Effective Advocacy Works! (Part I) by Claudine Vass

Fostering, adoption, donation cannot replace advocacy!

How do we strive to be the change that we wish to see in the world? There are many ways to be the change. Relating it to our companion animals, how can we as animal lovers be the change we wish to see in the world? Some choose to foster. Some choose to transport, network, donate, rescue or all of the above to help save lives of animals in shelters or free roaming in streets. Knowing we only need less than 1.5% of the population in Fort Bend County to adopt from local shelters to stop the killing of healthy and treatable companion animals, the founding members of Fort Bend Pets Alive! chose to make the change through advocacy to raise awareness communally and politically.

No doubt advocacy is a long, arduous process that requires a lot of patience and trust from all involved. Animal advocates from all over the Houston area along with Fort Bend Pets Alive! have persistently addressed issues surrounding the Rosenberg animal shelter to the city council since June 2016 after efforts of discussions in private failed with Mayor McConathy of Rosenberg and Chief Warren of the Police Department. In the course of ten months, with the goal of raising awareness and to put animal welfare issues in front of taxpayers and city officials in Rosenberg, over 50 speeches were presented with close to 200 attendees in about 15 city council meetings, budget hearing, and special meetings. The resistance from all city officials was strong. But persistence from advocates prevailed and the plan worked! It worked because the values of the community are set by the people.

The videos are proof that advocacy works. We need to live our values through our decisions and actions. By speaking out, you are taking action to push for a change; the change you want to be. As you can see in the videos below, each candidate running for Rosenberg City Election in attendance of the Candidates’ Forum on April 20th, 2017 talked about their plans to improve operations of the animal shelter. Some candidates complimented the advocates. The fact that animal welfare issues were being discussed by public official in the public was unprecedented!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UD…

Thanks to all animal lovers who took their time out to join us on a regular basis in the last ten months. We have set the tone to respect life. We have pushed for an opportunity to create a positive impact for our companion animals in Rosenberg and in Fort Bend County.

So, speak out now!
Speak out to those in positions of authority to share with them how you feel about killing of healthy and treatable companion animals.

Claudine is the founder of Fort Bend Pets Alive! She lives in Richmond, Texas with her husband and their adorable dogs of mixed breeds.

SHARING IS CARING

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