A Tweet Inspires a Journey to Do More

It's been less than a week since I saw a "Tweet" (less than 140 character update) from one of my contacts on Twitter. The message was a desperate plea for rescue groups or potential adopters to get their asses down to Georgia, where KILL-Shelters are everywhere and many animals had less than 24 hours to live.

I couldn't sleep for thinking of the PUPPIES, litters of KITTENS, frightened adults, that are all either dead by now or on death row, with only days to go before their time is up, too.

Even though I have a level of awareness about these conditions, I realize I can't fix it by myself, so I tell myself it's just going to happen and I have to accept it. But just because I can't fix it myself, doesn't mean I can't do MORE to fix it.

The big question here is HOW do we FIX this problem? Is the answer to outlaw KILL shelters? Sounds good to me. When do we, as a country, say to ourselves, this has GOT TO STOP. THE KILLING HAS TO END HERE AND NOW. It is NOT acceptable to kill animals solely with the excuse that there's no room, no homes, nothing we can do. Once we reach that point, the killing stops, until then, does it really help to offload the crowded shelters where they DO euthanize or does it just give them more vacancies to fill and more animals on the list to be killed next?

I honestly don't know. I'd like to know what other folks think about this. The people who work at these hellacious places-how do they LIVE with themselves? What have they told themselves so that they can look in the mirror in the morning and not hate what they see? I can't imagine a worse job. I have a great deal of compassion for their suffering. Personally, I don't think...no, I know; I couldn't live if I had to kill animals for a living.

So I was ready to drive to Georgia and grab a handful of animals. It would be like taking a grain of sand off a mountaintop. Instead, I spoke with some very nice ladies at Kat5. They have the know-how to do animal transporting and together we're going to come up with a plan to begin rescuing some litters of kittens. It won't happen overnight, but it will happen.

Our group here in town will partner with Kat5 and depending on resources will aim on being a helping hand to the KILL Shelters during our slow months. That way we continue to help our community and extend ourselves whenever possible. I'll take on as many foster kittens as I can. It'll never be enough, but it's something.

We're also setting up to do our first transport of kittens from another struggling group in NY state. They rescue animals from kill shelters, too, so even though our first group will be from NY, the lives are no less important.

If I hadn't read that one Tweet, I'd be sitting in my foster room with a single feral kitten who needs socializing, thinking I'm doing my part. I realize now, that I'm not even close to doing my part. I have to find ways to do more, be more effective and save more lives.

...Cause baby, that's what it's all about. Getting the chance to live a decent life, with a good family, a warm, full belly and a heart full of joy.