Do you have big plans for your organization in 2009? We spent a lot of the holidays planning what we'll be doing in the new year. And dealing with endless bad weather, like most of the rest of the country!
I also did a workshop proposal called "Making Pet Adoption Cool" for a conference I'll be attending later this year. It came out of the question I asked in "Why Isn't Adoption Cool?" , which was "why don't more people adopt from animal shelters and rescues?" The most recent statistics I found show only 10% of dogs and 18% of cats are adopted. That really stinks.
Although many rescues have instituted more progressive adoption policies and innovative programs like Meet Your Match to make the adoption process friendlier, that only helps those who actually make it in the door. So why aren't more people considering the adoption option in the first place? In my workshop proposal, I explored a few reasons.
But I'm curious what your thoughts are on the matter as well. After all, you talk to people every day and tell them what you do. I know in my case, when I tell people that my dogs were all adopted, people often ask me what's "wrong" with them. ("Oh were they abused?") Just one of the many incorrect perceptions about rescue/shelter pets is that they are defective in some way. So people continue to get pets from pet stores and puppy mills.
If you have thoughts on this issue, I'd love to hear them! Send me an email and let me know...