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Freedom Action of the Week
Email List Archive
Free-Market.Net's F r e e d o m A c t i o n o f t h e W e e k
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Edited by Mary Lou Seymour. To subscribe or unsubscribe to this
and other lists, click to: http://www.free-market.net/features/lists/
Fourth Week of August, 2002:
Support private animal rescue efforts
How often do you see a sign saying "Free Kittens" or "Free
Puppies" on a community bulletin board or in someone's yard, or,
an ad in the weekly shopper? This time of year, breeding season,
summer to fall, I bet you see a lot of them. And how many stray
cats and dogs do you see, usually starving and mangy, rummaging
through trash cans or slinking in the shadows? Every sign or ad
you see, every stray cat or dog, is another indication that too many
folks in this country, which prides itself on self reliance and taking
responsibility for our actions, do exactly the opposite.
I'm sure I don't need to "preach" responsibility to libertarians, who,
after all, are supposed to be firmly behind the principle of "with
freedom comes responsibility." I'm sure all of you do spay or neuter
your pets and take care to find them a good home if you move to a
"no pets allowed" environment.
But there are thousands or perhaps millions of pet "owners" out
there who can't be bothered to take the time and minimal funds
needed to ensure that their pets are taken care of in a responsible
manner, and either discard the results of their irresponsibility, or, at
best, put a "free kittens" sign in their yard or take the unwanted
discards to the government animal control shelters, so the rest of
us will have to pay for their irresponsibility. In addition, the
increasing burden put on the government shelters by these
irresponsible pet owners is causing calls for undesirable
government intervention, such as mandatory licensing.
Due to the increasing number of uncaring, irrepressible pet owners
and the sheer volume of unwanted pets "dumped" on the
government "animal control" shelters, the government shelters have
little choice but to kill those animals who are unadoptable after a
certain length of time.
This is where we can take action. There are private organizations,
in almost every town, that operate "no kill" shelters. These
organizations rescue unwanted animals, give them medical
attention (including spaying/neutering), "foster" them with
responsible, caring individuals, and offer them for adoption. These
organizations also may offer "TNR" (trap-neuter-return) campaigns,
where adult stray animals are captured, neutered, and then
released again. Though not as desirable as adoption, TNR efforts at
least function as humane animal control, helping to prevent the
stray animal population from continuing to explode.
This week, I'm asking you to take action to help those millions of
unwanted animals who have been discarded and to support the
efforts of the "no kill" private shelters throughout our country. You
may be able offer to "foster" an unwanted pet until it can be
adopted. You may be able to volunteer to transport the animals to
the vets who spay/neuter pro bono, or help find vets and vet techs
to volunteer their services.
You may be able to participate in (or start) a "TNR" (trap-neuter-
return) campaign to effectively reduce stray animal population by
sterilization -- not euthanasia. Alley Cat Allies is preparing for the
second annual National Feral Cat Day October 16, 2002 to bring
greater awareness of nonlethal methods of feral cat population
control.
At the very least, you can donate time, money, or even just a bag
of dog or cat food to your local private shelter. Even if you
personally don't "like animals," this is a community problem
caused by irresponsibility and government "nannyism'" which you
can help alleviate by private action.
To find a private shelter in your community, Feline Rescue has a
listing of shelters worldwide, as well as resources for low cost
spay/neuter, and Best Friends Network offers networking to help
you find others in your community who are helping homeless pets.
If there are no private shelters in your community, you can get
together with your friends and start one. There are numerous online
resources to help, such as the excellent resources from Best
Friends, including "How to start your own sanctuary'" "How to start
a spay/neuter day," "How to organize an adoption day" and more.
There is also a section of articles on "What one person can do"
that may give you even more ideas.
So, for this week's action, I urge you to show by your actions in
your own community that libertarians do indeed practice what we
preach by supporting private shelters and animal rescue efforts.
Not only will you be helping to rescue the throwaways of our
society, and to reduce a public health hazard by private action, you
will gain a lot of personal satisfaction and some new friends, both
human and animal.
Til next week
For freedom (and responsibility)
Mary lou
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Alley Cat Allies
http://www.alleycat.org/
World Wide Directory of Shelters
http://www.felinerescue.net/find_rescues.htm
Resources from Best Friends
How to Start Your Own Sanctuary
http://www.bestfriends.org/nmhp/resources/downloads/Startsanc.pdf
Starting a spay/neuter program
http://www.bestfriends.org/nmhp/resources/downloads/StartingaSpayNeuterProgram.pdf
What one person can do
http://www.bestfriends.org/nmhp/onepersonfrm.htm
Building a Brigade
http://www.bestfriends.org/nmhp/oneperson/brigade.htm
How to organize an adoption day
http://www.bestfriends.org/nmhp/oneperson/adoptionday.htm
Join the Best Friends Network
http://www.bestfriends.org/nmhp/resources/bfnetwork.htm
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--
"Anarchism is founded on the observation that
since few men are wise enough to rule themselves,
even fewer are wise enough to rule others."
-- Edward Abbey
In December 2004 this page was modified significantly from its original form for archiving purposes.
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