Since 2014, I have been volunteering for Music City Animal Rescue (MCAR). In all of my years of living, I have never met such Saints. Music City Animal Rescue is a foster network in Nashville, Tennessee. Music City Animal Rescue currently has four fosters, over twenty animals available for adoption, and a few rescued animals that are rehabilitating. Needless to say, that is a lot of work on the shoulders of four foster parents.  There are hundreds of animals that are surrendered to shelters for either being too old or too time consuming, and most of these animals will be put down for those reasons.

Not only does MCAR pull animals from the shelter, but also rescue the animals that are roaming the streets of Nashville. Music City Animal Rescue has rescued over 100 animals in the last year including a nursing mother dog that was tied to a post, and three kittens that were living beneath a porch. But each animal that we save makes the stress all worth it. These animals were wrongfully abandoned, and they need our help. Without fosters, these animals would either be put down or left to die on the streets.

What is remarkable about Music City Animal Rescue is that there aren’t any animals that don’t deserve their love and care. That is why MCAR is so different from the other animal rescues. Unfortunately, many rescues consider some animals to be unadoptable. Unadoptable means that if a cat or dog is six years old or older, then they will not take those animals because they will not be able to find their forever homes. Simply put, rescues and shelters cannot make money off of older animals.

But we know that even though older animals have a less chance of getting adopted, they still deserve to have a good life. That is why MCAR takes the cats and dogs that others may refuse. MCAR saved a 14-year-old male and a 15-year-old female from a kill shelter. Those two cats were owner surrenders at the kill shelter because the owner thought they were too old. Those cats were in the shelter for nine months, and because no one would adopt them, they were going to be put down. Two remarkably healthy cats were sent to death row because their owners got bored. Despicable if you ask me. So Music City Animal Rescue went in and adopted those two cats so that they can still have a chance to live out the remainder of their lives in a loving environment.

Sadly, Music City Animal Rescue has very little funding. MCAR works solely on donations and those are rare. When one of the fostered animals needs to go to the vet, that money comes out of our own pockets. Also, without any other foster parents, it’s difficult for MCAR to rescue many other animals that need our help. That is why I want to stress how important a good foster parent can be. Without foster parents, most animals have little chance at survival. Sadly, without donations, it is more difficult to bring those animals to the vet. Personally, I believe that all animals are innocent. Most animals are victims of the human species, yet we never want to help the animals that we victimize. It is truly heartbreaking.

With that said, I strongly encourage everybody to think before adopting an animal. Also, if you do plan on adopting an animal, please adopt one from an a foster network.  Foster parents are essential to the health and well-being of the animal, and most foster parents are overwhelmed with animals. Our animal rescue is solely a foster network, and we try our very best to save most animals, but it can be difficult. We currently have land where we can build a shelter, but that will cost us about $25,000. Sadly, we do not have that in our pockets at the moment, but we will keep pushing until we can build that shelter. In the meantime, we are trying our best to ensure that the animals are safe from harm.

So, if anyone has an open heart for animals, please consider donating to our animal rescue. As stated earlier, we work on donations and whatever money we receive from bake sales and adoptions. If you cannot adopt an animal, but still want to help, we would be forever grateful. We are a group of four foster parents who want to save all of the animals that no other shelters want. It is difficult trying to live in a world where so many people disregard these animals, but we are here to clean up the messes of other humans. After all, somebody needs to do it. Our goal is to save and home as many abandoned animals that we can, but we need your help to fulfill our mission.