The Animal Rescue Fund is a private, non-governmental organization ... about which I am proud ... of responsible citizens of all different political stripes pitching in together to help solve a sad fact of life; there are huge numbers of unwanted, stray, and abandoned pets roaming our communities. Without help, their lives are usually short and miserable
Much of this problem can be attributed to irresponsible pet ownership and carelessness. Efforts to increase public awareness, concern, and responsibility have helped and attitudes toward animal welfare and care have changed over the years for the better. But attitude changes take generations and there's a fairly large percentage of our population that don't seem willing to put out much effort for anything... their own careers, their family relationships, their children, or their community, let alone a pet that becomes a bit of a nuisance. A lot of people are disgraceful, low life bums, and so called "education" efforts don't seem to have much effect.
County governments have traditionally tackled the problem of stray pets with animal control officers ("dog catchers") and shelters. And people can bring unwanted pets they find or have to the shelter. An attempt is made to find these animals a new home, but because there are so many more strays than people willing to adopt, and because space and money is limited, an large percentage of such pets are "destroyed". We have this system in our county. Our county shelter, despite the large number of pets being killed is doing a good job of finding homes for many of the pets and thanks to the efforts of staff, volunteers, and tax payers, those pets adopted out are neutered and spayed which helps reduce the number of future unwanted pets.
Our county shelter and their volunteers also have a praise worthy program available that subsidizes the spaying and neutering of pets for pet owners in hopes of further reducing the future number of strays.
These efforts by our county, volunteer groups, and the local veterinarians involved in spay/neuter programs has to have helped, and I'm proud to one of the veterinarians helping.
It's frustrating though...the stray situation seems to be worse... probably because of the huge increase in population in our area. Also, despite the availability of inexpensive spay/neuter certificates, there seems to be a significant percentage of our population not willing to spend even a little money or effort. (This seems to be true even in those counties in other states offering free neutering services).
There also seem to be a lot of people that resist the idea of responsible pet ownership based on vague principles:
"I wouldn't want anybody to chop my gonads
off"
"It's natural for animals to roam around "free"
"It's nature's way... the strong survive ... and
the rest?... well, it's just nature's way"
" I want my kids to see babies being born"
At any rate, for a number of reasons there are lots of pets wandering around, sometimes causing problems, sometimes doing okay, but often leading a miserable and painful life until they either starve to death or die of injuries, car accidents, or bite wound infections and other illness'
Having grown up emotionally and phyically dependent on humans, many are confused, sad, and anxious.
The government solution to the problem is helpful and should be commended ...it's a whole lot worse in other countries ... but despite the efforts of our county shelter and the volunteer groups and spay/neuter advocates helping to find homes and reduce the number of breeding pets ... there are still hundreds of unwanted pets being killed each month.
While I have nothing but disdain and disgust for the many people in our area who litter, abuse their family members, don't pay their bills, and don't take even moderately good care of their pets ...
I am pleased to report that there are also lots of top notch people from all economic and social levels in our area willing to help. They volunteer and donate time and money to their churches and communities to help solve all kinds of problems including the sad problem of so many unwanted pets.
Some of these nice people have started their own groups to rescue animals or to raise money to help the county shelter.
There's a volunteer effort to raise money to build a bigger shelter for the county.
The Seneca Journal Tribune, our local newspaper, and radio stations are helping with free advertising for pets needing homes.
Local vets (including me) continue to offer super inexpensive vaccination, spaying and neutering for pets from the county shelter if a home is found.
And then there's us; The Animal Rescue Fund of South Carolina...a no kill shelter serving our area.
It's wonderful, if I do say so myself, and not only don't we kill any pets in our care (except in extreme cases) but we fix up any wounds or medical problems, spay, neuter, vaccinate and so forth before finding a good home.
The only negative is our small size ... we found homes for over 300 pets last year and that's significant, but still a small dent in the overall problem.
And people sometimes get mad at us because we're unable to take their unwanted pet due to lack of space...that's the problem with a no-kill operation; we can't take in new pets until we find
a home for the ones already filling our pens and cages.
We hope to continue growing and finding homes for more and more pets. But it takes a fair amount of money to take care of so many animals and to pay for their vaccinations, surgeries, and medical care.
So Please Help
Ten Ways You Can Help
1. Give For Free:
Pick up a coupon at our shelter and take it to Bi-Lo and ask them to scan the bar code on the coupon. After that, everytime you use your Bi-Lo Bonus Card when you shop, our shelter will get 1% of your purchase as a charity given by Bi-Lo
If you shop at Bi-Lo, this will help us alot. April 2009 update: This program has been cancelled...BiLo is filing for bankruptcy
2. Buy a Bandanna. Mary and Davis Arnette, of The Regions Bank of Anderson have been kind enough to adopt not only a homeless pet, but our charity. One of the ways they're helping is by selling pet bandannas which Miss Mary makes. They're for sale at The FoxNest Veterinary Clinic, at Miss Kitty's Grooming Boutique. All of the $5 goes to ARF.
3. Give Money:
Any amount will be greatly appreciated...lots of clients give an extra $5 when they pay their bill...and it helps a lot. Thanks very much.
4. Give Towels, paper towels, laundry soap, or pet food:
We use a lot of towels in our kennels and cat house, partly for cleaning but mostly for the pets to lay on. We also use a lot of bath mats, but we need things that can go through the washing machine in quanity. We have 4 washing machines going all the time trying to keep up with over 100 pets we sometimes have at the clinic and shelter...so laundry soap would be a great gift.
If you give us canned pet food, we use it as treats for strays and sometimes for sick patients, so that would be a great gift. We have to be very careful with changing dry dog food on our dogs lest we cause diarrhea, so dry dog food is not a great gift, but still, if you have a bag your dog doesn't like we will be grateful to have it, but don't go out and buy it...we'd rather have the money.
5. Give Time and Love:
Our stray pets would love more walks and play time and especially just petting and touching...drop by when you have 20 minutes and ask to walk or play with the strays. Or if you're really an angel...take one or two of the more socialized pets home for the weekend to give them a break from their caged life. (See note in red at left)
6. Give us your referrals:
When the subject comes up, let people know that we have pets for adoption.
And let people know about our web sites:
7. If you enjoy yard work or gardening...consider helping me keep all our shrubs and garden areas maintained. It's a big job keeping our grounds spruced up. We have about 10 acres of woods, ponds, and trails where we walk and play with the dogs. Last year a group of men came and did a bunch of repairs that saved us a lot of money. Thanks.
9. And, of course, consider adopting a pet
10. Attend and get involved in our fund raising events
Dear Pets:
When I say to move, it means to go someplace else, not switch positions
with each other so there are still two of you in the way.
The dishes with
the paw print are yours and contain your food. The other dishes are mine and
contain my food. Please note, placing a paw print in the middle of my plate
and food does not stake a claim for it becoming your food and dish, nor do I
find that aesthetically pleasing in the slightest.
The hallway was not
designed by NASCAR and is not a racetrack. Beating me to the bottom is not
the object. Tripping me doesn't help, because I fall faster than you can
run.
I cannot buy anything bigger than a king size bed. I am very sorry
about this. Do not think I will continue to sleep on the couch to ensure
your comfort. Look at videos of dogs and cats sleeping, they can actually
curl up in a ball. It is not necessary to sleep perpendicular to each other stretched out to the fullest extent possible. I also know that sticking
tails straight out and having tongues hanging out the other end to maximize space used is nothing but sarcasm.
My compact discs are not miniature Frisbees.
For the last time, there is not a secret exit from the bathroom.
If by some miracle I beat you there and manage to get the door shut, it is
not necessary to claw, whine, try to turn the knob, or get your paw under
the edge and try to pull the door open. When I exit this room, I will come
out the same door I entered. In addition, I have been using bathrooms for
years. Canine/Feline attendance has never been necessary.
The proper order is kiss me, then go smell the other animal or your butt. I cannot stress this enough. It would be such a simple change for you
