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.”

  • wanderwisley@lemm.ee
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    1 day ago

    It is a sad state of affairs when a person is doing something actually good to help animals and they get harassed. May her legacy live on forever.

    • rumba@lemmy.zip
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      1 day ago

      My wife told me about this last night, supposedly the majority of the abuse came from OTHER FUCKONG RESCUERS!!!

      • barneypiccolo@lemm.ee
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        18 hours ago

        That seems so crazy to me. I’m on a bunch of different guitar forums around the Internet, and I don’t recall a single time when I’ve seen anyone attack or harass a content creator or anyone else. It’s a really friendly, highly supportive, international community, and it’s HUGE. Everybody feels like a friend.

        • rumba@lemmy.zip
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          18 hours ago

          It happens in photography, I think there’s a competitive element.

          • barneypiccolo@lemm.ee
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            18 hours ago

            The guitar world is pretty competitive, too. Perhaps the difference is the guitar is exceedingly difficult to learn, and we’ve ALL struggled with it, and have had help from others overcoming our problems. So we can all sympathize with each other, and want to share our help and knowledge.

    • 🦄🦄🦄@feddit.org
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      22 hours ago

      I agree and I hope we all remember that mindset the next time we read about activists blocking a slaughterhouse.

    • TheObviousSolution@lemm.ee
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      16 hours ago

      These guys probably saw the Tiger King documentary and decided to armchair warrior to virtue signal how much more pro-animal rights their non-involvement and passivity was than her.