Why We Are Relaunching Waldo’s Friends

Waldo’s Friends started as a small blog and then a shop to support animal rescue. Our goal has always been and continues to be about supporting animal rescue, even though our approach has evolved and continues evolving. 

We are a not-for-profit (incorporated earlier this year) and while we already commit 50% of profits from each sale to shelter donations, we also recognise that simply sharing profits from a small shop isn’t impactful enough. And impact is what we’re after. 

This has led us to explore more ways through which we can help support the narrative of adopt don’t shop. 

Through several conversations with people in the pets and animal rescue fields, we believe the journey of pet ownership through adoption needs better support in the following ways:

1. Helpful answers and guides about what animal rescue means and involves, and how we can identify ethical animal rescue organisations and networks
2. Shelter finder tools that help anyone locate places to adopt from within their communities 
3. Resources for foster carers, new pet parents, and parents of pets with anxiety and trauma
4. Resources for training guides and ongoing care long after you’ve brought your new pet home
5. Fun content for pet owners, even though some of it may sound trivial (weekend trips!) but goes a long way in ensuring happy and balanced lifestyles
6. Successful rescue stories and advice from pet parents who’ve experienced and made it through some of the hurdles you may encounter or are already encountering
7. A chance to support shelters by buying ethical goods (we don’t re-brand goods sourced from hidden suppliers) that are fun, animal-themed and contribute to shelters

Which brings us to our current goal of relaunching Waldo’s Friends as the home for all of the above. This is what we’ve been doing behind the scenes for the last month and it involves the following undertakings:

• A brand new website with a hub for each of the sections mentioned above
• More engagement with communities in animal rescue – in and outside Australia
• New partnerships with animal trainers
• More partnerships and products from artists, ethical creators, and product suppliers
• Many more interviews with animal rescuers, including pet parents and foster carers
• Many more resources such as pet libraries, shelter finders, and more that are easy to use on any device – esp mobile
• A beautiful and much faster website with better usability

Our single mission remains: to do everything we can to spread awareness about adoption from shelters as the preferred option for pet ownership. 

We hope to re-launch all of this in the next three months, so stay with us!

Meanwhile, if you have any feedback or suggestions for us, please send them to us here: contact@waldosfriends.org