My Crossposting Story - What's Yours?

I was introduced to crossposting animals on Facebook when I started to get into animal rescue volunteering again. I friended a few local animal rescue organizations, and from there, found that there was a whole community of people who spent hours, and sometime days a week, sharing death row animals in the hopes that they would be seen by that perfect person or rescue group. Sometimes there was triumph when an animal was saved, and sometimes heartbreak when they were listed in an RIP album. But these people kept going, stopping for a bit to mourn the lost, and continuing to fight for those still in peril.

Koba is in a foster home, looking for his forever home

I found precious little information online about how people did this, so I jumped in with both feet and vowed to figure it out, in hopes that I could help make things better too. I started on my own personal profile, but I soon realized how difficult it was to keep track of things, so I started a dedicated profile, Animalrescue Crossposting. I wasn't sure how to make "friends", so I just friend requested every rescue that I could find, any death row animal listings from shelters, and other people with "crossposter" or "crossposting" in their profile names. I began reposting the dogs and cats that were out there looking for homes, especially the ones labeled "URGENT". Over time, more people began to friend request me, and I built up a great network of people who see my posts and can act on them (and vice versa). 

Teaki was saved from AC in N FL.

I have learned a lot about what it takes to save animals from certain death, and I learn more every day as I do this. I have learned the importance of fosters to rescue efforts, the joys and pitfalls of long-distance adoption, the plight of smaller rural shelters with tiny budgets and lack of manpower. I have learned that there are people that spend their every waking moment fighting to save dogs and cats from all over the country that they have never even met, and that there are people that use the animals' misfortune to line their own pockets. I have learned that rescue is a labor of love which often comes with a lot of needless drama...and that running a small rescue is a job that pays only in dog kisses and pictures of animals in new, happy homes as opposed to in cages. I have learned about breed specific legislation, and the different sides that argue for and against it.

Still waiting to be saved from AC in Sebring,FL.

All of this has led the formation of this blog. I don't know everything there is to know about crossposting and rescue, but I would like to share what I have learned with others who are taking the same path. I also want to give other crossposters the opportunity to share what they know, and get a much-deserved (but often forgotten) pat on the back for their hard work and dedication.

Thank you to everyone who undertakes this sometimes joyous, sometimes grim journey with me. The animals depend on all of us.

What's your Crossposting Story? What got you started in helping to save shelter pets?