By Staff
Pet Refuge in Mishawaka is truly an amazing place.
My first visit to the shelter was last Saturday, where I had an appointment to do a story on how desperately they need volunteers to help out. As you know, we rarely travel into Indiana to do stories, but this was a special occasion as Pet Refuge was trying to get the word out to as many people as possible in every local city and town. Plus, from my understanding, we have a few volunteers who live in Niles as well as a number of people who adopt from that shelter.
After only a few minutes of being at the shelter, I knew volunteering was something I wanted to sign up for instantly. As you know from last week's column, I have a huge heart for animals.
Before the interview started, I had a chance to walk through one of the dog rooms. It's heartbreaking knowing that the only thing these animals want is someone to love and care for them.
After talking with the vice president and a few of the volunteers, it was clear this shelter does a lot more than just feed the animals and clean their cages. They actually take time to get to know each animal, spend quality time with them, have play dates and take them outside for a game of fetch. Like the vice president said "all they want is a few minutes of your attention and they are happy."
Even though these animals are homeless for now, it's nice knowing they have a great temporary home with so many caring people.
Another thing that makes Pet Refuge stand out is their adoption process. This is a shelter that takes time to make sure their four-legged friends are going to good homes.
Pet Refuge is a no-kill shelter, which means an animal can stay as long as possible until they find homes.
They take animals which are ill, old, young, large and small. In some cases, an animal becomes aggressive or has failing health, which makes it hard to find a good home. This is where a foster home comes in play. A few individuals open their doors for animals and take them in as their own.
If you're like me, you've always wanted to volunteer your time doing something. My excuse has always been that I don't have enough time, but in reality, I do. There are a few nights a week when I am done working around 5 or 6 p.m. and I know I can head to the shelter for a few hours of work. Not only will I feel good about myself, but I know I will be making a lot of animals happy just by coming in and saying "hey."
If you have a few days a week, this is something I highly suggest. Without more volunteers, the shelter is very limited to how many animals they can take in. On a daily basis, they have to turn animals away. What happens to those animals who cannot come to the shelter? Are they put back on the streets? Do they get dropped of in fields? Do they end up in the hands of an abusive owner? Or, are they unfortunate like most animals now and get put down for no reason, other than being homeless? Whatever the case, we need to help in anyway way we can.
It's also very rewarding when you adopt an animal from a shelter. It seems a lot of animals that come from shelters have bad reputations. I often hear people say "they are obviously in a shelter for a reason." Yes, true, but the majority of the time the only reason an animal is in a shelter is because their original owners couldn't take care of them or didn't take care of them properly. Most of these animals are just like any other family pet.
My dog came from a shelter and I will never have it any other way. My animals will always come from shelters now.
If people would start spaying and neutering their pets, the over-population could be solved. It's a very inexpensive surgery and any animal you adopt from a shelter has to be spayed or neutered.
On a different note, what is going on with all of the little dogs coming up missing? After the article ran in Monday's Daily Star about the family who's Miniature Pinscher, Sydney, has been missing, I got a phone call from the owner saying she received six phone calls that day from other people whose pets were gone. I know it's not uncommon for animals to get loose, but this many at one time? It's disgusting and I hope the person(s) responsible for this understands the consequences they are facing, not only with the law, but the angry owners as well.
I'd like to see them come try to take my dog. Good luck with that one!