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.

Incoming search terms for the article:

• ways to save animals
• top 10 sanctuary
• list of things we get from animals
• ways to take care of animals
• [10]how to take care of animals
• ways to take care animals
• animal help
• steps to save animals
• google
• ways on how to take care of the animals
• how animals help us to earn money
• a list of ways to save animals
• if you had money what animals would you most want to help?
• NAMES OF ANIMALS SANCTUARY
• raise money for your animal shelter
• how to raise money for animal shelters
• ten ways to save animals
• Make money saving animals
• animal sanctuary names
• why do we need to help animals
• how i can help animals
• help animals today
• ten things on how to take care animals
• ways on how to care for animals
• ways how to take care of the animals
• ways take care of the animals
• list of animals that give us things
• list of anti cruelity to animals groups
• ideas for raising money for animals
• what are the most common ways to take care animals
• Ways on to take care animals
• companies that help animals
• the best thing you can do for the world is to go vegan
• helping animals
• environmental destruction to animals
• ways of caring animals
• Ways to save animal resources
• ways to make money by animals
• effective things for animals
• ideas to help animals
• some ways to save animals
• How to raise money to build an animal sanctuary
• what things you can do for your animal shelter
• list ways of caring the animal
• list ways of caring the animals
• things you need to help animals
• things we get from animals
• what ways we do to save animals
• local things you can raise money for
• make a list 10 animals
• a list of sanctuaries for animals
• top 10 ways you can help animals today
• top 10 ways to save the animals
• how that you can take care of animals
• list of things that we can get from animals
• names of animal suntuary
• how do animal shelters make money
• WHY U WANT TO HELPS FOR SANCTUARIES BIRDS
• things you need to start a dog shelter
• things which we get from animal
• ten things we get from animals
• things you use that we get from animals
• things to no when starting an animal shelter
• taking care of the animals pictures\
• ten things wildlife
• take care of animals in your environment
• things to make for an animal shelter
• things be get from animals
• things that some animals give us
• things that we get from animals
• things animal gives us
• things to do to help animals
• thing to help animals like a vegetarian
• THING THAT NEED HELP ANIMALS
• things to do to save animals
• things to do to save wildlife
• the way to safe animal
• things to do when you have an animal shelter
• the best way to earn money to help animals?
• things to help animals
• things to help the animals
• things to help wildlife
• things animals gives
• sanctuaries animal photos with names
• pictures on how to take care of animals
• pictures things we get from animals
• proper ways in caring for the animals picture
• public companies helping animals
• raise money animal shelters
• raising money to build animal shelter
• rescue email signature ideas
• right ways of taking care of animals
• what is the best way to raise money for animal shelters
• Pictures of things we obtain from animals
• pictures of things that we can get from animals
• names of animals that get rescued
• names of things we get from animals with pictures
• nice things to do for an animal shelter
• organizations helping animals in australia
• ow do 10 year olds raise money to get a dog

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.

Incoming search terms for the article:

• how to start farm animal sanctuary
• starting a farm from scratch

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?