Rescue/Adoption Program Relaunch

Yesterday was the first official day of our rescue/adoption program relaunch. Because of increasing costs and severely declining donations and fundraising, we had to suspend our animal intake in May. Deciding to stop rescuing animals was the hardest decision I ever had to make as a director, but we literally had no other choice. In order for our organization to survive, we had to stop our finances from spinning out of control.

Throughout the summer, I forced myself to look at every email that I received from area shelters with pictures of pets on their euthanasia lists. I knew we couldn't do anything to save them, and I often teared up by the end of each email. But, although we had placed a freeze on our intake, I did not want to allow myself to pretend that the dying ended during our freeze. From May 16 to September 1, our rescue and adoption program was on hold. During that time, over 23,000 animals died in metro area shelters.

I have no illusions that we can save anywhere near that number. But every one of those lives matters. Every one of those dogs and cats could feel pain and fear at the end of their lives. And every one of them could also feel the compassion of the hands that held them for a humane death at one of the shelters that actually euthanizes in a humane way.

I often wonder how we created a society where we claim to be the most advanced beings on the planet, yet we routinely kill each other and kill other sentient beings. I know of no other species that routinely engages in genocide against its own species or another species just for the sake of greed, irresponsibility or convenience. And the rest of us just turn our heads and pretend not to see.