So Many Homeless Animals
Posted Sunday, December 11th, 2005 by nycgadgetgirlI’ve recently started reading this great journal about the shelter/rescue/foster/adoption situation in NYC. It really makes you think about how irresponsible society is in regards to the well being of our pets.
It’s also made me guiltily think “I would help if I could,” which JUST ISN’T GOOD ENOUGH. I’m afraid I can’t foster in my tiny apartment with Snick, my daughter, and my already incredibly full schedule, but I have to find a way to make a difference.
We all should.
December 13th, 2005 at 2:01 am
This doesn’t help you, I know, but for folks with cars, doing rescue transports can be a great way to help make a difference in the lives of the animals without the time/space commitment involved in fostering. (Of course, if you’ve got room in the rental car when you head to or from Indy for Christmas, I might be able to hook you up with a doggy passenger needing a ride!)
Transports happen when a group has available foster homes or adoptive families, but they’re in a different part of the country than the animals needing homes. The English Setter rescue group that I work with rescues a lot of Setters from Kansas, Oklahoma, and other areas and rehomes them mostly in the Pennsylvania/New Jersey area and on up the east coast (the rescue group is based in PA). A coordinator will chunk the trip up into roughly 60-mile segments and solicit volunteers to drive the various legs of the trip. http://driveforlife.livejournal.com is a good up-to-date list of what transports are scheduled for any given weekend.
Sometimes you’re helping an animal get from a kill-shelter into rescue… and sometimes you’re on the other end of the process, transporting an animal who’s been in foster care and is now on the way to its “furever” home. I’ve been lucky… I got to hand one of my transportees off to her new dad, and that’s just the best… getting to see the new family meet their new dog and fall in love.
Lots of rescue groups can use volunteers who don’t necessarily foster, too… I know A&B has volunteers who maintain the web site (especially important to keep the adoptable dogs page up-to-date!). Transport coordinators are just responsible for planning trips, posting them to the various mailing lists (and places like Drive for Life) to find drivers, then monitoring the transport so all the drivers know what to expect if the schedule changes.
Shelters can also use volunteers to come take pictures and do writeups for animals to get them posted on Petfinders. Sometimes the only person standing between an animal at a kill shelter and death is one volunteer to takes an interest and crusades to get that animal out of the shelter. I know myself too well to do shelter work… I’d be constantly in tears over the ones I couldn’t save… but I have a lot of respect for the people who can volunteer, and socialize the animals, and take the pictures and get the info out there.
I could go on and on and on… but this is probably enough for now!
Debbie G.
December 13th, 2005 at 2:04 am
Uh… you *COULD* go on and on?
You’re right, I could do updates and coordinating and stuff. Not a bad idea!
And I might be able to do a transport in the rental car, but I’m going to have T and Snickers with me. Not sure how confident I am about dealing with a rescue in there too.
December 13th, 2005 at 9:27 pm
Hey, I could have written a lot more!
I’ve got an English Setter transport Saturday morning. A tri-color female who’s been fostered by another A&B volunteer in Indy and is on her way to her adoptive family.
And I was only semi-serious about the transport during your trip. I wouldn’t suggest it unless it looked like there might be a really perfect (travel-compatible) dog needing to make the trip, and it would have to be one who’d already been in foster care so we knew exactly what we were dealing with. If it was needed, it would most likely be for the return trip.