Just One Day Recap

Yesterday was Just One Day.

What’s that?  It was a day publicized for months on which pet shelters everywhere were to pledge that they would not kill any animals, even if it was just for that one day.

I had a good time popping back and forth to the event’s Facebook page and seeing the mentions of lots of shelters that had taken the pledge. 

I only wish I knew how many shelters took the pledge--and how many animals were actually saved that day, which I of course hope were all of them.  In fact I’d love it if no animals were killed on any day, except those that truly had to be euthanized for health reasons, to end their suffering.

I hadn’t planned on having my e-novella Nonstop Spaniels published around the same time as Just One Day but it worked out that way.   As I mentioned last week, the theme behind Nonstop Spaniels is NKLA--No Kill Los Angeles, which is an initiative of Best Friends Animal Society.  The idea behind NKLA is to get all shelters around L.A., even public ones, to stop killing healthy pets--at any time. 

When I started writing the Pet Rescue Mysteries, I knew what pet rescue was, of course.  I had some awareness that lots of animals were taken into shelters, and many were killed for lack of space.  I had less awareness of the numbers of wonderful people who started private shelters or fostered or did so many other things to at least lessen the numbers of animals that were killed for no reason except lack of space.

 Now I know a lot more--except what actually causes the problem in the first place.  A lot of people love pets.  So why can’t all people be responsible pet owners?  I won’t go on a tirade here but I don’t understand why people don’t spay or neuter their pets at appropriate times to avoid unwanted puppies or kittens from being born.  Or why people decide to give up pets for reasons that ultimately just mean they’re tired of their four-legged family members.

So--I’ll just continue to do my small part to help by writing my Pet Rescue Mysteries--which, BTW, I always intend to be fun and not hit people over the head with a message--and by volunteering at a shelter and trying to remind as many people as possible about the problems.  And by celebrating such wonderful events as Just One Day.

How about you--had you heard about Just One Day?  Did shelters in your area take the pledge?