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THE OFFICIAL
VERDICT IS IN.
GUILTY!!!
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Yes,
we are all guilty of not doing enough and not
Embracing
changes that could benefit the animals.
Co-authored
by Randy Warner and Mary Ultz, Humane Educator City of
Huntsville
Yes, we are all
guilty of not doing enough and not
Embracing changes that could benefit the animals.
Co-authored by Randy Warner and Mary Ultz, Humane Educator City of
Huntsville
To answer the question, I would say an emphatic YES!! There is no
other group of people who devote more time, effort, compassion or
personal finances into a job or hobby than do most rescuers. But,
educating just one family at a time, as opposed to 50 families at a
time is obviously not as productive. And lets face it. Trying to
convince an adult to change their ways of handling and caring for
their pets is about as successful as convincing your spouse you are
‘right’ following an argument.
At some point in time, we must all make the decision to stop
exhausting our energies and resources that place their focus on only
cleaning up yesterday's messes and to decide we want to see
solutions that will ultimately protect the millions and billions of
animals yet to be born as well. Humane Education is the best.... no,
the ONLY means we have to accomplish this goal!
We must not lose perspective of our collective goals. We must expand
our horizons to choose those campaigns that will help us to
accomplish the most and save more animals in the long run. The
animals who exist today are a very tiny percentage of the animals
who will be killed and tortured in the coming centuries and
millennia. Paying excessive attention to those who suffer today is
condemning millions more to suffer the same fate. That is simply
born from the ignorance of humans - providing yet another blow to
animal protection’s ultimate goals. We can’t begin to win the game
if only half of our team understands the rules. These animals are
DYING for humans to learn how to work smart and not hard.
Rescuers are concerned with education, they just don’t know it.
Should Rescuers be considered humane educators as well?
They ARE! Sometimes they just don’t know it. They speak from the
front lines of the dog and cat rescue battles. Rescuers have the
most, as well as the best, information regarding pets and their
unique stories, along with the reasons why....
Rescue is a passion-driven field. Logic and business sense are
frequently put on hold because some little angel needs some extra
care today. I mean, it's not like your profit margins are going to
be factored by investors on Monday, right?
Now, I'm quite sure that accomplishing an education effort takes
different strategies than what most of the public assumes, but I
believe it can be done. Not everyone will agree, not everyone will
wish to participate, but at the very least, nearly everyone can read
this and think about it.
From 1985 ‘til now I’ve done rescue primarily for Dalmatians—and
others when needed. I know how difficult it is, how expensive it is,
to what extent you can be drawn into an effort that never seems to
end.
It's the ''never seems to end'' part that I want to ask YOU about.
I'm addressing this to all those who devote their valuable and
wonderful time and assets toward saving dogs' lives, the rescuer. I
have a challenge for you…
I’d like to suggest that you give 20% of your time, efforts and
money to getting a strong and substantial humane education program
into your area schools. I do not mean to infer that your present
efforts are not necessary or important. I know it is crucial to so
many animals’ lives to continue what you’re doing.
But, that being said, if you ONLY do rescue, you are simply making
it easier for those who are borderline about keeping their pets, and
you are also assuring that your children’s generation and your
grandchildren’s generation will be forced to do the same level of
rescue as you do now. You must do everything you can to educate this
younger group of people before they head down the very same path as
their parents.
Each and every one of you has the knowledge, experience, compassion
and everything else needed to make a HUGE difference in the next
generation!!! You can't do it by saying "I don't have time" or
offering other excuses. Spending 100% of your available time
rescuing simply puts all future dogs in jeopardy, because you did
NOT do enough to resolve the underlying problems for the future. You
will continue to clean up the mess after yesterday’s parade. I would
hope that you would rather see the front of the horse once in a
while.
If you are willing to work toward this momentous effort, I don’t
want you to be overwhelmed. Try 5% per year for humane education
over the next five years and increase accordingly. Some of you are
not comfortable as public speakers. If that is the case, consider
recruiting a friend or neighbor who supports your efforts and wants
to do more. Many schools (even in this economy) have ''speaker''
funds and will write you a check for $100 as you leave. You could
bring in as much as $500/week for 5 hours’ work. We all know how
helpful money is in our pocket. Why not earn money for our rescue
endeavors while we spread the message to make rescue unnecessary? As
a rescuer, you can send information to schools of your choice and
follow up to see which class got that information.
What if you spent only one hour a weekend handing out information to
the public? Minimal cost for copies, countless contacts to pet
owners!
If you have a website, place some information there as well. One
more link about the overpopulation and how people can help end it
will not take too much effort, but will save lives in the end!
Everything I have on my site is for public use. The more people that
check out my site, the more their awareness and information levels
increase, thus they act more responsibly. If you don’t have the time
for another page, PUT A LINK TO MY PAGE ON YOUR PAGE! Everything on
my site will resound loudly in the ears of anyone who has helped
with rescue and listening to the idiots make up excuses for these
poor innocent pets.
Some principals tell me that I’m not needed at their school, because
most of their students already have pets. WELL, A BIG STUPID DUH TO
THEM!! But once I’m invited into a school, you would not believe the
impact that my 45-minute program has on these young minds. I take
all five of my dogs: 2 dals, (one deaf) a coyote, a pit bull and a
beagle-basset mix. My presentation is blunt, direct, fun, AND VERY
INFORMATIVE. I barely mention what they think they'll hear. When we
depart, each face looks so much different from when we first
arrived. It’s amazing. The kids are motivated to form a humane
education club or at least take on a year long project to accomplish
something to help animals. Amazingly, teachers and staff tell me how
much even they learned and then thank me.
You need to be well versed in supportive information to check all
claims, suggestions and rules enforced in contracts. I'll bet every
rescuer out there knows exactly what I'm talking about.
I just hope that some of you see that we all have room for growth,
change and expansion of our duties. If we are creative, we can
accomplish so much more. If only 20% of the rescuers who read this
decide to do SOMETHING, that would be over a thousand people. Now, a
thousand people visiting schools just 3 times a year is 3,000 MORE
classrooms visited. 3,000 classrooms this year with 40 students each
is 120,000 EDUCATED youth who will not likely need to services of
rescuers or animal control agencies except for adoptions. Then, I've
surpassed my goal considerably!!
For all those who say 'we can't' for whatever reason, would you
rather be part of the Rescue
Janitorial staff than the Engineering or Research Departments who
will be a vital part of the solution?
When you pass on, can you guarantee that someone similar will step
into your shoes and take over with the same fervor and compassion to
save the dogs of tomorrow?? Wouldn't you like to try and save some
of them NOW while you can? With every good presentation you give,
you are likely to save 10-50 dogs depending on the number of ears
listening. And it only takes an hour and maybe $15. (gas, 50 copies
and lunch at McDonalds on the way home)
CAN YOU MEET THE CHALLENGE OF EDUCATION TO CREATE PROBLEM
RESOLUTION?
I would love nothing more than NOT to do rescue because it is not
necessary. Until then, I will continue along my path of education
for solution. I choose to be pro-active to end overpopulation, not
just re-active to current demands.
I would love nothing more than NOT to do rescue because it is not
necessary. Until then, I will continue along my path of education
for solution. I choose to be pro-active to end overpopulation, not
just re-active to current demands.
“I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but
still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything, I will
not refuse to do something that I can do.”
Edward Everett Hale, 1794 –1865, American Orator and Statesman
Anyone interested in gaining materials for humane education,
strategies for gaining access to schools (which will become the most
challenging part of this) topics to discuss, whether to bring dogs
along, etc. can email 21stcares@citlink.net. You will be provided
with any and all information we can offer to get your questions
answered and help you successfully present these points and reach
your goals. No charge for any service.
We also welcome any and all creative and successful projects you may
be aware of to put on the site and share with others.
WORK SMART, NOT HARD
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