The animals give their affection unconditionally, and they are less judgemental thread

No, I volunteer there. BUT I highly recommend that sort of thing. Working with the wolves, cats and the other guys is Great fun.......It has real value and meaning as well.

Must be an amazing experience. Arent to many of those critters in Jersey, but when I lived in Lake Tahoe i had bears and coyotes in my yard alot. I think the coyotes ate our cat but I didnt hold it against them. I remember falling asleep to the howls. Magical stuff. I will save the link in my favorites or just visit it here in this thread. We make donations when we can. My wife is pretty passionate about the animals and she is the holder of the paypal in our house. Its tough getting her to donate to the WP -she is alittle less passionate about football! Sorry Matty - ill be donating here asap also. Lol.
Edit: dont know if coyotes howl technically? Sounded like screams - still very cool.

http://i46.tinypic.com/2qmepp0.jpg

This is my dog Mac. I'm not gonna lie, I love coming home every day and having him announce my presence to my entire street. I think he's a mix of a beagle/foxhound, I know one of his parents was a beagle and he's got beagle ears but he sounds like a foxhound. Here's another picture of him the day we brought him home back in 2009.
http://i47.tinypic.com/2vcaipw.jpg

Freaking adorable.

I hear beagles eat everything. But I love the way they bay.

Freaking adorable.

I hear beagles eat everything. But I love the way they bay.And when you bring them home after a morning of rabbit hunting, they all stick their heads in the food bowls and don't come up for air the next several minutes, lol. (Buudy of mine has some.)

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/01/24/8emujaje.jpg
The one on the rite is the one i almost lost yesterday. The one on the left is her best friend. When she came home after two days he walked over and put his head up on the couch where she was laying and just stood there for like five minutes. Im not sure what he said to her but It was priceless.
Edit: Coco is the boy and Juliette is the girl. Before i met my wife and her dog i didnt think id ever have a small poodle named Coco but he is one kick ass dog. Im glad his lady friend is home tonite.

I'm into fish rescue. It's tough work because these are two we tried to keep from drowning and they did not make it.

http://i830.photobucket.com/albums/zz229/bryankenny64/Picture001.jpg

So we dicided to dress them up and give them a nice fair well party.

http://i830.photobucket.com/albums/zz229/bryankenny64/356.jpg

Good job Punch!
....when I think about whether or not to spend money like that.......I think, what else could I do with it that would buy me so many good feelings?
............nothing
AND, it is the right thing to do. That gets overlooked far to much today.
Shy Wolf Sanctuary Education and Experience Center- Exotic Rescues of Wolves, wolfdogs, panthers, foxes (http://www.shywolfsanctuary.com/index.html)

Our Vet bill last year (and we get huge discounts) exceeded 25k

Well and it is everyone's own personally choice but you have a family with kids. I can't see justifying spending $25k on my dog that could have gone to my human family members.

Also I see people spend tons to keep a animal alive and in all honest the animal be better off dead. They are just delaying their own pain.

I'm into fish rescue. It's tough work because these are two we tried to keep from drowning and they did not make it.

http://i830.photobucket.com/albums/zz229/bryankenny64/Picture001.jpg

So we dicided to dress them up and give them a nice fair well party.

http://i830.photobucket.com/albums/zz229/bryankenny64/356.jpg

Damn im sorry to hear that. They are in a better place now. You did everything you could. Again, sorry for your loss.

Well and it is everyone's own personally choice but you have a family with kids. I can't see justifying spending $25k on my dog that could have gone to my human family members.

Also I see people spend tons to keep a animal alive and in all honest the animal be better off dead. They are just delaying their own pain.

Even though I feel the same way as yourself its a personal choice for each family to make. I have friends who spend thousands on a pet and some that will put the pet down if their bill start to add up. A pet is like a family member and its a tough decision for most to make.

Well and it is everyone's own personally choice but you have a family with kids. I can't see justifying spending $25k on my dog that could have gone to my human family members.

Also I see people spend tons to keep a animal alive and in all honest the animal be better off dead. They are just delaying their own pain.

Depends if the animal is in pain though. Usually if their is pain people are advised to do the humane thing. It gets tough when its more of a quality of life issue. Its the same way with humans really. People get old, they dont know who or where they are. They might be in pain. They pump them full of enough meds to keep them alive and make the pharmaceutical companies rich, but there is no chance they are ever going to get better, younger, or more aware. My Grandmother was in a home, and going to see her like that at the end was just horrible. She thought i was my dad. Didnt know my dad though. She used to talk about the people upstairs in the water. She would get into her room and ask me if i had seen Nate. Nate was my grandfather who died in 1980. In all honesty - at that point i knew she was better off dead, but since she was in no pain it was difficult to think that way. Same for the pets imo - not on the same level but its the same principal. Life can really suck sometimes.