Lynchburg Humane Society Blog

In the last few days we have learned a lot about ourselves and the community. We did something that made us nervous and was out of our comfort zone. We gave away adult cats for three days. We have talked about doing this promotion quite a bit as a joke, especially during our busy kitten/cat season but we always felt uneasy about it and decided not to. Then we walked down that path just a little with the “name your own price” promotion and were pleasantly surprised at how well that event went and how wonderful the adopters were. So when we found ourselves literally out of space and cringing every time the door opened in fear it was another stray cat or dog or an owner who wasn’t willing to wait or help us, that we found ourselves in a bit of a moral conundrum. What do we do? Do we break our 15-month accomplishment of not euthanizing for space reasons or do we give cats away and reduce our dog adoption fees to an all time low to make space? When you really look at this issue

One comment I get all the time when people learn that I volunteer at the shelter is “ Oh God, I could never do that. It’s just too sad to be there and I would feel too bad for the animals” My answer is and will always be “Your reason for not volunteering at the shelter is the exact reason why I do.” You know what’s even sadder? When no one wants to help these animals because “it’s just too sad.” What kind of sense does it make to not help animals that are in a situation when they need us the most? We put animals in this horrible situation and they end up paying the price, and sometimes with their lives. How is that acceptable to anyone? So yes, I volunteer, amongst many other things, to help animals. We as a community must do our part to reduce the number of pets winding up in shelters. Why should they have to suffer because of our mistakes and outdated laws? The only reason why these animals are even in this place is because of humans. Human irresponsibility has created the homeless