Kickstarter

HOW TO SAVE SHELTER ANIMALS

The project, How to Save Shelter Animals, is a hands-on, actionable manual on how to save and re-home animals in shelters, pounds and rescues.

It will be a free e-book available for download as a .pdf on a dedicated website and Facebook page. By making it free, there will be no barriers to someone taking immediate action saving shelter animals. 

The Need  

There is an enormous need to help shelters market animals to save their lives. Not only is it the compassionate, morally right thing to do, but it is also the most fiscally responsible thing to do for shelters.

• A Google search of “animal shelters” at any given time will bring up more than 23 million results. 
• The American Humane Association estimates that animal shelters take in 6 - 8 million dogs and cats every year in the United States. Approximately 3 - 4 million of those innocent animals are euthanized. 
• According to the American Humane Association, in 2008 alone, more than 3.7 million animals were euthanized in shelters across the nation. And that was in good economic times. Today, families are having to give up their beloved pets to shelters, because they cannot afford to feed them, to care for them, or they have to move to a home where pets are not allowed. Even worse, animals are simply left behind or dumped somewhere to either die or to try to fend for themselves. Many of those that survive end up in shelters.
• The downturn in the economy makes it even more difficult for many people to afford to spay and neuter their pets, which is the key to reducing the unwanted animal population. So unwanted litters are born and end up being dumped in shelters or sold - inadvertently - to dog fighting rings to fight or as bait, or to bunchers who sell them to companies that do horrific animal testing on them.

Most shelters have a mandatory holding period to give the animal’s owner time to find and claim them. But resources, a lack of space, and the health implications of holding animals in cramped kennels oftentimes results in quick euthanization of the animals, which costs the shelter a vet euthanization fee. 

Adoption of shelter animals reduces the amount of money going out of the shelter, and becomes a revenue source. So, an adopted animal eliminates the euthanization fee and adds the adoption or rescue fee to the shelter’s budget instead. Depending upon the shelter's adoption fee, that can mean between $35 - $70 positive swing  in the shelter's budget for each saved animal. 

Furthermore, when an animal is adopted, it makes more room in the shelter, reducing the likelihood that the shelter will have to “cull” or kill animals just to make room.

• Upgrade my computer, software and Internet access so I can produce and deliver a professional book.
• Secure the book's website domain name.
• Create a website for distribution of the e-book.
• Do extensive background and fact research.
• Write the book.
• Market the book.