In case you haven't noticed, the No More Homeless Pets 2011 conference pretty much changed my life. I already knew that I liked writing about animal welfare policy for grad school. I already knew I loved my two dogs with all of my heart. But what I didn't know is how much I would truly feel moved by the cause. My passion at first started with trying to get dogs out of the shelters and help them get adopted. It breaks my heart to think what would have happened to Missy if she had been put in a shelter environment. She was a rescue, but she was fostered in a home. That woman saved Missy's life, she really did. Missy was way too hyper, anxious, and barky to get adopted from behind a gate. I have a hard time believing she would have made it out alive. What Missy is great at is interaction with people, especially one on one. That's when you can see her for the beautiful, confident Missaroo she really is.
The conference was full of amazing people doing amazing things for animals of all kinds. It also made me realize why there needed to be so many of us and why we had much to learn in the fight against euthanasia. I've been lucky to have found my dogs and volunteered in shelters here in Washington State. We do a lot better here than in most states. Ohio, for example, makes a habit of killing pit bulls. While North Carolina leads the country in dog fighting cases. That's awful. There is still so much work to be done.
I believe it all starts with a change in 'tude. It starts in your neighborhood, in your community, in your own heart. It starts with a willingness to recognize God made us all. He gave us this earth to protect. Everything is just on loan. If animals are anybody's "property" ((and I hate that word)) they are God's property, not ours to abandon and kill. We can do this. It starts with us.
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