How to help animals?

We live in a society in which animals need our help, so there are as many ways to help them as we can think of, here are the main ones: 

Rescue: whenever you find an animal in distress we ask you very strongly to make the effort to help it and save its life. After the rescue, you will have to decide what is best for the animal and if you cannot adopt it, you can always ask for help from an association to foster or sponsor it in exchange for helping to give it the best life possible.

Adopt: when we make the decision to extend our family by taking in an animal we are saving its life, and if that animal was in the care of an association we are saving two lives! The one that will be a new member of your family and the animal that will take its place in that association.

Fostering: if you cannot commit to caring for an animal for its entire life, you may be able to foster it for a specific or indefinite period of time. Fostering can range from animals that need specific or temporary care such as puppies, animals after surgery or that need treatment and after that period can return to the shelter, or indefinite fostering of animals that will have to find a family to go to after they have passed through your home, sometimes for a few days or weeks, and sometimes for a little longer.

Sponsorship: this consists of paying a monthly, quarterly or annual fee to help with the maintenance and care of a specific animal. It can be an animal that you have been helped with or another one that has touched your heart for whatever reason. A very nice way to educate children is to make them accomplices of a sponsorship, they will create a bond with an animal, they will know its history and we can even help you to create small events to make an extra contribution and help with an extra to your association.

Volunteering: many associations, whether they are shelters or animal protection or animal rights associations, need help. Get to know this project and find out what suits you best, what suits you best and what you think you will be most comfortable with if you commit yourself. Volunteering requires commitment as the associations depend on volunteers to carry out their work and to be able to continue their work. You can volunteer to take dogs for walks, socialise cats, clean spaces or cages, organise or participate in events, or even help with online tasks, design, campaigns, etc. Contact the association you would like to collaborate with and tell them about your availability and skills so that they can confirm if you are a good fit and when and how to start.

Become a member: micro-donations (teaming or team choir) or making a donation: these are ways of financially supporting an association, just as sponsorship provides income to support the organisation's work. In addition to money you can donate products or food, always contact the organisation beforehand to make sure what they need the most and if they prefer to donate in this way, or if it is a donation of furniture or another type also contact them to make sure that it will be possible and that it will be useful, such as blankets and towels, for example.

Raise awareness: in addition to everything you do, it is very important to talk about it, normalise it and encourage your environment to get involved in helping animals, your friends, family or those who follow you on social networks can follow your steps, if you collaborate with an association, tell them about them. If you are not linked to any association, talk about the importance of sterilisation, rescue, care, help animals in any way you can, they need the world to be more empathetic towards them.

Social change: join animal rights associations, or support campaigns that fight to protect them, to change laws, to improve the management of a municipality, to prevent a case of mistreatment from going unpunished, social pressure is often the key to open the eyes of the rest of the world.

The importance of care: if you live with animals you already know the importance of their welfare, making sure their environment is safe and pleasant, making sure they have access to the necessary stimuli according to their species and needs, often living with someone else of their species can be the best decision, providing them with the veterinary care they need, adequate food and dedicating quality time to them, giving them affection and playing with them will also improve their mood and health.

Don't forget that every little thing you can do to help animals will make a difference to one of them. Whatever you do, do it from the heart, with commitment and pride because with people doing something for others we can make the world a kinder place.