Volunteering to Help with Animals

If you are an animal lover, perhaps you've thought about ways that you could volunteer with animals. Or perhaps you are looking for ways to volunteer with your pet.

There are many ways that you (and your pet) can help our furry, scaly and feathered friends. These are just some of the areas that you could lend a helping hand: administrative support, animal care, animal transport and special events.

Opportunities to Volunteer with Animals in Calgary

To ensure that most of donors' contributions go to caring for animals in need, animal shelters and societies rely on caring volunteers to help with office administration. For instance, the Calgary Humane Society gladly welcomes volunteers to assist with office reception. Pawsitive Match Rescue Foundation and Oops-a-Dazy Rescue and Sanctuary Society have several areas to help with everything from pet insurance administration to marketing. The Animal Rescue Foundation relies on responsible volunteers to interview families for the pet adoption program.

For those who want more hands-on experience helping animals, volunteers can help with picking up animals that have been found in the wild, attending to animals' daily needs or ensuring that the needed supplies are on-hand. Dog walking, laundry and cleaning are other areas of animal care that would benefit from volunteer assistance.

Volunteers can also help by fostering animals. Foster families provide a safe environment for an animal as well as prepare them for the adoption program.

Most animal organizations run fundraising events on an annual basis. This can take the form of a casino, a fun run or an auction. People can assist as event volunteers or on the organizing committee.

Opportunities to Volunteer with Your Pet

There are numerous ways that you can volunteer with your pet. When Maestro was younger, we participated in the SPCA Dog Jog as well as the Fathers' Day Walk:

You and your pet can also foster animals. Your pet is your number one assistant in socializing a rescued animal before he or she is adopted.

Another area that you and your pet can help the community is by providing animal therapy. You would work together as a team, bringing smiles and comforting long-term care patients.

Volunteering with animals - whether it is to help animals in need or you are volunteering with your pet - can be a rewarding experience for both you and your pet. For more information, check out the books and links listed below.

Related Reading:

6 Ways to Volunteer with Your Pet by Sidney Stevens (Mother Nature Network)

A Guide to Volunteering with Your Pet (Healthy Pet)

Five Ways to Volunteer with Your Dog by Cesar Milan (Cesar's Way)

The Unusual Diary of an Animal Shelter Volunteer (book)

Volunteering to Help with Animals (book)

Wanted!: Animal Volunteers (book)

The I Am Here Project

Some Chilean college students embarked on a project to make invisible dogs visible, with the help of brightly coloured balloons. The balloons bore messages such as "Hug me", "Scratch me", "Play with me" and "Don't leave me."

The result is simply beautiful. I hope someone adopted some of those beautiful dogs. There are so many animals out there just waiting to bring happiness and love to a family:

If you'd like to adopt a pet, check out the following places:

Adopt a Pet

Alberta Animal Rescue Crew

Animal Rescue Foundation

Pawsitive Match Rescue Foundation

Second Chance Animal Rescue Society

SPCA