Animal Rescue

[carnation]

Is anyone else involved in animal rescue?

We've been involved heavily over the years. It's satisfying, although I could do without the rat, mouse, and 2 box turtles that my kids have rescued in the past year.

One of my daughters is trying to think of a meaningful Gold Award project involving animal rescue, so any suggestions would be welcome!

[littleowl33]

Originally Posted by carnation

Is anyone else involved in animal rescue?

We've been involved heavily over the years. It's satisfying, although I could do without the rat, mouse, and 2 box turtles that my kids have rescued in the past year.

One of my daughters is trying to think of a meaningful Gold Award project involving animal rescue, so any suggestions would be welcome!

Yay for this thread! I've been involved with animal rescue since I was 13. I started off volunteering at the local SPCA and was hired a year later, then worked as an employee weekends and summers until I went to college. It was a small shelter (only 6-7 employees, but TONS of animals brought in every day) so I did everything - from cleaning cages and scooping poop to training volunteers, temperament testing dogs, doing medical procedures and performing adoptions. I loved it! I also volunteered at two wildlife rescues during high school, feeding baby animals and sometimes assisting with bigger ones. I got to feed the owls by (heavily gloved) hand a few times, which was awesome... and maybe some indication of my future affiliation?

I did some more volunteering in Baltimore shelters in college but between classes and extracurriculars it was hard to get heavily involved.

How old is your daughter? Most shelters don't allow children under 13 or 14 to volunteer unless they have a parent with them, but that can be kind of a fun mom-daughter experience to do it together. If she's older she should definitely try volunteering if she hasn't already. I can't really tell from your post if they've been rescuing animals on their own or as part of an organized group, but getting involved with a group that has the funding and resources to get a lot done is a great experience. In terms of a project, here are a few thoughts...

- Bringing more animals into your house may be the last thing you want, but if it's not, fostering for a shelter can be a lot of fun. I fostered all through high school and part of college. For those who aren't familiar, it's bringing animals who can't stay in the shelter to stay with you until they can be adopted. The shelter usually takes care of any additional expenses (food, medical, or otherwise). Sometimes these are animals with behavioral or medical issues, but the easiest to do with kids would be animals with underage litters. Taking on a cat with young kittens and raising them to adoptable age (usually 8 weeks and 2+ pounds in weight) is really rewarding. Your family could also work to find adopters for the kittens to save the shelter some work (though they would ultimately go through the shelter, not you). The big hazard, though, is making sure your kids don't get too attached to give them back when it's time for them to ge adopted...

- Shelters often post a wish list on their website of items they need. Some are one-time (like a new computer) and some are recurring (like bleach, towels for bedding, etc.). Maybe your daughter could do a drive at her school/church/what-have-you to collect some of these items, or do a fundraiser to purchase them.

- Along the same lines, she may be able to ask local businesses if they have any of those things they could donate. Check with the shelter first, but a lot of things that get thrown away could be useful. For example, she could get cardboard boxes to make "cat forts" for enrichment, or get shredded papers from confidential records to use for bunny/guinea pig/rat cage lining. That's something my shelter used to do but every group does it differently.

- She could start a volunteering group at her school - getting a group of kids that could go to a local shelter once a week or so to do whatever is needed. She would need to talk to the shelter re: age restrictions and what kind of help they need, as well as how many kids could come and when. They might also need to go through a volunteer orientation.

- She could do a variation of the second suggestion for shelters or spay/neuter clinics outside of the country. There are a lot of groups in Central/South America and the carribbean that need help and supplies. A college friend of mine put together an alternative spring break trip for about 10 people to travel to a shelter in the carribbean to rebuild part of their building.

- This might be getting in over her head, but a lot of groups outside the contintental US (or in more rural parts of the US) look for people from the states to adopt the pets they have. I adopted my dog from Puerto Rico, which was actually very easy - since it's part of the US there was no customs or holding period. The shelter I adopted from, called El Faro de los Animales, has a ton of animals that would be very adoptable in the states but just don't get adopted there. Again, this might be too much to take on, but she could see if there was any way to work with a group like that to get more interest in adopting in her community. If she did do that, she would have to be prepared for potential backlash from local groups - some people get upset about adopting animals from far away when there are so many in need locally.

Good luck to her - you must be proud to have children who are so engaged in the community!

[aggieAXO]

I have been rescuing animals since I could walk . In high school I volunteered at an animal shelter and then worked for a veterinarian. I only rescue opossums now but use to bottle raise kittens and also raised orphaned birds in college.

What does the project entail?

[aggieAXO]

Originally Posted by littleowl33

- She could do a variation of the second suggestion for shelters or spay/neuter clinics outside of the country. There are a lot of groups in Central/South America and the carribbean that need help and supplies. A college friend of mine put together an alternative spring break trip for about 10 people to travel to a shelter in the carribbean to rebuild part of their building.

- This might be getting in over her head, but a lot of groups outside the contintental US (or in more rural parts of the US) look for people from the states to adopt the pets they have. I adopted my dog from Puerto Rico, which was actually very easy - since it's part of the US there was no customs or holding period. The shelter I adopted from, called El Faro de los Animales, has a ton of animals that would be very adoptable in the states but just don't get adopted there. Again, this might be too much to take on, but she could see if there was any way to work with a group like that to get more interest in adopting in her community. If she did do that, she would have to be prepared for potential backlash from local groups - some people get upset about adopting animals from far away when there are so many in need locally.

Good luck to her - you must be proud to have children who are so engaged in the community!

I worked with RAVS (rural area veterinary services) a couple of years ago-they go to countries like Mexico and teach local vets how to neuter animals. They also go to reservations in the US and provide low cost care or free services. I went to Cabo-it was a great experience but very exhausitng-spays and neuters for 12 to 14 hours a day with no air conditioning. We have it good here in the US!

[carnation]

Oooh, thank you both! The family has worked some with rescue groups and some on our own (we're right on the edge of the county and people dump animals out here, this is why we have 3 dogs and a cat). One of the shelters here is a high-kill group but I think it would do us both in to be out there and know that most of the animals weren't going to make it out of there no matter what she did; to try in vain to get some of them adopted, as much as it might be needed. That group is actually having a meeting this week at my church to get volunteers.

The Girl Scout Gold Award project rules require that she work at least 50 hours (it can include planning) on it. It has to be a true project, not just working at a shelter for 50 hours. She doesn't want to do some project that really isn't going to help anyone, like painting the shelter inside (not that the Gold Award Committee would accept that); she truly wants to make a difference!

BTW, both box turtles escaped last night after several breakout attempts. They're somewhere in the yard and I say let 'em go...son can find something less time-consuming (but no snakes!) for his Reptiles badge!

[christiangirl]

I worked in a different capacity. During college, I worked for the Humane Society as an Assistant Pet Therapist and Volunteer Photographer. It was really neat. At first I was just a photog, taking pix of dogs and uploading them to the website (because animals with pix are more likely to be adopted than ones without). I remember the first picture I took--the dog had a GREAT personality and was such a ham! The person who adopted her said she came in because she fell in love with the photo and knew she had to have her. I felt very warm and squishy! If the local shelter has an outdate website, maybe your daughter could help with that? All it takes is a digital camera and a photobucket account. Once the pix are uploaded, animals are adopted out soooo much fast, especially if someone's planning an adoption fair.

Later, I became an APT. We took puppies to a group home for emotionally disturbed teens. That was also incredibly rewarding. Not only was it therapy for the kids, but it gave the dogs more time to be accustomed to human handling before being adopted. This was especially important for the dogs to be around children before possibly being adopted out to homes with kids. Of course, the dogs we took were all deemed "okay" to be around kids but extra interaction can only help.

After than, I moved to another city and took up with the SPCA there. Being a grad student, I didn't have a lot of time so I mostly walked dogs but came in for some crises too. For example, another shelter had rescued dogs from a puppy mill and were overwhelmed so we took their overflow. All those dogs needed to be treated, bathed, etc. There was a lot of cleaning cages, doing laundry, and moving crates. I came in for situations like that. Is your daughter allowed to help with a shelter's crisis situations or does it have to be soley her idea? Because that was several days worth of work, easy.

I liked the fundraiser idea LO had. Shelters always need things like cardboard, old newspapers, laundry detergent, cleaning supplies, etc. I used to buy the latter at the dollar store, 5 bucks could do a few loads. If she held a fundraiser, say bring a dollar or a stack of old newspapers, she could meet some serious needs!

[SWTXBelle]

Could your daughter help plan and organize an adoption event - perhaps at an already established community event? Maybe she could help a shelter or rescue group update their website to facilitate easier adoption? Collecting towels for a shelter? Having a pet food drive for a shelter?

Good luck to her!

[LikeASista]

Originally Posted by littleowl33

Yay for this thread!

ABSOLUTELY!!! WOW!!! How ironic that this thread would pop up when I just submitted my volunteer application to a local animal shelter here in my city!!

Thanks for creating this thread. My mother and I have always tried to take care of animals we see on the street. Mom goes so far as to save food from leftovers in case she sees homeless animals searching for a meal. If we see an animal who seems heat exhausted, we get water for him/her and then take them to the vet.

While I've never personally worked in an animal shelter before, it is why I am really excited about hearing from them, because I will finally get a better understanding of how to care for homeless animals.

[honeychile]

I'm involved in two animal rescue agencies. One is Small Paws Rescue, Inc., which I'm told is the largest single breed rescue group in the country. Other than donations, I've picked up dogs at the airport and taken them to their new homes, found groups to take in victims of the Amish puppy mills, and am on their prayer team. Unfortunately, it would be hard for someone of Girl Scout age to help with the driving and all. But if you do visit the site, notice that they were invited to be on Fox and Friends & go to the link here instead of the one on the site - if you love animals, you'll love it! (the talkative dog is just like mine, only mine's quieter, like most bichons!) In fact, if your daughter is interested in SPR, she could email them, and ask them if they know of a hands on project.

The other is something I fell into, but hope to get out of soon! It's the Trap, Neuter, Release group for feral cats. There's a major feral cat colony in my mother's neighborhood, and she was feeding them every day. The queen (major female) had a new litter every few months like clockwork, then dumped them on my mama's porch. So, when I ended up staying with her, we started trapping them, taking them to the vet, letting them recuperate in our "kitten suite" (garage), then letting them go when they wanted to. We were able to place a few of them in real homes, but that was because we caught them young enough that they weren't truly feral yet. I'm sure that there are groups such as this in every county! We took the best head count of the cats that we could, then talked to a local vet about it. We were able to get the price of $35 for a male and $40 for a female to neuter. I do have to tell you, the first time we had a kitten in the trap (the humane traps, needless to say), he was crying so pitifully, I wailed to my mama, "I'm not cut out for this!" Well, that was the beautiful Siamese with the flame points whose picture I posted about a year ago. He had pink eye, so we had to get that healed before the neutering - which was how he had to stay in the garage. We'd open the door, and he'd start purring. Then, I gave him his meds (he would stick just the very tip of his tongue out, as if to say, "I don't like that, but I don't want to ruin this gig!") while my mother changed his litter & fed him. The very day we put up adoption signs, he was adopted by a woman with three other cats. Within the week, he was sleeping in the bed with her, and ruled the roost! But there are definite dark days, too, when we had all of the snow this year, and some of them tried to get into the house, or the one who was released and killed the same night. And now that the house will be sold, I'm trying to think of a place where they can be fed (I work close to the house) without Animal Control messing with them. It's also heartrending to know that the average lifespan of a feral cat is two years old, and the current ones just turned two...

[honeychile]

Originally Posted by SWTXBelle

Could your daughter help plan and organize an adoption event - perhaps at an already established community event? Maybe she could help a shelter or rescue group update their website to facilitate easier adoption? Collecting towels for a shelter? Having a pet food drive for a shelter?

Good luck to her!

Now that I think of it, there's a group in California called Bichon Fur Kids, and they have a junior group! They would probably have lots of ideas for your Girl Scout!

[carnation]

Aggghhhhh! No bichons!!!!!

The Amish had puppy mills?

[honeychile]

Originally Posted by carnation

Aggghhhhh! No bichons!!!!!

The Amish had puppy mills?

Oh, one Mad Crapper and you run from a whole breed!

The Amish are most probably THE worst offenders of puppy mills. They are among the best for taking care of their own, but not their animals. SPR has four puppies that were bred from both a dam & a sire with heart murmers. These 8-week old pups were found trying to nurse from their dead mama - have you ever seen a bichon puppy who isn't smiling? They're being called "The Baby Mockingbirds":




FYI: It's going to take $10,000 to have these little ones' hearts fixed, and that's at a deep discount rate from a wonderful vet in Columbus. Needless to say, we're trying to raise the money for it. SPR is the ONLY charity I've ever given money to that gives you a statement of how much was raised and how much was spent & on what.

[PhoenixAzul]

I love rescue dogs!

These two guys are our current rescues (my mom's, actually, but I'm their trainer/auxillary cuddler)


Shadow (the BorderJack) came from the WPA Humane Society. She is so sweet, silly, fuzzy and cute.
Then there's Buddy. Poor Buddy was found wondering in rural Ohio, and was turned into the Columbiana County Dog Warden. He was also scheduled for the "long walk on a short leash", if you catch my drift, until we dopted him site unseen from Petfinder. He looked like this when he came to us, although what you can't see is the skunk stink radiating off of him:


And who knew that there was a beautiful, adorable fuzzy purebred Jack Russel underneath that:


He is on his way to being a Canine Good Citizen as well!

Ideas for your daughter:
1) Organize a dog/people walk to raise money for a local shelter.
2) Train dogs for CGC/Therapy Dog International
3) See if she can work with the local humane society/SPCA on doing "animal education" seminars with the younger scouts. Meaning she (possibly accompanied by a rep from the shelter?) would talk to younger scouts about how to properly care for an animal, why it is important to walk a dog, what to do if you see an animal being mistreated?
4) Related to the above, see if she can design and write/illustrate a book/pamphlet on animal care/animal rescue for a shelter?

[carnation]

You guys are great, I'm printing out this whole thread for her! (telling her not to get any ideas about bichons )

[littleowl33]

PhoenixAzul, I LOVE the blurry tail-wagging action in the last shot! He is too cute! Thought you might like this picture of my Dad's Jack Russels...



I was really, really smug when I got them all to look at the camera at the same time. The three terriers are his, the bird dog is my uncle's and the little brown one is my rescue dog (I mentioned her in an earlier post).

Here she is by herself:



No one can seem to figure out what breed she is! She has somewhat stumpy legs, brindle fur and no tail. My best guess is dachshund-pug-pit(?), but I really have no idea. I still think she's adorable! She came to all our chapter's outdoor recruitment and philanthropy events last year, so of course she required a special collar...