I just want you to know that there are many people out in the trenches working hard to help; you just don't hear about us, which is unfortunate (apparently we're not getting the word out as well as we'd like).

My personal focus is spay/neuter. I helped create several programs to assist bringing low-cost spay/neuter to my community (south-western Indiana). Last year, a few of my peers and I created a new local program offering free spay/neuter to dogs & cats belonging to local residents on welfare/medicaid. We try to advertise, posting fliers and handouts at low-income haunts and resource locations, listing information in newspapers, radio/tv, and even on buses. I transport animals to and from the homes to the vets to spay/neuter them. I also liase between owners and our local "kill" shelter to accept unwanted litters as long as the owners will allow us to spay and vaccinate the mother and babies for free. I even bribe some to allow us to s/n and vaccinate their pets for free by offering them free food, collars, straw for shelters, and even shelters. The result is that a few thousand animals have been spayed/neutered as a result of these programs, and several hoarders have been assisted and a few have even maintained a reasonable number of pets since we helped them.

Many of the cats and litters I helped get spayed/neutered and vaccinated were originally strays taken in by kind-hearted, low-income people. They usually didn't find out about us until the strays had bred a few litters and they realized they were completely overwhelmed and sought help. There have been dozens of these situations where I found these people sharing table scraps with 20-30 cats, several pregnant or nursing new litters, many sick and parasite-infested. I would hook them up with pet food, get the cats veterinary care, and they would care for them until they were healthy, spayed/vaccinated, and adoptable. Then I would work with the shelter for the animals to be relinquished when the shelter could take them.

Since there are WAY, WAY too many cats in our community and plenty "free to a good home" all over the place, we must export to rescues out-of-state. Tiger Ranch agreed to take (unsure: I believe about 20?) cats/kittens from us every six weeks. The ones I would send were usually healthy, socialized, spayed/neutered, and vaccinated, so they were adoptable.

It will take years for our spay/neuter efforts to be significant enough to be felt at the local shelters. The overpopulation is that much out of control. Everyone I know has a house full of animals (owned or fostered), or is active in some aspect of animal welfare work. I focus on spay/neuter rather than rescue since rescue will never improve until the numbers become reasonable.

I drive transports from my local shelter to rescues, and sometimes volunteer to drive a leg of other rescue transports. I foster for the shelter occasionally. I maintain a spay/neuter website (although I'm about two months behind on it). My home phone number was posted everywhere for the past two years, until we could no longer afford a phone. I still spend money I don't have on gas to get animals to the vet to be spayed/neutered or from homes that rescued strays off the street to the shelter. I have a stash of crates in my garage that are constantly used and sanitized. I'm on call for all sorts of emergencies and events. I'm on the board of a local animal welfare coalition, and I attend as many public meetings as I possibly can regarding local animal welfare groups or issues.

I'm not saying this to brag. I just want you to know that there is an army of volunteers just like me who work away, often behind the scenes, who don't spend much time posting online what we do. Yes, there is definitely a need for more volunteers. Yes, there are way too many people who are eager to make helpful suggestions yet few who are willing to take action or do the work involved. But you are definitely not alone, and rescue is not the only worthwhile activity helping animals.

Please don't think I'm scolding or preaching. I hope I'm not sounding harsh; that's not my intent. I know how discouraging it can be to participate in forums where there are many well-intended contributors and few actual volunteers. I sincerely thank you for helping strays. I'll keep trying to stem the tide by making s/n services available to everyone so there will be fewer of them.