Browsing all articles from May, 2010

You’re reading this because you’re probably a member of Let’s Adopt!
I applaud you for joining our networks.

Now I want to ask you to join our tribe, by becoming an active member of our operations, to join our tribe!
We are of course animal lovers, but we are activists first. Which means, that we love all the cute pictures of pups and kitties. However, there are too many cute pups and kitties dying in our so-called shelters and by the hands of abusers and breeders every single day.
We must act – NOW!

I am often disillusioned by what I see, especially on the web.
Horrendous abuse, crush videos, starved animals, scared animals going crazy in their kennels at the pound.
I have seen many of these cases in my work as an activist and rescuer. The 1-day-old kittens I raised with an eyedropper or feeding tube, just to see them succumb to a simple upper respiratory infection. The kittens that were exposed to FIP, and ultimately died because their intestines and organs literally liquefied inside of them.

However there were hundreds that were a joy to foster and raised to be strong enough to be adopted. There are many, many success stories, which by far outweigh the bad experiences.
Now I want YOU to experience the feeling of saving a life and what an impact you alone can make in your community.
I want YOU to reach out to your local pound and rescue a dog or a cat.

Rescue an animal from death row - TODAY!

Become its caretaker and angel.
We will then rally as a network to adopt the animal into a new home.

adopting an animal will complete any family

Our adoption criteria are strict, yet very simple.

  • the adopter has at least one other animal
  • the animal will live indoors only! Not in the yard, not on a tie-out, not in a garage, or a barn. It will live indoors as part of the adopters family.
  • the animal will be fed a raw diet only. Your animal will be healthier, you will be happier, and you’ll save money in the long run, on cost of food and vet bills. More info can be found at http://rawlearning.com
  • We do not apply an adoption fee. One can’t buy any Let’s Adopt! dog or cat.
  • We believe that adopting an animal is a privilege, not mercy.
  • The adopter will create a Facebook album with photos of the animal with its new family and updates.

These are our adoption rules in a nutshell.
Do you think you can handle it?
Have you been thinking of how in the world can you make a difference at these overcrowded pounds? Well, here is your chance to put your action where your heart is.

  • Pull an animal.
  • Then take it home, let it settle in,

let the dog or cat settle down for a few days

  • take pictures and post it on the Let’s Adopt! USA page,
  • Include all details you have about the animal:
  • Age, temper, likes, dislikes, history (stray, dumped by owner, etc)
  • We’ll campaign to get the animals adopted.

Do you realize that you will be saving TWO lives at once.
Not only will you be taking the one dog off death row, but another one will have a better chance, because there’s new cage space. And hopefully, you’ll inspire friends and family to do the same all over the country.
Perhaps concentrate on high kill facilities such as many municipal facilities in the South, from Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas – some pounds have a 90 (that’s NINETY) % kill rate.
Here’s where you can make a big difference.
There are many small groups that are willing to help you pull an animal and organize transport.
I will be listing some of these groups and links soon.
For now – please search your heart and decide whether you can open your home to a rescue this summer. I know you can and want to.

Let us help you figure out how and make it a reality. For the animals and for you.

We can potentially save hundreds of animals this summer. Are you with us?

Got Foster Dog?


Let’s start saving lives – one dog, one cat at the time.

BE The Change
Misha Dee

Read more »



Lisa, a beautiful senior Doberman

Lisa - one senior, educated, loyal dog

Lisa is a 9 year old Dobermann with a beautiful heart.

She was raised in a great home, surrounded by other dogs, full of love.

Then, at some point her owner had to give her away for personal reasons, and he gave her to a friend’s “farm”. He was convinced she would be happy there.

Whenever you hear the word “farm” in Turkey just run away!!!

The farm turned out to be a breeder.

In that horrible place she was locked in a small kennel sharing it with an aggressive dog who injured her terribly. She was forced to mate but she would miscarry every time.

Her entire body was covered in injuries, her face had callous spots as she had to sleep on concrete.

She lived in hell. The kind of hell that most Doberman owners give to their dogs.

She is now living with our friends, spending time sun tanning and playing with her new friends. She now has a shining fur and she is happy, living in harmony with a pack. She has all the freedom she needs, sleeps on her soft bed whenever she wants and she loves to have a sunbath in the afternoons. When she is called her she comes running even from hundreds of meters away. She is one senior, educated, loyal dog.

Lisa likes to snuggle in her big pillow

She gets along well with all dogs and kids… Always wants to be beside you, likes to sleep on her cushion when she is indoors and if it is on your side she can stay there for hours. When you are not around she will most probably curl up near the heater :)

She just doesn’t like cats ;)

LISA is searching for a loving family.

Let’s Adopt! usual conditions for adoption apply. Also, as usual, we will make NO EXCEPTIONS.

1. Family MUST have an existing animal.
2. Animal MUST live inside the home, not on the garden.
3. Animal MUST be fed raw.

Contact: viktor@myletsadopt.com



You’ve seen all the pictures of the dogs in distress, the cute puppies, the kitties, the little fur-balls.
They all have one thing in common – THEY NEED YOU! – NOW!

young orphans often starve or freeze to death because of lack of care

First, let’s look at the various shelters and rescues and the differences between them.
Let’s start with the worst of the worst:

The municipal shelter

a.k.a. animal care & control, the pound, animal services.

This is the shelter run by your county officials. Usually by the police department, sometimes by its own department, that reports to the city’s board of commissioners. If you the animals are lucky, the city has a humane commission, which works together with shelter and city officials to make recommendations on funding, changes to guarantee the welfare of the animals housed there.

The reality in the US is that most city shelters are underfunded, understaffed and overwhelmed with animals. During puppy and kitten season cages fill quickly to and above capacity just over one weekend. Adoptions are chronically low as these so-called shelters are often not very conveniently located, nor are their visitor hours designed to draw the public in. Some shelters don’t even bother opening on weekends or have very limited hours.

corpse of a euthanized dog

Some shelters are so bad, they have an over 90 % (that’s NINETY PERCENT) kill rate of perfectly healthy animals. Their crime? They were born. Bred by people who wanted their children to see the miracle of birth (I’d like to take them into a euthanasia room to witness momma cat and kittens being murdered), thrown away because the owners moved, are suddenly allergic, the animal is too old, too ugly, too fat, doesn’t match the boyfriend, oh yeah, my favorite – a baby is on the way (so the fur baby get’s the boot). All common reasons animals end up on death row.
Still want to volunteer?

I beg you to.

Why?

Because these are the animals that need you the most.
They need YOU to care!!!

They only have you! Staff doesn’t have time to take pictures, write cute bios, CUDDLE?!?!
So, here’s what you can do at a high kill shelter:
Apply as a volunteer if they do not have a program, think about how you and a couple of friends could get one off the ground. It’s easier than you might think.
Manpower:

  • dog walkers,
  • photographers,
  • foster volunteers,
  • dog trainers,
  • transporters,
  • screeners, adoption counselors,
  • organize a mobile outreach program with your local pet food store or at a mall

If you can’t physically volunteer think about administrative help,

  • web design & support,
  • manage the Petfinder account for the shelter.
  • Write some nice bios for the animals.
  • grant writers,
  • event planners,
  • fund-raising

Donations:
See what your particular shelter needs most. Talk to other volunteers or staff.
Often it’s bedding, paper.
The dogs often sleep on concrete floors with no bedding at all. It’s too expensive to maintain to clean.
There are beds that are easy to spray and clean with disinfectants that are off the floor and give the dog a little comfort.
The noise level at these places is another issue. If someone can come up with a design that is economical yet somewhat sound buffering, these places wouldn’t be so incredible stressful for the animals.

Local animal rescues and small shelters:
There are so many small rescues that are pulling death row animals from the municipal shelters and are trying their hardest to find them new homes.
They are in dire need of
foster homes (long and short term) especially for little kittens under 3-4 weeks that need to be bottle fed!!
transport,
outreach volunteers (just a few hours every other weekend to present the animals to the public and help adopt them and recruit new volunteers) It’s a truly rewarding fun activity on weekends.
I personally did this for 3 years every single weekend, on top of rescuing, fostering and volunteer coordination and my paying job :)

Virtual shelters/rescues such as Let’s Adopt!

We are a new phenomena thanks to social media such as Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. Our networks stretch across the globe with growing outlets in the US, Canada, France, Germany and Austria, Bulgaria, Japan, Thailand, Turkey and more to come.
We need volunteers in each country, Especially foster homes in Turkey, Germany, Austria and France, but also in the US and Canada for you our local rescues.
We also need volunteers to help us transport adopted animals via airplane. There’s no cost involved for the volunteer and all the paperwork is handled by Let’s Adopt!
Let’s Adopt! is a 100% volunteer run organization and we pay for everything out of pocket, with no public funding and no adoption fees, we rely on our volunteer force and contributors to help us make each adoption a success. Most of Let’s Adopt!’s rescues are special needs animals which came from the streets, abusive situations, have been brutalized by humans, often with horrendous injuries.
We are determined to save those and give them a new lease on life with the best home out there.
Adopting one of our animals is not mercy – it’s a privilege.
If you’re interested in fostering for us. Please find the network closest to your location on the right side of this page and contact the administrator. If you’re in the US, send me an e-mail to misha@myletsadopt.com.
You can also support our work from far away by contributing to our Simba Fund. All proceeds fund the care of our special needs animals.

Larger shelters such as the SPCA / Humane Society

are usually already well off with volunteers and donations.
I must say that I have a love/hate relationship with them for various reasons.
They present themselves as no-kill but in 99% of all shelters are not!
It is a big number game with these organizations.
You are NOT a no-kill shelter when you have a selected variety of animals you accept and those you won’t.
The ones they won’t accept are as follows:
kittens under the age of 3-4 weeks, considered bottle feeders. They will either be denied or accepted and euthanized.
kittens that have a simple cold (URI), same fate as bottle feeders.
SPCA and the Humane Society are often very selective IF they are pulling any animals from the municipal “shelters”.

yorkshire terrier preparing to search for prey..

No “aggressive breeds” like Yorkshire terriers or Chihuahuas …just kidding - those they will take because there’s a market for toy breeds, but pit bulls or rottweilers, no matter how sweet and well behaved…not so much.
That’s my beef with them, and if you work, volunteer for one of them, good for you. They need you. Just ask your shelter director why there’s no neonatal program in place when there are very responsible and knowledgeable volunteers available. Why are we shipping in loads of chihuahua pups from a puppy mill in the Midwest (with all the media outlets waiting for the trucks to pull in to the parking lot), when there are chihuahuas sitting in the local shelter?
Could it be that those “fresh” puppy mill dogs will bring in between $200 and $300 a pop?

puppy mill dogs are still big profit - even after they've been rescued

If you still would like to volunteer for such an organization check your local resources for the nearest SPCA/HS.

Those little rescues I mentioned earlier are the true no-kill warriors out there that do the deed for the shelters.
HSUS and SPCA are notorious for sucking the small donor pool dry with their ability of pumping hundreds of thousands of $$ of YOUR donations into marketing efforts.

Thanks for caring, and please don’t hesitate to sign up as a volunteer.

If you start for one shelter or rescue and you don’t feel comfortable, try another. It’s completely normal. Animal rescue is not a “one size fits all” sort of thing.
I have been a volunteer, director, kitten wrangler, mentor for over 16 years and with all the ups and downs wouldn’t want to miss any of my experiences, the friends I’ve made along the way and the many, many souls I encountered, that repaid me with purrs and kisses.

Little foster Meg White gives kiiiiiisses

Priceless….

BE The Change

~Misha



Making Dreams Come True….

Are YOU Foster Material?


Please make this image your profile picture on Facebook for the coming few weeks.
We are in such great need of foster homes around the globe.
Please support us by sharing the image on your page, and adding it as your avatar.
Thank you very much!
BE The Change!

Let’s Adopt Network!

Let’s Adopt! Community Map


View Let's Adopt Network in a larger map

Animals For Adoption

Success Stories



Archives

Let’s Adopt! TV


Recent Posts

Tags

Scribd badge

Btn_wht_122x44

Recent Comments

Social Media Advisors





Please share this blog!

Share |

Web hosting for webmasters
V
E
R
I
B
I
R