purrsandhisses.com

Be Kind to Animals Week®
May 4 to 10, 2008

The American Humane Association created Be Kind to Animals Week in 1915 to celebrate the unique bond between humans and animals.
How Can I Be Kind to Animals?
Here are some simple things you can do during Be Kind to Animals week and throughout the year to show kindness to animals:

Speak out for animals. Get active in local animal welfare policies and legislation. Also, register with us to receive timely Action Alerts about issues affecting animals. You’ll be able to make a difference for animals with just the click of your mouse.

Report animal abuse. While acts of violence against animals are tragic in their own right, they are also a red flag for other violent behavior, including domestic abuse and violent crime.

Appreciate wildlife. Create an inviting space in your yard and garden for butterflies, hummingbirds and other creatures.

Share kindness. Teach the people in your life, especially children, about the importance of being kind to animals.

Make a donation to your local animal shelter. A donation can be your time, money, or needed items like pet food or laundry detergent. Call them first and see what they need.

Adopt a pet from a shelter or rescue organization. Approximately 8 to 12 million animals enter our nation’s shelters every year, and more than half of these pets will have to be euthanized because of a lack of homes. Local shelters are the best place to find companion animals, even purebreds — one out of every four dogs in a shelter is a purebred.

Help solve the tragedy of euthanasia of adoptable animals by not contributing to the problem. If you have pets, make sure they are spayed or neutered. Pets should be microchipped and should always wear a collar with an ID tag, so they can be reunited with you quickly if they are ever lost.

Be a responsible pet guardian. Keep a collar with an ID tag on your pet, in case he or she gets lost, and take your pet to the veterinarian every year for vaccinations and a health check.

Feeding hungry animals in Missoula along with most of Western Montana is a huge job for someone to undertake. Karyn Moltzen accepted, thus creating Animeals of Missoula. This excerpt explaining Animeals was taken directly from their fabulous website.

AniMeals began as a food bank for animals.

We recently expanded our work to include a rescue operation, which consists of saving the lives of animals marked for euthanasia.
We pull these animals out of overcrowded shelters and put them into our foster network until we can find forever homes for them. Once in our care, they are spayed/neutered, vaccinated for rabies and distemper, and micro-chipped so that they never have to face the threat of euthanasia again.

Ten million animals are lost or abandoned every year and five million of them are destroyed. The numbers are staggering. We are working to bring about a time when no more animals are killed just because they have lost their homes.

We need funds to continue this work. Please send your donations to:

AniMeals

1700 Rankin Street

Missoula, MT 59808

We are a registered 501 ( c ) (3) non-profit corporation. Our tax-exempt charitable organization is supported entirely by private contributions. All donations are tax-deductible to the fullest extent allowed by law.

According to the website over 101 lives have been saved to date. Even if you don’t live in Montana, I urge you to visit www.Animeals.com. Even if you can’t donate, please take in the information that they have and perhaps use it to create an organization like theirs in your community.