Thousands of unwanted animals are found abandoned almost daily on the streets of Phoenix. Some are lucky enough to wind up at the Arizona Humane Society, where they can be cleaned up, fed, treated for disease or injuries, and placed up for adoption. I'm a volunteer photographer for AZHS, and the photographs I take help potential adopters to select a furry companion. The adoption fee is low, medical assistance is provided - often for free - and every effort is made to avoid euthanasia. In fact, animals are often kept for extended periods of time to ensure that they eventually find a forever home.

Here are some photos of a few of these animals that I took just yesterday. Most are wary, confused and often frightened. Luckily the folks at AZHS are highly trained to give them respect, care and comfort during their stay. Most of them will be in really good shape and have excellent temperament by the time they leave. If these pictures don't grab at your heart strings, you have no soul...

If you can, support your local shelter and if you can, adopt a deserving animal!

John

__________________
- Cogito, ergo armatus sum -

Good on ya!! A tip of the old Stetson to you for your work.

__________________
Eccentric old coot

I know I'm repeating myself but over a 35 year period, Ruthie and I have rescued 17 animals. We have four left.

I wish I could take them all.

Nicely done.

__________________
Music/Sports/Beer fan

Beautiful fur babies and excellent photography, and love to see well composed and great lighting. Photography is my hobby and your work is very impressive & for a great cause.

__________________
686, Shield 9MM & 642

Sometimes I despise human beings

__________________
Retired Career Security Guard

"Like" a million times! Great pictures! That kitty looks scared. It reminds me of how Newt our cat was when I found him. We have no idea what these guys have been through before they wind up at the shelter. I think shelter animals make the best pets because they are so appreciative to find a good home.

Growing up all of nearly all of our animals were from the shelter or rescues. My mom saved many from death row. The exceptions were show chickens (I know strange) and two dogs we had when we lived in England. The first few chickens were rescues then it grew into a hobby to keep my brother busy and out of trouble. We ended up with 36. :-)

I myself have been notorious for finding stray animals and all of my pets in my adult life were found on the street. I've always contacted shelters and put up notices around the neighborhood and nobody ever claims them. My dad's dog was thrown from a car next to a freeway. A woman saw it happen and rescued the dog. She is the sweetest little thing. It is hard to believe what people will do.

I've put my talents to good use and do TNR - trap feral cats and get them fixed at the SPCA. If they are kittens they go into an adoption program and if they are too feral for adoption they get released back where they were trapped, but at least they won't be breeding. They have a barn cat adoption program but unfortunately that doesn't cover our city. Our county had a big problem so they have free and low cost spay/neuter. They even have a mobile clinic that goes to various neighborhoods where people are less likely to spay/neuter their pets. Low cost/free spay neuter is one government program I endorse. The money is well spent. Millions of animals are killed each year in overcrowded shelters. Less animals in shelters means less spent.

Friends,

I've had one of our members here PM me in order to make a generous donation to the Arizona Humane Society. That was greatly appreciated - the money goes 100% to help run their tremendous operation with 84% directly assisting the animals, and it's tax deductible. The statistics are incredible on the numbers of animals they help. Animal rescue. Medical treatment including operations for damaged animals. Spay and neuter. Adoption. Animal toy sales and special public appeals bring in some needed revenue, but that's just a drop in the bucket. Many put this organization into their wills. Not a nickel comes from any government source; it's all funded by the public at large and the continuing expenses are unbelievable. Most of the work is done by unpaid volunteers who donate their time, materials and much money.

You can help with donations if you wish! The address is:

Arizona Humane Society
9226 N. 13th Avenue
Phoenix AZ 85021

Alternatively, you can give online here:

Donate to the Arizona Humane Society

In Phoenix, the AZHS facilities are the only effective resource in town for abandoned and injured animals. The County pound sends dozens of animals over every day. The alternative to the AZHS is not pretty. Euthanizing a beautiful and loving animal simply because no one can care for it is not acceptable to these folks. They do everything humanly possible so that doesn't happen.

Thanks,
John

PS - AZHS has NO affiliation with the Humane Society of the United States. Don't get me started on where the bulk of THEIR donations go.

__________________
- Cogito, ergo armatus sum -

This past February my wife and I adopted a kitty from a local
rescue as a playmate for our Shetland Sheepdog Riley.

Here's Emmett



They hit it off well but we heard Emmett had a foster home "brother" who was lost without him..so we adopted Owen too



Now both are supervised and coddled by their big brother Riley
here he is keeping Emmett warm!




and when Owen had to go to the vet the first time - he was climbing the walls....
we tucked him under Riley's wings where he promptly fell asleep for the 20 minute wait




John nice of you to make people aware of our furry little friends

they sure do give me plenty of smiles

__________________
I'd like to agree with you BUT

Good comments on a serious situation. A KEY part of the problem is a failure to spay and neuter. SC has a large problem with unwanted dogs and cats - and for a while, horses. Support for low cost spay and neuter clinics along with required spay/neuter adoption requirements for the animal shelters and shutting down puppy and kitten mills are all important.

My granddaughter was rescue coordinator for our county for several years and basically burned out. She is still involved in rescue, moving animals to the northeast where they find forever homes. The thousands of animals euthanized each year in the US due to a lack of placement is scary and sickening.

__________________
TOMBECK

Our latest rescue.

It was a package deal.

__________________
Music/Sports/Beer fan

Rusty, that last pic was priceless. Frank

"PS - AZHS has NO affiliation with the Humane Society of the United States. Don't get me started on where the bulk of THEIR donations go."

What John says. Humane Society of the United States is anti-hunting and consequently anti-gun. In contrast, you will find that local animal help groups and shelters often have no political agenda outside of helping animals. Much more of your donation goes to actually helping the animals and less to fund raising and exorbitant salaries.

I give what I can to the Humane Society of Utah. Good people doing God's work for God's creatures.

Around where I live seems to be a dumping ground for unwanted cats and we always have some cats coming and adopting us. Both our inside cats came to us and decided we were good enough for them to let us take care of them. The older one appeared shortly after Hurricane Ivan (I think) and she was about 6 months old according to our vet. The second inside cat was about 2-3 months old and appeared about a year or so ago, shortly after we had lost 2 dear old house cats from old age. Both of those have been neutered and are inside only cats, which they are perfectly happy to be. We also have a couple of cats outside that adopted us too that are still around. The first one appeared 4 years or so ago as a kitten and has a deformed front leg; my daughter calls it a chicken wing deformity. She otherwise would probably had died if she would have had to stay on her own and she has also been neutered. The last outside cat is a black/while tomcat that is pretty skittish. But he has adopted our house as his house and will occasionally will allow myself or my daughter to pet him, especially if he is hungry.

My daughter has 2 dogs that we babysit a lot. One is a wolf hybrid that she bought and the other was adopted from the Parish (County to the rest of the US) animal shelter and he is part black and tan coonhound and let me tell you, that dog knows what it was like to live on the streets and loves being part of a family.

John: Your personal efforts never cease to amaze me. My wife and I have three dogs, two of which are 'rescues'. We went back to the shelter to see about volunteering. After the walk thru tour, we decided that we couldn't volunteer because we wanted to take ALL of them. So, about once a month I buy an extra large bag of dog food and drop it off at the shelter. We also donate all old linen and blankets for bedding. ......

Good work!
My wife was a director of a no kill shelter in Pewee Valley, Ky.( yes, there is such a place).
I was commuting then and feared coming home at times.
We ended up with a couple of the best Jack Russell's ever from there.
She's always been active in animal shelters and rescues, and she's a board member of Fetch-a-Cure in Richmond now.
They provide pet cancer treatment to those who can't afford it. They just opened a state of the art clinic here complete with radiology labs.
I've found that people who do these sorts of things for the animals under our care have very large hearts!
Bless you all..

This is our Dixie, she was thrown out of a car at a very busy Memphis intersection. Turns out it was probably the best thing that ever happened to her as she has been the queen of our house for over 10 years now. Strays and the unwanted make the best pets, Dixie is our second rescue. I couldn't have asked God for a better dog.

__________________
LIVE FROM THE DAWGHOUSE

the first time I saw her ,
she was walking down the street
her hair was wet, and the snow was deep!

so I went outside and I took my time
sweet talking that gal,until I made her mine!

now she sleeps in the bed with me every night
with her but against mine she loves to cuddle up tight.

she wakes me every morning with a kiss on my cheek
I love miss daisy, and miss daisy loves me
yes I love my puppy and my puppy loves me.

miss daisy was a throw away, that was dumped at my local store hangout, it had been a few years since I loss my last 4 legged companion
a black lab that was priceless to me, and I had resisted the urge to get another dog because I live on a well used country road and dogs don't last long here.

so that morning in the store it was cold with about 20" of snow on the ground, the little terrier mix was walking up and down the road, when the lady who owns the store stated that some one had dropper her during the night, she lives beside the store and misses nothing

as I watched it was evident she was road wise, so I went outside and persuaded her to go with me.

she has been a delight , even if she was pregnant at the time, a litter of nice puppies who we adopted out and a trip to the vet to insure no more litters.

the old lady at the store told me later that the people who dropped the dog came in one day later,

and she confronted them about dropping the dog, she told them that she saw them drop the dog, and that she knew where the dog was but she said she would not tell them because she knew the dog was loved and cared for now

I love cranky old women as well as my dog

Ten out of eleven plus (some short term) animals we've had were either strays or pound puppies. We did pay for one dog because our son wanted a pure bred Rottweiller. I would NEVER (and I'm sure my wife feels the same way) buy an animal from a store or breeder. There are already too many needing homes. Right now we have three dogs and a cat and vet bills prohibit any more. And besides, we can hardly sleep now with a bed full of animals.

__________________
"He was kinda funny lookin'"

Ten out of eleven (plus some short term) animals we've had were either strays or pound puppies. We did pay for one dog because our son wanted a pure bred Rottweiller. I would NEVER (and I'm sure my wife feels the same way) buy an animal from a store or breeder. There are already too many needing homes. Right now we have three dogs and a cat and vet bills prohibit any more. And besides, we can hardly sleep now with a bed full of animals.

__________________
"He was kinda funny lookin'"