32 reasons to volunteer with an animal rescue

There are so many reasons to volunteer with an animal rescue and there is no denying that animal rescues play a vitally important role in their local communities. Taking in unwanted pets and rescuing animals from difficult situations, they save millions of lives globally every week. They also often provide sterilization services to help with population control in low-income areas.

Volunteering at a rescue is hard work, particularly if it's a kill shelter where animals have a limited amount of time to find a home or foster before being humanely euthanized. It can be overwhelming, loud, smelly, and sometimes heartbreaking, but it is also one of the most rewarding things you can do with your spare time.

You can spend hours sharing some of the best dog toys with puppies, or scoop out some of the best cat food for hungry felines.

32 reasons to volunteer with an animal rescue

1. You’ll get to meet lots of great animals

Often animals are surrendered through no fault of their own, due to sickness, marriage breakdown, or the death of their owner. While this is awfully sad, these are well-socialized dogs and cats who often want nothing more than to make another friend. As a new volunteer, you are more likely to be working with these friendly pets than with more difficult animals that might need professional help.

2. You can help to rehabilitate rescue animals

Once you have been volunteering for a while and have received proper training, you might be given the opportunity to help rehabilitate some of the more traumatized or reactive animals at the shelter. This is a difficult job, but so rewarding when your charge begins to make progress towards becoming a happier animal.

3. Inner city rescues are often desperate for volunteers

Inner city rescues are usually overwhelmed with the number of animals in their care. As a volunteer, you can help to shoulder some of the burden on these rescues by helping to feed, groom, walk and wash-up among other things. If you have a spare day in your week, you could make a huge difference to these rescue centers.

4. You’ll learn a lot about animals

"Difficult" animals often teach us the most. Animals that struggle with fear, and anxiety or have had a difficult life are often unadoptable and some rescues have provisions to keep these animals in their care until they pass away. These animals may be unsuitable to live in homes but still need lots of love and affection from their human carers.

5. It’s a great way to meet like-minded people

You're unlikely to meet someone volunteering at an animal shelter that doesn't really, really love animals. When you start volunteering, you have one big thing in common with all the other volunteers, and that's a great way to start a friendship.

6. You might receive specialist training

The longer you volunteer at a rescue, the more likely you are to be given a specific role or receive specific training. If you're a young person who wants to work with animals in the future, this training can be a great kick-off point for your career.

7. You might meet your next pet

Often, when volunteering at a rescue, you will find that you bond with one or two of the residents more than the others. If you are in the position to take them home, this might be the way that you find your next pet and give them their forever home. You'll have far longer to get to know them over your time volunteering than if you were simply adopting them, which means you have a better chance to build on that bond before they come home with you. Often this is how "lifers" or pets who are long-term residents with little prospect of adoption for one reason or another will find their home.

8. It can look good on college applications

If you're looking for something that makes a great personal essay, spending your free time helping your local community and caring for animals is a subject most college admissions officers are sure to enjoy reading about.

9. It is likely to give you a sense of fulfillment

Fulfillment is a little vague and hard to describe until you have experienced the feeling. The satisfaction and purpose you are likely to find volunteering at an animal rescue as an animal lover is likely to leave you feeling fulfilled and happy at the end of a long day.

10. It will benefit your local community

If you volunteer locally, you are directly working to improve your immediate community. Rescues will often run educational and outreach programs, which can help people better care for their pets and prevent unwanted litters of puppies or kittens that may end up dumped, putting further pressure on the shelter.

11. You may find the perfect pet for a friend or family member

Have you ever met an animal that reminds you of someone? Perhaps it's the confused expression or the mustache marking on their lip that reminds you of your grandfather. While some of these things are trivial, sometimes you may strike gold and stumble upon a pet with a compatible personality for someone in your life.

12. You will be helping to give animals a second chance at life

Animal shelters provide a vital service in rehoming pets. Whatever past these animals carry, the rescue center gives them the opportunity to experience love, a home, and a full belly, sometimes for the first time in their lives. Rescues that take in dogs from racing backgrounds, mama cats from backyard breeders, or semi-feral animals from the street are often finding them their first family, which is a fantastic thing to be a part of.

13. You can raise awareness for the shelter

Through volunteering, your friends and family are more likely to hear about their local shelter and perhaps consider adopting their next pet rather than buying a puppy or kitten from a breeder.

14.  You can raise awareness for your local foster program

Some people don't want a pet for life, but they do love animals and want to make a difference. In-home fostering is a great option for these families, as they can make a difference without making a lifelong commitment and can take breaks between fosters if they choose. Working with your local shelter means that you can help get your family and friends involved in fostering, lifting some of the pressure on the shelter.

15. If you fundraise, you’ll learn valuable sales skills

If you've never done any fundraising before, it can teach you how to talk to people about projects you are passionate about and how to convince people to invest in causes you believe in. These are transferable skills that are particularly useful when applying for jobs in sales and marketing.

16. If it is a large animal rescue, you could learn to work with farm animals

One of the things that holds many people back from a career in agriculture is lack of experience. Volunteering at a local farm shelter or large animal rescue is a great way to learn how to care for livestock and identify the individual needs of each type of animal.

17. You’ll get time to play with animals

As a volunteer, a good chunk of your role will be socializing with the animals, learning about them, and helping identify the sort of home they will need. This involves walking dogs, playing with cats, and hanging out with all sorts of animals to help get them used to humans.

18. If you’ve not had a pet of your own but want one

If you've never owned a pet but aspire to, volunteering at an animal shelter is a great way to learn the basics of pet care. You are likely to come across some pets with health conditions that will need specialist care, which can be very helpful knowledge to have when choosing your first pet, and you'll learn about the general minutia of feeding, grooming, and exercising animals.

19. You will learn about animal behavior

Animal behavior is sometimes counterintuitive, subtle, and difficult to understand. That "smiling" dog might be very uncomfortable. The "puppy dog eyes" another is giving you from across the room may mean "Don't touch me". By spending time around animals, you will learn what their body language and sometimes confusing signals really mean.

20.  You are likely to build connections with vets and pet stores

Rescues often work closely with local vets and pet stores, meaning that you will get the low-down on the best places to take your own pets. When regularly dealing with a vet, you may also pick up some healthcare knowledge that can be useful when caring for shelter animals and your own pets.

21. You are likely to learn about animal grooming

Some animals come into the shelter with fleas, ticks, matted hair, and overgrown nails. These are all important problems to solve as soon as possible, and by helping out with these tasks you are likely to pick up some tips and tricks for grooming your own animals.

22.  You will learn about training

Shelters often work closely with animal behaviorists and veteran volunteers and shelter employees know a lot about positive reinforcement and training. If you've never potty trained a dog or cat before, shelters are a great place to learn this skill, as they often offer support to new owners or begin a pet's toilet training themselves.

23. You might develop your photography skills

If you're already a shutterbug, you might be put in charge of taking portraits of the residents for their adoption pages. You want to help these animals find homes, so you're going to learn pretty quickly how to make them look their very best and capture them at their most adorable.

24. It’s a rewarding use of free time

If you have a lot of free time and don't know what to do with it, spending it at the animal shelter can be a rewarding experience. If you are retired or don't have many other time commitments, you can make a tangible difference in the lives of the shelter animals.

25. It’s good exercise

Playing with cats, walking dogs, and cleaning pens in particular are great ways to burn some calories. Lifting large bags of animal feed will have your biceps popping in no time, and playing tug-of-war with a large breed dog will challenge your core muscles like nothing else.

26. You’re likely to learn basic pet first aid

Shelters often deal with cases where animals are unwell or injured. Basic pet first aid is important knowledge to have if you have your own pets, and you are likely to pick up some remedies and skills like disinfecting and bandaging cuts when volunteering. Remember, do not attempt any advanced medical care yourself, take your pet to a qualified vet.

27.  You can teach others how to properly look after their pets

Part of the work many shelters do is outreach: teaching people how to properly care for their pets and give them the best quality of life. While you may prefer volunteering for the animals, rather than the people who care for them, it's an important role and can teach you valuable skills.

28. You might learn about specialist pet diets

Some shelter pets have complex needs and this can include specialist diets. If an animal has allergies, food intolerances, or a condition like diabetes their meals will need very careful preparation.

29.  You’ll take some of the burden off paid staff

Often shelters do have paid staff working for them, but these employees are often overstretched and do not have the time or resources to spend quality time with the animals under their care. As a volunteer, you can make sure that you are providing enrichment to the resident animals, as well as taking care of some of their basic needs so the shelter staff can focus on other things.

30. Being around animals can be a great stress reliever

If your day-to-day life is full of stress, spending a few hours with a non-judgemental furry friend can help to relieve some of that stress. As well as being silent and affectionate listeners, spending time with animals often has a calming affect on people.

31. Animals can be good for low mood

For those experiencing mental health problems like depression, spending time with an animal can be a great lift to their mood. Dogs and horses are some of the best emotional support animals and are often used as therapy animals, due to their sweet and intuitive natures.

32. Baby animals!

Last but not least, shelters often take in litters of dumped or unwanted puppies and kittens and they need round-the-clock care. If you want to spend time playing with some of the cutest rescue animals around, you're likely to find them at your local shelter.