Education
Animal Values 101
How many unwanted cats and dogs are there? Each year in the United States, an estimated 6 to 8 million cats and dogs end up in shelters, either coming in as strays or being dumped by their owners. Approximately 3 to 4 million are euthanized, a majority of which are healthy animals. That is each year! In addition to those going through the shelter system, it is projected there are tens of millions stray cats and dogs, living on the streets. Most of these strays lack sufficient food, adequate shelter and veterinary care and are subject to brutal attacks, leading to extreme suffering and a significantly shortened lifespan
How do we change this? We believe education is essential in combating and ending the suffering of the millions of unwanted, abused, neglected and homeless cats and dogs. Educating our communities – expanding their knowledge of animal needs, care and respect – is the only way to end the countless killings that occur in our shelters and reduce the number of strays.
How do we educate our communities? It starts with talking to everyone – from children to senior citizens. Talking first and foremost about respecting animals, about spaying and neutering, about proper care durinjg each life stage of the animal. Teaching them – getting them to understand the benefits of spaying and neutering and the detrimental effects of not doing it, sharing with them the importance of adopting and not buying a pet and helping them to help their community pet population. Showing them – giving them hands-on experience in caring for a pet, being a caretaker for an outdoor cat colony and enabling them to share what they learned with others.
Big Hands Little Paws will be working with schools, community centers and senior citizen facilities to reach as many people as possible. We plan to do this through in-person and video presentations, through social media and good old-fashioned conversations! We wiill post links here to our education videos, segments and presentations covering various topics. This is how we can initiate change, how we can end the needless killing of millions of cats and dogs each year and how we can improve the lives of all cats and dogs. Educating is how we will get this done!