A man walking along the beach noticed that there were thousands of starfish that had washed up on the shore. He also noticed a boy stooping down and picking them up and one by one he was throwing them back into the ocean.

The man said to the boy “Why do you bother doing that? There are so many of them you can not make a difference.”

The boy stooped down and picked up another and threw it past the breaking waves and replied “It made a difference to that one”.

To add to your post, I want to say the same things for the cats. At the moment, I’m trying not to look at the nightly cat and kitten euth list – it’s usually double or triple the dog list =(

The story that came to my mind reading your Lacey post is about Simon & Baby Girl. Both siblings – both big fluffy 6 yo house cats – both dumped in a kill shelter for no reason – both slated to die the next morning. I will never forget this – I was at work and opened the euth email from the ACC… there they were – their frightened, confused faces staring at me… they were going to die – alone and afraid. Ok that’s it I thought! I can’t let them go this way. Laura if you remember I called you and we figured out a way to get a cage even though we weren’t supposed to – we had no room – but we did it! You and another person waited because the transporter was late – it was 10pm when she showed – all workers were exhausted – it was a cold November night. But as soon as the transporter opened the carriers in the VP cat room – the 2 big, fluffy, beautiful cats jumped out – happy to be alive although they didn’t know where they were. A serene-ness filled the whole room – almost like a sense of calm and warmth. Simon, a 20 lb. gray and white loverboy was very curious and his sister Baby Girl, an 18 lb. Calico, basically just hung back and stayed behind her big brother. A cage was set up for them with all the necessities to make them as comfortable as possible. They went home in about a month to their forever new mom. She sent me pictures of them both in their new home and it just made me smile ear to ear knowing that I made the difference! If I didn’t open that email at that moment, they would be gone. It made me feel peaceful for them. Thank GOD we pulled them – I know they are only 2 out of thousands and thousands, but their lives are happy and content.

I wish I could do more for all the rest. People please – make sure to spay and neuter, do not buy – adopt – and please make your cats and dogs family members so the thought of putting them in a shelter will never occur to you – THIS will help them all.