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.”

  • DarkSurferZA@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    19
    ·
    23 hours ago

    I would also like to know what the criticism was, but at the same time, I also feel like the internet can be shit sometimes whether there was reason to criticise or not.

    Pretty sad story.

    • WeirdGoesPro@lemmy.dbzer0.com
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      46
      arrow-down
      9
      ·
      21 hours ago

      I did the research in the muck mines of the internet for y’all, and it is more complicated than it looks on the surface.

      Several animals died in her care due to neglect, including leaving foxes on leashes and letting them get tangled up and baked alive in the sun. There are text messages that leaked of her having paperwork forged to make some animals look like they were bred in captivity. Her organization was registered as a fur farm to avoid some taxes and regulations. Lastly, she had an OnlyFans page where the regularly posed with dogs and foxes in ways that suggested she was trying to appeal to zoofiles, including text descriptions that are very questionable.

      A subreddit was created called Save A Fox Snark that was tracking her questionable methods, and one user in particular, seemingly a furry, was very active in screenshotting all of her questionable content in hope that she would get shut down for animal cruelty. That furry is now also being targeted for harassment.

      I went straight into the swamp for this info—you can read it all on KiwiFarms, Soyjak, OnlyFans, and the internet archive pages of the Save A Fox Snark subreddit.

        • WeirdGoesPro@lemmy.dbzer0.com
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          5
          ·
          13 hours ago

          They were the ones organizing some of the bullying—I wanted to see the posts she was seeing to better understand the nature of the harassment.

      • TheObviousSolution@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        9
        arrow-down
        9
        ·
        edit-2
        19 hours ago

        So basically, you consider going to the people who drove her to commit suicide “doing the research”.

        • WeirdGoesPro@lemmy.dbzer0.com
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          13
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          17 hours ago

          Doing the research to see what they were saying about her that might lead her to commit suicide, yes. If you want to know what the cyber bullying was that caused someone to commit suicide, it makes sense to look at the posts themselves, which is what I did.

          • TheObviousSolution@lemm.ee
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            4
            arrow-down
            11
            ·
            edit-2
            16 hours ago

            I too look at ISIS propaganda when I want to see why they did what they did 🙄

            There’s a huge difference between reading Mein Kampf and praising it for its good points.

              • TheObviousSolution@lemm.ee
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                1
                ·
                edit-2
                17 minutes ago

                I did the research in the muck mines of Mein Kampf for y’all, and it is more complicated than it looks on the surface.

                <insert Nazi apologism>

                I went straight into the swamp for this info—and here’s where you can look it up <insert link to Neonazi sites>

    • Itdidnttrickledown@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      13
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      21 hours ago

      They claimed she was not taking proper care of the foxes. I haven’t read one thing that was in any way proven. It was just trash talking trolls doing what they do best, telling lies. They had story after story about the conditions. The woman was trying to do good, something none of those trolls harassing her have ever did. The trash reddit sub went private because now they fear consequences.