Homelessness has been an ongoing issue in this country for years, and often times you’ll find homeless people with pets. As we know, pets offer unconditional love and make great companions…but during the pandemic crisis, it came as no surprise that animal shelters found themselves to have shortages of these lovable animals. However, in the past two years there’s been an increase in domestic violence; hence the ‘lockdown’ orders that were put in place the beginning of 2020. What I was unaware of is the fact that a good percentage of abuse victims don’t leave their situations because of the inability to take their pets; this is where the “Purple Leash Project’ comes to light.
The Purple Leash Project is sponsored by Purina, and is partnered with Red Rover. I was impressed to learn that their (Red Rover) mission is to help provide financial assistance, along with emotional support for victims and their pets experiencing domestic violence. Red Rover has several volunteer teams for a variety of situations; displaced animals from weather disasters and cruelty or neglect (abuse) to life-threatening illnesses…people shouldn’t have to leave their pets behind. I found their website to be very informative and heartfelt at www.redrover.org . They offer online workshops for volunteering, young reading programs to enhance human-animal bonding relationships…and more. Currently there are shelters Nationwide to help domestic abuse survivors and their pets, for info call 1-800-799-7233 … or find info at https://www.purina.com/about-purina/purple-leash-project .
Purina is making great strides to make a difference, creating a larger platform (and, or voice) in order to help abuse survivors as well as the animals. They were also involved in the creation of the PAWS ACT (Pets and Women Safety), and their current goal is to have 25% of shelters to be pet-friendly by 2025. It’s commendable work, and like I mentioned before, I was unfamiliar with the Purple Leash Project, so this was something I wanted to know more about…and glad I found out. Pets are like our children, and if you have to leave someone or something behind (you love so much) it is one of the most difficult decisions for a human being to make. Helping people remain with their beloved pets is an important task, especially when residing in an abusive relationship. Everyone deserves to be loved.
Make it a great week!!
