Rescues Today - They Are Not Your Mother's or Father's Type of Rescue.
This section examines how rescue organizations have changed over the past decade and how those changes may be helping, or unintentionally hurting, the animal welfare crisis in New Jersey. It explores the impact of shifting rescue models, rapid growth, and varying levels of oversight on animal outcomes, public trust, and system stability, with a focus on what is working, what is not, and why it matters.
Rescues
The Changing Landscape of Animal Rescue
Rescue of companion animals requires both activism and advocacy in today’s animal welfare crisis.
Animal welfare work is often framed as a choice between two approaches: responding to immediate suffering or focusing on long-term prevention. In reality, effective rescue depends on both. Companion animal rescue has two essential responsibilities that must exist at the same time—addressing harm as it occurs and working to ensure that the same harm does not continue to repeat itself.
Activism is the response to what is happening now. It is the intervention that occurs when dogs are abandoned, when shelters issue urgent euthanasia notices, when animals are seized from unsafe conditions, or when families are forced to surrender pets with no alternatives. These situations demand immediate action. Animals in crisis cannot wait for policy reform, funding cycles, or systemic improvements. Activism exists because suffering is present today, and without it, animals are left unprotected within an already overburdened system.
Advocacy is the effort to prevent those crises from occurring again. It addresses the root causes that drive constant intake and emergency response: lack of accessible spay and neuter services, limited veterinary care, irresponsible breeding, inadequate enforcement of existing laws, insufficient shelter funding, and gaps in public education. Advocacy works upstream, focusing on accountability, prevention, and structural change. Its success is measured by fewer emergencies, fewer animals entering shelters, and reduced strain on rescue systems.
The mistake is treating activism and advocacy as opposing philosophies. Responding to emergencies does not mean ignoring long-term solutions, and working on prevention does not mean turning away from animals in immediate danger. These approaches operate on different timelines but serve the same purpose—reducing animal suffering and improving outcomes for companion animals.
In today’s animal welfare crisis, one approach without the other is ineffective. Activism alone leads to perpetual crisis response and burnout. Advocacy alone, without connection to real-time conditions, risks becoming disconnected from the urgency animals face every day. When combined, activism and advocacy provide both immediate relief and lasting change.
Rescue of companion animals requires both.
Stay tuned for more information.