Volunteering to Help Animals
Teens Pitch In after Katrina
Volunteering in times of crisis or disaster can be extremely rewarding and can effectively channel your feelings of anxiety and helplessness into focused action. Intense and often emotional, this sort of volunteerism can give a great sense of purpose and even clarify your life direction.
Hurricane Katrina, which hit the
Saving Horses
When fourteen-year-old Katie Davis heard that her riding teacher, Lori Wilson, needed help, she immediately stepped up. Lori runs Rescue Ranch, a haven for abused horses in Belle Chase,
Katie volunteered her time. She cleaned the barn, fed and walked horses, and administered therapy for hours to a severely injured horse. Katie also joined Lori and other experienced large-animal rescuers on an expedition to save a cow that was drowning in mud in an irrigation ditch. She worked alongside the adults, propping the cow's head above water, attaching a bridle and rope to the cow, and pulling in a team effort. Eventually, it took a backhoe to free the animal, who was too weak to stand and had to be carried in the machine's bucket. Katie also helped calm and load up horses, which had been abandoned in a remote area, for transport back to the ranch. Because of her previous experience with horses and the fact that Lori already trusted her, Katie was given the same responsibility as the adults during the rescues.
Staffing Animal Shelters
Nineteen-year-old Chris Jacobson of
Several pairs of teen-parent volunteers worked at animal-rescue staging areas. Because of the scale of the disaster and the great need for volunteers, age requirements fell by the wayside, and teens lent a hand by photographing and documenting incoming animals, organizing supplies, and cleaning cages. Both the parents and teens gained new respect for one another in sharing this exhausting, emotional work.
Virtual Volunteering
The Internet provides a new, and increasingly crucial, arena for disaster volunteerism. Since telecommunications in the hurricane-affected region were almost nonexistent, thousands of virtual volunteers used email, message boards, and websites to exchange crucial information.
In the case of animal rescue, this method of communication was used to disclose the location of stranded animals, arrange pet transports, and coordinate deliveries of supplies. This highly effective, grassroots support network directly helped save animals' lives. And the only things that mattered were decent computer skills and a willingness to get involved.
Virtual volunteers also helped locate rescued animals' owners. Both the pets and their caretakers had been hastily evacuated to various shelters, and matching them up required painstaking detective work and great patience. Volunteers would take on one or two cases and then spend hours tracking down any piece of identifying information that could lead to a pet's owner. Success was rare, but one volunteer described it as the most exhilarating moment of her life when she was able to tell an evacuee that his pet was safe and sound.
Get Informed, Focus, Then Act
The most important thing to remember when you're profoundly affected by a disaster and want to help is to take the time to learn what and where the real needs are. In many cases, money donations are best because truckloads of donated supplies can simply create more work and add to the chaos. In the case of the pet rescue, thousands of people donated dog food, but pet-food companies had already delivered tons of it. The real need was for blankets, cages, cleaning supplies, and trays for feeding the homeless animals. One rescue group's website asked for Wal-Mart gift cards since there were no banks or cash machines to access monetary donations. Another group asked for donations to be sent to a local restaurant that was providing meals for rescuers.
You can best direct your own energy, and inform your school or community about how to help, by staying on top of the news and closely following the volunteer effort you care about. Then, choose the most effective and realistic aspect of the relief effort for your skills and interests—pick something to focus on that really calls to you. Get a friend or parent involved too; this sort of volunteering is all about cooperation and community and creates intense and lasting bonds.
Above all, don't exhaust yourself. Volunteering during a crisis is very different from carrying out an ordinary, scheduled commitment. All the volunteers—even experienced adults—tend to get caught up in a sense of urgency and feel guilt about not doing more. Make sure to maintain a sense of balance and to leave room for activities and socializing that connect you to your normal life.
After the Disaster
After the crisis passes, you can continue to make a real difference in your own community on the issues you find most compelling. The plight of the Katrina pets, for example, led many volunteers to consider related issues, such as the lack of animal-evacuation policies, the overburdened and underfunded shelter system, the need for spaying and neutering programs, and the millions of animals who are put to sleep each year in the
Spread awareness: Animals in local shelters often have just five days to live if they're not adopted. You can work with a local shelter to sponsor an awareness and adoption event at your school. You can also volunteer to play with and walk dogs being housed at local shelters.
Offer your Web skills: Animal shelters and animal-rights groups are often understaffed and underfunded, and they often have poorly designed and functioning websites. A great website can bring in funding and help get more animals adopted.
Write: How about submitting an article to your school paper about the needs of local shelter animals, responsible pet ownership, how to evacuate pets safely in an emergency, or fitting pets with microchips so caretakers can be reunited with lost animals? Blogging about animal-welfare issues can directly help animals too, while developing your writing skills and providing a focus that sets your blog apart from the crowd.
Get trained: So many people were moved by the way that Hurricane Katrina affected animals that the Humane Society's courses in Disaster Animal Response Training were filled through 2006. You can check out the group's website to learn about current training opportunities. In addition, the Red Cross offers CPR, first aid, and lifeguard certification. The Federal Emergency Management Agency has free, online disaster-preparedness courses. Learning the skills that this training provides will make you a valuable volunteer when disaster strikes. You should also make sure your own family has a clear evacuation plan for your pets. The only way to be available to help others is by first taking care of yourself and those you love.
Whatever cause you choose to support, volunteering is a great way to learn new skills and develop new friendships. At the very least, donating your time and energy in a disaster-relief effort gives you the satisfaction of having helped those in need in a very direct way. At best, it can reveal your real priorities in life and plant the seeds of your future major or life's work.
