A New Reality In the Animal Rescue World

Covid has changed the landscape of the animal rescue world. Everyone wanted pets during quarantine and, to meet the demand, unscrupulous breeders took advantage of that fact, turning out record numbers of puppies. Compounding the problem, many of those new pet owners were simply not prepared for the long-term financial and time commitment required of responsible pet owners. With few resources available during that time, and the sheer number of animals making vet care hard to come by, too many of those puppies have grown into dogs who are unsocialized, untrained and unvetted–-often resulting in even more puppies of their own.

Now that the long quarantine has ended, things are far from normal in the animal rescue world. Too many of those animals are simply being discarded. Shelters nationwide are full of young, healthy dogs, and euthanasia rates are climbing exponentially. Not only that, but there are fewer available adopters since the pet market was flooded during the shutdown.

The sad fact is that senior and medically fragile dogs often spend the duration of their lives in one of our foster homes, leaving us one fewer home in which an ultimately adoptable dog can be rehabilitated.

In short, we need every foster home possible to rehabilitate ultimately adoptable dogs–without sacrificing seniors and those with special needs. And we must have an increased capacity to provide our fosters with every possible resource to make their life-saving task as easy as possible.

After 25 years of animal rescue, Indigo has to evolve if we are to meet this new reality.

The Plan: Indigo Acres

We have embarked on a capital campaign to build Indigo Acres, a brick and mortar facility that will increase our capacity without sacrificing the mission that has set us apart. We’re looking for a close-in property, but meeting all the zoning requirements has proven to be more challenging that we expected. We’re working hard to accumulate as large of a down payment as possible so that we will be more competitive when a suitable property becomes available. Regardless of the address, the new facility will provide all these things and more:

Lili’s Home

Most importantly, the new property will hold Lili’s Home, a home-style congregate living facility for senior and medically fragile dogs. This single program will increase our capacity exponentially —while providing a loving home for dozens of seniors and medically fragile dogs.

Lili’s home will not be a kennel. Instead, the dogs will live in a home-like setting, with cushy couches to relax on, televisions to watch, a beautiful yard to explore, friends to hang out with and humans who love them and care for them. Instead of cages, they will live in dormitories, where their roommates will be carefully selected based on needs, size and temperament to ensure that everybody gets along and that life is stress-free. In short, a retirement home in the country.

All Hands On Deck!

Every year, Indigo receives countless offers of volunteer support, but making good use of those offers is difficult and very time consuming without a facility. Indigo Acres will provide a permanent location at which we can offer numerous ongoing opportunities for more volunteers to participate in Indigo’s life-saving work. Volunteers will be needed to provide office support, to man the resource center, to help socialize dogs and provide support to fosters, and just simply to hang out with the dogs and provide belly rubs on a regular basis—because, to a dog, that’s what makes it a HOME.

What You Can Do

• There are many ways to help make this life-saving project a reality. Check out the list below, or contact us to discuss other ways you might make a unique contribution.
• Make a tax-deductible contribution to Indigo Rescue, earmarked for Indigo Acres and Lili’s Home.
• Join our Capital Campaign Committee and be part of the orchestrated effort to make it real!
• Invite a few friends to your house for a little get-together. We’ll provide an Indigo representative to tell them about the project and how they can join you in your support.
• “Talk up” the project at your place of employment or community group–we’d love to talk about ways to involve businesses and communities.
• Organize a yard sale, bake sale, community pet parade or other fundraiser
• Check with us for sponsorship opportunities.
• Spread the word about Indigo Rescue and Indigo Ranch Boarding