Category Archives: Animal Shelters
When did compassion become crazy?
Welcome guest blogger, Julie Germany, a friend and fellow feline adopter! I asked Julie to write a blog after she adopted 2 brothers this week in the wake of one of her cat’s passing away. She and her husband now have 4 cats and it caused some frustration for me to see people calling her [...]
Doing the right thing for animals
Yesterday marked a mile stone for me. It was ten years ago (February 5, 2003) that a traumatic and unexpected turn of events thrust me into the animal advocacy world and changed my career and focus on shelter animals forever. Thirteen years ago, I learned about pound seizure (where shelters sell or give animals to [...]
Dogs Dogs Dogs: Celebrating Adopt-A-Shelter Dog Month!
October is Adopt-A-Shelter-Dog Month. This month, like Adopt-A-Shelter-Cat Month in June, is so important to recognize and celebrate because of the over 4 million companion animals that lose their lives in shelters each year. That’s about 11,000 precious souls daily that are unable to find homes. So whether you have a dog (or five) at [...]
When People Fail their Pets: The Broken Human-Animal Bond
For over 12 years, I have been volunteering with shelter pets to help them adjust to being in a shelter setting and find a new loving (and hopefully permanent) home. The one aspect that has not changed over the years are the various reasons why people surrender their pet to a shelter: Moving, new baby, [...]
The Rock and the Hard Place: When those who love animals harm them
For those of us who work in animal protection, every day is filled with news stories, social media posts and pleas to help homeless, soon-to-be-homeless and shelter animals find a place where they can be safe and have a home. Knowing that over 4 million shelter pets and countless abandoned pets lose their lives each year in the [...]
Animals love social media
When I started officially working in animal rescue and protection in 2000, there was no such thing as social media. Facebook, Twitter, and other sites had not become a reality. At that time, homeless companion animals were just starting to make their way onto websites (such as Petfinder). Now imagine back to the 1980’s or [...]
Happy Mother’s Day
I would like to wish everyone a Happy Mother’s Day, and especially to those who are mothers to our furry or feathered family members. Thank you for providing a loving home to our animal companions, especially if you adopted from a shelter or rescued your companion animal. We are at the beginning of the busy [...]
Somedays it is not easy …
Yesterday, a friend who I volunteer with contacted me because she was experiencing difficulties in continuing to volunteer with homeless pets. The tipping point in her case was a local animal control shelter who recently euthanized all of its cats (about 80) because a strong virus swept through the shelter. I’m not passing judgment on [...]
Shocking that this still happens in America
Did you know that some states still condone killing shelter animals in a gas chamber? Only these states have outlawed it to date: Banned for all animals (including ferals and wildlife): Arizona, Delaware, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington, and Wyoming Banned only for cats and dogs: Connecticut, Florida, Maine, Maryland, New [...]
