5 to 7 MILLION companion animals (pets) are relinquished (dumped) at shelters every year. 3 to 4 MILLION of these "companion animals" are euthanized (KILLED) within 60 days of being admitted. I was very lucky. My six brothers and sisters and I were in a shelter in the south where there are lots and lots of homeless dogs. We were tiny babies when some nice people drove us far away so we could be adopted. My Mom saw me on line and came to get me.
My
Mom would love to be able to take every one of those 5 to 7 MILLION pets home too but she says that is not practical. We don't have lots room or lots of money so in
order to make sure I have good food, medical care and other things that make my
life good, my Mom and Dad need to watch their pennies. They are trying to
convince me that I should have a brother or sister but I am THE DOG and am not
looking forward to having to share my family or my toys with another dog. Mom said
since I was so against having another dog live with us that we could maybe foster
dogs until we found them their own fur ever homes. That could be okay since I would
only have to share with another dog for a short time. It would be like having a
friend come to visit, not move in.
Mom
says there are lots of ways people can help shelter animals in addition to outright
adopting them cuz like us, adoption may not be an option. For example, a human could
volunteer their time to help out at their local shelter. Shelters need humans
to help to do lots of things. A human can volunteer time to walk dogs, play
with pets, represent the shelters at events where pets are being adopted or even stuff envelopes or hand out fliers sometimes.
Like
everything else in the human world, money is important, so giving money to a
local shelter would be great cuz money will help buy food and pay the vet and other bills. But money is
not the only thing people can give. Mom collects towels and blankets at tag sales and gives
them to our shelter. Toys and food are also good donations to make. When the
older dogs that lived at my house went to Rainbow Bridge, Mom took all of their
food to the shelter so other dogs could have good nutritional food. It's okay that it was only half a bag and it was for senior dogs... every little bit helps.
Towels,
blankets and food are not the only other things shelters need either. Shelters are also
businesses and homes so they need business stuff like copy paper and postage
stamps and stuff to make the home nice and clean like laundry detergent and
paper towels.
I
know times are tough but whatever you can spare, time, money or good stuff, it will be greatly appreciated by your local
shelter and can make staying in a shelter a little better until a nice fur ever home can be found.
Your
friend,
Zeva
P.S. Shameless self promotion To The Rescue gift basket.
P.P.S. That's a picture of me when I was ado
No comments:
Post a Comment