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Pets forgive and don't give up on us, let us follow their example.

The most heart wrenching thing we see here at the shelter is an animal that has been neglected or abused.  We always find it amazing when they can still look you in the eye sadly and lick your hand or wag their tail.  All they want is love and attention and when they suffer at the hands of the person who is suppose to love them and care for them it is heart breaking.  Samantha here is such a dog that was beaten, kicked and thrown against a wall by her owner and it caused major internal injuries and broken bones.  In these cases animals have every right to hate humans and not trust them, but most will forgive and only ask for love in return. 


I think some of us we can learn a lot from pets.  Most don't give up on people and sometimes it feels like we give up on them too easily. Let me make sure I disclose that this is a hard time of year for us and we sometimes find it hard to focus on the positive even when there is so much positive around us.  At a time when the amount of animals far exceeds the space we have available because so many people bring us kittens, stray cats and owned pets, that it can sometimes get very disheartening. Why are there so many kittens, stray cats and pets coming to us at this time of year?

The Lynchburg Humane Society decided in 2009 that we would not give up on the pets in our care.  We decided to no longer euthanize healthy pets to make space.   Part of that is asking owners to wait a little bit to bring us their pets because we don't have space and it always floors me how indignant a few people can get.   They act like we are the bad guys when all we are trying to do is keep our commitment to the pets in our care and not euthanize and help them out with their problem.  When we say we don't have a cage, we honestly don't have a cage. 

At this time we are asking for help.  We need some owners to take their pet ownership seriously and work with local shelters to bring them in when space is available, to try and find a new home themselves for their pet, we need help with donations and supplies, if you find a litter of kittens please consider "fostering" them until the summer months and the crazy kitten season is over or stop in and become a foster parent and help us by taking out kittens or mothers, how about getting that neighborhood cat fixed for free under our city cat fix and most importantly please come adopt especially now when we are so full.

In the big picture of what we do on a day to day basis we see just how great people can be. Most owners do the right thing and will help us help them.  Most owners will try and re-home their pets. Most owner will keep their pet and cater to their needs.  And most people will go home tonight and hug their pet and show them the love they deserve.  So let us say thank you to most of the people of Lynchburg for caring so much for the pets in need at the Humane Society.  From January to June we have been able to save 92% of the animals in our care.  But this month and next are critical to keeping our save rate up. Please continue to help.

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