Calling all Friends of Animals

OPINION 8:26 p.m. June 24, 2025

DUANE CROSS
MCO Publisher•Editor

Social media is the best of times, it is the worst of times. Simultaneously, it can lift your heart, and it can crush your soul. It’s a microcosm of life.

Scrolling through the timeline, you have undoubtedly seen posts from Friends of Animals – including adoptions, new furbabies awaiting their furever homes, and requests for desperately needed supplies. It’s constant, and it can break your heart.

But then you see the adoptions, and the smiling faces buoy your faith in humanity.

The recently passed FY 2025-26 county budget includes about $19 per day for the Friends of Animals shelter. An even starker number: That is a tick more than $1 from every person in Moore County, based on the 2020 census.

The money was allocated, but the vote was not unanimous.

There are two social issues that I support: the elderly and animals (except snakes). Neither of these receives the financial backing it truly deserves. In addition to children, these are “the least of us.”

Now, I’m not a Bible-beater; I believe that faith is greater than religion. Still, I lean heavily into 1 Corinthians 13:13 – And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love. – and Matthew 25:40 – And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’

It’s often said you can learn a lot about a man by the shoes he wears. I believe you can learn more by the way he treats old folks and animals. Both deserve utmost respect.

Last week, the shelter, a 501(c)(3) tax-deductible rescue, had almost 40 animals. On Saturday, two kittens and three pups were adopted. There are now 16 dogs and 17 cats waiting to fill a void you don’t know is in your life.

Last November, The Missus and I added Lu to our family. With The Caboose at college, the house was too quiet, despite two pampered housecats and a bunch of raccoons and foxes roaming the woods. Today, we can hardly imagine life without our best-ever Black Friday purchase; we no longer worry about herding the cats.

Look, these animals are in a shelter by no fault of their own. (Let’s be honest: Too often, it’s the owners who should be in a cage.) If you can foster or adopt, please consider giving your time and heart. There is little doubt it will be the best of times.

Now, let’s talk about the seniors.

Duane Cross is the publisher and editor of the Moore County Observer. He can be reached at duane@mcobserver.news.