Share Their Stories
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Two things:
1) By now we all know about “foreclosure pets,” the animals left behind when a family loses their home. But there’s another tragic story behind some dogs’ homelessness: suicide. A friend of a friend committed suicide recently. His weimaraner , Smokey, now needs a new home. She is spayed and has up-to-date vaccinations. She’s a little older and she’s a little overweight. If you or someone you know can adopt her, please comment here or send me a private email and I’ll forward the info along. Thank you.
(Image above is NOT Smokey. I don’t have a picture of her yet. But this is basically what she looks like. The image is Savannah, a weimaraner whose picture I found on DC Area Weimaraner Rescue.)
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2) The above story, though it doesn’t say much about Smokey, relays enough information for most people to feel sympathy for her. Some of those people will go out of their way to help find a home for her. Simply stated, the above TRUE story is an example of “selling compassion.”
Nathan Winograd makes the point (in Redemption) that one of the most successful methods of finding homes for homeless animals is to personalize the animals: share their stories. If animal shelters share an animals’ story, that animal is more likely to be adopted and thus spared euthanasia.
There’s something about us that makes us care more about individuals whom we get to know than about strangers. Sharing an animals’ personal story is one way of making that animal less of a stranger and more of a part of the family.
Whether we’re trying to get people to care about dogs or care about cows, sharing the animals’ story goes a LONG way:
(Cross-posted at Selling Compassion)
I think you are absolutely right about the effectiveness of sharing animal stories to promote compassion. Many people love their “pets” because they get to know them as individuals and can see they have personalities, feelings, intelligence etc. That’s one of the reasons I love places like Farm Sanctuary. People get to meet farm animals up close and personal and see that they are very much like the cats and dogs they know and love and every bit as deserving of love and respect.
I wonder if there are any no-kill dog and cat shelters that offer “sponsorship” opportunities for people who want to provide money to care for an animal but don’t have the means, or the space, to adopt them.
Matt – lots of sanctuaries offer “sponsorships.” In fact, that’s a great blog post idea
Farm Sanctuary: http://www.farmsanctuary.org/get_involved/aafa/
Peaceful Prairie: http://www.peacefulprairie.org/help.html#sponsor
Animal Acres: http://www.animalacres.org/pops/adoption.html
Best Friends: https://www.bestfriends.org/donate/sponsorRandom.cfm
I’m sure there are TONS of other ones, too.
Yes, the farm animal sanctuaries do, but maybe a good idea for “pet” shelters to do the same. Good to know Best Friends does it.
Update about Smokey:
My sister and her roommate adopted her. Now that I’ve met Smokey, I know more: she’s about 8 years old, she’s very gentle and loving, she knows sit, down, and she’s house-trained. She gets along well with other dogs (haven’t tried the cats yet). And she is, indeed, obese. My husband jokes that her doggy mass index is off the charts. So, she’s on a diet now.
If you’re interested in adopting a dog, please take a look here:
* PetFinder: http://www.petfinder.com/
* Pets911: http://www.pets911.com/
* PetHarbor: http://www.petharbor.com/
* AdoptAPet: http://adoptapet.com/