When Saving Lives Costs Us Our Own

In Memory of Mikayla Raines – and for Every Rescuer Hurting in Silence

How the tragic loss of a beloved rescuer exposes the urgent need for emotional care in the animal welfare world,and what we’re doing about it.

This week, the animal rescue world and its supporters were shaken by a kind of tragedy that is all too often and rarely talked about out loud: a rescuer who gave everything until there was nothing left.

In 2017, Mikayla Raines founded Save A Fox Rescue, determined to give domesticated foxes a second chance after being discarded by fur farms or abandoned due to failed ownership.

Her sanctuary became a viral phenomenon—her videos reached millions, and her story touched hearts around the world.

But behind the scenes, she was hurting.

Mikayla lived with autism, depression, and borderline personality disorder. Her husband shared that she would “forgo sleep, eating, and showering if there was an animal that needed her help.” In the weeks before her death, she was the target of relentless cyberbullying.

On June 18th, 2024, Mikayla took her own life.

She was 29.

She leaves behind her husband, Ethan, and their toddler daughter, Freya.

This devastating turn is more than a personal tragedy. It demands urgent, immediate attention and action regarding a matter that has become silently accepted in our society.

This is a harsh and stark mirror reflection of a wider, urgent crisis in the animal care and rescue world.

Unspoken Toll: What Rescue Takes From Us

Animal rescuers hold immense emotional weight, unique to their line of work. They carry dying animals, deal with cruelty, abandonment, and moral injury, and operate under constant pressure and urgency, often expected to do so without rest or recognition.

They carry dying animals.

They deal with cruelty, abandonment, and moral injury.

They operate under constant pressure and urgency, often expected to do so without rest or recognition.

Here’s what the research shows:

• 40% of animal welfare workers experience PTSD-like symptoms
• Rescuers are twice as likely to suffer from depression than the general population
• Burnout and emotional disconnection are not rare; they’re expected

It often shows up as an emotional autopilot, where a person continues to function outwardly while their internal world is shutting down.

Signs You May Be in Emotional Autopilot:

• Compartmentalizing grief or trauma without processing it
• Losing the ability to distinguish routine from meaningful moments
• Ignoring physical needs like food, rest, or basic hygiene
• Strained or distant relationships outside of rescue
• Feeling disconnected from the original purpose or joy of the work

The very qualities that make someone a brilliant rescuer—empathy, self-sacrifice, and emotional investment—are also the qualities that, without support, can put them most at risk.

Mikayla was not alone.

 And that’s exactly the problem.

Why We Founded Pandora’s Hope

The Mission Behind Pandora’s Hope: Healing the Humans Who Help Animals

We created Pandora’s Hope because we saw the missing piece: rescuers were supported in their logistics but not in their emotional lives.

We are more than an organization. We are a sanctuary, a beacon of renewal. A place where the people who give everything can come to receive something in return: support, community, understanding, and tools to keep going without breaking.

What Pandora’s Hope Offers:

• Expert-led webinars on emotional resilience and stress management
• Virtual support communities connecting rescuers nationwide
• Neurodivergent-informed tools for individuals with autism, ADHD, or other processing differences
• Crisis intervention guidance and mental health advocacy
• Organizational wellness resources to help leaders build emotionally sustainable rescue cultures

Pandora’s Hope is one of the first initiatives in the country dedicated to emotional wellness for animal rescue professionals, and we’re just getting started.

We believe in healing the foundation. Because rescuers are the foundation.

What Is the Animal Rescue Round Table?

(And Why Rescuers Are Calling It a Lifeline)

One of our core offerings is the Animal Rescue Round Table. A Bi-weekly, free, virtual gathering where rescuers, fosters, wildlife rehabbers, and shelter staff come together for one purpose: to be real, supported, and understood. You can share without explaining the unspoken parts. A place where you are seen and heard, and your community holds you in the space of what you are feeling.

It is not a webinar.

It is not therapy.

It is a safe, sacred space where:

• You don’t have to pretend to be okay
• You can share without explaining the unspoken parts
• You can cry, laugh, vent, grieve, reflect, and receive supported understanding

You are not alone.

If you’re reading this and seeing yourself in these words, we encourage and invite you to join one of our upcoming Animal Rescue Round Table. (Click below to learn more or sign up)

 This space and these meetings are part of what Mikayla needed. The Animal Rescue Round Table meetings are what so many people in the animal care and rescue world need before reaching the breaking point.

This Is How We Change the Story

We wish we could have given Mikayla this space.

A room full of people who didn’t ask her to smile or be strong but who would have sat with her exactly as she was.

We can’t bring her back.

But we can make sure her story is what breaks through to change the system and the hardship animal rescue people go through.

Right now, across the country, someone is:

• Cleaning kennels at 2 a.m. while sobbing
• Ignoring chest pain to finish a transport
• Secretly questioning whether they can keep doing this work—but afraid to admit it

They don’t need more willpower.

 They need support.

Let’s not wait until we lose another heart to the work they loved. Your support is crucial in preventing such tragedies.

This Didn’t Have to Happen. And It Can’t Happen Again.

We Can Do Better—And We Must

It’s painful to say, but the rescue community shouldn’t be a Battleground for its own kind. We cannot allow it to become a place where the hurt arises from within.

Mikayla was not only targeted by strangers online, she was harassed, bullied and attacked by others within the rescue community itself.

This truth is deeply uncomfortable, but it matters. it requires a reckoning!

Because if we are truly here to protect life, we must also protect the humans who do this work and that means protecting each other.

At Pandora’s Hope, we believe rescue should never be a battlefield between rescuers.

It should be a space of collaboration - not competition, compassion -not cruelty.

We know that hurt people can hurt people.

We also know that a culture of scarcity, trauma, and isolation breeds conflict. That’s why our mission isn’t just to support individuals. Our Mission is to help shift the culture of animal rescue in its entirely.

Pandora’s Hope exists to build a new kind of rescue community, one rooted in mutual care, emotional wisdom, and solidarity. This is the beginning of a transformative journey for animal and wildlife rescue.

Where lifting each other up is not optional. It’s the foundation.

Where Are You in This Story?

Turn Inward, Just for a Moment

Pause.   Feel.   You Matter.   Rescue Starts Within, too.

Before you scroll on, take a breath and ask yourself:

• How have you been really feeling lately?
• Is there someone in your rescue circle who may be quietly struggling?
• What support systems do you have in place?

This is your reminder:

Caring for animals shouldn’t cost you your ability to care for yourself.

What You Can Do Today, What Can You Do Right Now?

Building emotional wellness for yourself as an individual or into your organization isn’t just compassionate, it improves retention, staff satisfaction, and long-term sustainability.

It’s smart leadership. And it’s our moral responsibility.

Our Mission Is More Than Support—It’s Cultural Transformation

At Pandora’s Hope, we believe animal rescue must be more than saving lives, it must be a movement grounded in humanity, unity, and emotional wisdom.

That’s why our mission is clear:

Making a Difference in the Animal Rescue World

Uniting the Rescue Community, Fueling Change

Voices for Change – Unity in Action

We stand for kindness, accountability, and mutual care.

And we do not tolerate bullying, exclusion, or online cruelty ever!

Every member of our community agrees to uphold values of respect, emotional safety, and collective responsibility.

We’re here to build bridges, not burn them. To create a future where rescuers support one another, not tear each other down.

Because the work is hard enough. Let’s not make each other the enemy.

Let’s Turn Tragedy Into a Movement

Mikayla’s death is not just a loss. It is a wake-up call.

Her legacy, and the legacy of those who have suffered the same fate before her, must not end in mourning. It must serve as a mandate for transformation.

We must create a world where:

• Every rescue, from city shelters to rural wildlife sanctuaries, has access to emotional support
• Mental health is treated as essential, not optional
• The people who save lives don’t have to lose themselves doing it

This isn’t just about rescuers. It’s about the future of rescue.

Because without emotionally supported humans, there is no humane care.

If we want ethical, effective animal rescue systems, we must start where every mission truly begins with the hearts that carry it.

Let This Be the turning point That Changes Everything

Turning Tragedy Into a Movement: In Memory of Those We’ve Lost

You are not alone!

Call or text the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline (U.S.) free, confidential, 24/7.

If you are a rescue professional looking for support, email us at info@pandorashope.org

Disclaimer

Pandora’s Hope does not offer medical or psychiatric care. Our resources are peer-led and trauma-informed, designed to complement, not replace professional mental health services.

Learn more: www.pandorashope.org

Contact us: info@pandorashope.org