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Friday, March 29
The Indiana Daily Student

Animal Club members volunteer for nonprofits

From making dog toys to volunteering with reptile and horse rescue organizations, Animal Club uses their love of animals to make a difference in the community.

Junior Emma Dossey and December graduate Hannah Ramsey founded IU’s Animal Club last ?semester.

The club is a volunteer and social organization that meets every other week on Tuesdays.

Animal Club hosts different animal rescue organizations at their meetings and also participates in numerous animal-related volunteer opportunities in and around the Bloomington community.

Animal Club was founded because Dossey, president of the organization, felt there wasn’t really an animal-related community at IU.

She said one of the hardest parts about leaving home was being away from her pet, and as a biology major working towards becoming a veterinarian, Dossey said she believed that Animal Club was needed at IU.

“Even if you can’t be involved with every event, not only are you really helping the animals, but you are also satisfying a need for yourself,” ?Dossey said.

The club was founded for people of all majors who love animals. Its overall purpose is to unite animal-lovers from all over IU’s campus and to benefit animals in the community through volunteering, ?Dossey said.

Animal Club has held presentations and speakers from some of these volunteer organizations at their bimonthly meetings.

For example, their last meeting included a visit from a reptile rescue organization, Scaley Tails.

On Feb. 3, the Bloomington Police Department will be bringing some of their canine unit for a ?demonstration.

The director of the animal education group, Animalia, will also be attending their Feb. 17 meeting with some animals and information about summer internships.

The club has volunteered with multiple humane societies, participated in dog walks with sheltered dogs and volunteered for the nonprofit organization Wolf Park in Lafayette.

“When you’re volunteering, it feels good,” Dossey said. “It’s rewarding to help an organization that’s doing good work.”

Their upcoming ?volunteer days include going to Indianapolis to volunteer at an exotic animal rescue organization, zoo and aquarium trips and working with Horse Angles, a group that rescues abused or abandoned horses.

“It’s fun,” Dossey said. “You have a good time and you get to meet a lot of cool people from all sides of IU that you might not usually meet.”

Animal Club has meetings every other Tuesday evening at 8 p.m. at Ballantine Hall in room 310. Their next meeting will take place Feb. 3.

“I really hope we can achieve and grow,” Dossey said. “I am hoping more people will really want to get involved and keep it going so that we can do better work for organizations that need help.”

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