I would start my own animal charity, devoted to fostering pets whose people are temporarily unable to care for them, or assisting their owners, whether through illness, homelessness, financial restraints, etc. I once read that many women stay in abusive relationships because the shelters don't allow animals and they are terrified that if they leave their pets behind their men will harm them. I know from my own personal experience, when I was critically ill many years ago, that you have no choice but to let your pets go, either to a shelter or just simply by euthanizing them. I had been fostering pets for years and was shocked that there was no help when my friends sought it for me, because all the foster homes were full of animals that had no owners at all, they couldn't start taking animals that already had a home, even if that home was unoccupied because the owner was in the hospital in a coma. They had no choice but to turn my cats over to my mother, whom I hadn't spoken to for 13 years. My friends handed over four cats, two came home because my mom didn't even bother to try to keep them from going out the cat door. One disappeared, and another was hit by a car.

Anyway, I digress!

If you could identify one event that made you become an animal lover, what was it?