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This animal welfare advocate recommends adult animal adoption, especially for first-time pet owners
Amanda Giese was only around 10 years old when she rescued her first animal, a kitten she named Jane Doe. “She was the size of a lemon, covered in fleas, and she was sick and cold. I washed her and took her to the vet,” Amanda recalled one Friday morning in Manila.
At the vet, she was told the grim prognosis: It was unlikely Jane Doe would survive. “The vet said, ‘Look, Amanda, I don’t think this cat’s going to live but if you put the time into it, I’ll put the money into it.’ And I took the challenge and I ran with it. That cat survived all the way to my 20's. She was my very first rescue.”
Amanda is the host of “Amanda to the Rescue,” where she hopes to educate and inspire people to do their part in helping animals in need, among others. “On the show, we go to Puerto Rico six months after hurricane Maria devastated the island and we worked with Second Chance Animal Rescue.”
They've visited Hawaii where they helped animals affected by the lava flow. Tye've gone to California where they rescued animals fleeing the wildfires, and to Missouri — which she calls the puppy mill capital of America — to show viewers what a dog auction is like and encourage them to acquire animals responsibly.
Among the very many animal concerns today, Amanda advocates for adult or senior animal adoption, especially for first-time pet owners.
“Everyone wants the cute, fluffy puppy but it doesn’t stay a little puppy forever. It will look like that for less than a year, and you don’t know its personality, temperament, or quirks," she begins.
"But when you’re adopting an adult animal or a senior, you know exactly what that animal’s like; their personality, their fears, their behavior. You know what you’re getting. Plus, they have their health care, they’re spayed and neutered, they’re less expensive to adopt, and they’re easier to take care of.
And you know what your lifestyle looks like, so when you go to meet the adult dogs, you can find one that fits your lifestyle, a dog that is a good match for you. That’s more a fail-safe than if you adopt a puppy and you don’t know what it’s going to be like in a year.”
In over a decade, Amanda has saved over 4,000 animals. Currently, she has five dogs in her pack and eight rescue dogs under the care of Panda Paws Rescue, her non-profit animal rescue foundation. Her heart dog — the dog that’s closest and dearest to her, a Cavalier named Bull Frog — nurtures her rescues like they were his own.
In Panda Paws’ care currently are four Chihuahuas undergoing physical therapy to get them ready for adoption, two Cavalier King Charles Spaniels that are ready to find their home, a Japanese Chin born with flippers for feet, and an 11-day-old Akita puppy with a cleft palate, “so we tube feed her. When she’s big enough, at about 20-weeks-old, we’ll fix her cleft palate.”
Panda Paws Rescue works with animals that are special-needs cases, differently abled and/or require major medical care. Its mission is to end the homelessness, abuse and neglect of all animals.
Amanda shares that the most heartbreaking cases she’s had to work on are animals that have suffered physical and sexual torture and abuse. “That’s a living being that doesn’t have a voice, can’t say no, and can’t get out of the situation. And that animal will still turn around and love their abuser the next day. So that’s heartbreaking to me, because it’s so unfair.”
Passionate and looking every bit the badass that she is, Amanda radiates positive energy and remains upbeat. Easy to smile, generous with her laugh, and always ready to get down and dirty with animals, you can tell she absolutely loves what she does.
“The most satisfying thing about [what I do] is seeing the happily-ever-afters, when the animals survive, succeed, and find their forever families. When we see the animal [meet] their best friend and the human [meet] their best friend in the animal, I think that’s the best part of rescue,” she shares.
But even happy endings can be bittersweet. “It’s very difficult because I genuinely love my rescues," Amanda says. "When I take them in, I’m committed to them no matter how long it takes, so I fall in love with them. And their journey is sometimes so heartbreaking in the beginning, so I go through it with them and I get attached. When they get adopted, it’s like they take a piece of my heart with them but at the same of time they leave a [piece of them with me.]”
It's just a small bump on the road of making a difference, which Amanda believes every one of us has the power to do. “It’s not one person’s problem, it’s not just PAWS’ problem. It [takes everyone working together.]” She adds “I hope the show encourages people to [help animals] even in a smaller scale.”
Even as a regular citizen, there’s a lot you can do. Amanda advises getting ahead of the street dog and cat population by being responsible pet owners and spaying and neutering your pets.
If you can’t take an animal in, she suggests to get them in trap, spay/neuter, and release programs. “Because there is a place for the street dogs and the street cats—they take care of vermin, they clean up the cities—and if we can spay and neuter them, that’s the best way to get ahead.”
At the end of the day, what Amanda wants viewers to take away from the show is: Kindness is cool. “It’s easier to be kind than go out of your way to be nasty,” she says. She wants to inspire people who watch the show to be involved and invested in helping. “If you can donate time or finances, find a place like PAWS where you can actually come down and invest your time.”
— LA, GMA News
Catch “Amanda to the Rescue” on The Animal Planet every Tuesdays at 9pm
