Friday, March 11, 2016

Working Together to Accomplish More



Hello my wonderful followers!

It's me again, your number one reporter everything that goes on here at HATS. These silly humans don't think I'm listening as I stretch out on the desk, steal a chair to "nap" on during a meeting or even when I'm nibbling on donated treats....I'm all ears! I'm sure you have been hearing a lot, through our website and  facebook page, about our need for volunteers to help us transport animals to various locations around the state.

Where are these animals going? For those of you who are not familiar, HATS works with several rescue groups around the state. You may wonder why we do such a thing. I know I had that very same question when I first arrived here. There are many reasons a shelter may be transferring animals from their facility to another shelter or rescue. Space is one reason. Shelters do have a maximum capacity and once they reach that, it means  that there are no more empty cages, workers and supplies are stretched thin and no more animals can enter the facility until cage space opens up again. To avoid this most shelters will create a working friendship with other shelters near and far in hopes that once one facility reaches capacity another facility might have a few open cages that they are looking to fill.

Another important reason shelters may transfer an animal is because some rescue groups specialize in a specific breed or the even the special needs of different animals. For example there are German Shepherd, chihuahua and even rescues specific to blind cats! The people in these rescues know everything from common temperament, health issues, behavior quirks, and exercise needs specific to the breeds or types of animals that they serve. Another advantage of working with many of these groups is that most are foster based, meaning these animals will wait in a loving, experienced, home environment until they are adopted. As you can imagine a home environment is much less stressful than the noisy shelter atmosphere. Don't worry, there aren't any rescues for blog writing, sassy cats so I'm going to stick around this place for a while!

Lastly, sometimes a change of environment and a new location is all that it takes for a long term resident to find their perfect person! So as you can see their are many reasons that we work with other groups throughout the state. The best part is that each of these partnerships directly benefit our adoptables animals and allow us to continue our life saving work!


Signing out, Anna.