|
|
Step One: Believe it: you CAN make a difference to animals!
|
The key to helping animals is
to focus on what you CAN change
and what you CAN do.
|
|
For example, you could...
Add one more voice to a campaign and tell people about it. Campaigns are no good without voices and noise. Of course, you could start a campaign of your own about an issue you feel strongly about.
Spread the word and recruit fellow enthusiasts to your cause. It's more powerful and lasts longer than working alone.
Offer your help to someone for whom an extended hand may mean a great deal, and the difference between keeping their pet and having to give him or her up. For example, you could help a friend who is going through a difficult time or who is ill by walking their dog. |
Change career and work for an animal charity. Or switch with what you do now from the private to non-profit sector. Or offer your professonal services for free, or a substantially reduced cost.
Get work colleagues involved. Did you know that a number of businesses help local charities every year by doing practical tasks such as painting a building, clearing a field, or constructing a new path? The company enjoys good PR and importantly the chance to do some team-building. Why not yours? Many animal charities have wishlists - e.g. GPS systems, lap tops - which your company could help with. |
|
Get your kids involved. Kids love animals, and the dirtier and messier you all get, the more fun things are. So become a kid again with or without kids! Put your boots on and go and jump in a few muddy puddles. Have some fun.
Volunteer your time and energy. Help a charity - muck-in and lend a paw with anything they need doing. Not all animal charities will be registered as such, or large. Many will have been set up by people like you who simply started to do something about the animals in their area. And from there, their lives changed.
Read here about three volunteers who have made a huge difference to the lives of cats in their area.
|
For those special people in your life who have everything, for their birthdays, anniversaries, wedding presents or dare we mention Christmas presents, why not show the planet how much you care about it and those living on it - both animal and human - by sponsoring an acre of rainforest? Many animals live in wooded or forested areas, so you'll be ensuring they have somewhere to live.
If you are in a relationship, why not agree to do one of these things rather than buy each other presents for those special occasions? |
|
Do a volunteering holiday. Have a sabbatical from work. Lots of people do it, so why not you? Even if you need to postpone for five years, give yourself a deadline to do it in. Many opportunities now exist for people to help for two or three weeks, instead of months.
Solve a problem! If you've spotted a problem or something you want to change or sort out, then put your creativity skills to work. This could mean setting up a charity, a campaign, a letter to the press, asking people to give of their time...Charities are working to resolve conflict between people and animals all the time, elephants being one example.
Help re-home animals, rescuing them when they are reported or handed in, and giving them confidence such that they are able to be re-homed. If you cannot re-home long term, consider offering a foster home. |
Check our blog regularly. We'll have something quick for you to do on a regular basis.
Tell people what you're doing. Many people are bored in life and want something more meaningful to do. They may go off and do something to help another cause, rather than join yours - and that's fine. There's room for all of us to make a difference. In these increasingly difficult time, spending a day helping an animal charity can be far more cost-effective than wandering around shops!
Donate money. Instead of giving each other presents you don't really need, why not make a donation to a charity on a friend's behalf for their birthday and get them to do the same for you? Click here for more thoughts.
Lead the way and show others how easy it is to do. Inspire others by your thoughtfulness and get-up-and-go approach.
Whatever you do, and however small it may seem, please do something.
|
You'll need Adobe Reader to read our PDFs - click HERE to get it.
|
