Project
Please Help Me Build An
Animal Home
You probably have been in an animal shelter or have seen pictures of animals in shelters. But, what is a shelter? According to the Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English, a shelter is:
a place giving temporary protection from bad weather or danger;
a place providing food and accommodation for the homeless.
Basically, it is a place where only the bare minimum is provided, and in some shelters, it is not even that. The animals do not have enough food—or the wrong food is provided—and the living conditions are inadequate and the animals are not even protected from the elements. Many animals die in these places because they are not safe. For example, the meshing in enclosures can be inadequate and the animals can get caught in them, and the list of other safety concerns goes on and on.
Why do animals end up in places like these? In the best-case scenario, an animal had an amazing life with a family and then was dropped off at a shelter because the family did not want this wonderful animal anymore. In the worst-case scenario, it is an animal who was tortured that ends up in a shelter.
All animals in shelters have been through horrible experiences and they need a place where they can recover, recuperate, and regenerate. They deserve more than just the bare minimum. They should live in a place that makes them feel safe, helps them to build trust again, and protects them no matter what.
Please help me to build a place that is not just another animal shelter, but a real ANIMAL
HOME. I want it to be a place that these wonderful animals can call home until they find their forever families, no matter if it is for a day, a week, a month, or a year. It will be a place where they can learn to enjoy life again.
With your donation, you will not just help one animal on one occasion. You will help thousands of animals over many decades.
Here are some statistics that I found about animal shelters on the Internet:
Kill shelter
365 (days in a year) / 10 (days stay) = 36.5 x 202 (animals/capacity)
= 7,373 animals in this shelter per year, full capacity.
No-kill shelter
365 (days a year) / 18 days (between 14 and 21 days) = 20 x 357 (animals/capacity)
= 7,140 animals in this shelter per year, full capacity.
So, if we take an average of 7,000 animals in a shelter per year, and let’s say the shelter will be in operation for 50 years, you will be helping 350,000 animals (7,000 animals x 50 years).
If you donate $100 that will be $0.00028 cents for each animal ($100 / 350,000 animals).
If you donate $1,000 that will be $0.0029 cents for each animal ($1,000 / 350,000 animals).
My name is Claudia Hehr and I have been a trendsetter in the animal field for many years.
In 1992, I opened Dog’s Paradise, Canada’s first official dog day care centre. It was cage free. Dogs interacted with each other and had several rooms to roam around in. It was a house setting, not an industrial unit, and all the dogs were able to go outside in a fenced-in area whenever they wanted or needed to. In the summer, we even had an inflatable pool, so my wonderful dog friends were able to cool off and have a fantastic time.
Up until then, the only places you were able to leave your dog companion for the day were at the vet, where your dog companion had to sit in a cage all day, or in a horrible boarding kennel usually located outside of the city which consisted of wired fencing enclosures with concrete flooring which hopefully was heated!
Once I opened my dog day care centre and dog guardians saw what was possible, they demanded more for their dog companions. Now, there are dog day care centres everywhere and most dog boarding places have improved 1,000%. We can do the same for animal shelters. Once people see what is possible, they will want better for homeless animals, too. Animals deserve more.
In 2015, I went on a cross-Canada tour helping over 50 animals who had been forgotten in shelters to find new homes. I have seen many animal shelters and they really need an update.
Some look nice and have grand entrances and other areas where people can meet animals that they want to get to know better. However, many of the shelters do not look as good. We must build a home that is made for the animals, not people.
Please help me to build an ANIMAL HOME. It will be somewhere in Canada, but at the moment, I do not have an exact picture of what the shelter will look like. I am still trying to find someone who is talented enough to help me make what I am envisioning for the animals a reality. I know that it will be a warm, safe, cozy place with lots of windows where everyone can meet and play. There will be many plants inside—all, of course, out of reach of the animals—and the radio and meditative music will play in the background as entertainment. Each dog guest will have the opportunity to go in and out of the house as he/she wishes. This is really important since many dogs have been strays and if they are locked up all of a sudden, it can be very stressful for them and even make them claustrophobic. There will also be cat walkways throughout the entire building so that cat guests can stretch their legs and get used to living inside if they have been living on the streets.
The building will be made out of eco-friendly materials and I would like to build it quickly so that the animals are not displaced for too long.
On my website, animalhome.org, cities, town, and counties will be invited to apply to have a shelter built or updated in their area. Once we come close to our donation goal, a draw will be held to decide where the shelter will be built.
In the Animal Home, there will be a wall where the name of everyone who has donated will be mentioned. The amount of the donation will determine the size of your name. The larger the donation the larger the font size. If you prefer, you can also stay anonymous or make the donation in an animal’s name.
Here are the categories:
$1-50
$51-99
$100-249
$250-499
$500-999
$1,000-2,499
$2,500-4,999
$5,000-9,999
$10,000-24,999
$25,000-49,999
$50,000-99,9999
$100,000-249,999
$250,000 and up
This is a huge undertaking and I cannot do it on my own. Please help me to help the animals.
From the bottom of my heart, thank you. I know every single animal will be forever grateful to you for your donation.
Blessings, health, and a big hug for your animal companions.