# Tips for starting a college campus rescue group?



## K.l.white (Sep 30, 2013)

I go to a private college in a quiet little suburb of Wisconsin. My school has a really, really good reputation for student clubs - you can start nearly anything fairly easily and with really nice funding.

Just yesterday, I found an abandoned, crying kitten in a bush downtown and successfully got it to a good local shelter. It started me thinking - the nearest shelter is 30 minutes away, and if I can start any club, why not an animal rescue club? I don't know nearly enough about the workings of even small shelter facilities yet though, which is why I'm looking for advice.

So what I'm thinking is if we could get a facility on campus - just one room even - we could take 1, maybe 2 dogs or cats at a time. The club members' responsibility would be to take shifts feeding, cleaning, walking, playing with, and generally socializing the animal(s) as well as working to find a permanent home for them. We can use our budget to pay for food, toys, kennels, and other necessities, and we can fundraise for what we don't have a budget for.

One of my main questions right now (aside from whether we could get a facility and some college specific stuff) is where we would get the animals from. Is talking to the closest humane society about fostering an animal appropriate? Or is fostering specifically meant for homes? If fostering wouldn't work would we adopt from the overpopulated shelter and rehome the animal? Possible answers to these questions as well as other advice would be greatly appreciated!


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## Shell (Oct 19, 2009)

I would suggest instead that you start a club of volunteers to work with an established shelter or rescue group. Even if the nearest shelter is 30 minutes away, carpools could be organized regularly or you could do things that don't require being inside the shelter. 
Cleaning, walking, socializing etc are all things that dogs in shelters need and much of that is done by volunteers. There is also a need for fundraising and event helpers, most shelters have at least one big yearly event and many have booths at adoption fairs and local street fairs and similar that need volunteers to staff the booths. Some towns have a pet food bank where people can get dog and cat food when they don't have any money to prevent the pets from ending up in shelters. Taking photos of the dogs, posting them on petfinder and facebook is another thing that busy shelter workers can't always get done easily. I know one group that does a once a week photo session at the city shelter and does all the petfinder profiles for them.

One of the big benefits of fostering for a dog is the home environment allows the dog to be trained and socialized in the same kind of situation he will likely be adopted into (home, family, often other pets, usually a typical work schedule). That in turn helps the adopter know what kind of personality and behavior they are likely getting in a dog and make the transition to a new home easier for all involved. I can see some dogs that would benefit from a room on campus and the attention of different people, but it could also confuse a lot of dogs to be dealing with different training styles and different routines of the student helpers. 

As for adopting a pet and rehoming it on your own, that is generally against most adoption contracts.


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## beretw (Sep 25, 2012)

It's a nice idea in theory but...

What happens during finals weeks when everyone is pull all-nighters in the library? What about holidays or semester breaks when everyone goes home/off-campus? While it's easy to say people will make it work, adjust their schedules, sacrifice time, etc. now... When push comes to shove and life gets in the way, you might find out the hard way that once-committed members aren't actually so eager to step up to the plate for the sake of the animals.

Just, speaking from relative experience here. I got a puppy while still in college. Hardest thing I've ever done. I had to make a lot of sacrifices and ended up dropping down to part time and staying an extra year. Different situation than what you're proposing but college is hectic and life tends to get in the way and other students aren't necessarily the most reliable group.


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## Laurelin (Nov 2, 2006)

I was a member of my college's animal rescue group. We did a lot but we did not actually house animals ourselves (though most had animals). We did fund raisers for other rescues, volunteered for other rescues (we did a lot for a reptile rescue), and we lobbied/went to important city council meetings to try to change our local shelter's policies. I think that is a much better way to go about it vs actually housing animals on campus.


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