Start an Animal SanctuaryHow to Help Animals

Photo Credit:Animals Australia

It is a dream of many animal lovers to do something dramatic like start an animal sanctuary, or stop the whole world eating meat (I wish), but sometimes it is the small things that count. Here are 10 things you can do right away to help animals and make a difference.

1. Go Vegan - Choosing a vegan diet is the ultimate form of activism. You are leading by example and sending a clear message that you will not stand for animal cruelty (not to mention environmental destruction). Not only will you help animals by not contributing to their abuse, but you will become healthier and have a clear conscience. That’s a great start if ever I’ve heard of one.

You don’t have to live a life of denial to be a vegan. There is an amazing array of vegan food and if you cook you can create beautiful dishes that will wow your family and friends. You can make vegan versions of most meat dishes with a little thought and creativity. Go on, give it a try.

2. Volunteer – If you love animals and want to help in a hands on way, look up some local animal shelters in the Yellow Pages/online and give them a call to see whether you can volunteer. Volunteering with animals, or even in the office of an animal rights organization is an incredibly rewarding experience and a great help. Check out our page on volunteering for more info.

3. Leafleting - Contact your local animals rights organization or go online to sites like Peta or Animals Australia and order some leaflets on an animal rights issue you care about. If you have a decent printer, you can download literature straight away. Once your leaflets arrive you can walk around your local area and post them in letter boxes. You could also leaflet in public areas like shopping centres or universities. College students are often very open to change.

Look out for our post on leafleting coming up soon.

4. Write a Letter - I set myself a new year’s resolution this year to write at least 1 letter a week regarding an animal rights issue (goodness know there are enough issues to choose from). You can write to the editor of a local paper regarding a local issue (such as the circus or rodeo coming to town), or write directly to a company that tests on animals urging them to rethink the cruelty they inflict. Getting the word out about animal rights can really make a difference and it is something you can do right now.

5. Spend Time With Your Pets - For those of you who have pets it is important to make time for them every day. Not only for the basics like feeding, grooming etc, but also exciting and fun dog walks on the beach or in the forest.

Living with animals is not just a matter of caring for their basic needs (although you must do that too), but giving them the best quality of life possible. Give them as much one on one play time and cuddle time as possible.

If you haven’t yet had your pet neutered, book in the appointment straight away.

6. Join/Start a Local Animal Rights Group – Do some research to find out whether there is a local animal rights group in your area. If you can’t find anything take steps to start your own group. Check out this page for tips on how to do this.

7. Online Activism – If you are active in any online social groups like Facebook, Myspace or Twitter, add links to animal rights organizations in your profile. You can also add links in your email signature. You can also join animal rights online groups on Facebook where you can meet like-minded people and share ideas. This is also a great way to spread the message to your online friends who don’t know much about animal rights.

8. Go Shopping – We all love an excuse to shop and this is the perfect opportunity. Invest in some T shirts, buttons, stickers, bags or other accessories that have an anti-cruelty message. These are available from many charities and online retailers, but why not check out PETA’s store for starters. I love their stuff. It looks good and sends an important message.

9. Help Wildlife – Let’s not forget our wild neighbors. If you have a garden buy/make a bird table and hang bird feeders. This is especially important in the cold Winter months. Not only will you be helping wildlife, you can also get the fantastic opportunity to watch your local wildlife from the comfort of your own home. You can also plant native flowers and plants to attract butterflies and insects.

If you have some spare time and really want to help out you can join a wildlife rescue group such as WIRES here in Australia. Becoming a wildlife carer could be incredibly rewarding.

10. Boycott Companies that Test on Animals – Many cosmetics and household products are cruelly tested on animals. Luckily there are some great animal friendly alternatives. Make sure you write a letter to the companies you are boycotting to let them know why and to urge them to change. You can also spread the word to family and friends to try and get them to join you.

Check out this website for a list of Australian products not tested on animals.

BUAV also has lots of information on how to stop companies testing on animals.

Do you have any other ideas of how we could help animals? Add your comments below.

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Photo Credit: DebateitOut.com

If you feel helpless when it comes to animal rights, perhaps you should consider joining a local animal rights group, or if one doesn’t exist, start your own!

One of my favorite times of the month is when David and Me attend our local Animal Liberation meetings. It is a great chance to be around like-minded people and think of ideas to help animals. It is amazing how when we all put our heads together we can get things done. Jobs like making placards are so much more fun when you are in a group. You can also do things just for fun, like hold a vegan pot luck, or bbq, making it a great chance to socialize.

Not only can you organize leaflet drops, stalls and protests as a group. You can also enjoy the company of other animal activists and feel good knowing you are taking action for something you believe in.

If you live in Australia you can check out Animal Liberation and Animals Australia websites to see whether there is already an animal action group in your local area. If you live elsewhere just Google animal rights organizations in your area and see what comes up. You can also contact organizations like PETA to see whether they can put you in touch with a local group.

If there is no group local to you, then you can start your own.

You may wish to contact a large organization such as PETA, so you can use their pamphlets etc for leafleting and join in their action network. The other option is to start your own general group and not affiliate with just one organization. Some people prefer to start  a group specific to one area of animal activism. For example, an anti fur group or an anti-vivisection group. This is good for people who feel strongly about these issues, but not so much others.

Finding People to Join Your Animal Action Group

If you already have a group of friends who want to help animals then that is a great start, but ideally you want as many people to come together as possible to make the group really effective. Here are some ideas to promote your animal rights group:

• Place an advert in your local paper - This is how I found out about the first animal rights group I joined. A simple classified ad. It barely costs anything and is totally worth it. Something like   -

Animal Rights Group Meeting (Date) at Town Hall.

Open to all animal lovers.

A great place to meet like-minded people and make a difference.

Snacks and drinks provided.

Gold coin donation. (Name and Phone Number)

It is a good idea to place an ad the week before every meeting and send out an email, so people don’t forget.

• Leafleting – Design a simple leaflet informing people of the meeting. You can distribute this to local mail boxes. You can also ask shops whether you can display it in the window. Be sure to include a contact phone number/email and the time and place of the meeting.

• Contact Large Animal Rights Organizations - Send PETA, or your countries main animal rights group an email. They may be able to put you in contact with people in your area who want to help animals.

• Word of mouth – Talk to people. Many people love animals and may not know that much about animal rights. Still they could add value to your group and you could help them learn more about animal rights.

How Often Do You Want to Hold a Meeting?

Organizing an animal action group does take work, so don’t set your sights too high to start with. Most people will not be able to attend a meeting every week. A Monthly meeting is a good place to start. You may want to hold the meeting on a weekday evening (around 7pm) or on the weekend. Choose one and then listen to your members to see what would work best for them (and you) in the future.

Book a Venue

Usually a local youth club, church or leisure centre will have rooms you can rent out for the meeting. You will probably not need much room to start with. If there is a place you can plug the kettle in that is great. Ask for a gold coin donation from members to help you pay, or talk to the venue and see whether they will give you a reduced price or a free room for the meeting.

When it comes to the day of the meeting put a sign on the door with your Animal Rights Group name, so people know they have come to the right placed.

Agenda

Plan an agenda of things to discuss. If people want to add things to the agenda they can contact you before the meeting.

You may want to schedule in some multimedia to make things more interesting. Animal rights DVDs are available from most organizations and could provide a great intro to the movement for newbies.

There will be debate – there always is and things will get off track. This is fine, but the agenda will give you a frame for the meeting.

Take Minutes

Jot down any ideas that the group comes up with in the meeting. You can then email the group a copy later (be sure to take everyone’s names and emails).

Make it your goal to plan at least one event every meeting, whether it is having people run a stall, leafleting or a protest. You can delegate jobs to others as well.

See whether you can get hold of leaflets, stickers etc from one of the major animal rights organizations. That way people can take them before they go home. After all a lot of people who come to the meeting may not have any idea of the cruelty involved in the dairy or meat industry. Be accepting and encouraging to these people and allow them to become informed. You should welcome all animal lovers who want to make a difference into the group.

Don’t Be Ashamed of Small Beginnings

So only two people show up on the first meeting? No worries – it’s a start! Be sure to give people leaflets with the meeting time and place for them to distribute if they want to. This will help publicize the meeting for next time.

No matter how small a difference you can make to the suffering of animals it still helps and it is worth it. Even if one person picks up a leaflet and decides to go veggie, that is a fantastic accomplishment.

So take action and make 2010 the year you really make a difference!

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Where as the point of a pet animal sanctuary is clear (to rescue and re-home unwanted pets), a farm animal sanctuary causes some people to scratch their heads. After all there is no way that we could rescue all the farm animals from abuse and slaughter. In fact the tiny amount that are rescued by a farm sanctuary do not even make a dent in the huge amount of abuse faced by the rest of their species.

The point of a farm sanctuary is not to rescue every farmed animal. There is no way anyone could.  Of course each animal that is rescued from slaughter, factory farming or whatever life of abuse they suffered is an individual and this is an important point to remember. Each and every life saved is worth the effort, care and love. At least a few farm animals will have the chance to express their natural behavior and live a life free from abuse, suffering and a horrific death.

In the scheme of things though, most people in the animal rights movement will see the most important role of these sanctuaries as education. Farm sanctuaries that open to the public give both kids and adults a chance to get up close and personal with farm animals, probably for the first time in their lives. Watching videos from the huge Farm Sanctuary in the USA, you can see members of the public giving a blissful pig a belly scratch, cuddling a chicken or stroking a turkey. They can watch these animals expressing their natural behaviors and see how much they enjoy it.

Many people will just come for a fun day out with the kids (everyone loves animals right?), but will leave with fresh knowledge that these animals are sentient beings capable of a wide variety of feelings. They will also see these animals as they should be kept. These experiences can be enough for some people to begin questioning the way they live and the choices they make.

It is a good idea to have an education centre at the sanctuary so that people can learn more about the animals they meet and the inhumane way they are treated on modern farms. Even if a small percentage of these people decide to make the change to vegetarian or veganism then it is worth it. There are opportunities for schools to spend the day at some farm sanctuaries. Imagine the impact that day could have on the kids.

I think a compassionate life is a life worth living and by starting a farm sanctuary I hope to join others in not only saving individual animals and giving them a safe and happy life, but also in educating the public and advocating for change.

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One of the best things I have ever done was my volunteer work at an animal sanctuary in the UK (where I used to live). I had always loved animals and I was a vegetarian at the time, but it was the time spent at the sanctuary that made it clear to me that one day I wanted to run my own sanctuary. I had no idea that it would be here in NSW Australia, but I knew that I wanted to make helping animals my life.

For anyone who is considering making saving animals their life, it is a great idea to spend some time volunteering. Not only can you help a charity and gain valuable hands on experience with animals, but you can also get an idea of whether the sanctuary lifestyle is really for you. Volunteering can be a real eye opener. It shows you the good, such as when an animal is placed in a wonderful home, or when you are able to offer refuge to stray animals and the bad, such as when animals fall ill, or die. You can also see the huge costs involved in food, care, shelter and veterinary treatment.

The sanctuary I volunteered at was fairly small, but was a wonderful refuge to many animals. There were around 70 cats, rabbits, rats, chinchillas, geese, chickens, ducks, 2 white donkeys Ivy and Noel and Dennis, the naughty Shetland pony. We also had a wonderful Jersey cow named Annabel. There were only ever a few dogs at a time, but the dogs that came in were all placed in wonderful new homes.

I usually helped out (along with my best friend Melissa) in the morning and our first job was to clean out around 5o cat litter trays (some cats shared). That was a smelly way to start the day, but once all the animals were clean, fed and watered it felt wonderful and we would start on the huge pile of washing up.

After all the daily chores we would enjoy walking the dogs, or making play areas for the chinchillas or rabbits. It was a really great time.

I have also volunteered at a wildlife sanctuary, horse sanctuary and I have helped out with admin work at the offices of various animal rights organizations.

If you would like to volunteer for an animal sanctuary or animal rights organization do a Google search for your local groups. For example, if you live in Sydney you could search for: ‘Sydney animal sanctuary’. Then take a look through the results and see whether any websites come up that offer volunteer opportunities. If you know of smaller organizations that may not have a website, just contact them by phone and ask if they would like any help. Even if you only have one day free a week, you could make a difference to a charity and gain experience.

This year I am busy working my butt off, saving for a deposit for the farm sanctuary I plan to set up, but I would also like to gain a little more experience. I know there is an RSPCA shelter near me, which would accept volunteers, but I plan to research to see whether there are any other organizations around the area.

The RSPCA do some things differently than I would. I worked briefly at another branch of the RSPCA and although I saw many animals come in and find new and happy homes I also saw many things that disturbed me. Examples included purposefully giving volunteers grotty jobs (like dealing with dead animals), so as not to have to bother to teach them properly and putting healthy animals to sleep when there was still room in the shelter.

I am sure other branches of the RSPCA would not treat volunteers so badly, as usually volunteers are highly valued and relied upon by these organizations.

If you do want to volunteer at an RSPCA branch you could begin to make a difference from the inside and perhaps help the animals. There are many staff within the RSPCA that care deeply for animals. However it only takes a few people (especially if they are managers, or in a powerful position) to well and truly mess things up.

If you are a volunteer leave a comment and let us know what you have been doing. If you cannot commit to running your own animal sanctuary, volunteering or fostering rescued animals could be a great way to help animals, whilst you continue on your own path.

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If you have read my previous posts you will be aware that I am slightly obsessed with Farm Sanctuary in the USA (NY and California). David and I would love to set up something very similar here in NSW Australia. It is well worth checking out Farm Sanctuary’s website if you are planning to set up your own animal rescue, or if you just love animals. There is a great gift shop, where you can order loads of cool animal stuff and my personal favorite, gorgeous farm sanctuary videos. It is a true delight to see these lucky few animals that have been rescued from horrible fates.

Here is one of their new videos and one that I love of Angelo the lamb:

There are loads more amazing videos at the Farm Sanctuary site. Why not head over and check it out?