Sarah's+Thoughts

For the past couple months I have been volunteering at Northwestern Stables in Chestnut Hill with 7 other students from school. This community service is designed to educate us about Animal Rights. Animal rights is a topic that most people overlook. Many feel bad for mistreated animals, but how many actually take action? Thus the reason for this community service. What do you think of when you think of animal abuse? Most people think of dogs and cats. Many overlook horses, monkeys, hens, and even pigs.

In Pennsylvania alone, this past year 109 animals or more lost their lives due to neglect and/or abuse. Some are tortured, stabbed, and even poisoned. [|CRUEL]

There are 45 Cats & Dogs born for every person born. Only 1 out of 10 dogs ever find a home, and only 1 out of 12 cats ever find a home. -[|It's True]

Over 100,000 horses are[| Slaughtered]ed each year in the United States alone...

[|Cat Abuse]

this is a recent case involving the hoarding of over 1,000 cats. This took place in PA, and the woman responsible was recently convicted. This is just one of the many cases of animal abuse. A woman actually created something similar to a "death camp" for cats. It was discovered that the ranch the woman owned was supposed to be a cat rescue sanctuary, so many people shipped their cats there to avoid sending their pets to high-kill shelters. The raid left animal control officials speechless, as they found over hundreds of neglected diseased and dying cats. The woman is currently in jail awaiting sentencing.

-Another place we have been volunteering at is Kitty Cottage, a rescue center for cats. Our job is to play with the cats, many of which have been abused, so they become comfortable with human contact. The goal is to get the cats friendly enough so that people will want to adopt them, creating more room in the rescue house for other needy cats.

(me at kitty cottage with one of the kittens)