A Soup Kitchen for Pets? Wow!

We're all about pets here...in case you haven't figured that out. That means we like to report on stories that focus on pet welfare. Well, here's one that will make you smile. It sure inspired me!

Thanks go to John McCarney for sharing this: A soup kitchen for pets:

This is out of Germany - where Claudia Hollm was watching a TV show about a family who had to give up their beloved pet because of the economy. A so-often told story here in the U.S. also. Well, the dog was taken to a shelter - where he died of a broken heart, so they think. He could not bear to be away from his beloved family, and they missed him just as much.

Claudia decided to do something to help people in situations like that! Though she holds down a full-time job, she managed to open a soup kitchen for pets, including "rabbits, cats, dogs, and other animals people had in their homes but were having trouble feeding."

In the article John sent me (from Guideposts.org), Claudia says, “People have to show us official documents to show they are on welfare or have very low wages before we help them. If we see someone who is already poor get a new pet we won’t support them. We’ve had situations where we had to refuse people because they took on new pets, despite having come to us for their original pets...we have one case of a woman in Frankfurt who is in her 80s. Her husband died years ago and she is in ill health. This lady is so happy to have the help. She says if her cats die then she too has no reason to live. The cats are her children and they are keeping her alive.”

The organization, Tiertafel (animal table), is so successful it has 19 offices nationwide and has helped over 4000 customers feed over 6000 pets.

Here in the U.S. there is a food pantry program, First Home, Forever Home, created by Best Friends Animal Society. The article linked here says they recently gave 1,215 bags of dog food and snacks to two food banks in the Atlanta area. Can you I hear a great big cheer for these programs?

HIP HIP HOORAY!!!! 

Comments

[Pamela]

Our local food pantries make pet food available along with human food. It's so important to see that caring for animals and caring for people go together and don't have to mean one at the expense of the other.