The NAPRP Blog

Aug 28

Written by: NAPRP Admin
8/28/2009 3:56 AM

Today I had an opportunity to do what I know many of you do every day. I was asked to see if I could find a rescue contact in Southern Idaho who could help pull some dogs in need out of a shelter. Even though I'm in Northern Idaho (about 450 miles away), I did know someone who used to live in the area and that person knew someone else. In the end, I think it will all work out well for the dogs.

It got me thinking about how people in rescue communicate. Many, many informal emails fly by like the ones I had today ("I know someone who knows someone!") Obviously, countless Yahoo groups and discussion boards also exist, but they can be overwhelmingly full of ambient noise that makes it difficult to follow. There are so many, "URGENT, XYZ needs help!" posts that my suspicion is that those groups are difficult to use, even by people who are motivated.

I was wondering, how do you find out about animals in need? Are there great online resources that are working in your area? If so, I'd like to share them either as great examples that could be replicated in other locations, or simply as a resource that many people may not know about yet.

Many areas of the country are struggling with increasing numbers of incoming animals, so if we can improve or streamline the lines of communication, it would help all of us. If you have ideas or "big dreams" along these lines, please do share them with me as well.

In my case, my big dream is a "clearinghouse" type Web site where all rescue groups are listed with (accurate!) contact information and simple communication mechanisms, so we can work together to get more animals out of shelters and into new homes. Maybe that Web site already exists. (Petfinder?) Maybe it's working. (If it does, please tell me!) Or maybe it doesn't exist or isn't working well, and it's time to do something about that.

As always, thank you for all you do to help the animals ;-)

~ Susan Daffron
Founder & President, NAPRP

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