Animals are more valuable than the number at the bottom of the veterinary bill—this is one of the first things you’ll see on the  Motley Zoo Animal Rescue’s website. The Redmond-based nonprofit helps support shelters in the local area by taking in animals that have medical or behavioral problems that would otherwise be euthanized, and help them get adopted.

“Its mission is to save the lives of animals in need- primarily those in danger of being euthanized due to overpopulation or individual needs that provide a barrier to adoption,” owner Jme Thomas said. 

The organization does take in animals but they are foster-based, meaning they don’t have a place for holding dogs like shelters do and instead rely on trusted people to take these animals into their homes. 

Motley Zoo’s foster program makes sure that all animals go to safe and prepared households. The rescue will cover all medical, food, and equipment costs, making fostering an animal cost little to nothing. The organization only asks for the foster parents to provide basic necessities, take photos and videos for events (pre-Coronavirus), and take them to needed vet visits. By fostering an animal, people can support their local community’s animals, but fostering is not for everyone, so the rescue does take donations. 

“We always appreciate supplies and goods, which many people donate, but not as many people donate funds, which we really need to pay for our veterinary bills for the animals,” Jme said. A more convenient form of donating is by setting up a recurring donation on their website

Some people can’t volunteer or donate, so Motley Zoo has other animal-related things people can do. Motley Zoo does have a volunteer age requirement of 18 years of age, but they have plenty of other opportunities for people under the age of 16. The rescue recently set up a program that allows people to put down a deposit, and they will provide an assortment of animal-related items that people can sell, and Motley will keep the proceeds. Motley Zoo also has an assortment of social media pages that people can apply to manage. This helps the rescue spread their message and allows them to save more animals.

Students at Liberty that would like to save animals within the local community are always welcomed at Motley Zoo. Students can save animals’ lives and receive volunteer hours at the same time in various ways.