Plenty more dog photographs courtesy of Unsplash.
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My, this last photo does look like Pharaoh.
See what I mean!
Picture Parade Four Hundred and Forty-Seven
Year: 2022
Volunteering at animal shelters.
Another great post from Penny Martin.
Once again I am delighted to publish another post from Penny. This is a relatively short post but nevertheless of supreme importance.
With no more ado from me, here it is:
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Protecting Our Pets: Resources for Volunteering at Animal Shelters
By Penny Martin
August 10th, 2022
If animal welfare is close to your heart, you might want to consider helping out at a pet shelter for abandoned or unwanted animals. There are always a number of charities in the USA and beyond looking for eager volunteers.
Before You Apply
Animal welfare work can be challenging for an individual, even if you’re just volunteering. It’s important to take precautions before you commit to your decision.
- Read about the experience of working at a shelter to better understand the challenges and obstacles you might encounter.
- Often, volunteers need to undergo training, orientation, and background checks before they’re allowed to contribute.
- Connect with your local shelters on social media to see the kind of work they do and whether there are opportunities to volunteer.
Organizations
Shelters for abandoned and neglected pets are frequently found throughout the country. If you want to do your part, the logical first step is to locate one close to you.
- Institutions like Guide Star have been established to hold animal rescue services accountable and ensure they are being maintained properly.
- Take some time to learn about the listed charities in your area.
- If you find an abandoned pet and you’re not aware of shelters in your area, try reaching out to American Humane.
Ways to Help
If you’re unable to volunteer in person, there are still plenty of ways to get involved and do your part.
- There’s good work to be done online via social media and you can help out by engaging in discussion and sharing posts about missing or unwanted pets.
- If you have any spare supplies that you’re willing to donate, these can make a profound impact on the lives of animals.
- If you’re purchasing supplies to donate, read expert reviews to choose the highest-quality products.
- If the existing organizations don’t meet your concerns, you could try forming your own nonprofit.
- You can create Facebook ads for free to secure donations and get the word out about your nonprofit.
Unfortunately, across the USA and beyond, there are a great many pets in need of our help but even small acts of kindness can take us a significant way towards eradicating the problem altogether. Reach out to your local shelter and see how you can help.
Read the Learning from Dogs book for a reminder of the unconditional love dogs give us every day.
Image by Pexels
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Once again, a big thank you to Penny and also my thanks for the link to Learning from Dogs.
For those of you that are considering helping out then Penny’s post might offer the advice you require.
Musings from a 77 year old!
Where did it all go? That is: Life! Or more accurately my life.
I was born in Acton, London before the end of WWII. I am in my 77th year. Life these days seems to be more or less a paradox.
There are so many challenges at the moment. Not just in the USA nor in the UK but globally. We love where we live here in rural Merlin but we are already in the third year of below normal rainfall.
The contradictions in terms of our life locally and the global scene are huge. This is all leading to me quoting extracts from a recent George Monbiot article. The article starts by saying: “On both sides of the Atlantic, powerful interests seem determined to trigger the collapse of life on Earth. Why?“
A little later on in Geo. Monbiot’s article, he writes: “When I began work as an environmental journalist in 1985, I knew I would struggle against people with a financial interest in destructive practices. But I never imagined that we would one day confront what appears to be an ideological commitment to destroying life on Earth. The UK government and the US supreme court look as if they are willing the destruction of our life support systems.“
Because it does seem as though the political leaders are not taking the future of the planet seriously. As Patrice Ayme concluded recently in a remark to that post: “Biden ought to declare a climate emergency.” But it won’t happen!
(Well I may stand corrected. Yesterday it was widely reported, and I chose Renewable Energy: “The clean energy industry celebrated a moment on August 7 that would have seemed impossible just a few weeks earlier: The Senate passed a budget measure that includes the largest investments in clean energy and climate change in U.S. history.“)
Every morning when I go down to feed our two ex-rescue horses I also feed the wild deer. I have been doing it for many years. Long enough that a young buck has turned into an adult and comes within a few feet of me.
It never ceases to delight.
The contradiction between me going every morning down to the stable area and feeding the horses and the wild deer, and the outcome for the planet is beyond words. In a very real way it is incomprehensible.
Again, Geo. Monbiot writes: “All this might seem incomprehensible. Why would anyone want to trash the living world? Surely even billionaires want a habitable and beautiful planet? Don’t they like snorkelling on coral reefs, salmon fishing in pristine rivers, skiing on snowy mountains? We suffer from a deep incomprehension of why such people act as they do. We fail to distinguish preferences from interests, and interests from power. It is hard for those of us who have no desire for power over others to understand people who do. So we are baffled by the decisions they make, and attribute them to other, improbable causes. Because we do not understand them, we are the more easily manipulated.”
It really is a paradox! And who knows the outcome. All I can say is that, despite me being the age I am, I would not want to be any younger and aware that soon one would be facing the global changes full on.
More words from Geo. Monbiot: “Since 1985, I’ve been told we don’t have time to change the system: we should concentrate only on single issues. But we’ve never had time not to change the system. In fact, because of the way in which social attitudes can suddenly tip, system change can happen much faster than incrementalism. Until we change our political systems, making it impossible for the rich to buy the decisions they want, we will lose not only individual cases. We will lose everything.”
I have no idea of the global changes that are afoot and how they will affect us in Merlin. Indeed, I have no idea how long I have to live.
Jean and I met in December, 2007. We met in Mexico but Jean was also born in London, just a few years after me. How’s that for chance!
Jean’s American husband had died in 2005. She was rescuing dogs off the streets, sorting them out, and finding homes for them, mainly in Arizona.
I went out to Mexico with Pharaoh in 2008. With a one-way ticket!
However of one thing I am sure. Since that meeting in December, 2007 life has been as good as it comes. I have never been happier.
What a contradiction!
Learning from Dogs 