I have been involved in animal rescue and social media at the same time since 2011. And I have seen countless of posts from animal shelters, animal controls and animal rescues. I have seen the wonderful side of social media and how many lives it can save. But the last year especially, I have noticed the growing number of hurtful and hateful social media comments. Especially on posts from the ones trying to save these animals. And I can’t sit here and not speak up for them. It’s my responsibility, as it always has been, to use our pages and the reach of our content for the good of animals. But the people helping these animals need to be spoken up for too. Today. They can’t save lives without you. Brickle and Digby wouldn’t have been able to do what they did without those people.
I’m not unlike you. I cringe at the stories of neglected and unwanted animals. I also get sick when I see the dates of impending death for the animals who have reached their time limit in the shelters. But think about this. Would a shelter or rescue that didn’t care even post about these animals and try to save them? So why the awlful comments? I get it. You’re hurt. You’re mad they are in this situation. So. Are. They. So are the volunteers and workers at these shelters. But they are the ones doing the work. They are the ones dealing with lives lost and situations that the public puts on to them. And it’s not fair to these people.
It’s true that we don’t know the story behind every animal in a shelter or rescue. But we also don’t know the story behind that person who has to deal with seeing these animals in their care. I have visited hundreds of shelters and rescues across the USA and now in Italy. I will tell you that what goes on behind the scenes are people dealing with personal problems just like me and you. But they are the ones walking the dogs, doing the laundry, the paperwork and the emotions. So what can we do on the outside when we see a post come across our social media from them? What need to change for animal shelters today? You.
Share a post. Comment encouragement on a post. Say thank you on a post. Even one a day. Imagine if all of the posts had encouragement? Wouldn’t the ones posting from those shelters be encouraged to be animal advocates another day? Who is in? Let’s change the social media conversation for the people doing the hard work for animals this year. Today.
–Rachael Johnson
Founder, 2 Traveling Dogs
We need your help to help animals and rescues and shelters!! We have dedicated our social media pages reaching millions per day to animal rescue. We give our time and resources to this cause. We have worked daily for over a decade to grow our pages to help provide free exposure to shelters and rescues at no cost (each post to our page is valued at 1-3k). We reserve space for animals in need. Not sponsors. But we need your support.
To read more about who we are and what we do, click here.
I always make positive posts to any shelter. I volunteered at a shelter, more as a bookkeeper than dog walker because I am a very small person and unfortunately, most of the dogs at the shelter were large breed dogs. I still enjoyed it when one of the dogs was brought into the office for some quiet time. Once, as I was working away, I felt this bump on my thigh and it was this very large head of a good dog. He was just bumping me to say hello. I think that if people make negative posts they are perhaps just venting because they had to give up their dog for unknown reasons.
I’m with you on this but I also noticed that the fact that if you spay or neuter your animals they not only live longer but you are cutting down the amount of animals that are being born. I’ve been reading your blog since you started.