I’m not sure why that paragraph caught the vet student’s attention.  Wildlife sanctuaries play a very important role in wildlife rehabilitation, and if I were a vet student, I’d jump at the chance to work in one.  Your future as a pet vet is not likely to give you a chance to care for a bald eagle or a great blue heron, but a stint at a sanctuary just might.  Seems to me to be a situation where you take HSUS’s money and use it for something intelligent and good-doing.  But maybe I’ve missed the point somehow.

Yes, Janet, I guess you did.

Janet, I thought I read volunteer, meaning no money from HSUS.

Janet, the Wisconsin DNR got into a lot of hot water, boiling, in fact, by making the mistake of taking HSUS up on one of it’s offers to “do good.”  It is a very bad idea to believe that HSUS has animals’—or people’s—best interests in mind. While the public is looking at those pitiful animals in HSUS marketing materials and feeling so very sorry for them, and donating money to help them, the HSUS is doing a lot of damage behind those images. As the vet student noticed, HSUS is famous for operating under false pretenses.

At some point, an organization is so corrupt, or the agenda so twisted, that animal lovers with integrity have no choice but to find more worthy organizations to support. As soon as HSUS has it’s hands on the money it is worthless, as far as I am concerned. It doesn’t take a lot of time to find other effective ways to fight against animal cruelty, from pets to agriculture to wildlife. Petsmart Charities, for example, has a staff of maybe 30 or so, yet they are very effective in helping animals and people in disasters, and transporting pets from high-kill areas to areas where there is a shortage of adoptable animals.

I know people who do wildlife rehabilitation; they are in every state. I don’t think any wildlife rehabber would turn away a vet student looking to volunteer to help out with wildlife in need.

A good friend of mine has been doing wildlife rehab for many years. She has had animals turned over to her by the state for rehab because she has the facilities to securely care for a number of different types of animals. She has had experience with most mammals, from chipmunks to coyotes. She turns over birds or the largest mammals to facilities better qualified to handle them.

Every state has a department of environmental conservation or an equivalent department. All rehabbers would be licensed through that department. To find volunteer opportunities would be as simple as contacting the state agency and asking for a list of state approved agencies and contacting one or more of them directly.

I was lucky enough to find this article and read up on all the controversy.  I am new student to the veterinary world and have been doing tons of volunteer work, and now have the ability to followup on new sites to volunteer my time and efforts.  I help in a shelter locally and many rescues in the local area and feel that in my area, so many are doing so much to help and funding is never enough.  This will always be an issue and that is why we do need to let volunteers help and learn and grow so that we can continue to lessen the effects on animal cruelty everywhere.  Thank you all for this information.

What can one do when your pets are seized and promised to be returned to you, you are caught in a distressed situation and you are crying and a piece of paper is given to you to sign. It was a dirty trick to get me to sign a release after being promised the return of my dogs after they were spayed, neutered and given their shots. This was courtesy of the local SPCA.  I know I should have read it,but I really felt I was trying to cooperate with them and thought they (SPCA) were being honest me.

Are all the pet organizations monitered? They sure need to be,because the local animal shelters do what they want to citizens and so does the local SPCA. How can an organization be formed to help citizens.  We are not all hoarders and one term and the same action should not fit all situtions.