Volunteer
Want to make a difference for pound dogs? While the Manila Animal Shelter (MAS) does not run a volunteer program, Help MAS Dogs (HMD) independently spearheads all rehabilitation, rehoming, and fostering efforts.
Due to strict LGU rules, on-site volunteer slots are highly limited. However, you can join our mission through both on-site and off-site animal welfare opportunities.
On-site Volunteers
On-site slots are limited to weekend and holiday mornings. Because demand is high, we require a dedicated commitment:
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Time Commitment: Minimum of 3 weekend mornings per month (Sunday mornings for the first 6 months of training).
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Health & Safety: Must have up-to-date pre-exposure anti-rabies vaccinations
Tasks expected that of MAS volunteers include:
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Feeding: Providing specific nutritional meals ensures the animals stay healthy, energized, and properly nourished.
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Cleaning cages: Sanitizing living spaces removes waste and prevents the spread of dangerous diseases among the animals.
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Bathing and grooming dogs: Washing and brushing the dogs maintains their skin health and significantly boosts their appeal to potential adopters.
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Assistance during medical procedures: Holding animals steady and prepping tools helps the veterinary team safely examine, treat, or vaccinate residents.
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Pound maintenance: Repairing facilities, organizing supplies, and managing the grounds ensures a safe, fully operational environment for both staff and animals.
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Dog walking: Taking dogs outside provides vital physical exercise, mental stimulation, and crucial socialization to keep them happy and well-behaved.
Off-site Volunteers
Should slots be full, we still highly encourage you to start as off-site volunteers, as this allows us to keep you within our radar when we need backup on-site volunteers. Some of the off-site volunteer work you can opt to do includes:
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Fostering: Temporarily care for a pound dog in your home. A foster-to-adopt option is also available; please check our FOSTER page for the complete process.
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Transport Assistance: Provide transport support to bring animals, donations, or volunteers to and from the clinic, events, or home inspections of adoption applicants.
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Cooking/Frozen Storage: We sometimes have to decline meat donations because we lack freezer space or time to cook. Help with this would be greatly appreciated.
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Creative Work: Offer skills/talents/contacts/business for the benefit of HMD and/or the MAS dogs (ex. photography, graphic design, video editing, printing services, etc) especially to enhance our network on social media
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Rehoming Agent: Assist in searching for adopters and facilitating the adoption procedure.
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Fundraising: Organize fundraisers or in-kind donation drives, or seek vet care sponsorship.
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