Thank you for your post and the reminder that I believe many people need to think about. It has been previously posted on THE WATCHDOG, that placing the word "animal", "human" or "child" in front of the word welfare doesn't change the concept of what true welfare is. I agree with that premise.

When an animal joins my family whether for fostering and rehabilitation or adoption, I intently focus on giving the new family member the basic feelings of safety, security and love as well as meeting their basic needs of housing, food, shelter and water consistently and predictably. This process is not very different from the way new foster children were welcomed and treated when I was a foster parent. Without establishing that very firm foundation with either animals or children, they cannot move to the next level of functioning and learning. No person or animal can exist with any degree of peace, emotional or physical comfort if they live in constant fear of injury, unavailability of nourishment or lack of a safe haven. For those who have worked with animals in rehabilitation, you know that recovery at any level can take years and in some cases never occurrs fully. Is that different for people? I don't believe so.