Holiday giving, going beyond to help your shelter

I mentioned I would post other ideas and things to help your local shelters. Well I wanted to talk about a dear friend who truly goes above and beyond to help our shelter. She is also a very big supporter of spaying and neutering your pets so we don't have the sad jobs of euthanizing so many unwanted animals.

Some time ago she decided to raise money to help the shelter help others with a spay and neuter fund. She and her husband own a local business here, for auto repair. In her spare minutes she makes these magnificent origami peace cranes and sells them at $5 each. All the proceeds of the sales goes to the shelter's spay and neuter fund. She also takes in gently used books to sell for a buck or two and that money also goes to the fund.

Those of us who are honored to have her as a friend also catch her contagious drive to help with all efforts to raise funds and supplies for our shelter. This past summer, she got us all out to go through our closets to clean out old linens, blankets, towels etc to donate and to compete to help donate the most pet food as the shelter had just taken in a fair amount of dogs from a hoarder north of our town and they needed help to provide for care for the new residents. My goodness, not only alot of us, her friends, turned out to help, but her customers filled a vehicle with pet food to donate also.

Her current project is the new thrift shop at the shelter's spay and neuter and wellness clinic in town and raising donated items to sell there to help raise funds.  She has asked us to donate to the store directly or bring them to her business and she'll make sure they make it to the store.

She truly is an amazing and inspiring lady. We all love her dearly and are very honored to have her as our friend.

Here are some of her peace cranes, if you are interested in them, please let me know and I'll be happy to email you with her information to order one.

Following up....

After yesterday's post with the brief blurb about the Shelter in Elkhart Indiana and the massive amount of abandoned pets they receive monthly (the original article on MSNBC). Apparently this plight touched many hearts nationwide and the donations have poured in, and people offering to adopt and pay to have the animals shipped to them. Read on the followup here.

Personally I feel this shouldn't have had to happen in the first place. We should all take the time to be concious about our own area shelters and instead of turning a blind eye to the over crowding, or massive amounts of pets being euthanized, pay attention and help however we can.

Petfinder.com along with many shelters have a program going called; Foster a Lonely Pet for the Holidays  This program is another good way to help ease the overcrowding, share love with an animal and perhaps help that animal find it's forever home.

 This is Thanksgiving Day, share some love, compassion and give thanks to those who work to help save lives.

Shelters, abandoned pets, and animals needing help

There are some upsetting things happening to animals that perhaps I feel we should pay attention to.



Currently I see more and more articles about pets being abandoned in record numbers. As the economy fell, and people started losing jobs, one of the first things they gave up to save a little money was their pets. One shelter in Elkhart Indiana is reporting an average of 600 to 700 animals being dropped off there a month, and sometimes as many as 30 animals a day, they are overcrowded and in crisis mode. They are also having to put the majority of those animals to sleep. They aren't the only ones in crisis. Local pet rescues or foster groups and sanctuaries are also running out of space, food and funds.

Many towns who have food depots for people who need the extra help for food are also taking pet food donations to help people care for their pets, so that they don't have to give them up. It is done with the hope that by providing food and for some areas, veterinary assistance the animals won't be given up and can stay in the home, and thereby help ease the load on the shelters.

There were also many, many reports about pets and livestock being abandoned when a house was being foreclosed. Many of these pets were just left in the house to "fend for themselves", or turned loose to survive on their own. I am not sure what the owners of these animals were thinking when they did this. Is it pride? Are they embarrassed to take the animal to a shelter or sanctuary and admit they can no longer care for it? Do they not realize that what they are doing to the animal is much much crueler than voluntarily giving it up?

Pets are just as hurt and confused and heartbroken as a human might be when going through all this.   The separation from all that they know, the upheaval, the fear of the unknown, yes they share those feelings.

Then there are the shelters who are closing because they have no funds coming in, as in the case of one in Colorado. And there is no knowing where the animals will go or if they'll just be euthanized.

The one thing that is most upsetting for me that I am seeing more and more articles on are reports of shelters with poor public relations, or very poor policies on how long they will hold an animal that is picked up and not claimed. Or poor and abusive management or directorship.

I read one incident in another pet forum about a shelter in Pennsylvania (I have not been able to corroborate this yet) about their policy of only holding an animal for 48 hours from pickup. Apparently this person posting this had a friend who had been out of town and had someone taking care of their dog. The dog got out and was picked up. When it was discovered and the shelter was called to see if they had a dog with that description, they were told no, no dog of that description. The reason for the no, was that the dog had already been euthanized. Apparently this is standard practice for this shelter.

Poor management happens. A shelter in Memphis, Tennessee has fired it's director for animal cruelty and abuse and an inability to follow proper procedures for euthanizing animals. It was also found this person had a previous history of this at the shelter in Albuquerque, NM. There are other articles out there about poor shelter management, doing a Google search turned up many such articles and complaints.

Despite all this sadness, there are good things. Like people coming together for a cause, extending their capacity a bit to help take in an animal, to help provide food and care through donations for those that may need it. And to help get the word out about local resources for people in crisis to help care for their pets.

To help with problem shelters Petfinder.com posts these tips:

Theres Something Rotten in My Town

Most animal shelters and humane societies are staffed with dedicated, caring individuals and operated with the animals best interests at heart. But should you ever come across a substandard organization

 

• Document problems before taking action. Write times, places and specific problems in a journal. Be specific. Be reasonable. Be sure.


• Talk to the shelter staff and management. Focus on apparent problems and learn why they exist. Then explore ways to help remedy them: improve phone service or animal care by volunteering; prepare a grant proposal to fund kennel improvements; consult with local veterinarians about establishing a program of health care.


• Rather than pointing fingers, try to improve the shelter from the inside. Offer to join the board of directors if your skills make you a likely candidate to organize volunteers, to oversee a fund-raising event. Encourage other like-minded people to join you.


• If you meet resistance or indifference, you might take your concerns to the board of directors; or, if a municipal shelter, to the city or county administrator who oversees it. Enlist the help of sympathetic people with clout (public figures, donors, media folks) and expertise (veterinarians, animal welfare advocates).


• Rather than expending energy on a seemingly fruitless struggle, direct your energies elsewhere. Work to support a humane society that does have strong and effective programs. Or organize a group of individuals to fill a void in your community: establish a nonprofit low-cost spay/neuter clinic; fund spay/neuter surgeries for low-income dog and cat owners; establish a network of foster homes that will rescue animals, have them neutered, set adoption criteria, and place them in permanent homes.

Resources

The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
424 East 92nd Street
New York, NY 10128-6804
212-876-7700
Contact The ASPCA for Throwaways, a spay/neuter video available in English or Spanish ($15); adoption posters and public service announcements (cost varies). The National Shelter Outreach department provides materials, resources, training, referrals and advice to animal protection organizations across the country and maintains a library of resource articles on www.petfinder.com. Email outreach@aspca.org.

American Humane Association
63 Inverness Drive East
Englewood, CO 80112
303-792-9900
AHAs offerings include national and regional training conferences for shelter workers; Protecting Animals magazine for shelter staff; a comprehensive shelter Operations Guide; large publications catalog (free); public service announcements and posters (cost varies).

Humane Society of the U.S.
2100 L Street, NW
Washington, DC 20037
202-452-1100
HSUS offers a free publications catalog; Simple Things You Can Do To Help End Pet Overpopulation booklet; Be a Pal (Prevent a Litter) kit; Animal Sheltering Magazine for shelter staff; national annual training conference and trade show; breeding moratorium campaign packet.

Take some time, if you truly care for and love animals, offer to be a foster home, or donate what you can in food or time or money to help make life easier for animals or ease the burden on your local shelter. Help get the word out to spay and neuter your animals. Maybe you are crafty like one of my good friends, she makes origami Peace cranes that she pays for the supplies and makes and sells for $5 each and all the proceeds goes to the shelter for their spay and neuter fund. She does these at her and her husband's place of business and sells them there. They really are beautiful and the monies raised do help the shelter and pet in our community. You can donate old towels, blankets, etc to the shelter, they always need those. If you know someone in trouble, find out all you can about local resources for the pets and owner, if you can even offer to provide the food for their pet if you have no local pet food depot. Or offer to care for the animal for awhile for them. Sometimes just these little things help a lot.

Anyhow, don't be a sideline watcher, get in there and help. It really doesn't take much time to do. Help stop the endless euthanasia of animals, do what you can!

Abandoned Horses....

Currently I am a member on a social network for pet and animal people in my state and area. We have some very wonderful people in this network. People who genuinely care for and about animals. People who go out of their way to help animals.

Recently one of the members has posted, twice now within a 2 week span, about finding abandoned horses during her walks with her dogs.

<<<This is the picture she took.

We have all read about pets being abandoned with the loss of homes for people. And horses are no different. Many are also being left to starve, or turned loose on public lands with what I am sure is the owners thinking that the horses will fend for themselves. A little hint here... Sorry it doesn't quite work out that way folks!

However! Because the horse has been cared for it's entire life to date, it doesn't have the survival instincts that a wild horse has. There are predators out there from bears to mountain lions and dog packs. And the horse is not part of a herd of wild horses, so should it meet up with wild horses, it is likely to be attacked by the herd. Those who abandon their horses do them a great disservice, and it is far crueler to abandon it or turn it loose, than it would be by giving it to a shelter, or giving it away to someone who can care for it. But, most people are embarrassed to say they can no longer care for it.

The person who found this horse contacted the local livestock inspector, they told her they will go out and try to catch the horse, and if caught the inspector posts ads for him for a week, and if the horse is not claimed he goes to auction. The inspector told her that most horses bought at auction are taken to Mexico, and who knows what happens to them there.

As it is illegal to slaughter them in the US now, a lot of auction horses for horsemeat goes through Mexico to other countries. So my question is this, how is this more humane for the horse? All because of pride? Because they couldn't give him up to one of the shelters? Even our Animal Shelter for dogs, cats and other critters takes in horses. I understand that the person may not have been able to afford feed, but good heavens! There are alternatives!

We need to work on getting the news out better for people who may have trouble caring for their pets or livestock, there are resources available. I know we have programs here where I live to help people with food, livestock feed, and care for their animals when they simply cannot afford to. These programs are so people don't have to part with their beloved companion, and that it will help lower the amount of animals going through our shelters, being abandoned, or euthanized because of lack of finances for care.

Check with your local ASPCA or Humane Society, ask your local shelters, research what other sanctuaries or shelters are available, ask your local paper as they may know. Maybe start a non-profit for a pet food bank. There are so many ideas out there. Even most veterinarians will donate services or food for people in need. Just giving or helping a little goes such a long way! And it can alleviate A LOT of suffering.  Even a 50 pound bag of food can go to helping and it really costs so little. If you know someone who is having trouble, help them find the resources, or encourage them to give the animal away to the shelter, or to someone who can perhaps give the animal care until a new forever home is found for it.