Be part of a worldwide awareness movement! In 2013, the #RememberMeThursday advocacy group started a campaign to unite people globally, coming together as one voice for all orphaned animals needing homes. In 2022, around 378,000 dogs and cats were euthanized in our nation’s shelters simply because they had no safe place to call home (Best Friends Animal Society, 2023). However, this is a significant decline compared to 2016, with estimations totaling 1.5 million.
Best Friends Animal Society, the nation’s largest no-kill sanctuary, has raised awareness about pet homelessness and has pioneered innovative solutions to decrease unnecessary euthanasia through its No-Kill 2025 Campaign. Some of these solutions involve creative foster opportunities and community-supported sheltering, including a lifesaving dashboard to help all animal advocates collectively take responsibility for at-risk pets. With more people coming together and creating awareness, we can be the voice to increase adoptions from shelters or rescues and continue to decrease the rate of euthanasia.
Now, how does this relate to the mission and work behind TCWR? Even though TCWR firmly disagrees with the exotic pet trade and private ownership of wild cats, many of the cats TCWR has rescued have also faced pet homelessness. In May 2019, Arkansas experienced record-breaking rainfall in the Fort Smith area, resulting in the flooding of the Arkansas River. TCWR was contacted about two young bobcats, Prince and Tony, who were left and abandoned in a house in Lavaca, AR, a small town outside of Fort Smith, AR. The TCWR team knew these displaced bobcats were in dire need of help and quickly responded.
Upon rescue, these two bobcats were presumed to be nine months old and had been taken from the wild at only a month old. Unfortunately, Arkansas still allows this practice. Prince and Tony were awaiting help in medium-sized dog kennels on the owner’s porch, where they reportedly spent most of their time as “pets.” Flood waters had already risen to their chests when authorities found them and brought them to a local rescuer specializing in small animals. The rescuer knew these bobcats didn’t belong in anyone’s home and contacted TCWR to provide lifelong care for them.
As flood levels were still rising, the journey back to TCWR was hazardous. After arriving, TCWR completed veterinary exams and neutered the pair before releasing them into their natural habitat. The brothers now have benches to climb, natural rock nooks to seek privacy, and snug dens for the winter months.
These captive wildlife trade survivors have found freedom and a forever home. Sadly, this isn’t true for many homeless animals—large and small, domestic and wild. To contribute to the solution, simply log onto your social media platform each year, using #RememberMeThursday and talk about your pet adoptions’ beauty and life-saving significance.
