I was reading a post on Seth Godin's blog today. In it, he points out that a secret of great blogs is that they act as a gathering place where like-minded folks can meet and share ideas. He refers to these groups as "tribes" of people.
This concept applies to more than blogs. As someone in rescue, you lead a group of volunteers and connect with people who adopt animals. These people are your "tribe." In an increasingly impersonal world, connections matter. When you talk about the dog you just adopted with another owner of a rescue, you bond in joy of owning a pet and saving a life. This connection is important.
The idea of a rescue group being the nexus of a "tribe" got me thinking. Most leaders of tribes (aka groups of people with a shared passion) are great at sharing their message. I've often wondered why it is that more people don't adopt from shelters and rescues. As we all know, the statistics are dismal.
In fact, today there was a big news item that Vice-President Elect Joe Biden just adopted a German Shepherd puppy from a breeder (in fact, probably a puppy mill). This news is only about a month after President-Elect Obama made a lot of noise about adopting the First Puppy from a shelter. What I want to know is why with all the information available would a guy who actually has a good voting record on humane issues adopt from a puppy mill? It's not like he's uninformed.
Clearly our "tribe" is doing something wrong. Why aren't more people adopting from shelters?
I'm serious here. Only a small percentage of pets are adopted. Why is that? I don't really have any answers, I'd just like you to think about it. How can we in rescue find more ways to make it "cool" to adopt animals?
Any thoughts on this? Send me an email and let me know...