True animal rescue is not planned. It is not scheduled. It is not budgeted . It is a passion to care for those in need. It is a belief that all lives truly do matter. It’s a fight to try to save them all, not simply dismiss a sick animal because there are healthy ones in need. It is standing up for those with no voice. Dogs such as Giles, who is pictured in this article, would not be alive today if not for rescue. Dogs such as Shelly would probably have starved to death or been run over in the middle of a busy road, had we not answered the call. Did we have funds, did we have a plan, did we have another dog in the budget? Nope, but we could not let a dog starve to death, or get hit by a car on a busy road. We could not simply turn our heads. We had faith that our hard work on fundraisers and our generous, caring supporters would pull us through, and once again, they answered our prayers to help those in need. Rescue is about the animals, and saving all those who can possibly be saved.
Rescue is not a social club. Its not always happily ever after, and its not always pretty. At the end of the day, have you done everything humanly possible to help those animals in need?
I am very very thankful for the people I have met and now call friends due to rescue. We share a common bond to try to help those who cannot help themselves, to stop the neglect and the cruelty, to make the world a more caring, compassionate place. A place where all lives matter.
Rescue is not a revolving door for the animals. Rescue is the commitment to work hard to find a forever home for them, to make sure that home will love and care for them. Rescue sometimes fails by picking the wrong family, but true rescue takes their dogs back and works even harder to find the perfect family. (I am proud to say, our volunteer adoption coordinators have done an awesome job with only three in eight years being returned.) I wish I could say none have been returned but I am very glad the adopters honored their contract and brought them back to us.
That being said, rescue is not about the people, it is about the animals. At the end of the day, the animals are who suffers, who are hurt, abused, out in the weather with no shelter, no food, no water, who get dumped at local county run shelters which are already full, who get dumped out on the side of the road with no idea how to fend for themselves, and who many ultimately end up in a pile of dead animals in the landfill.
One has to think beyond oneself to truly understand. It’s not about having people be your friend. Its not about playing the victim yourself if you have to make a tough decision. It’s not about pats on the back. In other words, once again, it is not about us humans, but the animals in need.
We are a 501c3 non profit rescue made up entirely of volunteers. No one gets paid, CARE is run solely on donations by wonderful, caring people and fundraisers the volunteers organize. Every donation helps an animal in one way or another, be it vetting, transporting, boarding, supplies such as x-pens, crates,food, medication.. the list is long, but it is truly all about the animals.
We are also advocates for the animals. We speak out for tougher laws, work hard to get those passed and enforced. We speak out for those with no voice, as humans do have a voice and should do all they can to take care of the animals. We truly get that there are times when its overwhelming and you wonder how many more can be urgent and in need. We also get that the No Kill Philosophy has been proven to work, time and time again. ( sidenote: I realize some do not support no kill when some shelters have regulations that may cause animals not to have a place to go, ( if intake is closed for example someone may just dump the animals out anywhere) but the steps for no kill, and the philosophy is sound. When I think of the high intake several years back and how many animals were getting out, it does not take much to figure out with the lower intake, we could achieve a true no kill status, not a doctored one.
The best example of this is Austin Texas, the largest no kill community in our nation. Their open intake facility where all lost, surrendered animals from all of Travis County, in need of shelter are accepted, regardless of age, health, or breed, takes in more than 16,000 animals each year. Since 2011, they have surpassed the 90 perecent live release rate and continue to do so. ( 16,000 animals each year and a population of 950,750 )
We do not support, nor do we understand how humans cannot do everything possible to save lives. Shelters across the US are still euthanizing healthy adoptable animals. While we totally get that irresponsible people who surrender, do not spay/neuter and/or do not take care of their animals is where the fault lies, once those animals get to a shelter, it then becomes the shelter’s responsibility to take care of said animals. Shelters across the country should do all things possible to get the animals out alive.
Bottom line, don’t play the victim card, the animals are the victims, do everything possible to save lives even if it get a little hard. If you screw up, we are are human, we all make mistakes, own it, don’t blame others. Shelters get paid to do the right thing, do it! Many rescues who are all volunteers do it every day without making a cent for it.
The No Kill Equations consists of 11 steps
- Rescue Partnerships
- Volunteers
- Foster Care
- Community Cat/dog sterilization
- Pet Retention
- Comprehensive Adoption Program
- Proactive Redemptions
- Medical & Behavioral Prevention & Rehabilitation
- Public Relations/Community Involvement
- High Volume/Low Cost Sterilization
- Compassionate, hard working shelter director
Labeled aggressive and feral at shelter
Labeled aggressive and feral at shelter
Labeled aggressive and feral at shelter