Raines created a successful YouTube channel dedicated to her advocacy efforts rescuing foxes from fur farms.
Animal rescue activist and YouTube star Mikayla Raines has died by suicide, according to her husband. She was 29.
Ethan Raines announced her death in an emotional video he posted to her YouTube channel on Monday.
He said that for years his wife suffered from various mental health issues and struggled to cope with online criticism.
“She couldn’t bear what she was feeling any longer, and she ended her life,” he said. “And it breaks my heart that someone who is selfless and devoted her life to animals could have so much negativity pointed at her.”
Holy fuck, I loved SaveAFox, what the hell is wrong with people 😭🤮
I don’t understand why anyone would be mad that someone was saving foxes from becoming pelts.
Unless you’re the piece of shit profiting from the suffering and death of those animals, in which case, your opinion is null and void, nobody should be against the idea IMO.
It’s incredible to me that anyone would carry such vitriol against such a noble cause.
May she rest in peace.
On any online forum, there are people who just like to stir the shit: doxxing, swatting, death threats, you name it. Most platforms have reduced their efforts to keep those slimebags at bay, and this is the result.
No, this was the SaveAFox person… This is like hearing if The Girl With The Dogs were to suddenly die tomorrow. I’m not sure I could handle so much good leaving the world so quickly.
They had been posting fundraising updates on their YouTube for the last couple weeks. I hope they can keep it going.
It was a redditor, they also posted how proud they were, I posted a screnshot but ppl tweaked at me for using reddit and I deleted it rather than argue
Lemmy people are weird. Can you link/show me this person?
Idk why. If it was the same person, the information is relevant to the discussion.
I’m happy to know that they were proud of what they were doing. I hope it was a light in their life.
It’s terrible that anyone would hold any hate for someone trying to do the kind of work she was doing.
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I remember watching some fox channels with a lot of rescue foxes including one called Finnegan. Was that her? So sad that anyone would harass somebody like that.
Yes, that was her channel.
NOOOOO :(((( I am heartbroken:(((
poor fennigan and Dixie :(((
Hers was SaveAFox
Another reason why the US healthcare system sucks shit.
Genuine question: apart from the people who would profit from the activities she was fighting against, or the would-be patrons of such a business… Why would anyone carry hate for what she was trying to accomplish?
I know there’s a whole religious argument, which I find to be wretched at the foundation; just because you ‘have dominion’ over creatures does not imply that it’s ok to torture them and/or kill them for their fur unnecessarily…
Anything else? I just can’t think of anything.
I don’t really know any details about how stuff worked beyond just saving foxes, but my random guess would be people calling it woke and attacking that, there are many people who think things involved with helping the environment and things related to that is bad. It seems like anything considered remotely “woke” is attacked because of rhetoric coming from the right wing.
It seems to be related to fur and there are people who dislike the idea of losing access to animal products like fur coats and leather goods, that is likely related.
Mainly the same criticism of famous social media influencers who are not qualified or experts in the thing they are doing. Being passionate about something doesnt make everything you do the right thing. All that said, I don’t agree that should cause hate, but criticism or opposing opinions were fair in this situation when it comes down to animal welfare.
Not the ending any reasonable person would want I would hope.
That’s a fair point. I would argue that critique and constructive criticism should not be presented in a way that is, in and of itself… Mean (to put it simply).
There’s a lot of ways to do the wrong thing with the best intentions.
Perhaps someone prone to depression and suicidal ideation might be well advised not to choose a highly visible public career where one is constantly exposed to the rantings of evil trolls.
This isn’t victim-blaming, it’s just an acknowledgement that the world as it currently is, is full of toxic backwaters that should be avoided.
That still sounds like victim blaming to me? Yes, there are a ton of shit people in the world, but I feel like rather than “she shouldn’t have taken up that career”, we should instead be fighting back against the idea that people are allowed to be this shitty:
- What’s up with these people that they give out so much abuse?
- Did YouTube and other sites do anything to protect her?
- What else can we do to protect vulnerable people from abuse while letting them do their job?
- What support did she get? Could she have had more?
- How can we prevent this from happening to the next content creator?
I don’t know the answer to these, but just saying ‘she shouldn’t have started in the first place’ feels like a massive cop out to me.
Depressed people are told to get out and touch grass and do something good for the world, some go and do that and then get attacked and bullied for doing something good in the world. Then someone says well they shouldn’t have done this or not. IMO I would agree its victim blaming. Mental health systems suck in many countries where people rarely get the help they need and then people online bring cruel and inhumane because they can hide behind a screen.
Shut the fuck up, this is absolutely victim blaming. “Maybe she should’ve just wallowed in her depression quietly instead of trying to show others what it’s like to help and advocate for helpless wild animals.”
wth no!
Those posters should be identified and held accountable. Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back style maybe. What a horrendous situation.
Could have just stopped the YouTube channel and done something else. I know this is a stupid comment but it makes you wonder whether a bit of therapy or support in that direction would have been a bit more accessible her life could have been saved.
I get what you’re trying to say, but by saying it, you’ve demonstrated a significant misunderstanding of what it’s like to live with depression and suicidal ideation.
As simply as I can: I wouldn’t assume that she wasn’t seeking mental health help when she ended her own life. Just because she was successful in removing her own life, does not mean she wasn’t trying to save herself from that outcome.
Intellectually, the above statement is contradictory, if she didn’t want to die, then why did she end her own life? That, is the very nature of suicidal ideation and depression. You can’t intellectually ponder it out of existence, and you can want to live while still having suicidal urges that are hard to control.
This isn’t a logic problem. Intellectual reasoning doesn’t have a place in the discussion. The cognitive therapy you get from a mental health professional often needs to be paired with anti-depressants to mitigate the negative thoughts while you sort of work on rewiring how you think about the things that are causing you to feel depressed. Whether those things are internal thoughts, or comments from external sources…
Depression is a demon that isn’t easy to overcome.
By saying she should have just gotten therapy trivializes the struggle that some people go through every day, so I would expect some down votes for your comment. I understand that your comment is meant to be helpful and coming from a place of caring, but it does not come across that way.
I’ll add a disclaimer: all of the thoughts and ideas expressed here have no scientific, nor medical basis, I am not a doctor. These are from my own personal experiences and research, and have no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience. I may be wrong and if I am, I hope any readers will comment to let me know that I have erred.
A final note: to anyone struggling with mental health: I hope you get the help and support you need to overcome any struggles you may be experiencing. I sincerely hope you can find a path towards mental health that works for you.
Thanks for coming to my Ted talk.
Piss off you victim blaming ass
Work on your reading comprehension my dude
Work on not being a shitty person
hey uhh this isn’t exactly a happy conversation, but, uh happy cake day 😅
Maybe if you could read you wouldn’t need to call other people shitty but have a day I guess bye
Maybe if you wouldnt be a vile pile of pure garbage people would not call you shitty.
Maybe you wouldn’t be a bad poo poo brain your dad wouldn’t have left for cigarettes
See? You keep confirming what a shitty human being you are. Complete waste of cell. Blaming the victim for being bullied to death.
If you know it’s a stupid comment, maybe don’t make it
You’re blaming the victim.
Fully propagandized idiot who will follow you around commenting on all your posts if you say a single nice thing about China btw ^
Anyone else not know who this person is & think they needed a psychiatrist?
That’s the thing. You (and I) don’t know she wasn’t seeing a psychiatrist and/or mental health professional.
You can seek help and want to live while still losing the fight against suicidal ideation.
This is the correct comment.
Therapy doesn’t solve suicide.
If it did, no one would kill themselves.
There’s a huge difference between “always” and “never”, and a huge variation in severity, duration, and underlying reasons for suicidal ideation and intent.
ok
Those of us that watched [trigger warning] her partner’s video about it know that she was.
That’s what I would have expected/assumed. I haven’t had the time to review any of this in detail, so I’m not speaking from an informed position. Thus I generally keep my assumptions to myself.
Good to know.
As captain Picard said: it is possible to make no mistakes, and still lose.
Why? Do you know psychiatry? Do you know this person? Do you know that she needed one? How can you know that, if you don’t know either of those things? You’re insulting a person who died in pain because you’re too ignorant to know what happened or how to prevent it. Shut up.
So you don’t think they needed one? 🤡
It’s not the most gorgeous of truths, but if it wasn’t online abuse, it would likely be something else for her. 75% of people diagnosed with bpd will make at least one suicide attempt in their lifetime.
Gee, do you think someone with BPD would be more or less likely to die by suicide if they’re facing an online harassment campaign. 🙄
More. As I said, the diagnosis is horrible and unfortunately this is not an unlikely occurrence. Seems people hate that as expected. But I know I would be happy to know this statistic earlier in life, so I am not ashamed to express it.
It’s pretty disgusting to look at someone who died by suicide after facing a harassment campaign and then suggest “maybe it wasn’t the harassment, maybe it was the BPD.”
Unfortunately, it’s just the truth. It’s a strong predictor for death before age 25. Bless you, hope you can learn again and help people in need
You’re a fucking joke.
Sadly, you are mistaken and lost in rage. I hope you recover soon it seems very painful
Don’t take the high road when you just said “maybe it wasn’t the online harassment campaign that led to her suicide, but her BPD.” 🙄
You’re not necessarily wrong. I certainly don’t have any information to refute what you say…
I’m just not sure that pointing this out on a post about a woman’s death is enhancing the discussion at all, so I’m not sure why you felt the need to share…
Read the other comments. It’s a world where nobody is aware of the disorder and as someone close to the issue I feel an obligation to educate. It’s not a fun thing to have or be around, and the sufferers and therefore the issue is surrounded by a hurricane of drama by its own design, to escape pain it creates even larger pain.
I’ve never heard the term “star” used for a Youtuber before.
That’s your takeaway from an article about an animal rescuers death? Wow.
yep good point good point, shoulda read the room.
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How hollow that must feel. Not getting any justice or retribution.
And the disgusting people to blame are probably praising themselves, now.
RIP
From my cursory glance, yes, they are
On 4chan?
It’s times like these that I hope there is in fact a god and they are watching folks like that.
If there’s a god, he’s a cunt. Find your own justice.
I agree, but at heart I’m a pollyanna.
“Inside every cynical person is a disappointed idealist.”
- George Carlin
The real hollowness is found in the people who have nothing in their lives so they embrace hate and hound those trying to make the world a better place.
Sad, I watched her shorts sometimes. Apparently there was a hate ‘snark’ subreddit that just made up shit about her all day, with some members connected to the factory farming fur industry, and pedophilic artist KazeoLion, leading the harassment
So…wait. I’ve never heard of her, but you’re saying there was an entire subreddit deddicated to making up lies about her, saying she did horrible shit, KNOWING what they said was a lie? Because if I’m reading this right, that’s pretty fucked up.
I think most people know about her through her fox, Finnegan the Fox
Apparently there are ‘snark’ (what the hell kinda name for a genre is that?) pages on Reddit for all sorts of niche stuff
There’s snark pages on lemmy too, some of them moved here after getting kicked off Reddit.
Lol at Snarky Puppy getting caught up in that search result.
TIL there’s a snarky puppy community here
Man, my life is kinda sad, but at least it’s not “join a community specifically to hate on stuff” sad. What hosers.
quietly unsubscribes from all reddit sublemmies
Fundiesnark is often for people who leave insane religious institutions or crazy churches to talk about that and make fun of the people still trying to push their hateful religious agenda online, there’s a lot of survivors of some bad shit there, I support it frankly but like, foxes? Not like any of these people are coming from fur farms where they were personally abused and need a space to talk about its ridiculousness
Also snarky puppy is just a musical group it’s not a snark group
Not like any of these people are coming from fur farms where they were personally abused and need a space to talk about its ridiculousness
I suppose they are incredibly small, disturbed people
Snarky puppy is amazing!
So telling lies about people is a ok, but mentioning a green plumber is not. I’m fucking grateful that I’m banned from that cesshole of a website now.
It’s a pretty fucked up name if you ask me, specifically.
I follow her and she was a beautiful human. This news is so painful for me.
If there was an organized harassment campaign against her I wonder if there is any legal culpability for those involved.
