Shelter pets are in crisis and they need your help. Brother Wolf has always existed as a strong support system for animals. For years we have helped small, rural shelters who face having to euthanize due only to a lack of space. Brother Wolf is the lifeline these animals need – we are often their only way out.
And right now, there are so, so many who need our help. We’re receiving an overwhelming number of heartbreaking pleas from shelters and community members desperate for someone to take their animals, for someone to help them. We take every animal we can. But right now, it isn’t enough.
Shelters across the country are more full than they have been in years. More animals are entering shelters than leaving.
It is estimated that over 2.7 million pets in the U.S. were unable to be spayed or neutered due to COVID shutdowns. That means that more households are having accidental litters and bringing those puppies and kittens to their local shelters. A 2.7 million gap in surgeries could push progress back dramatically. Since the 1970s, spay-neuter efforts have been a major component to decreasing pet overpopulation and homelessness. To backslide this much is heartbreaking. To see the faces of the animals who are in dire situations due to this is soul crushing.
Families are suffering economically due to inflation, with the average U.S. household now spending an additional $296 per month according to a Moody’s Analytics analysis. Resulting financial challenges, and often housing changes, have left some families in a situation where they can not continue to care for their pets.
We’re seeing an increase in desperate pleas from our community members who have nowhere else to turn. We are taking in more animals from the public who can’t find anyone else to help.
It can be easy to judge these people and think they should ‘do better’ for their animals. The reality is that in most cases we come across, they are doing their best. They have been trying harder than most of us can imagine. They are feeding their pets before they feed themselves. They’re not going to the doctor so that they can pay for basic vet care for their animals. They’re living out of their car with their dogs because they couldn’t find pet-friendly housing.
Families are in crisis. Pets are in crisis. Shelters are in crisis.
At this very moment, about 100,000 more dogs and cats in U.S. shelters are at risk of being euthanized compared to this time last year according to Best Friends Animal Society. Brother Wolf is working around the clock to take in as many as we can, to find foster homes for as many as we can, and to provide lifesaving care for as many as we can. It’s still not enough. Even friendly, healthy, young animals are dying right now. We need your help.
You Can Help Save Them
When shelters are full, foster homes provide a critical lifeline. Foster homes effectively enlarge Brother Wolf’s capacity to care for more animals. The more foster homes we have, the more lives we can save. If you’re looking for a way to make a difference for animals, this is a big one.
Brother Wolf fosters are provided with all of the supplies they need at no cost. We have many young puppies we need to place in pairs. We also have adult dogs, adult cats, young kittens, and nursing moms looking for foster placement. We’ll give you all the information you need to be successful and our team is ready to support you 24/7 if an issue arises.
These are examples of situations over the past week that Brother Wolf foster homes been asked to help with because shelters are too full to take in these animals:
Ten beautiful shepherd puppies who have quickly outgrown the rusty crate they’ve spent their whole lives in. In the photos we received, they are crowded against each other, chewing helplessly at the wire cage. The owners are moving and these ten puppies need somewhere to go.
Butch, a miniature pinscher, who at ten-years-old should be spending his golden years in comfort. Instead, he is living in constant pain due to an infected, abscessed tooth. The human affection he so desperately craves only hurts his little body more. He needs a comforting foster, medication, and surgery.
Seven six-week-old puppies soaking wet from a rainstorm, living outside, no matter the weather. They need homes that can offer them reprieve from the hot summer sun and the scary thunderstorms.
Five fluffy terrier puppies and their mom who were found wandering a country road. Their rescuer has a life-threatening medical condition that requires major abdominal surgery. She’s desperate to find these five dogs a safe place to go.
Signing up to be a foster is easy and can be done quickly on our website at www.bwar.org/foster.
If you’re unable to foster, you can help us support animals in our care through monetary donations. Donations of any size help support these animals’ medical and daily care needs.
Right now, donations will be doubled up to $15,000 thanks to generous supporters who wants to help the animals who need it the most. With more animals in our care than we’ve had in years, your donations are desperately needed.
It’s a critical time for animals. Dogs and cats just like the ones you love deeply and share your life with, are facing euthanasia due to nothing but space constraints. It breaks our hearts and we know it breaks yours too. Let’s help them. Together we save lives.
Sources:
www.cnbc.com/2022/03/14/inflation-is-costing-us-households-nearly-300-more-a-month.html
https://bestfriends.org/act-animals/shelter-crisis-2022
www.today.com/pets/pets/pet-adoptions-slow-us-heads-3rd-year-pandemic-rcna17718
www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fvets.2022.912893/abstract
