When Kindness Isn’t Enough: In Memory of Mikayla, and Every Carer Who’s Carried Too Much Alone

Last week, the world lost Mikayla Raines—founder of Save A Fox Rescue, a woman who dedicated her life to saving animals from the fur trade. She was just 29. Her death by suicide has shaken the global wildlife community, not just because of who she was, but because of what it reveals: even the most compassionate hearts can be broken by cruelty, especially when it comes from within.

Mikayla wasn’t Australian. But her pain? Her exhaustion? Her isolation? That’s something many of us here know all too well.

Because it’s not just the public ridicule we face when we speak up for kangaroos. It’s not just the jokes, the trolling, the “get a life” comments when we post about a joey’s death. It’s also the silence—or worse, the judgment—from within our own circles. From people who should understand. From people who say they care.

I’ve been there. I’ve felt the sting of being belittled by other carers. The subtle digs. The not-so-subtle exclusions. The need some have to be “the expert,” to know more, do more, be more. But here’s the truth: none of us know it all. Every animal is different. Every rescue is a lesson. And every carer is doing their best with what they have.

So why the competition? Why the cruelty?

We are all here because we love. Because we feel. Because we can’t look away.

And yet, over the years, we’ve lost too many to the weight of it all. In Australia, carers have spoken out about the toll—burnout, compassion fatigue, and yes, suicide. Frances Carleton, a counsellor and carer herself, has seen it firsthand: carers pushed to the edge by grief, by exhaustion, by the unbearable loneliness of watching life slip away again and again. Read HERE

We hold dying animals in our arms. We bury the ones we couldn’t save. We bottle-feed through the night. And still, some of us are met with criticism instead of care.

It baffles me.

But it also strengthens my resolve.

Because I am now a lone carer—but not alone. I have a circle of friends, mentors, and fellow carers who lift me up. Who remind me that kindness is still alive. That support is still possible. That we can choose to be better to each other.

So this is for Mikayla. And for every carer who’s cried in silence. For every one of us who’s been told we’re “too sensitive.” For every soul who’s ever felt like giving up.

You are not weak. You are not alone. And you are not wrong for caring.

Let’s build a community that reflects the values we fight for: compassion, gentleness, and the courage to hold space for each other’s pain.

Because if we can’t be kind to one another, how can we ask the world to be kind to the animals?