Every year approximately 6 million homeless pets are brought into shelters, with an average stay of three months- that’s a lot of mouths to feed. The humane society and local rescue groups do their best to offer care, food, and to find housing for all the dogs and cats that cross their paths. Most of their operating budget comes from donations. So, during the last week of this month I encourage you donate time, money, or supplies to your local rescue group.
In 2022 the Humane Society rescued nearly 4,000 beagles from a mass breeding facility, many of these dogs were slated to be sold to research facilities across the US. A puppy mill in Kansas was closed and close to 70 dogs were rescued. A meat trade farm closed and 152 dogs and 180 cats were rescued and have received care in either the US or Canada. Once Russia invaded Ukraine thousands of refugees sought refuge in other countries. The humane society distributed 65,000 pet care packages so far. As you can see animal welfare is a worldwide problem and takes a lot of time, money, and volunteers to intervene. During the last week of July I urge you to contribute to animal rescue work in any way you can. Below are some ideas of how you could help.
Donate Time
Volunteers play a critical role at most rescue groups I have seen. There are typically only a handful of essential employees that are paid- some small private rescue groups work on volunteers alone. So spending some time walking dogs, playing with cats, cleaning cages, and feeding animals goes a long way to helping shelters caring for the animals under their care. This usually takes a little planning so stop by your local humane society or dog wardens website for more information on volunteer opportunities.
Donate Food
Did you know that all food returned to the clinic I work at is donated to the humane society? There are also several large pet food companies who send food directly to the humane society to help feed dogs and cats.
My daughter was invited to a birthday party last year and was requested to bring a bag of cat or dog food so the birthday girl could donate it to the local shelter. I thought this was an amazing idea and it certainly took the stress out of what to bring.
Help Raise Money
There are so many summer activities you could participate in that you could raise donations for rescue groups. Do you like to hike? Sign up for the summer hiking sprees with your local metro parks and document your hikes asking for donations on social media. Some rescue groups will even let you take a dog on the hike with you! Are you a runner? Run for a cause and raise money in support of your efforts. If you are already doing these activities spend a little extra time organizing and sharing your efforts to raise money- it’s a win win.
Ask local business to put out a collection jar for the local rescue and collect it regularly- maybe you could feature an adoptable pet photo to get extra donations.
Attend fundraisers that are organized by rescue groups to support them. This is a fun easy way to help and is already organized. You get a fun event and the shelter gets much needed funds.
It takes a huge effort for these organizations to run and they desperately need the community’s help and support to continue to care for animals. No one person can rescue every pet in need but we can all come together to help save as many as possible.
