Rescue operation

These are all good ideas left by the last poster. I have to especially agree with the home visits. This is the most important aspect of the work that many if not most rescue organizations leave out.

I think that the problems arise when there are a lot of volunteers running an organization, and there aren't enough in leadership positions who can figure out how to run things as if they were running a successful corporation. After all, that is what a non-profit is......a corporation.

I also understand that it is hard to turn away volunteer help when you need that help!

But, if the rescue considers that things would run smoothest by cutting out those who create or add to problems rather than help to do away with them, thus creating an environment that allows for more animal placements, it's easy to then see why turning down help from those who don't "help" is a better idea.

The other area where rescues find problems is in the emotional entanglements that the people involved find themselves in. Unfortunately rescue work is one of those complicated things that wouldn't exist if it weren't for the emotions of the people. It's a vicious cycle: People breed animals out of emotions, they buy animals out of emotions, and they rescue animals out of emotions.

On top of that other emotions that have nothing to do with the animals are also involved. For example, I noticed that rescue organizations attract many people who have something missing in their lives, and they are seeking some sort of acceptance from others regarding this. They turn to rescue work to get some kind of therapy out of it until they recover from what ever it is that is causing this problem for them. That's fine if that actually works for them. And I have seen that actually work for some. The problem comes in when the volunteer makes their problem a problem of the rescue. Of course this spills over into how they deal with the animals under their care, and to how they deal with the people who might adopt them. It becomes all about them rather than about the animals.

One or two people in leadership positions would see this going on and nip it in the bud before it starts to control the group.

Perhaps the organization could have one leader organize and lead the volunteers, and another could oversee the operations; i.e., the time management, the returning phone calls, the picture taking, etc.

Does anyone else have any good ideas regarding this?