There are numerous reasons for choosing to bring companion animals into our home. Regardless of the reason, however, we must always ADOPT and NOT BUY.

Buying an animal from a breeder or pet store supports an abusive business. The breeders and pet store owners do not work with animals out of the goodness of their heart, they see them as commodities to be bought and sold, from which they can profit. In addition to the unethical trade of sentient beings, all over the world millions of animals die in animal control facilities each year. These animals are killed for no other reason than the facilities are over-run with abandoned and lost animals, on top of all the ones that have been rescued. In adopting an animal from a shelter you not only give someone a home but you potentially save their life too.

Having decided to bring an adopted companion animal into the home the next step is to find one! The easiest place to start is at a local shelter, and there are a wealth of websites to make this search as simple and straightforward as possible. The hardest part, after all, is going to be deciding who to take home…

1. WORLD ANIMAL NET

Irrespective of where you live in the world, there really is no better place to start than the World Animal Net (WAN). It was established with the aim of coordinating communication between animal protection groups (which loosely covers almost all organisations centred on animal care, rights and/or welfare).  Over the past 15 years WAN has grown to become the world’s largest network of animal protection groups, working with over 3,000 partners in more than 100 countries.

Their work isn’t adoption-focused, but their website does boast the most comprehensive searchable database. The WAN Directory has the contact details of over 17,000 animal control agencies, animal shelters, and other animal protection organisations, enabling the search of shelters either by geographical area, or by category/name.