3 Ways To Help Stray Animals

Stray animals are domestic animals—mainly dogs and cats—that live on the streets and do not have a home or owner. These animals face many issues living on their own, like malnutrition, overpopulation, infections and diseases due to lacking veterinary care, abuse from humans, and more.

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that there are over 200 million stray dogs worldwide, with just as many—if not more—stray cats. It’s also estimated that around 7.6 million animals enter into stray each year, 3.4 million of which are cats. As more and more animals are put on the streets, the issues that arise continue to compound and worsen—for both animal and human populations. So, what can you do to help stray animals? In this article, we’ll look at the top 3 ways how to help homeless/stray animals.

How To Help Stray Animals

With so many stray animals around the world, it may seem like there’s nothing an individual can do to make a difference and help the situation. However, there are certain things that can have a major impact on helping stray animals if more people commit to doing them. Here are 3 of the best ways to help stray animals:

Contact the Appropriate Authorities

The first way to help stray animals is to contact the appropriate authorities when you notice animals living on the street. Who you contact will depend on where you live, but generally involves calling a local non-governmental organization (NGO) that specializes in animal control and protection. Taking action and alerting these organizations is especially important if you see a stray animal being abused or mistreated.

Once you’ve connected with the proper authorities, they can help you figure out the best next steps, whether that involves them coming out to pick up the animal, you trying to catch it yourself and take it in, or something else. They will provide you with the necessary information and advise you on what to do.

Foster or Adopt a Stray Animal

If you’re in a position to do so, another crucial way to help stray animals is by fostering or adopting them. Doing so can provide them with a loving and stable home. It can also offer temporary relief for the animal, giving them time to recover from any injuries or illnesses, or simply allowing them to rest and recuperate in a home setting before being adopted permanently. 

Another critical aspect of stray animal adoption and fostering is that it can reduce the strain on animal shelters, which are often overcrowded, understaffed, and under-resourced due to how many stray animals there are. This can allow these shelters to provide crucial services to more animals, so they can continue to get them off the streets and into loving homes.

Support Organizations Dedicated to Helping Stray Animals

Another great way to help stray animals is by supporting organizations that help them, like nonprofits and charities. As mentioned above, these organizations are usually understaffed and under-resourced, but provide critical services to stray animals.

You can support these organizations in many different ways, but the two most impactful ones are volunteering and making donations. Volunteering your time can help support shelter staff and provide critical services to animals. You can also donate money or supplies as these organizations are often in need of food, toys, bedding, and funds to cover medical care for the animals they are trying to save. These organizations are solely focused on providing as much help to these animals as possible, so supporting them is perhaps the best way to make a difference.

Helping stray animals is something that we should all strive to do. Sometimes it can seem like we don’t have the ability to make a difference, but by doing simple things like calling the authorities, reporting abuse, fostering or adopting, and donating to animal shelters and rescue organizations, we can make a big difference together.

At Stray Animal Foundation of India (SAFI), we are focused on helping stray animals in India receive the care and support they need. We work tirelessly to restore compassion to India’s relationship with its stray animals and ease the strain on the country’s overburdened shelter network. We do this in many different ways, including providing funding, shelter infrastructure, organizational support, vet care, supplies, guidance, resources, education, manpower, and more.

We rely on charitable contributions to continue the crucial work that we do and 100% of contributions are deployed in the field. These donations directly affect the number of strays we are able to rescue, treat, and shelter. You can help us make a difference in the lives of India’s animals by donating to our cause today!