We Can Be Heroes… Just for One Day

The Just One Day movement does not get a lot of attention in the cat blogging community, and I wish it did! Every year on June 11, animal shelters are urged to stop euthanizing adoptable pets for “just one day” and instead hold events and adoption drives to place cats and dogs that might have otherwise lost their lives.

Last year, 1,300 shelters and animal control facilities in all 50 states pledged to be no-kill for just one day — and 13,000 pets were adopted! I hope that this year, they do even better.

The great thing about the Just One Day movement is that no one is asking open admission (i.e., kill) shelters to immediately change everything they’re doing — all it asks is that these shelters try something different on June 11 in the hopes that it gets them thinking about better ways to handle the pets that get surrendered or turned in to them.

A no-kill nation is not just possible — it is very doable, but it requires a shift in thinking about homeless pets, and developing new approaches to rehoming cats and dogs. But none of this is complicated or difficult. It just takes a group of humans willing to take action.

Has a shelter near you chosen to be a hero for Just One Day? You can find a list on the right hand sidebar of Just One Day’s Pledge page. There are also some Canadian shelters, and one in Australia, taking part.

My calendar didn’t let me know about Just One Day until yesterday. I will try to keep better track next year — that way I can warn you well in advance so you can encourage shelters in your community to take part.

You can visit the Just One Day website here; their Facebook page is here.
* * *

Having problems with your human or the other cats in your house? As the internet’s “Dear Abby With Claws,” Sparkle had answers to many annoying problems in her two award-winning books! Visit her author’s page on Amazon to buy one or both of her awesome Dear Sparkle books!