Tag Archives: Save the animals

Want to Help Dogs and Cats? Volunteer With Pet Rescue Groups

pet rescue groupsWhether you are a pet owner or pet lover, I am sure it touches your heart when you see a neglected dog, a stray cat, or read about all the pets in the shelters.

While many of us wish we could just adopt all of them (I know I do!), it’s unfortunately an impossibility. However, there are many other ways to help. Here are some ideas:

  1. First and foremost, teach and encourage people around you that they should always adopt from a shelter where they can also find pure breeds and puppies. There are some pet rescue groups that rescue specific breeds. A simple internet search can help people find these types of shelters if they are looking for a specific breed. Some even ship the pet to you from another state.

  2. Most No Kill rescue groups don’t have a brick and mortar facility. Instead, they have volunteers who foster dogs and cats until they find a forever home, and they desperately need more foster homes. You get paid for the food and vet visits, so there’s cost for you. You only give love and attention.

  3. Volunteers are also needed for brick and mortar shelters to walk the dogs, feed them, clean kennels, play with the cats, train dogs and socialize them.

  4. Volunteers with computer skills are also needed. Tasks might include updating a website, accounting, photographing the new pets, etc.

  5. If you can’t commit, donate. Watch out for local food drives or do it whenever you have time. Also consider donating dog toys, pet beds, bed sheets, or money.

  6. Take part in adoption days. These are usually done once a week at a Petco store, vet clinic, etc.

  7. Just walk in or call a shelter near you and ask how you can help. No volunteer will ever be turned down.

You may volunteer with pet rescue groups on a regular basis or just when you have time. Remember the dogs and cats who need you.

Find out more information about Animal Shelters & Rescues.

Seal Hunt Will Begin In a Matter Of Days – Take Action Now!

seal huntHere is an email I received from Humane Society of the United States regarding the horrific hunting of seals in Canada. This practice has been ongoing for years but is considered by many to be terribly inhumane and cruel. Please take a moment to read it and see what you can do to help.

The Email From the Humane Society

The seal hunt will begin again in a matter of days.

When you look out over the miraculous baby seal nursery on the ice floes of Eastern Canada, it’s hard to believe that 275,000 harp seal pups may be killed there in a matter of days. You can’t imagine the horror until you witness it firsthand.

It may come as a shock that Canada’s cruel commercial seal hunt still happens every year at this time — so many people I’ve talked to think that the hunt ended years ago.

That’s what the Canadian fishing industry wants you to believe, and we won’t let it get away with it. You can save millions of baby seals’ lives and help end the hunt once and for all — sign the pledge to boycott Canadian seafood.

Why boycott Canadian seafood? A small group of fishermen in Eastern Canada kill seal pups for their fur during the off-season and sell the pelts — mostly to European markets — for a tiny fraction of their income.

The fishing industry won’t stop the killing just because it’s the humane thing to do, so give it a choice: End the slaughter, or go under.

Our goal is to have one million individuals participating in the boycott — there are already more than 630,000 people who have pledged to forgo Canadian seafood, and if everyone who sees this email tells 5 friends, we’ll meet our goal overnight and send the fishing industry a message it can’t ignore.

Watch our latest video from the seal nursery. We’ve reached a critical tipping point in the effort to end the slaughter: Next month, the European Union will consider banning its trade in seal products, shutting the doors on one of the largest markets for seal fur.

Lawmakers are responding. We just need you and everyone who reads this email to take this simple pledge on behalf of seals. Let’s seal the deal to end the hunt — take a moment to sign your name, and then tell your friends and family about the plight of baby seals.

Two things will end the slaughter: Shutting down markets for seal fur and hitting the Canadian seafood industry where it hurts most, the bottom line. We’re closer than ever to reaching these goals, and your commitment to ending the hunt will make victory possible at last.

Thank you in advance for being part of this massive grassroots mobilization to save seals.

Sincerely,
Rebecca Aldworth
Director of Canadian Wildlife Issues
The Humane Society of the United States

P.S. The Canadian government has responded to mounting international pressure with toothless regulations that do nothing to make the hunt more “humane.” We won’t be fooled by a government PR campaign. Demand that Canada end the commercial seal hunt forever — nothing less.

Jim Willis Essay “How Could You” will Bring a Tear to Your Eye

shelter dogHow Could You?
By Jim Willis, 2001

When I was a puppy, I entertained you with my antics and made you laugh. You called me your child, and despite a number of chewed shoes and a couple of murdered throw pillows, I became your best friend.

Whenever I was “bad,” you’d shake your finger at me and ask “How could you?” — but then you’d relent and roll me over for a belly rub.

My housebreaking took a little longer than expected, because you were terribly busy, but we worked on that together. I remember those nights of nuzzling you in bed and listening to your confidences and secret dreams, and I believed that life could not be any more perfect.

We went for long walks and runs in the park, car rides, stops for ice cream (I only got the cone because “ice cream is bad for dogs” you said), and I took long naps in the sun waiting for you to come home at the end of the day.

Gradually, you began spending more time at work and on your career, and more time searching for a human mate. I waited for you patiently, comforted you through heartbreaks and disappointments, never chided you about bad decisions, and romped with glee at your homecomings, and when you fell in love.

She, now your wife, is not a “dog person” — still I welcomed her into our home, tried to show her affection, and obeyed her. I was happy because you were happy.

Then the human babies came along and I shared your excitement. I was fascinated by their pinkness, how they smelled, and I wanted to mother them, too. Only she and you worried that I might hurt them, and I spent most of my time banished to another room, or to a dog crate. Oh, how I wanted to love them, but I became a prisoner of love.”

As they began to grow, I became their friend. They clung to my fur and pulled themselves up on wobbly legs, poked fingers in my eyes, investigated my ears, and gave me kisses on my nose. I loved everything about them and their touch — because your touch was now so infrequent — and I would’ve defended them with my life if need be. I would sneak into their beds and listen to their worries and secret dreams, and together we waited for the sound of your car in the driveway.

There had been a time, when others asked you if you had a dog, that you produced a photo of me from your wallet and told them stories about me. These past few years, you just answered “yes” and changed the subject. I had gone from being “your dog” to “just a dog,” and you resented every expenditure on my behalf.

Now, you have a new career opportunity in another city, and you and they will be moving to an apartment that does not allow pets. You’ve made the right decision for your “family,” but there was a time when I was your only family.

I was excited about the car ride until we arrived at the animal shelter. It smelled of dogs and cats, of fear, of hopelessness. You filled out the paperwork and said “I know you will find a good home for her.” They shrugged and gave you a pained look. They understand the realities facing a middle-aged dog, even one with “papers.”

You had to pry your son’s fingers loose from my collar as he screamed, “No, Daddy! Please don’t let them take my dog!” And I worried for him, and what lessons you had just taught him about friendship and loyalty, about love and responsibility, and about respect for all life.

You gave me a good-bye pat on the head, avoided my eyes, and politely refused to take my collar and leash with you. You had a deadline to meet and now I have one, too. After you left, the two nice ladies said you probably knew about your upcoming move months ago and made no attempt to find me another good home. They shook their heads and asked “How could you?”

They are as attentive to us here in the shelter as their busy schedules allow. They feed us, of course, but I lost my appetite days ago.

At first, whenever anyone passed my pen, I rushed to the front, hoping it was you that you had changed your mind — that this was all a bad dream… or I hoped it would at least be someone who cared, anyone who might save me.

When I realized I could not compete with the frolicking for attention of happy puppies, oblivious to their own fate, I retreated to a far corner and waited. I heard her footsteps as she came for me at the end of the day, and I padded along the aisle after her to a separate room. A blissfully quiet room.

She placed me on the table and rubbed my ears, and told me not to worry. My heart pounded in anticipation of what was to come, but there was also a sense of relief. The prisoner of love had run out of days.

As is my nature, I was more concerned about her. The burden which she bears weighs heavily on her, and I know that, the same way I knew your every mood.

She gently placed a tourniquet around my foreleg as a tear ran down her cheek. I licked her hand in the same way I used to comfort you so many years ago.

She expertly slid the hypodermic needle into my vein. As I felt the sting and the cool liquid coursing through my body, I lay down sleepily, looked into her kind eyes and murmured “How could you?”

Perhaps because she understood my dogspeak, she said “I’m so sorry.” She hugged me, and hurriedly explained it was her job to make sure I went to a better place, where I wouldn’t be ignored or abused or abandoned, or have to fend for myself –a place of love and light so very different from this earthly place.

And with my last bit of energy, I tried to convey to her with a thump of my tail that my “How could you?” was not directed at her. It was directed at you, My Beloved Master, I was thinking of you. I will think of you and wait for you forever. May everyone in your life continue to show you so much loyalty.

A Note from the Author:

If “How Could You?” brought tears to your eyes as you read it, as it did to mine as I wrote it, it is because it is the composite story of the millions of formerly “owned” pets who die each year in American and Canadian animal shelters. Anyone is welcome to distribute the essay for a noncommercial purpose, as long as it is properly attributed with the copyright notice. Please use it to help educate, on your websites, in newsletters, on animal shelter and vet office bulletin boards. Tell the public that the decision to add a pet to the family is an important one for life, that animals deserve our love and sensible care, that finding another appropriate home for your animal is your responsibility and any local humane society or animal welfare league can offer you good advice, and that all life is precious. Please do your part to stop the killing, and encourage all spay and neuter campaigns in order to prevent unwanted animals.

~Jim Willis