HoundsGood: Chronicles of a Virtual Volunteer

My box is filled every morning with notes from all over the country.  Often, I am one of a large list of people who receives them.  They are pleas for help for animals just about in every state.  Sometimes it is hard to look because one can’t help them all or one would go bankrupt for sure.  When someone starts receiving them for the first time, sometimes one sends money or offers to adopt a dog or take them into their rescue, even though they are hundreds of miles away and there is no network that one knows to tap into to get the dog or cat or other animal to them.   Then, it ends up costing hundreds and thousands.  After awhile, people burn out or bankrupt themselves.How do I look when I don’t have any money to contribute, can’t possibly adopt, and don’t have a foster home?  I scan the notices and see what little nudge I can give to these souls along the way.  It may be a phone number to a rescue I know, connecting up people who are in my address book that don’t know eachother, or posting a notice.  Sometimes that can do a world of good and provides the missing link that a shelter volunteer or an interest party needs to get things underway to save a life.

The key is to not promise to do something you can’t do, do what only what you can.  Rescue sometimes hangs on hope, so don’t volunteer to take a cat or a dog if you never breeched the subject with your spouse or roommate.  Sometimes it is discouraging to think a dog or cat has a home and then converting to a temporary situation only without a rescue backing it up to place him/her.  It often gets dodgy when the other parties at the home do not agree, so the dog/cat is in danger of being bounced around to several other homes, which is what brought them into the shelter in the first place.  Also, once a shelter volunteer or shelter sees interest in an animal, though most places don’t consider interest until pen is to paper and the animal is being picked up, some falsely hope that someone calling on the phone saying they are interested means that they will follow through.

So, do what you can.  Many people working together and doing just a tiny bit can really go a long way.  There are people that can do it all, but if you are not one of those people, don’t hesitate from doing the little bit you can.  It may just be the missing link to connect the dots with a ride, a phone call, or a spare crate for the night.

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