Adoption Matters No Matter What

Recently I heard a comment from someone that I would typically ignore, but I felt like as we move into this new beautiful shelter we might begin to hear it more and more.  

“Adopt a dog from another group, Lynchburg is No Kill so the animals aren’t at risk and they have plenty of money” 

We actually hope more people adopt, regardless of where; adoption is a good thing and the other groups do great work. 

But…..to suggest that we aren’t saving animals because we don’t euthanize seems ridiculous.  Or that you aren’t helping the animals if you adopt from us.   What?  

With us being No Kill we are getting more and more requests for us to take animals from other pounds when they are full. And we want them to reach out to us so we can bring in dogs and cats because we want to find homes for as many animals as possible.  So far this year we have brought in 179 animals from other shelters, with 131 coming in within the last two months.  They obviously need immediate help so they don’t have to euthanize but it is also a great thing they come here because once the dog/cat makes it to our shelter it is safe until we place them in a home unless they have a major behavior issue or major medical issue that we can’t treat.  They are constantly at risk at the other local pounds, which are dependent on the number of kennels they have. 

With our No Kill mission we are also getting more and more requests from owners from our locality and from other counties to help them with their animals.  

We made a choice to not euthanize for space 5 years ago and it is a day to day struggle for us that has resulted in us having to pay to board animals at times when we don’t have space and to treat major illnesses but we are dedicated to saving all those that are save-able.   No excuses just GO.   Move forward and save lives.  

I am not being critical, but stating a fact.  Some, not all, home-based rescues that don’t operate in the pounds/shelters might have very strict adoption policies.  They may not reduce their fees and they take their time to do adoptions with a home visit, a process that might take weeks.   We do not have that luxury.   Most pounds don’t have that luxury because time means lives lost. 

We reduce adoption fees frequently to try to move animals out as quickly as possible to good homes when we are overwhelmed because we have so many great supporters in the community.  During our Summer of 1,000 Lives, we are doing many free days and majorly reducing our fees to meet the challenge.   Unfortunately, we don’t get to reduce the costs associated with the care of the animals.  We still have that.  Vaccines, testing, spay/neuter, staffing costs to clean and care plus food and medications.  But we feel it is more important to adopt out animals than to worry about the costs because we feel it is our job to raise the money to save the lives.  And thankfully, we have many community supporters doing just that, donating so we can continue our life saving work.  

If people stop adopting from us and people stop donating to us we will not be able to help as many as we do.  We wouldn’t be able to provide care for the dog we pulled from Campbell County who needed major reconstruction surgery on his face and ear or the neglect case that needed behavior and medical treatment that came in from animal control.   We get 1 day olds to 15 year olds and they are all safe here.  But just because they are safe here, they still need to be adopted so we can save more lives.  The more people adopt, the more lives we can save. 

As for the idea that we have plenty of money,  we do have staff and we do have overhead expenses but we also do A LOT to help the animals in our care. We provide initial vaccines, spay/neuter and we treat all cases that are treatable which costs money so we need donations to be able to continue our work.  To suggest that we have plenty of money is not a true statement.  Our spay/neuter clinic is running at a deficit so that we can provide a very important service to the community in reducing the pet population at a low to no cost.  We deal with animals needing major surgery to old and young ones who end up sick due to the environment.   We reduce adoption fees yet our costs don’t go away.  We are about saving lives and that takes help from the community and we relay heavily on donations.  We helped nearly 2,000 animals and fixed over 6,000 animals last year.

In the end adoption saves lives.   All the groups are making a difference.  It is up to you to evaluate who you feel is making the most difference and who you want to support.  We feel that we are solving the problem in this community and having a huge impact on the lives of the homeless and neglected animals in our region. We hope you agree and continue to support our mission.