Their passion and life’s work is dedicated to the unwanted, abandoned, and neglected. This work is not about money or glory — it’s about love and compassion.”
Husky Rescue, like other shelters across the country, handles high numbers of animals including those from hoarding situations, neglect, abandonment, relinquishment, and strays. With such high numbers of animals entering shelters every year, this problem is not just local to Husky Rescue South Africa but nationwide.
Volunteers also confront many cases of abuse and neglect in which they personally have to cope with the agony of knowing that an animal may have been through extensive pain and suffering.
https://www.facebook.com/HuskyRescueSA/videos/1432758990148513/
People who work and volunteer in animal rescue – and indeed, those who adopt a pet in need work had to ensure that every creature has a bright future.
Some of our dogs have been through so much – they’re extra special and they would give that extra special love to somebody who would give them the time of day.
It takes a lot of time and caring for these animals to turn around into adoptable animals
The heartbreak of seeing someone surrender their pet
There are all kinds of ways that rescue work takes an emotional toll on the people whose heart operate these organizations.
One of the biggest challenges is watching people who surrender their pets, it is hard to understand how someone could give up their pet, a lot of times it is for reasons out of their control. Maybe they are moving to a retirement home and can’t take their pet with them, or they’ve lost their job and no longer have the money to take care of their pet. Sometimes it is just as heartbreaking for them to have to say goodbye to a pet they have loved for years.
There are many obstacles that can stand in the way of a rescue pet being placed in his forever home
When you run a rescue, you can get full and you need help, people do not always realize that when they call sometimes we can’t take them in. Sometimes there is no place to put them and once we take them in we don’t euthanize.
It’s a noble deed taking in an animal until he finds his forever family – but it also presents a challeng to rescues.
Animals get adopted, but there are always more coming in as some leave. We need everyone’s support to foster, network and rehome animals.
And of course, there’s always one glaring factor that presents a critical hurdle: funding. Limited funds mean a rescue’s ability to save lives can be drastically impeded.
Rescue pets get a bad rap – its so unfair
We wish this myth that shelter animals are defective or aggressive by default would just stop! They are not broken, they are not bad, and they love you with all of their being. Shelter pets are often judged for not being pedigree, although so many of our dogs that enter the shelter are purebred.
These misplaced but rampant misconceptions frequently prevent healthy, loving pets from being considered as potential family members and make the work of rescues that much tougher.
Sometimes people think there’s something ‘wrong’ with animals in shelters and that’s why they are there. This could not be further from the truth.
There are benefits to bringing home one of these seemingly-disadvantaged creatures … A lot of shelter animals are adults, so what you see is what you get. When you meet them, you can get an idea about their personalty, size and energy level. In addition, most have already lived in a home environment, so they know how to behave appropriately.
When it comes down to it, saving animals is a personal mission for the people who spend so much of their time working on behalf of those without voices.
We can all help
We all need to help, because the problem is so bad, there are thousands of animals every single week being euthanized. It’s just sad how bad the problem is. We need to educate, we need to spay/neuter and we need people to be our voice.
People who work in rescue realize not everyone has the resources to bring an animal into their homes permanently, or even temporarily – but they want people to understand they are all more equipped to help than they may think.
If you can’t foster, volunteer .. Clean cages, feed, water – all of this has to be done in shelters every day…. Email campaigns, phone calls, help with transport or events and fundraising.
Put on a bake sale or garage sale and you can raise a lot of awareness through these events too.
Don’t be shy or feel like you can’t do it! You can!
Animal rescue is never hopeless – there are happy endings
Although it may sometimes feel like the odds are staked against the rescues and the animals they work so hard to save we see happy stories at the shelter and it’s what makes working with homeless pets so very rewarding.
The reality is that you will never save all the homeless pets out there, but that needs to always remain the goal!
We are all people too, and we need to help these animals together.
