Maine Friends of Animals call to action
25 Ways One Person Can Make a Difference for Animals in Maine
- Know who your local animal control officer is and let him/her be the eyes and ears for you on animal cruelty cases and animal issues in your community. Support your ACO by requesting your town provide him/her resources and support to do their job properly.
- Educate yourself on the issues (see MFOA.net website)
- Write a letter to your State Representative and Senator asking them to support certain animal protection legislation
- Report a “dog chained for life” to the town ACO and to MFOA for follow-up action
- Be an MFOA volunteer
- Use the tax return check-off to support the state spay / neuter program
- Set up an MFOA informational table / booth at a local function, fair, or event
- Feed a feral cat / make a feral cat shelter / assist with TNR programs
- Live and shop with compassion; teach others empathy for animals
- Report wildlife violations / cruelty to the Department of Inland, Fisheries and Wildlife and MFOA
- Write a letter to the editor in your local daily and weekly newspaper
- Foster a companion animal
- Report animal cruelty to ACO, the state Animal Welfare Program and MFOA; take photos and dates
- Know your animal protection adversaries and what they are doing
- Become a MFOA member with a donation
- Volunteer at your local animal shelter
- Plant the seeds (educate) with others in thinking differently in how we view, treat and think about other species
- Find a Maine wildlife rehabilitator for an injured wild animal
- Become part of our online community, receive MFOA Action Alert / Updates
- Run for public office and serve as a state legislator; or as an individual, work to help elect an animal-friendly legislator
- Become a vegetarian or vegan
- Support the Endangered Species Act at local, state and federal levels
- Make your property wildlife friendly (see MFOA’s Living with Wildlife Series)
- Adopt a pet from your local shelter, and encourage others not to buy from kennels, pet stores and ‘backyard breeders’
- Sponsor a MFOA fundraiser and/or find an animal-friendly large donor