be intentional, the platform animal rescuers are given on social media can lead to toxicity. 

“[Social media] is a very toxic place in and of itself and then when you do so with mental health crisis, it creates a rough situation,” said Carley.

Carley’s followers have expressed their support for the animal rescuer

Image credits: nolakittennursery

“The person who sent you those messages is rude. Opinionated. And certainly lacks communication skills,” someone wrote. “I am very impressed with how you responded to this person.”

Another joked, “Plot twist: the whole group of people she’s referring to is just her talking to herself on her different burner accounts.”

“That was a whole lot of mean girl behavior,” someone else said. “This isn’t the way.”

“I’m sorry you have to deal with such ignorance and incompetent, Carley,” added one user. “Speaking from a non-rescue perspective, you are 100% correct in the way you are, once again and as you always do, TEACHING.” 

While the TikTok animal rescue community may be “riddled with drama,” Carley’s followers have remained a key support system

Image credits: nolakittennursery

@nolakittennursery Let’s all remember how new social media is. I think it’s important for older rehabbers to remember that there’s now a lot of new ways to rehab. It doesn’t make them wrong. There are ways that we don’t agree with. And there are ways to get that point across without attacking and causing emotional harm to other Animal rescuers…. #phenomenon #animallover #animalrescue #newway #support #mentalhealth ♬ original sound – NolakittenNursery

Due to Carley’s videos on TikTok—especially those streamed live—she has been able to turn animal rescue work into a full-time job while also using the platform as a resource for her mental health. 

“The community we have built here on this app brings a smile to my face daily which is an invaluable gift in a line of work that is so mentally and physically taxing,” she told Bored Panda. “Rescue can be so isolating at times.”

“Unfortunately, people in the animal welfare world continue to be ranked among the highest for risk of suicide. This app allows us another avenue to reach out for help from others who ‘get it.’” 

Image credits: nolakittennursery

Carley began her journey on TikTok not only to share her love of animals and “to help others grow and learn” as a rescuer but also for those who may struggle with mental health—but “never in [her] wildest dreams” could she have imagined where it would take her.

The content Carley posts on TikTok LIVE have succeeded in covering “EVERY vet bill so far this year” and the subscriptions have allowed her to “do this line of work exclusively” rather than juggling another full-time job — something she did for seven years before  turning to TikTok.

Her platform has also given her the opportunity to face any potential drama “head on” and do so in an educational way so that rescuers may start working “better together.”

Carley is now in the process of opening New Orleans’ first neonatal animal hospital

Image credits: nolakittennursery

Ever since Carley took on rescue work as a full-time job, thanks to TikTok, her goal has been to find a building to “branch out and receive more volunteers and thus help more animals.”

After receiving one donated by a neighborhood couple, Carley is working on opening the first 24-hour neonatal animal hospital in New Orleans, with plans of getting it up and running by this time next year.

“The building has been out of commission since Katrina and needs a lot of work; but, once completed, will be the first 24 hour neonatal nursery in New Orleans!” Carley said. “Thanks to the funds we have received from TikTok Live, we have thousands saved up for our building fund!

Our future plan as a rescue is to become the central rescue and resource hub for kittens, TNR efforts, and neonatal wildlife in the city of New Orleans,” she added. “Our hope is to support animals and their rescuers alike!

“I then hope to take what I’ve learned and share it with the country both through continuing with my TikTok Live journey and through in person public speaking events.”

Many of the comments supported Carley’s response to the drama and her mission as an animal rescuer

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