Lost and Found is an eye opening and heart-felt book that looks at the inner world of an animal shelter.For years Elizabeth Hess volunteered at an extremely humane animal shelter in New York. In this book she describes in detail, the inner workings, the day to day operations of the animal shelter. Many of the people that work in shelters, do so strictly for the love and welfare of the animals. This shelter, like many others is short on money and staff, but long on abandoned and surrendered animals. She describes in detail the many myths and misconceptions people have about shelter pets --they are not animals with behavior problems; a good percentage are purebreds.
More than 20 million animals end up in US Animal Shelters each year. Many of the cats and dogs (and some rabbits, ferrets, birds etc) came to the shelter from loving homes, mostly because their owners were no longer able to keep or care for them. As the author put it, "when a crazy dog arrives at the shelter, there is usually a crazy owner at the end of the leash".
I had volunteered at our local no-kill shelter for several years, and found most of what the author says to be true about the staff, animals , and the individuals who adopt and surrender animals. In my opinion, shelter animals often make the best pets. Every cat we ever adopted from the shelter was so grateful to be with us, and showed their love and affection daily, in return for a second chance at life.
My recommendation -- read this book and --think about adopting a shelter pet, and saving a life at the same time. You will be glad you did.
RATING - 5/5 - COMPLETED - 11/9/08
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