Two different animal hoarding and cruelty cases have been reported in the past week in the Seattle – Tacoma area. 36 dogs were seized from a home in the Midland area last week, the second time authorities have taken animals from the same home. On Thursday, over 200 animals were seized from a hoarding situation in West Seattle and are currently in the care of Seattle Animal Shelter.
I imagine your response is the same as mine. “How can people do this?” “How are people allowed to do this?” I have moved through all the waves of emotions over the last 48 hours, and my heart truly hurts for any of the animals that were harmed in these cases. But I am not here to play keyboard warrior and start lashing out. There are enough comment threads out there with basement vigilantes saying all the harsh words from behind their computer screens. I am not going to do that, and I implore you to use this article as a way to turn your anger into action.
How can you help? Here’s a handful of ways:
DONATE and FOSTER:
Organizations like Seattle Animal Shelter and the Humane Society of Tacoma and Pierce County bear the bulk of the burden in these seizure cases, being the first option to care and re-home all of these animals. When taking in the animals from West Seattle, SAS put an immediate call out to fosters and donors for open homes and supplies to help offset the immense need.
The simplest way to help is to financially donate to an organization when they have a large, sudden intake. Even $5 can feed a dog for a week, so don’t discount every penny that you may be able to offer. It may be cliche, but every single donation adds up.
Have some time and energy to spare? Signing up to foster with these organizations puts you on an emergency list to take in last second animals, and allows organizations to say yes when they are faced with these large influxes of animals. No one is ever going to make YOU say yes, but it makes a rescue organization feel good to know they have options (trust me). Plus, you get a lot of good karma in return!
DO YOUR RESEARCH:
I am not going to tell people to ONLY adopt from a rescue and avoid breeders. I know how unrealistic that is, and you can “rescue” an animal and still be contributing to a backyard breeder. Instead, I beg you, no matter where you get your animal, do your research. Here are some things to look out for:
- Rescues and shelters will most likely have a 501(c)3 status, especially if they accept donations. You can look up any nonprofit organizations status by a simple Google search.
- Reputable breeders will have paperwork to show the lineage of their dogs. At the very least, you should be able to meet the parents if you are getting a puppy.
- Every place that tries to give you a dog should also be open to showing you how that dog lives. If they scoff at you, take it as a sign. (Author note: I have worked in a shelter that had multiple facilities for different kinds of animals, and only one adoption location. I know it happens, but I still find it sketchy.)
BE AWARE:
Hoarding situations can exist for a long time before anyone notices. Be alert. It is possible to request “Welfare Checks” on situations where people appear to be either hoarding, or abusing animals. If you see something, say something. And keep a log of when you report things, to keep a running timeline of events. These may become important if someone is caught.
REDIRECT YOUR RAGE:
Once again, I implore you to keep your rage off the message boards, and redirect them towards someone who could do something. We all know that we have some major elections coming up (VOTE!), and your opportunity to demand change starts at the polls. Researching where your local politicians (City Council, Mayors, etc) stand on animal cruelty is a great way to vote the right people into office.
Once politicians are in office, it is up to us to pressure them to change laws around animal cruelty. Imagine if every Facebook or Twitter comment launched aimlessly into the ether was instead sent to the office of your local official. Imagine flooding the members of your City Council with the realities of hoarding and cruelty cases. Harnessing your rage into an email and sending it to someone who can actually change the law is a much better use of your energy than aimlessly typing away on a message board. REAL CHANGE STARTS WITH YOU!
News feeds are flooded with miserable updates on a minute by minute basis. Things can be very overwhelming in times like these, where the world feels like it is collapsing. But we in the animal welfare community have the ability to change and support the organizations and communities in charge of dealing with these animal cruelty cases. There are a lot of options for anyone to take. Now it’s on all of us to be better.
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