Sue Rabeaux on July 13th, 2014
Someone dumped a tiny kitten on one of our volunteers either late Friday night or very early Saturday morning. The poor baby was leaning against their front door screaming to come inside early on Saturday morning! This is not good since we have absolutely no room in any of our foster homes, or in our unfinished shelter! The baby is lucky the feral cats did not kill him! At the time the kitten was illegally dumped on us, we had just ran out of Purina kitten chow, Purina cat food, & cat litter and had no money to buy any more. Please understand when a rescue says they can not take on more animals, that it means they literally are incapable of taking more right now. We do not just say no because we want to. When we say no, it is because we have to. It breaks our hearts when we can’t save them all; we wish we could. But no money and no more space is a serious problem. Ignoring these problems and illegally dumping an animal on a rescue anyway only compounds the problem and is the downfall of many small rescues. That animal that you think is “just one more” is actually one of 50 or more “just one more animals” that we’ve already had to take in. This is exactly what has caused other rescues to cross the line from rescuer to hoarder. We do not want to stop doing what we do, but we have to be able to properly care for the animals that are already in our foster homes, and in our unfinished shelter, until they are adopted into their own homes.
New animals must be kept separate and quarantined from the other animals to prevent the spread of illness. Each animal that we take in must see one of our vets, and we take care of all of their medical needs before we can put them up for adoption. The more animals, the more vet bills, and the less time we have to devote to getting the animals already in our care well again so they can find a furrever home. The only way we can succeed at this is if we keep our numbers at a manageable and affordable level. Unfortunately, we have already passed that level because people simply can not accept the words “I’m sorry, we’re full and just can’t take one more.” Because our numbers are high, we can not keep up with everything that needs to be done.
We are currently overwhelmed and need your help! We need more foster homes. We need more dedicated, committed volunteers. We need more fundraisers. We need people to help us promote adoption, and volunteer at adoption events with us. We need more supporters and donors. If you can help by donating, volunteering, or fostering, we really would appreciate it.
If you would like to send money to help with vet bills or pet food & supplies, then Paypal donations can be sent to info@acadianahumane.org using the PayPal button on the side of our webpage. We also need help to raise funding and get supplies donated to complete the interior construction of our hurricane safe animal shelter in Sunset, Louisiana. The construction was halted a long time ago, due to lack of funds and too many animals that people insisted we had to help. All new income went to get all the animals in our care ready for adoption, with nothing left to work on the shelter. Currently our shelter can only house a few animals, in cages only, until construction is completed. It is currently being used only as emergency overflow and quarantine area, because it is unfinished. We are all volunteers. We are a small rescue organization, and we are not a part of any larger “humane society,” despite what many people seem to assume because of the name of our animal rescue. Therefore, all money we take in is money that is donated directly to Acadiana Humane Society. None of it is money that is dispersed to us because you gave to a much larger, National rescue organization. If you donate to the larger rescue groups, that is your choice. But, please know that if you want to help our little rescue, you must donate directly to us. You can also purchase gift cards for Petco, Walmart, Target, and other stores located in the Lafayette, Louisiana area that sell Purina pet food & pet supplies. You can mail checks, money order, and gift cards to us at our mailing address: Acadiana Humane Society; P.O. Drawer C; Sunset, LA 70584-0536. If you prefer to purchase the items yourself, you can contact us via text or call at 337-371-5477 or email us at ahspets@gmail.com to arrange delivery or pickup. Thank you!
We appreciate all of our adopters, volunteers, fosters, supporters, and donors. We can not do what we do without each and every one of you. But, we also can not grow and take on more animals if our volunteer and support base does not also grow with us.
We don’t require that you donate to get us to rescue an animal. We don’t beg for donations and pledges before we pull an animal from death row at an animal control facility. We do not even always charge an adoption fee, if the applicant is the best match for that rescued animal, and we know they can’t afford the fee. We don’t charge to post your Lost & Found pet pictures. We don’t charge to post your Courtesy Post listings when we can’t take the animal you need to rehome. Why do we do this? Because we love animals, and we love what we do. We don’t do it for the money. If rescuers did it for the money, then they would quickly be out of business. Why? Because there is no money in animal rescue. You just can’t raise enough money in adoption fees alone to pay for all the vet care that we had done on each animal.
This is why we need regular monthly supporters. We have a few that do this already, and we really appreciate it! Some employers allow you to set up automatic donation deductions from your paycheck. Some employers will even match your donation, which basically doubles what you are able to help the animals with. Any amount, no matter how small, or how large, goes a long way to help the animals. If this sounds like something you would like to do, check with your employer to see if they offer that. We would be more then happy to fill out any forms they need to help with that. Just have them email us at ahspets@gmail.com and let us know what they need. You can also use a bill paying service to send us a monthly check automatically. You can also set up a monthly donation plan through PayPal. Or, you can add us to your list of bills, and just drop a check in the mail once or twice a month when you sit down to pay bills. If you can’t donate, you can help in other ways.
To help in other ways, please email us at ahspets@gmail.com with the subject line “Volunteer” and let us know you would like to help. We will reply, as soon as possible, with our volunteer application and more information on volunteering. Once we know your location and interests, we can give you more specific information on the ways you can volunteer. You can even help if you are not local, especially if you are computer savvy. We always need help with getting the word out about animals that are available for adoption, as well as help with fundraising.
You can adopt an animal from us. We can’t take in new animals if the current animals are not being adopted. Yes, the animals in our care have already been rescued. But, when people don’t choose to adopt from an animal rescue because that animal is already safe, then we can’t save another life. Adopting does save lives. You can see our adoptable pets on several websites. You can find us on Adopt A Pet by clicking here. We also list our animals on acadianahumane.petfinder.com. We are so busy, that we don’t always have time to list every adoptable animal on the pet adoption sites. To see our available animals before they make it to the adoption sites, you can follow us on Facebook by liking our official page. We have a photo album set up for our current adoptable dogs & puppies that you can see by clicking here. We also have a Facebook photo album of adoptable cats & kittens. We even have a photo album set up for our adoptable birds, rabbits, ferrets, guinea pigs, and other small animals. If the animal is still in one of these photo albums then they are probably still available, as we try to move them to our adopted pages as quickly as possible. If you see a pet you would like to adopt, please email us at ahspets@gmail.com and let us know which pet you would like to adopt. To expedite the process, please go ahead and download and fill out our prescreening application and then attach it to an email and send it in.
Meet Hector, the tiny Tabby kitten is happy and safe in his foster home.
