Welcome chicks!
Did you know that across the country animal shelters are being overwhelmed with dogs and cats that families can no longer afford to keep due to the economic downturn? I can not imagine how terrible it must feel to have to surrender a beloved family member because you can barely afford to feed your kids. I just can’t.
To make matters worse, shelters are having a terrible time raising enough money to care for these animals. The Martha’s Vineyard Humane Society, for example, will be closing it’s doors on May 1st due to budget shortfalls.
I know that most of the readers of this blog are animal lovers. And, I don’t know about you, but when I hear things like this, I can react one of two ways. I can sink into a deep miasma of depression and weep on and off for days. Or I can do something.
There are three things we can do to help in this case:
1. If you have room in your heart and in your home for (another) pet, adopt from your local shelter. Many shelters have small animals like hamsters and bunnies in addition to cats and dogs and shelter animals make the best, most grateful and loving pets you can find.
2. Make a donation to your local shelter. It doesn’t have to be a lot of money to make a difference. $10 buys $10 worth of dog food, which is a whole lot more than nothing buys, you know?
3. Donate your time. All of us have a little bit of time we could spend every week walking dogs or snuggling with kittens. Tivo your favorite night of TV and spend an evening a week helping out at the shelter. You’ll feel better, and the animals you help will feel better.
Have you heard the starfish story? “Once a man was walking along a beach. The sun was shining and it was a beautiful day. Off in the distance he could see a boy going back and forth between the surf’s edge and and the beach. Back and forth this boy went. As the man approached he could see that there were hundreds of starfish stranded on the sand as the result of the natural action of the tide.
The man was stuck by the the apparent futility of the task. There were far too many starfish. Many of them were sure to perish. As he approached the boy continued the task of picking up starfish one by one and throwing them into the surf.
As he came up to the boy he said, “You must be crazy. There are thousands of miles of beach covered with starfish. You can’t possibly make a difference.” The boy looked at the man. He then stooped down and pick up one more starfish and threw it back into the ocean. He turned back to the man and said, “It sure made a difference to that one!”
We may not be able to save every abandoned animal, but we can sure as hell make a difference some of them.
EDITED TO ADD: Please help spread the word by twittering or blogging about this issue. You can link back here if you like but I’m mostly interested in letting people know that this is going on.
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14 Comments
I’m a firm believer in the idea that every little bit counts. Even if you can’t donate time or money, ask if your local shelter has a “wish list” Oftentimes, old towels/blankets are much appreciated, as well as items you wouldn’t associate with a shelter: laundry detergent, instant coffee, plastic bowls…
Remember, even if it’s something to help the humans at the shelter, anything that keeps costs down helps the animals get more of what they need!
I want to put in a vote for donating and/or volunteering at a shelter. My twelve year old daughter and I volunteer weekly at a cat shelter. (Of course we are possibly adopting a second cat since we started with a “no one will be coming home “policy). We are there only an hour or so but we ensure the kitties are fed and watered with clean litter boxes for the night. It’s a small time investment but it makes a big difference for the animals. If you’re in Mass, here’s the site for our shellter. http://www.mrfrs.org They are no kill and have a traveling spay/neuter wagon that will neuteror spay, vaccinate and microchip cats for $75. They also have a second shelter in NH for feral cats.
Thank you so much for giving attention to this issue–if everyone who wrote to tell you about their pets gave $10 to their local shelter it would start adding up to some real money. And if all those people gave $10 every month, well, now we’re talking.
All my cats have been shelter cats….I wish I could take in more, meantime, a local dog groomer works for the Phila. Cat Rescue, I save old litter boxes, towels, carriers and the like and she takes them into the shelter……so sad
I am an animal love to the deepest depths of my soul and the current situation in local shelters upsets and depresses me. All of my animals have come from rescue groups or from shelters. I have never once thought to buy a puppy.
ADOPT! it is the only responsible thing to do. Here in Calfornia, the foreclosures have take a lot of homes from families, these families are not only leaving their homes, they are also deserting their pets in the home and leaving. Shelters are stretched beyond their means, if you can do anything at all, do it. I will be bloging about this subject too. Thanks for the poke
Thank you so much for making this a subject of conversation. By giving even a little time, money whatever you can – you are not only helping the animals and the people at the shelter but quite possibly the peace of mind of some of the people, who due to these hard times, have had to make the incredibly difficult decision to give up their pet.
If I could convince my parents, I’d get another dog in a heartbeat–especially if it meant saving that dog’s life. (Although, Chappy might not be too happy about that!)
Amen. This is such an important topic, especially now in this economic crisis when, unbelievably, families who don’t need a specialized dog and could be just as happy with a shelter dog are still purchasing dogs from breeders and puppy mills. I support shelters in theory and have gotten all my animals from shelters, but you’ve nudged me to donate my time and money, too. Thanks!
I’ve linked the MetroWest Humane Society, a no-kill cat shelter that I support. In fact, my mother just adopted one of their cats who had been there for years. She’s a lovely little cat who gives as much as she gets.
My shelter has an interesting program that you might want to suggest to your local shelters:
In August 2003, the MetroWest Humane Society instituted a community outreach program for people who need assistance in adequately feeding the cats in their care.
The residents in the MetroWest area have been extremely generous with food donations to MWHS, which in turn enables us to enhance our services to the community. Initially, this program was started in the towns of Framingham and Ashland, with the hope of expanding to neighboring towns. Currently food packets can be found in the SMOC MetroWest Harvest Food Pantry at 300 Howard Street in Framingham (this is in the old Dennison Building), and in the Senior Center building at the corner of Olive Street and Route 136 in Ashland.
The dry food we receive ranges from 1-pound boxes to 20-pound bags, which we then repackage into smaller quart-size zip-lock bags, each of which equals a box of dry cat food if it were purchased over the counter. The bags are identified with the brand of food enclosed along with a contact number, should someone need assistance in spaying or neutering his/her pet. When moist and semi-moist food is available, that is also included in the program.
-Perry-
Thanks for the reminder. I have a friend on the local newspaper and he has a ‘things to know’ column.. I am going to ask him to put in a word for our shelter and ask people to donate $, time or to think of adopting. This has reached into my core this a.m. Thanks Susan
This is such an important topic! Thank you for bringing it up and reminding us all that every little bit helps!
On a good note, our local Humane Society just built and brand new facility that is Green, no less, and is re-opening in a few weeks. Hopefully others will help with donations and adoptions.
My daughter called me a few weeks ago and asked if I would do a favor for her co-worker, Elizabeth. Elizabeth had heard of a sweet dog who was going to be euthanized that afternoon . . . so I drove to the Carrollton pound and rescued sweet little Rosemary. Kudos to Elizabeth for being such a warrior and stepping out of her comfort zone. I think she’s a great example of how we all need to be — to make a difference in the life of just one animal. On another note, Sewsusanne, a fellow shareholder, invited me to join her knitting group at a Starbucks in Dallas to knit coffee cup sleeves to be sold there and the proceeds to be given to the SPCA–we also all signed in and Starbucks donated for the time we spent knitting–I don’t know how much per hour, but they gave $1,000 for the time we all put in–plus they sold out all the coffee sleeves. It felt really good to be a part of the solution. And I’m still knitting sleeves, as are many others. Thanks for getting the word out about this, Susan. I’d like to see more of these kinds of projects for these kinds of issues.
We just adopted a second dog! Mostly because we wanted one, but the stories of the hard times on animals and shelters definitely propelled me to do it now. See my blog for pics if you’re interested! http://www.writerbug.blogspot.com