People ask me all the time what they can do to help animals. "Consider veganism," I say to those who've not yet extended their compassion to animals grown for food. Yet whether we choose to eat some animals and revere others, or choose instead the path of least harm, plenty of people care deeply about animals and want to know what they can do "besides donate." So here ya go, folks: suggestions ranging from the easiest and most obvious to the more far-reaching.
Want to help where the need is greatest? Find out whether other shelters or sanctuaries are in your area. Sanctuaries for wildlife, farm animals, horses, reptiles, or even exotic animals may be right in your back yard, and you can bet they have fewer volunteers than the local SPCA. Google "animal shelters" in your county, but be prepared to do a little more digging.
Enter YOU: the irrepressible, energetic, think-outside-the-box YOU. And here's what you do:
a. Make a list of the things you love to do. My list would include hiking, biking, reading, swimming, paddleboarding, writing. Yours might include cooking, kickboxing, knitting.
b. Say to yourself "I'm going to plan a ________-athon (fill in the blank with an activity from above) for ____________" (name of your favorite sanctuary or shelter.)
c. Feel completely overwhelmed and a little panic-stricken for 10 seconds. Then, take a slow, deep breath and say, "___________ (your name), you can do this." Because you can.
d. Set a challenging financial goal. David DiNicola, for instance, is raising $100,000 for CAS and Berkshire Humane Society by riding his Harley across the country this August.
e. Recruit a team of folks to help plan and promote your event. At minimum, you'll need a good logistics person and a good marketer.
f. Get busy, have fun, and congrats! Your public event will draw even more support for your favorite shelter, and you'll have gained skills and confidence that you can continue to use on behalf of your animal friends. Way to go!
Earthlings is a shattering documentary that depicts the war mankind wages on animals of all species; Michael Pollan's Dominion: The Power of Man, the Suffering of Animals, and the Call to Mercy is an equally powerful book. To learn what we're doing to billions of animals grown to feed humans, consider the films Death on a Factory Farm, Glass Walls, or read Jonathan Saffren Foer's Eating Animals. There are hundreds of resources for those ready to peer behind the veil.
It took me many years to understand that human beings have enslaved animals for our selfish purposes. Think food and entertainment -- racing, petting zoos, dog fighting, circuses. It took even more years to learn that animals are used for cruel and unnecessary product testing and contained, in the form of by-products, in thousands upon thousands of personal and home care products. The animals need for us to know the truth.
Every Sunday at noon at Catskill Animal Sanctuary, I give a two-hour tour. If you're in our region (we're just 90 miles from Manhattan in the mid-Hudson Valley), I hope you'll join us, for while I can encourage you that extending your circle of compassion to animals you've never met is the most meaningful way to offer your help, there's nothing quite like a scratchy cow kiss or the soft nudge of a pig snout on your cheek to seal the deal.
Follow Kathy Stevens on Twitter: www.twitter.com/casanctuary
Animal Shelters, Animal Rescue Groups, Dog Shelters: Petfinder
"U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan befriend local animals as a way to help cope with the emotional hardships they endure every day while deployed in a war zone. The Operation Baghdad Pups program provides veterinary care and coordinates complicated logistics and transportation requirements in order to reunite these beloved pets with their service men and women back in the U.S. These important animals not only help our heroes in the war zone, but they also help them readjust to life back home after combat."
http://www.spcai.org/baghdad-pups.html
There are too many unwanted and unloved animals in the world.
no animal, ever, should be abused.
http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/can-animals-save-us/10-best-things-we-can-do-for-animals
1. Rejoice that we are part of the Animal Kingdom.
WHAT TO DO:
Create an ecological garden, encouraging bugs, butterflies, and birds.
2. Respect all life.
WHAT TO DO:
Become a vegetarian.
3. Open our minds, in humility, to animals and learn from them.
WHAT TO DO:
Build bug palaces in your garden.
4. Teach our children to respect and love nature.
WHAT TO DO:
Create places for birds to nest.
5. Be wise stewards of life on earth.
WHAT TO DO:
Do not eat commercially farmed animals.
6. Value and help preserve the sounds of nature.
WHAT TO DO:
Have a bird feeder.
7. Refrain from harming life in order to learn about it.
WHAT TO DO:
Become an ambassador for dogs that need to be adopted.
8. Have the courage of our convictions.
WHAT TO DO:
Be aware of any plans to destroy local areas of wild habitat where there may be endangered species and write letters and go to meetings.
9. Praise and help those who work for animals and the natural world.
WHAT TO DO:
Volunteer at a shelter walking dogs.
10. Act knowing we are not alone and live with hope.
WHAT TO DO:
Donate to animal-related causes.
Even if you are not a volunteer, you can make a difference by spaying and neutering your pet, and convincing your friends, coworkers, family and anyone else with pets to do the same. That is, unless you and they can guarantee that all future generations will lead happy lives and be humanely treated. I also encourage people to consider adopting. It may not be right for everyone, but at least give it some thought.
I keep a daily blog on my experiences as a volunteer called Dog Walker Diaries. I do this in part to chronicle the seemingly endless parade of good animals in need. I have not been short of material, but I am an optimist. It would be great to reach the day when I write: "None. Story done."
I love the title of your blog, and I thank you for the sentiment behind your work. My fervent hope is that whatever the trigger that makes it happen, more folks open their hearts to include all animals in their circle of compassion, for the monumental suffering of billions of "food" animals, or of research animals, or of circus animals or what have you is no different than the suffering of dogs and cats. The only difference is our reaction to it--pain, suffering, loneliness, deprivation--feel the same regardless of whether one is cat or cow, dog or pig. May we all work toward a world free of suffering for all beings!
Agribusiness does this because they view ANY animals rights victory as a slippery-slope to laws surrounding the humane treatment of farm animals. They have no shortage of money, and there's no shortage of corrupt politicians waiting to get their snouts into the agribusiness money trough.
These are the people we need to fight if there's to be any hope of meaningful change. In one fell swoop, Missouri politicians and agribusiness destroyed what would have been a major animals rights victory. I'm sure they're pleased with themselves. We need to double down our efforts against them. Get involved. Get involved now.
In New York State, the powerful Farm Bureau has beaten back attempts to agree upon standards of cruelty for farm animals fearing, just as you say, the slippery slope that might eventually impact their bottom line. Over and over (and with increasing frequency), Catskill Animal Sanctuary is seeing instances of law enforcement's outright refusal to investigate despite horrifying cruelty. No one is quite sure what to do. We're in touch with "the big guns" and are discussing options, but meanwhile.....oh, how the animals suffer.
Thank you for your powerful voice.