I wake up in the middle of the night trying to figure out how to save more dogs and reach more people. We have rescued, rehabbed and rehomed more than 9,000 dogs through a nonprofit I founded called Saving Great Animals. And all I can say is thank goodness for the power of social media.
Today, animal rescue is in the worst shape it’s been in our 17 years as an organization. For every dog adopted during the COVID pandemic for comfort, we are seeing three-fold, or more, being surrendered. Now, on top of that will be those animals who are “given back” after the holidays, when the reality of properly caring for an animal is realized and the excitement of the holidays is over. While we work to rescue as many as possible and save them from being euthanized, shelter kill rates across the nation continue to rise - up 37% in 2022 and once we see the numbers from 2023, they will likely be just as bad, if not worse.
For all the concerns about the potential negative impacts of social media, the benefits must also be recognized. Without being able to reach past our immediate circle of animal lovers, we would be at a dead end. Without social platforms like Meta and Instagram, we simply would be unable to reach the number of people we need to continue doing this amazing and demanding work. And the animals need us now more than ever.
Recently an emergency situation arose when local residents found six dogs in a horrific hoarding case and came to us from searching on Facebook. When the dogs arrived to us at Saving Great Animals in Seattle, they were in very rough shape. We used Facebook and Instagram fundraisers to cover medical needs for all six dogs and Facebook Messenger to quickly alert a local vet for medical help. With the support of the nearly 40,000 people in our social media community, we were able to make a real difference and save these dogs.
I encourage anyone who is working with an organization trying to do some good in the world to utilize social media and see how far their impact can go.
Perrin Kaplan is founder of Saving Great Animals and Queen Anne resident