National Animal Shelter Appreciation Week

National Animal Shelter Appreciation Week (Nov 2-8) was organized by the Humane Society of the United States to remind us of the importance of our local animal shelters. Animal shelters provide a valuable service to our cities and towns by keeping stray animals off the streets, rescuing injured animals, returning lost pets to their owners, and helping families find new pets.

As part of a school community service project, my daughter and I went to our local shelter last week and asked what they needed. She wanted to volunteer, but they prefer older teenagers and adults, so she had to settle for donating. (Yeah, she'll earn the money through chores.) I hadn't realized that our shelter is running perpetually short on cat litter, dog food, and chewies for the dogs.

Animal shelters -- even the ones that aren't "no-kill" -- keep dogs and cats alive longer than if they were stray and trying to survive on their own. Foraging in an urban environment is very hard on an animal and it's even more difficult in a rural environment. Cars hit roaming dogs and cats. Stray animals may wander into another animal's territory and be injured in a fight. Small dogs and cats are easy prey for wild animals.

All the dogs in my life have come to me as strays -- Shadow, Panama, and Sam from shelters; Russkie from Bark (a stray adopted by someone else) who wasn't spayed quickly enough; Otis and Molly when someone dumped them off in the country and they made their way to live underneath a house; and the latest, Jackson. Jackson got adopted when we went to the animal shelter last week. That's his picture at the top of the post.

So remember the animal shelters this week. Volunteer if you have time. Donate if you have money.