Volunteering is the lifeblood of animal rescue
Walking dogs and socializing cats at shelters,
or handling rescue dogs at adoption events are sorely needed.
But, there are many more ways to volunteer in the rescue field.
Read on for a variety of options to consider..
Volunteer Opportunities Are Diverse
Just take a look at some ideas below, and even come up with some ideas of your own to help a local shelter, rescue, or even legislative advocacy group.
- Designing flyers to promote adoptable dogs or cats
- Sharing adoptable dogs and cats on social media
- Get involved in local animal advocacy legislation efforts
- Transport shelter pets to vet appointments (i.e. spay/neuter, surgery)
- Drive a leg of a transport trip bringing pets from high kill shelters to local rescues
- Volunteer handling pets or assisting in other ways at local shelter or rescue events
- Take photos of adoptable dogs or cats to promote them for adoption
- Host a donation drive for a local shelter or rescue
Fostering
Fostering is an essential and valuable way to volunteer.
Shelters and rescues rely on foster homes to not only expand intake capabilities, but to help pets decompress, recover from medical care, and help socialize them.
As a foster for a shelter or rescue organization you can open up a shelter space, interface with any medical appointments that may be necessary, and help to learn about and nurture a homeless pet while adoption efforts are explored.
Talk to your local shelter or rescue organizations to learn about how you might qualify to foster! Each organization will have their own procedures and outline what they cover in terms of expenses etc. Along with time frame expectations.
Transport
“Drive A Leg, Save A Life”
Legs of trips are often scheduled to allow volunteers to share the effort for longer distances to transfer pets from high kill shelters to rescue elsewhere.
Transporting is a collaborative effort that should be taken seriously as one needs to be extremely cautious when shuttling animals in their care. Ensuring that dogs don’t get loose during transfer from one transporter to another is a risk factor to be taken quite seriously.
There are various volunteer transport groups, some are on facebook, but two options are provided below. Doobert is a site that works with transports nationwide and helps them to map legs of trips.
Lost Pet Assistance
Even lost pet groups need volunteers
You would be astonished to learn about how many pets go missing everyday in your community! Sharing social posts is a huge way to assist in getting the word out.
n addition to providing a database for lost and found pets, PetFBI allows you to become a Pet FBI Special Agent, to assist as owners are looking for lost pets.
PetFBI interfaces with many local and State lost pet pages, some of which interface with Lost Dogs of America. These pages rely on tireless volunteers to provide tips and share sighting for owners of lost pets and people who spot them in their communities!
Additional sites for potential volunteer options:
