In my previous article "Don't Buy Pets, ADOPT!", I discussed about adopting shelter animals to save lives and simple steps to reduce the number of unwanted animals. Not everyone may agree to adopt shelter animals as home pets, but even if one chooses not to; all of us CAN still make a difference to these animals’ lives:



 1) Foster - Fostering allows time for these shelters to scout and seek for suitable homes the animals whilst disseminating and sharing information via the social media may even expedite and elevate such process to a higher rate of success.

2) Sponsor - Sponsorship differs from donation in terms of monetary commitment. Whilst one could donate any sum to the shelter or organization, sponsorship would require a fixed sum of monetary commitment on a monthly basis. Of course, the amount would not be exorbitant. Some shelters even offer sponsorship of 1 Malaysian Ringgit (MYR) per day which equals to around 365 Malaysian Ringgit (MYR) per year. This is still affordable when compared to lavish, branded bags that are worth thousands.

3) Volunteer - Find a shelter near you. Start by searching Petfinder (http://www.petfinder.com/shelters.html) or Pets911 (http://www.pets911.com/), enter your zip code to find where there are homeless pets near you. You will be able to see where local shelters are by seeing where there are pets that are up for adoption. Get the phone number of the shelter and find out who works there.

- Contact them. Call the shelter or drop by, and ask to speak to the volunteer coordinator. Introduce yourself – give your name, age, and say that you live in the area (but remember to never give your full address). Ask if they could use a volunteer or if there are other ways to help the shelter. Find out how the shelter works by asking more questions – it will help you figure out better ways to help.

- What if they say you’re too young? Okay, so you called your local shelter and they did not have something for you to do. This is not true! Shelters can always use help; you just have to give them the idea... Here is a list of just some other things you can do for the shelter if they do not want you handling animals:
~o  Clean cages, the backyard, or even the shelter's office 
~o  Make phone calls or do other general office work 
~o  Make holiday decorations for the shelter office and waiting room 
~o  Good with web sites? Create a Facebook or other site page for the shelter and help advertise it 
~o  Take pictures of new pets and learn how to put them up for adoption on Petfinder, Pets911, or even advertise them around your neighbourhood or school 
~o  Become a foster home for animals the shelter does not have room for (Warning: this one definitely requires talking to the parents)

4) Donate - There is no minimum amount for this. Shelters would be more than happy and grateful to receive any amount of contribution from the public. Donation could come in a form of money, food, unwanted household items, or even consumables and appliances. Check with your local shelters on what they require the most.

5) Educate, network & cross post. - Every one of us, almost everyone is involved with social networking (Facebook, Twitter, etc.). Clicking the ‘share’ button is not even close to an onerous chore or having an excuse not to do so. Thought it would be uncool to have those entire ‘shared’ ad plastered across your Facebook walls? You don’t need to feel so. Good friends would understand and you do not need the understanding of judgemental people. More often than not, one does not comprehend the purpose of life and good deeds until some day, somehow, life lessons will knock the person out of pure senses. Why start later when you could make a difference NOW?

On another note, ever wondered what are the list of things you could do help out in local shelters? We would be glad to hear from you if you would so kindly leave your feedback below and share your ideas. In the next issue, I will be coming up with a list of more ways for you to help out at your nearest shelter.



Credits: http://www.dosomething.org/


Holistic Living Annex (OCTOBER 2012)