Dear Herd Critters,

I always find stray animals, and I always try to help them. I don't like to bring them to the shelter because I know animals are euthanized because there aren't enough homes for them. But often it is too hard to find good homes for them myself, and I do not always have the money to pay for their medical care and spay/neuter surgery. Any ideas?

-- Gloria in Texas


Dear Gloria,

One of the best ways to improve your rescue efforts is to connect with others in your area who share your goals. Forming a coalition is a way to make your efforts much more powerful and successful. You can view an example of one such coalition here:
http://www.sacanimal.org

You can connect with others who are already doing rescue in your area through Internet listings such as http://www.petfinder.org.

One other thing we recommend is joining online forums to network and learn from other "animal people" like you. Some examples of forums include:

http://forums.petfinder.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HumaneFundraising/
http://forums.craigslist.org/?forumID=26

And lastly, try not to take on more than you can handle! I know it's hard to do when you are a caring animal person. But when you try to care for more animals than you can physically and financially handle, you can stress yourself out. The more you take care of yourself, the more animals you will be able to help in the future!

Thanks for caring...

Hugs and kisses,
The Herd Critters