My housemate, Susan Lim, has been an avid animal lover ever since I've known her. I have learned over the years that usually when she is extremely nice to me, it means that she has adopted a cat or dog from somewhere and would like to bring it home. I must admit that I am not crazy about animals, though I am a softie at heart and was instrumental in adopting (sometimes inadvertently) a few of our cats. Since Susan became more involved in animal rescue and animal care, I have learned a few things which I would like to share.
Susan and one of the pups in her care. This pup is from a litter of 5, whose mother, Phoebe, was rescued by Aaron, who visits the pups regularly and sponsors their monthly boarding and care. One of the pups has heart problems and is very weak. See more pics here.
Animal rescue is NOT picking up an animal and dropping it off at a friend's place/animal shelter. A lot of people feel that they have done something good by picking up an animal and dropping it off at the shelter. And then what?
Often, Susan is called up and told there is a cat/dog at such and such a place and it looks injured and can Susan do something about it. Now - what you are doing is reporting, not rescuing. If you really care about the animal, pick it up and take it to the vet. Let the vet check if the animal is okay and healthy. If it needs medical treatment, ensure that the animal receives it. Foster it until it is adopted or adopt it yourself. If you do that, you ARE an animal rescuer.
Fine, some people don't have time. In which case, take an active interest in this animal you wish to save. Be responsible - pay for the vet fees. Sponsor the care for the animal until it is adopted. Actively ask around for someone to foster or adopt it. When you sponsor the animal until it is adopted, you will have an added incentive to find someone to adopt it!
If you just call up an animal rescuer to pick up the animal, you are not taking responsibility. In fact, you are dumping. People would leave animals tied up to the gates of animal shelters, which I personally find very cowardly. What's up with that?? At least have the decency to ask the animal shelter if they can take the animal in. And if you can contribute something towards its care. That's the humane thing to do.
Dumping imposes a huge burden on animal shelters and animal rescuers. All the animal rescuers I know operate at maximum capacity, and have to look after A-Z of each animal - from the medical fees of the animal, and the ensuing medical care required, to their food, their hygiene and loving attention. More often than not, the animals which have been rescued are sick animals or animals which have been injured. Even if the animal is healthy, it will need vaccinations, sterilization etc and all of this costs money.
Sadly, in Malaysia, there is not much care for animals. After all, if people are willing to dump old folks (this is another story), what more animals? It is very difficult for animal rescuers and animal shelters to be financially sustainable. And the care required for the animals is unending. Once an animal is taken into care, you cannot just throw it out onto the streets, where it is likely to be injured again. So essentially, all rescued animals are rescued for life. Which means this dog or cat needs to have shelter, be fed, cared for and have medical fees taken care of for the rest of their lives.
People are constantly asked for funding for cancer, handicapped, autism, AIDS and a million other human welfare needs. It is the unfortunate state of our society that funds are continuously needed for the less fortunate. For animals, they are way down on the list of priorities for most people. This is not a criticism at all but merely a reality check. As such, unless there are people who are crazy about animals, most people would rather donate to a human-related cause. Especially if there is tax-exemption involved. All charity IS good, but please spare a thought for the ones most neglected by society.
Animal rescuers are really the unsung heroes of society. If we are Buddhist, we believe that all animals are sentient beings and should be loved equally to humans also. For people who do not believe this, at least believe that animals should not suffer. At the very least, please don't make it difficult for people who are doing their best to give care to animals.
So, what can you do? There are so many animals out there, we cannot save them all. So, start by supporting those who are actively providing animal care.
1. Adopt an animal.
Please don't buy a dog or cat from a pet shop. IF you MUST, be responsible to find out where the pups come from as often, you may find that you are supporting a very cruel, inhumane establishment in a god forsaken place where dogs are caged up just to make puppies.
Adopt from a shelter. Why? Because these dogs which are up for adoption are largely unwanted. They may not look like pedigrees but they are loyal and loving and they want love. You know what, in general, mixed-breed animals are tougher health-wise than pedigrees. If you are able to, please adopt those who are weaker and sick, because those are the ones least likely to be adopted. They may need special care, but by you adopting them, you not only give a loving home to those who are least wanted, but you also free the animal rescuer to look after other animals. Whether pedigrees or mixed-breed, they are first and foremost, animals who want to be loved, so please adopt a pet.
Also - when you adopt an animal from a shelter or a rescuer, please do make a donation to the shelter or animal rescuer. The shelter or rescuer would have undoubtedly paid for the animal's medical fees and any medical procedures. Give something back to them so that they can continue their work. Appreciate them. None of them do this to be rich. There are much, much easier ways. In fact, you can rest assured that most of the animal rescuers pay for the necessities of their work from their own meagre pockets.
Actually, when Susan wanted to start her animal work, I offered to commit to a small monthly sponsorship to create the causes for other people to give monthly sponsorships. She told me that it was not necessary because I was already providing the premises for many of her animals, and also sponsoring them already, including animals I didn't know about. I thought that was funny.
2. Support an animal shelter/animal rescuer.
All animal shelters need help. All animal rescuers need help. They need pet food. They need people to help out - cleaning the animals, cleaning the shelter, ferrying animals to the vet. It is a full time job. Socializing the animals is another huge job. In order for stray animals to be adopted, they need to have their health restored, and be socialized so that they can get along with people and other dogs. Like babies, orphaned puppies or kittens need to be fed round the clock. Foster an animal if you can, so that resources can be freed to help others.
Most of all, they need cold, hard cash. Check out the shelter and rescuer, get to know them personally and see what they do. When you trust that they are genuine, please donate to them so that they can cover vet bills and buy decent pet food.
3. Share animals stories on social media.
Raise awareness about adoption, funds needed etc. Tell your friends about these needy animals and maybe, someone, somewhere will share the info to their friends who may just be looking for a dog or cat for their home.
4. Support Sterilization
The main problem with stray animals is the rate of reproduction. Sterilization of as many strays as possible is one of the ways to combat this perennial problem. Sterilization involves taking the animal to the vet for the process, which can cost around RM150 for a dog and RM100 for a cat. These rates are specially discounted from certain kind vets. After the procedure, the animal needs special care to recuperate from the surgery. This may incur boarding fees at the vets also.
Please help sponsor sterilization of strays so that numbers of stray animals can be reduced. There are also programs which sterilize and release, meaning that strays are picked up off the street, sterilized then returned to the place they were picked up from. The objective is to control the population of strays, which cuts the problem at the root.
5. Go vegetarian.
Okay, so you don't have space in your home to adopt a pet, you don't have funds to donate. But you do care about animals. What can you do? Go vegetarian. H.E. Tsem Rinpoche has always advocated vegetarianism to create compassion for animals. Perhaps it is difficult for you to be vegetarian full time, in which case, just be vegetarian once a week, or twice a week and then increase it from there.
I hope this gives you an insight into the animal rescuers' world. Please do share this with others so that we can all jointly take responsibility and care for those who cannot care for themselves.
Susan and Pebbles, who has a heart problem. Please have a heart and adopt her..
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