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.”
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?
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.
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.
I believe she had BPD as well, which in itself often gets you targeted harassment online while also making you extremely sensitive to said harassment.
Wait what? People harass people online because they’ve got BPD? Like they specifically target people who are suffering from BPD? Why??
Fucking gross.
Because hurt people hurt people.
People with BPD can be very manipulative and controlling, they can leave you with your own psychological trauma if they’re not self aware enough to realise what they’re doing. And some people are just evil and don’t try be better. So there are a lot of people who have been hurt by people with BPD and they then become a target for harassment.
Sad part is that most people with BPD just want to be loved. Unfortunately they can’t trust love or anyone around them. It’s fucked and really hard to manage, but possible with a lot of hard work.
No, people don’t specifically look for people with BPD. I believe you misunderstood.
I would assume that the trolls are attracted to those people because they get more of a reaction to their vitriol. It’s sad, honestly.
Yeah, I agree. If a sadistic person wants to see reactions naturally they’ll continue to harass the people that give it to them.
Then what does this mean?
I believe she had BPD as well, which in itself often gets you targeted harassment online
I believe some people react to bullying in a specific way that excites bullies. It’s not like they say “hey, who’s got BPD,” it’s just that people with BPD tend to get the reactions they seek. Don’t mistake this as saying the bullies aren’t doing wrong or ableist. It’s still awful.
Is BPD bi-polar disorder? Or borderline personality disorder?
Latter
BPD is borderline. BD is Bipolar Disorder. But most commonly referred to as simply bipolar.
BPD is borderline personality disorder.
I don’t know her at all - is that BPD diagnosis something confirmed, thet she shared and all?
I have terribly mixed feelings about people with BPD.
On one side, lots of empathy: they often feel miserable and (not always, but) very often their BPD is the result of trauma or abuse.
On the other, and having lived it for a decade and a half: they can make the lives of people in their surroundings an absolute abominable horror-movie type of nightmare.
It’s actually treatable but not all people with BPD seek treatment, it’s a tough one.
There just aren’t enough therapists learning how to administer dialectical behavior therapy. Very helpful for people with BPD, addiction problems, or PTSD.
I have an uncle who has been cut-off from the family because he refuses to treat his
BPDbipolar (whoops) and his sisters got tired of taking care of/cleaning up after him. “Doesn’t like how the medicine makes him feel”. Pretty sure he started self-medicating with other stuff and found a woman who enables him, don’t know exactly (it’s been two decades since I last heard from him)I personally cannot confirm it, I just saw it being mentioned on one of the BPD subs on reddit.
I think it’s important to differentiate people with mental health issues and bad people with mental health issues.
I have BPD, it sucks so much and I suffer a lot of emotional pain. I have hurt some people, but the first person I really hurt, I loved like no other, and when she told me what I was doing to her when she left me, I decided not to be that person anymore.
I’ve fucked up a lot of my life during my worse episodes, but I choose not to be a horrible person to the people around me. I don’t always get it right, but I try.
A diagnosis doesn’t make you evil or bad, that’s a personal choice.
BPD is brutal on the people close to the person with the disorder. Absolutely brutal.
My sister has BPD. My parents cut her off after some particularly spectacular episodes. I stuck up for her even after she wasn’t allowed around anymore. She tried to off herself in my room when I let her hide out from her boyfriend (not the first time she did that). She ended up moving in with that scumbag who on multiple occasions beat her senseless and threw her out of a moving vehicle. I had to come over (strapped mind you) and escort her from his place to the station onto a greyhound to go live with her cousin. I have so much fuckin trauma on account of her. She’s better now, for now. If it comes to it again tho I’ll always fight tooth and nail to keep her safe, regardless of how outrageously she behaves. That’s my fuckin sister.
You’re a good sibling. I had an ex that really fucked me up. I found out later that she was diagnosed with BPD a few years after our relationship.
After reading up on it, it explained so much… Didn’t really help anything, but explained it. Made the mistake of reconnecting with her around the time of the pandemic. What a terrible idea that was lol.
Thank you, you’re an amazing sibling. Just don’t let her abuse you. I hope she is getting help, it can get better.
Yeah, her husband shared it when he announced the news on Tuesday (or Monday?).
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.
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.
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
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 think most people know about her through her fox, Finnegan the Fox
If there was an organized harassment campaign against her I wonder if there is any legal culpability for those involved.
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 :(((
Jesus, it really goes to show how shitty humanity really is.
I actually really liked watching those foxes laughing, it was a nice little bright spot in a world fully of cynicism and bullshit and if course shitty humans had to be shitty humans harassing her for being a decent human being.
Humans not humanity.
Doing some sleuthing, it appears a former follower was mad about some incidents at the shelter, and started a subreddit against it:
SFW, but click at your own risk.
https://web.archive.org/web/20250307232100/https://www.reddit.com/r/saveafoxsnark/
The last web archive backup is old, but my guess is the subreddit snowballed (due to the Reddit engagement algo loving hatesubs, of course) and got us here.
So… yeah.
Rest in peace.
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.
Tragic.
But listen, no one needs YouTube that bad. If you’re having issues because of it get off of it. It’s not real anyway. (YouTube, that is. People and foxes are, of course)
You think you’re doing the right thing
You think you’re doing the right thing
You think you’re doing the right thing
You think you’re doing the right thing
You think you’re doing the right thing
You think you’re doing the right thing
But they just won’t listen.How can you blame someone for doing what should be universally understood as a positive and still having nonstop trolling? Quitting YouTube wasn’t going to stop the harassment. Quitting YouTube wasn’t going to make her unsee the harassment. Quitting YouTube wasn’t going to promote advocacy for the animals. But you think it’s her fault for putting herself in a place that is both a primary media location and collection point for a bunch of toxic people?
Quitting YouTube wasn’t going to stop the harassment.
Disagree.
Quitting YouTube wasn’t going to promote advocacy for the animals.
Also disagree
But you think it’s her fault for putting herself in a place that is both a primary media location and collection point for a bunch of toxic people?
You can change your circumstances. None of it is her fault. But if anyone is in that position they should understand that getting out is absolutely an option.
She got harassed and bullied by people she knew IRL. They would’ve slandered her even if she wasn’t on youtube.
Those posters should be identified and held accountable. Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back style maybe. What a horrendous situation.
The human race makes me really sick on a daily basis these days
Wtf she seemed so happy in her vids
Sorry that was a flippant reaction. I’m so sorry she struggled and wish she was able to get help before it came to this.
I have depression and I understand that you can seem outwardly happy and still nothing can bring joy on the inside.
Relevant:
wth no!
Weird how someone who became a minor celebrity opposing the lucrative live fur industry would be targeted and harassed to death.
I hope this isn’t some kind of pattern, wherein public figures who speak out in defense of environmental and social welfare causes are defamed and driven into obscurity or death.
This has been an established pattern for decades…
I think it was around 2002, when i read about that girl that died from a car accident. She had taken her dad’s car, without permission.
Iirc, one of the police officers that was at the accident site took lots of photos of her corpse or rather, from the pieces scattered along the road.
Somehow those photos were leaked online and trolls had nothing better to do, than keep sending emails to the girl’s parents. The subject was something along the lines of , paraphrasing, “Hi Dad, I’m back” or “Guess who’s back in town?”
The emails always contained some of the photos.
The parents moved and even changed their names.
Who the fuck does something like that? The same kind of troll, that now harassed Mikayla to death.
“Thralls of the Archons”
I knew kids in high school who tortured gophers, and who knows what else, for the stimulus. Kind of dead inside; in retrospect, badly sociopathic, but without coping techniques or charisma.
She apparently had an OF as well, which really draws out the judgmental weirdos.
