Words Change Worlds, The ASPCA

I guess I just want to get the obvious one out of the way, early on in the life of this column. But animal rights are something I have championed for a long time. I’m a firm believer that domesticated animals are the responsibility of mankind. We have made them our pets, our friends, and in some cases our soldiers. We owe them care.

The ASPCA is the biggest animal refuge charity in America. There isn’t a town that hasn’t got a local branch. My darling cat, Harper, came from the ASPCA. (In case you’re wondering, the new fur baby, Oliver, came from Rainbow Animal Refuge. They’re a local charity that if you’re in Butler PA you should totally check out.)

I really love supporting the ASPCA. You can send them money, and I’m sure they would find good use for it. But, I have some other suggestions.

• Adopt your pets. I’m not saying that you need to run off and get a pet if you aren’t one for sharing your home with furry things that occasionally draw blood from you. (Why do I have these things?) But if you do like them, it’s cheaper and better to adopt from a shelter.
• Get your pet spayed or neutered. This is less of an immediate help and more of a lightening of their load down the road.
• If you can, volunteer your time. The shelters need help. They even need help playing with the animals. So, if you live in an apartment that doesn’t allow pets, but you’d still love to spend some time with animals, here’s a way to do it.
• Finally, if you have a blog, or any other means of getting the word out to people, please support the ASPCA by posting something about them. Let me know if you do, and I’ll link to it.

Finally, here’s an adorable picture.