How Kids Can Help Shelter Animals

Everyone wants to work with pets at the animal shelter but in this litigious society, many animal-welfare groups do not allow volunteers under 18 years old to have direct-animal contact and some can't have children volunteer on-site. But there are ways to get kids involved in helping shelter animals.

Parents and children should visit their local shelter for specific jobs that meet that shelter's needs and the age and interests of your child but the ideas below will get you started.

For older kids

· It's not exciting, but helping with office work is a tremendous help to most animal shelters. From filing to stuffing envelopes, clerical jobs allow the shelter staff to do what they're trained for - caring the animals. And in many cases, this actually can increase adoptions because the staff can spend more time promoting animals and working with adopters.

· Some shelters may allow teens under 18 to photograph animals available for adoption. These photos can be posted on the web and used in promotional materials. If the shelter can't allow kids to actually take the photos, the staff may allow them to use the photos for adoption boards (see next idea) or to post them on internet sites.

· Adoption boards are a wonderful way to inform the public of adoptable pets. These boards can be used at the shelter's events but kids can also maintain a board at their library, a vet office or a local business.

· Cleaning pet cages and helping spruce up the shelter are not glamorous jobs, but again, they are extremely helpful to the staff. Kids will not be able to handle the animals in most cases, but many get satisfaction out of making the animals' environment for comfortable for them and more inviting to visitors.