For the past couple of years, my two grandsons have been collecting every dime and nickel they find in a glass jar. The jar, when filled, was to be given to help animals. Older grandson wanted to save the wolves, but we were unable to find an organization where we were assured this small amount of money would actually help. So in the end, the boys decided to donate their coins and a few dollars to a local rescue group that gets animals out of the euthanasia list and into homes and temporary rescue groups who foster these animals. This group attends adoption events, spends endless hours grooming the animals, and uses a good photographer to get a candid shot of the animal out of their cages and in a colorful, personality-laden photos that captures something special about each adoptable animal. We knew that this group was saving lives from a prior experience – one dog who had a bad case of mange was taken off the kill list by procuring pledges for financial assistance that would mean treatment – and life itself – to this particular animal. It worked, and that dog is now barely recognizable as the sad-eyed, mange-covered, depressed being she once was. She is now full of vitality, out of the shelter, and enjoying life with her permanent family.

Spare Change to Spare a Life

The day youngest grandson took the money to donate, the local shelter was buzzing with potential adopters and many wonderful animals were waiting in cages and glassed in rooms to meet their fate.  A volunteer came out and told youngest grandson that he was going to receive the VIP treatment for his generous donation; at six, he already knew that those initials meant, and said to me, “I am going to be a Very Important Person!” Photos were taken, the money was handed over, and the animals were visited. Outside was a dog park, which delighted youngest grandson no end – a loving, gentle Beagle offered licks and paw-touches, a feisty Terrier was game for a romp around the perimeter, and a three month old puppy was demonstrating his ability with barking and chewing — all in all, a wonderful, memorable day.

When youngest grandson asked about the amount of money in the jar (recounted, just in case they would not accept the loose change), I told him it was just under $40, an amount that included two last-minute pledges of $5 from each of two supporters.  He was disappointed it had not been at least $100, and promptly had his mum find a very large jar so he could start saving again. This time he displayed a bit more aggression in his procurement techniques, immediately eyeing a small box of change within a drawer, and asking a few relatives to donate.  With this new empowerment, this new idea that money can translate into saving lives, there is no limit to what he will be able to achieve. It is both simultaneously wonderful and tragic that by just finding spare change, one can spare a life. Reader, can  you spare a dime?

 Note: This was written a few months ago. I now volunteer at the same shelter.

As an animal shelter volunteer, I know what it is like to be up against a deadline, and in this case the term carries significant meaning. For many of the animals we serve, the clock is literally the line between being alive and being dead. Weekly we receive a list of urgent animals, those who have been overlooked for adoption or rescue and who are taking up kennel space that is sorely needed. They are on the euthanasia list for potential extinction.

Ending Euthanasia Lists

We are fortunate that our shelter is progressive and is decreasing the kill rate, but it is still a painful and unjust system that convicts the innocent because there is no room for them in the tiny enclosures they want so badly to leave. Most of the dogs get so very excited when you come with a leash, hoping that it means they will get some time in the kennel run, but it could also mean Taking the Final Walk to Oblivion. For those who are adopted, being set free from the shelter is almost too much to bear. I have photographed dogs who finally get to touch the grass after weeks in the shelter, who finally have their very own family, who get a car ride home, and who will soon learn what the term home really should mean. The anxiety in the receiving room bounces off the walls in squeaks and yowls. For cats, who have much less opportunity to be moved from their square little hostels, receiving usually means being put in yet another box for the ride home. Most of the animals suffer from trauma, neglect, anxiety and depression.

Life, Death, Tick, Tock

One is never far from the fateful, perennial ticking of the clock in a shelter. Come Monday, there will be another Urgent list. Our group of shelter support folks, those who try to raise money to get animals out of the shelter and into rescue, and who publicize the individual animals needing a home, maintains photos of those animals on the Urgent List. Our shelter offers all their adoption fees, which include full vetting, for half price to encourage homes for them. By the end of the week, we usually have at least half of the animals adopted or rescued, but it is that last day or two of struggle that is so heartbreaking. Anyone with a number of Facebook friends knows the frantic Animals on Death Row photos that start circulating, the pleas of desperation for someone to save their beloved animals. We see them not only in our localities, but across the nation and the world. If an animal is too fearful, too growly, too angry, or simply too common, they may lose all they have — life itself.

Time is running out for all of us, for the planet, too. For the animals in shelters, animals in forests, animals in abattoirs, animals in labs, the clock is ticking ever more ominously and urgently.

And the clock keeps ticking.

Please join in the efforts to value each animal’s life as precious – go vegan, support your local shelter, protest all animal use.

A few weeks ago, I attended the DFW No Kill Workshop in Addison, Texas. Among the many inspirational speakers was vegan No Kill advocate, Nathan Winograd. Because I had heard so much negativity about the No Kill movement, I was eager to attend and learn about the movement firsthand. Was it true that this plan meant warehousing animals for months, even years? That it would mean leaving stray animals on the streets, with no place to house them? That it was irresponsible, requires large sums of money and enlarged shelters? The answers: no, no, and no, no, no. What No Kill advocates is much of what vegan activists advocate: a change in thinking. Once we change our belief system, everything else becomes possible. While few public shelters become 100% no kill, many make astounding strides in saving thousands of animal lives simply by changing their attitudes about possibilities.  Since only about 20% of animals are procured from our shelters, changing that statistic alone is bound to help.

Here are some interesting points:

• Most of the large animal advocacy groups oppose No Kill often misstating what it means
• Local shelters which have moved towards No Kill have reduced kill rates significantly
• Many shelters kill even when they have ample open cages
• The biggest single change required is a change in attitude: all animal lives matter!

Can No Kill Mean Vegan?

While most No Kill advocates are not yet vegan, some are vegan. It would be my hope that the No Kill movement would eventually widen to include all animals, not just companion animals. As an ethical vegan, there is concern for the animals in the tins, the ones that are fed to all the rescued shelter animals; we have to be concerned for their lives, too. Ending all pet breeding would be a start in the right direction, but when large wealthy groups like HSUS support pet breeding, it is doubtful that will happen anytime soon. Educating adopters about feeding their newly adopted dogs plant-based foods would be a good idea, too, but if they are still eating animals themselves, there is much education that needs to take place before that can happen.

Seagoville in our North Texas area saved 97% of the animals in their care in 2011, saving all but 15 of the 568 animals in their shelter. Other neighboring shelters which have not adopted the No Kill ethic had save rates as low as 33%. Our local animal shelter has a supportive group of volunteers that are bringing the kill ratios down significantly by a determination to value each and every life that enters the shelter. They know these animals by names they have given them; they promote them on social media sites. They attend mobile pet adoption events and help to get the word out to their friends. They fundraise and work hard to increase fosters so that more animals can get out of the shelters with their lives. And it is working.

Valuing the Invisible Animals, Too

The kill rates for slaughterhouses are close to 100%. We currently have no way to get those animals out of the treacherous lines marching them to their death. However, the same change in thinking which has caused such dramatic drops in killing for domesticated companion animals, must be changed for animals commodified for food, clothing, and entertainment. We must not tolerate the abuse and torment of animals for product testing or scientific research. If animal lives matter, and they do, we must widen the idea of No Kill to be all inclusive. It is appalling to me that Nathan Winograd has been attacked by other animal activists, by large animal advocacy groups that themselves kill thousands of animals, and by the ignorant who do not understand what the No Kill ethic is and how it works. But I still have one question that I was unable to get answered the day of the No Kill Workshop: as an ethical vegan, how can we increase the ethic of No Kill to include all animals, regardless of species?