Animal rescue organizations across North Dakota are coming together for an online fundraising and awareness campaign.
North Dakota Raise for Rescues is aiming to support the work of 15 pet rescues across the state.
One of the participating rescues is Diamond in the Ruff. Board member Heather Mitchell says Diamond in the Ruff is a fully volunteer and foster based organization, meaning no one is getting paid, and they have no building that houses animals. They have funneled roughly 400 pets through foster homes in the last decade, and use funds for food, toys, veterinary care and other needs.
They also have established a temporary foster program with Sanford Health called Paws for Recovery, which helps provide temporary fostering services for people who have no one to care for their pets during medical events.
Mitchell says that while 15 rescues are participating in this campaign, there are hundreds of rescues across the state that need support.
"The commonality is that they still get requests to have animals come into their rescue, and there's not enough space for them or not enough volunteers to care for them. So that has been a constant struggle with animal rescue work, within the state, and nationwide. I would estimate that hundreds of thousands of animals have been through pet rescues in North Dakota over decades. It's just one of those needs, I think, that never gets fully resolved unfortunately."
The ND Raise for Rescues donation link can be found here. Donations are accepted until September 14th.
Mitchell says while fundraising is important and keeps rescues going, the main goal of them is giving pets in need a second chance.