I’ve found an animal and cannot keep it. What do I do?
This is the most common question we get and, unfortunately, there are limited options. You can try to find a home through the newspaper or through local veterinarians. You can also list the animal on websites like www.craigslist.org or www.petfinder.com. Both have places to list rescued animals for adoption. If you have a purebred dog for adoption, search www.spotsociety.org for a breed rescue group that may be able to help.
Walton Animal Guild, like many rescue groups, does not accept animals from private homes for placement. The animals we work with are all shelter rescues. If you are willing to foster the animal in your home until it is placed, we will place a courtesy listing on our Petfinder site. The animal must be spayed/neutered before placement and we will help locate a low-cost option for that.
If you absolutely cannot keep the pet, the only other local option is placement through Walton County Animal Control. Unfortunately, only a small percentage of those pets are placed. In a perfect world we would find homes for all pets, but we are tackling a large problem and resources just aren’t available.
I’d like to volunteer. What sorts of opportunities are available?
Right now there are limited opportunities for direct contact with animals. Walton County Animal Control does not presently allow formal volunteer programs, however we hope to begin one when the new shelter is completed in mid-2008. We do not have any court-mandated community-service programs.
Interested volunteers are welcome at our monthly adoption events beginning this spring. We also need volunteers interested in school educational programs, spay/neuter events and programs, fundraising or event planning. Consider coming to our meetings on the 3rd Tuesday of each month at the Monroe-Walton Library. More brainpower is always welcome!
Children are welcome to join our School Ambassador program. Our Ambassadors spread the pet care message through schools by, among other things, helping with posters and other visual aids on occasions like Be Kind to Animal Week, Adopt-a-Pet Month and other nationally recognized events.
I don’t have time to volunteer, but I’d still like to help.
Actually, most of our supporters don’t have time to volunteer. But your membership or sponsorship dollars will work for you. Although the power of $20 may seem limited, it’s very powerful when combined with other membership dollars. Subsidized spay/neuter surgeries to low-income pet owners, newspaper ads of shelter animals needing homes, or vaccination clinics are just a few of the ways to help pets that we could not afford to do without your help.
