i will care for you
Dear Friend,
Three special animals sought shelter at the Dakin Pioneer Valley Humane Society just last month:
Vivi, a sweet Australian cattle dog, survived abuse at the hands of dog hoarders whose cruelty made national headlines.
Frisky, a young cat, is recuperating from surgery to remove her tail after children tied firecrackers to it and set them off.
A wiggly brindle pit bull, Clem, has spent most of his life tied to a drug dealer’s garage.
Like Vivi, Frisky and Clem, each animal who has had no one to protect her, each person who has fallen on hard times but wants to help his animal—every individual who comes to our door—needs help. To each of them we make a promise: I will care for you.
To keep that promise, we need your help.
We open our doors and our hearts to abandoned or abused animals who need a second chance. Yet we know that caring means more than providing a safe place to rest, a healthy meal, or salve for a wound.
There are animals who will never come to our door but who need our care, whose very birth into a life of suffering we can prevent, and whose bond with a human family we can help protect.
In 2008, more than 11,000 animals entered the Pioneer Valley’s animal shelters. Nearly half of those animals lost their lives for the simple reason that their overwhelming numbers outstripped the available adoptive homes.
When the MSPCA closed its Western New England Animal Care and Adoption Center in Springfield in late March 2009, Dakin Pioneer Valley Humane Society stepped forward to purchase the building and re-open it. We have begun an unprecedented campaign to end euthanasia of adoptable homeless animals by 2012.
- With your help, Dakin Pioneer Valley Humane Society will provide a safe place and a second chance to more than 8,000 homeless cats, dogs, rabbits, birds, and other small animals this year at our adoption centers in Leverett and Springfield.
- With your help, DPVHS works with troubled children—many of whom have suffered abuse and neglect—to help restore their relationships with other beings, developing integrity and kindness along the way.
- With your help, DPVHS provides pet food to housebound seniors, people with disabilities, and others struggling to make ends meet.
- With your help, DPVHS Community Spay/Neuter Clinic will provide spay or neuter surgery to more than 7,000 cats and dogs this year, drastically reducing the number of unwanted and homeless animals in our region.
We can’t do this important work without you. In our first Fall Fund Drive serving the animals and people of Franklin, Hampshire, and Hampden counties, we ask you to join us in building a community that no longer chooses lethal solutions to animal homelessness.
We all have a role to play in this call to action. When we act, we can be proud that our community is working toward the day when no adoptable animal will die for lack of a home.
Please be as generous as you can. They depend on us, and we depend on you.
For the animals,
Leslie Harris
Executive Director
