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Credit crunch affects pets - and you can help (January 05, 2009)
Credit crunch affects pets - and you can help
We are finding more and more cases of animal welfare charities who are
absolutely brimming with pets who have been handed over by owners (or
worse, abandoned) due to the credit crunch.
Please help out animal charities
If you have some time to spare, there are
numerous ways you can get active and help, even if it's just for a few
hours a week for a few months to help animal charities over the worst. The after-Chistmas period is always a busy time for animal charities anyway, who tend to have to take in lots of pets because they were given as Christmas presents and the children have become bored of them.
You can help pets and charities in your area and get involved by:
- Offering to foster animals, even if it's just for a few months or even weeks. If a charity knows it can foster some pets out, even while they wait to go to new homes, it will free up space for urgent cases.
- Volunteering for animal charities - going along to help with routine tasks
- Checking your local animal charities' wish lists - can you donate a few cans of pet food every week, for instance?
- Collecting used postage stamps to send to animal charities
- Lending your support to local charities' appeals - watch out for them in the press
- If you know of anyone who rents out properties and who is willing to take in pets, please tell them about Pet Friendly Rentals.
Animals need you. However much time
and money you can give, it will be better than none. You don't have to
get involved long term - just do it for a few months.
If you have time on your hands, please lend a paw. Even if you don't want hands-on contact, there will be a lot you can do to help charities find new homes, do home-checks & more. We know there are many retired people, for instance, who have experience as pet owners who don't want long term commitments. Helping out now could be a great way to get invovled in your local community over the next few weeks.
If you've been made
redundant, looking for a new job will be the first thing on
your mind, volunteering probably the last. But remember that volunteering may give you some
therapeutic time away from your worries, even for a couple of hours a
week. It helps keep you grounded and in some sort of routine.
It's amazing how volunteering gives you precious thinking time and reminds you that you have lots to offer - it proves your self-worth to yourself, always vital at a time when self-confidence can fall sharply. Plus it's a chance to make new contacts amongst other volunteers & employees. Who knows where these contacts could lead?
If your business is short of clients due to the credit crunch, how about seeing if there are any animal charities in your area who could use some of your skills & assistance, while things are a bit slack? It could prove to be helpful PR.
Are you finding it hard to cope paying your pet's way?
For those of you having to
move home due to new economic circumstances, please rest assured there
are pet friendly landlords. And bear in mind that many people managed
to keep their pets during World War 2 with all its rationing and while
they lived on the streets after the earthquake in Kobe in 1995, so it
can be done, however difficult things get. Look for further ways to cut back.
Above all, please don't abandon your pets. They deserve better. This credit crunch isn't their fault.
If your pet needs veterinary attention and you are receiving benefits, contact your nearest PDSA for help. And when you've got a job again and you're back on your feet, see what you can do to give something back to them.
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