Dear friends,

Today we are going to try something that, as far as we know it has never been done before, something that just a few years ago it could have never been attempted without a massive advertising expenditure.

pls read carefully and at the end PLEASE SHARE.

One of the most challenging aspects of our mission is to find foster homes. A network of foster homes is absolutely essential for the good fonctioning of any rescue organization.

A foster home is,  a temporary home where the animal gets chance to recover from the stress of being in a shelter or abandoned.  Additionally, the foster volunteer has the opportunity to work with the animal  to introduce him to family living (if its a puppy or a kitten) or to correct some of the behavior problems that may have led to him being abandoned.

Quite simply: Fostering Saves Lives.

So this is what we are going to do here today. Today we are going to use our entire network to build up our network of foster homes.

To do this we are going to need YOUR help. I need you to do three things:

1. Please feel free to use our poster, Foster Saves Lifes as avatar in your Facebook profile. You can just save the picture in this post. Alternatively you can download the small version  HERE

2. We need to have the involvement of your trusted veterinarians in this campaign. For this I would like you to download the Hig-Resolution Poster HERE, print it (in colour please) and ask your veterinary clinic to put it in its announcement board. I understand this may be a bit too cumbersome to some, but it is the fastest and most efficient way to have an inmediate distribution of this poster all over the world. It will also help us stablishing a link with our members trusted vets all over the world.

DOWNLOAD HI-RES POSTER HERE

3. Finally, I need you to share this post with your own networks. You can share it on your wall, you can email it, it doesn’t really matter, but I need you to please become personally involved in this campaign. We cannot do this alone we need you. The animals need you. PLEASE SHARE.

This campaign is being launched in our Global, USA, Canada, French, German and Turkish networks simultaneously and the homes will be available to our friends at Soi Dog / Let’s Adopt (Thailand), that are doing such an incredible job in the Far East.

If you would like to have the poster designed in your language to be used in your veterinary clinics just drop me a quick email on viktor@myletsadopt.com and Ill make sure it gets translated.

Come on.. let’s get to work.. this is very exciting! help us build a truly global foster home network.

Fostering Saves Lifes!.. Let’s get to work! That’s what we do! Save Lifes!

Start fostering today!. Contact me on: viktor@myletsadopt.com

Viktor

Early July, I received a cry for help from rescuers of the Contra Costa County death camps.
Listings after listings of perfectly healthy, beautiful animals slated to go down any time.
Something had to be done – NOW.
But how? We have no fosters in the area.
Martinez is almost 700 miles away, my car was too small, renting an SUV or van + gas was too expensive. So, what could we do? As you know, Let’s Adopt! is a volunteer run organization. We don’t have a fleet of vans or SUVs at our disposal.
We don’t run shelters or a day care. We work with foster homes. Unfortunately we don’t have enough yet, but we’re growing and I am optimistic that this story will inspire some of you to sign up to become not just another foster, but a viable lifeline!

I contacted my friend Amy with the Pixie Project, and just asked her whether I could borrow the rescue’s  SUV for a long weekend.
It was a long shot and I held my breath, hoping, but really thinking she’d laugh me off telling, me “nice try, but I’m not giving you my car to drive it 1400 miles across state lines“.
Well, Amy did not only call me back right away, she contacted a fellow rescuer in town who immediately offered to take 5-7 dogs in addition to the ones Let’s Adopt! was about to rescue. It took some scheduling and wiggling the details, but in the end we sorted it all out.

leaving Portland for San Francisco

I started my trip from Portland to San Francisco on Saturday, July 10th at sunrise. A SUV packed with empty cages and kennels and a whole lot of hope and arrived in the Bay Area late afternoon, managed to reconnect with some old rescue friends from my time of living in SF. I learned the shelter wouldn’t be open until Tuesday, so I had time to connect and touch bases about the current status of animal rescue and welfare in the Bay Area.

…And it doesn’t look good at all. I spoke to one of the managers of the SF Animal Care & Control who described in despair how the city is shaving dollar after dollar off their budget, that could potentially safe lives. Yet the city uses funds to create silly projects like some “Good Samaritan fund” that rewards people who did the right or a good thing.
We’re now “bribing” people to do what’s right?
What a world.
This deserves its own blog. Stay tuned for an interview with a SF AC&C official.

Sunday: I receive the euthanasia list from the shelter.Pages after pages … Chihuahuas, Poodle Mix, Pit bulls, Pomeranian mix, King Charles Spaniel – another spaniel mix… the list was overwhelming to go through, but I had to. I needed to choose, who I could save. I had five to seven spots. That was it. Now many of you are already questioning the following: HOW DO YOU CHOOSE?
How does one choose?
I don’t know. At some point you have to put emotions past you and look at it from a rational point of view. As rational as one can be in a situation such as this. You look for temperament, adopt ability. I knew I couldn’t bring any Pits or Pit X, because I didn’t have a foster for one, and the other rescues can’t take them due to liability issues. Both rescues run day-cares and the prejudice against this breed is alive and well…..Something we will have to discuss another time.

With Pit bulls excluded, I made a list of 12 dogs and rearranged it from there. When I got to the shelter on Tuesday, there were already a lot of people in line. Some to adopt, others to claim their animals and then there were those that were waiting to surrender their pets. I was greeted by Annie, who held yet another more recent kill list in her hands. We compared notes and just rushed inside to look at as many dogs as we possibly could, knowing “they” are starting the killings in just a few moments. We had 5 dogs in no time, added another 2 – that was it!!
Or was it?

Annie + Lori doing the paperwork

While we checked out the first dogs with the help of Lori of Good Newz Pittie Pups Rescue,  Annie, presented me with 3 wire crates another person donated to the mission. I had dividers in them!!!By taking some of my larger kennels out and using those crates, I had more room. We pulled an older Aussie Shepherd, who we since named Jester.

More about this boy later. He is a special needs boy, who happened to bite me on the way back home,during one of the breaks. It’s not an aggression issue, he did that out of fear, stress, pain combined, when I tried to get him back into the car after a potty break.

Aaaanyway:

While I was outside arranging the crates and animals, I realized that I had more space. So I called Annie on her cell inside the shelter: “I’ve got room for two more, Annie….!!!”.

She zoomed into the euthanesia room, and snatched two dogs straight out from under the needles.

Safe! Pulled with minutes perhaps even seconds to spare!

safe! one has already been adopted!

safe! sweet, skinny little Pom mix

On the Road again....Portland here we come

After getting everyone settled in the car, sorted out the paperwork, we hugged and I went on my way back to Portland.
Because of time “lost” at the shelter and during some potty breaks with the dogs, I arrived back in Portland at 2:30 AM on Wednesday morning.
Theresa from DogStar waited for me, keeping herself entertained by doing some much needed bookkeeping. We unloaded the car, put everyone in a kennel, gave them some food/water and kisses, and went home. Mission accomplished – ten dogs save – alive!
Got home at about 3:30AM, Ouzo greeted me with kisses and hugs. I snuck upstairs, kissed Al “hello”. Ouzo squeezed in between us snuggling with me, licking my bite wounds…. I fell asleep thinking….What a trip!

Would I do it again? ABSOLUTELY – ANYTIME!

All started with a small idea and the desire to help. It takes a community to do this. I still need fosters – everywhere. When I sent out a call for local fosters, Donde Buckowski stepped up immediately, and offered her home to one of the rescues.

Safe! Sophia (foreground) is available for adoption with LA!USA

Little “Sophia” is a Chihuahua mix with cow markings. Great with dogs, loves kitties, full of energy. Sophia has already a solid interest – after only few days.

safe! ESPERRRANZA, available for adoption via Let's Adopt!USA

I have little “Esperrranza”, a Chi( MinPin?) mix, who was going down for behavioral. “TIMID” her card said. I found her shivering in the back of her kennel, low to the ground, the noise level in her unit was unbearable – impossible to talk. Can you imagine a little dog in there for 2-3 weeks? I would be TIMID too. As soon as she knew she was safe – she gave kisses and one could just see the big sigh of relief in her entire body language. “Esperrranza” is available for adoption as well. There is some interest for her, but we’re still accepting applications for both of these dogs.

The standard Let’s Adopt! Adoption requirements apply:

• Must have another animal dog

• will be part of the family, not live in the garage, basement, or ever be left on a tie out or unsupervised in the yard.

• We are supporters of a species appropriate diet and all Let’s Adopt! animals are being fed a raw diet. (see http://www.rawlearning.com for more info).

• Adopter has to sign up with Facebook and create a photo album to share with the Let’s Adopt! community that shows the animal’s progress. (Or adopter can send pictures to me and I’ll set up the album for them)

We do not apply an adoption fee. Adopting one of our animals is a privilege not mercy. One can’t put a price tag on any of our animals.

Even if you can’t adopt, but would like to support our mission and rescue operations such as this, please contributing to the Let’s Adopt! Simba Fund

Many thanks to the following rescuers and agencies for their support and collaboration.

Annie Wong – Big Dawgs Rescue

Lori Wilson – Good Newz Pittie Pups Rescue

Melody Chen – FB cross poster and rescuer for the Contra Costa County Shelters.

Amy Sacks – Pixie Project

Theresa Shire – DogStar

and of course thanks to Billie+ David for housing and feeding me “HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DAVID!”, as well as “Matela” for sharing HER sofa with a human.

BE The Change -

it is not THAT difficult if you just put your mind to it.

~Misha

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