Animal Charities

There are people dying all over the world and every day we read about some natural disaster striking some faraway land (or even some land not so far away), floods, tsunamis, earthquakes, hurricanes, volcanic eruptions. Charities are afraid that people are now getting a bit overloaded, we all sit watching the TV news followed by the appeals for help, and though at first we try to do something and maybe telephone the emergency number to donate a few dollars to the helpline, eventually we get a little bit blaze about the whole thing.

Millions of people are, however, still suckers for a mistreated puppy or kitten. If we're such a nation of animal lovers, why are the animal charities and sanctuaries so over-crowded with mistreated or abandoned pets? Have you ever thought about that one? It seems that half of the country wants to dress up their pets in diamante collars and designer jackets, and the other half don't even remember to feed them. We have an epidemic of obese pets living right alongside those which are subjected to daily cruelty and starvation.

Fortunately we have a growing band of workers and volunteers who do their best to care for these mistreated animals and find them loving homes. The thing is that these animals are at our mercy aren't they? They don't have the means to defend themselves, feed themselves, care for themselves. The slogan "a dog is for life, not just for Christmas" has been around for years now, but still the animal charities find themselves overloaded with puppies and kittens before the New Year celebrations are complete. Cute puppies or kittens which have actually proved to be a little more destructive than was first thought, perhaps the house training isn't going quite so well or they've realized that walking a puppy early in the mornings and late in the evenings requires a little dedication.

All charities are having it tough right now, and animal charities have to compete with lots of other extremely just and worthwhile causes who are all desperately in need of help.

We can only do what we can do, the economic crisis has left many families struggling to pay to feed their own families, never mind to have any spare to donate to animal charities, but they do important work and they do need our support, so if you can help, please do.