Animal Rescue Organisations

The most active and influential of all animal rescue organisations in the world is the SPCA. However, there are thousands of smaller organisations that contribute greatly to the cause of rescuing abused animals and providing shelter to homeless ones.

These organisations are often comprised of animal shelters, a network of foster homes and veterinarians, and millions of donors who believe that these animals deserve a healthy environment and a home to live in.

Rescue organisations are largely responsible for the massive ‘spay and neuter’ campaigns throughout the world. Even now with all the effort to turn attention to the plight of homeless animals, there is still an average of 5-8 animals per person being born in any given country.

The result: millions of unwanted animals in shelters, thousands of which are euthanized every year.

Luckily, the number of homeless animals is slowly falling as campaigners urge pet owners to have their animals spayed and neutered. On a local scale, animal rescue organisations often work with local law enforcement’s animal control divisions in placing the animals in shelters, giving them veterinary care and re-homing them.

Animal shelters are kept as clean and as humane as possible and are often overseen by individuals with an honest desire to see these animals properly cared for, but there are only so many of these facilities available. Previously, the only method for dealing with overcrowding was through selective euthanasia. Now there are an increasing number of ‘no-kill’ shelters and additional efforts being made to place animals in the homes of individual people in a temporary foster situation.

Increasingly, breed rescues that seek to preserve animals of particular breeds or breed groups are helping take the load off public animal shelters. These breed rescues often charge higher adoption fees and are more selective about whom they allow their animals to be homed with. And in many cases they are very small facilities run from homes of animal welfare activists.