Multispecies Families: Pets, Community, and Social Action

In this essay, I reflect on what I learned about human–animal relationships, families, and community through volunteering at an animal shelter, and how I translated these insights into founding a nonprofit community organization, Animal Advocates of Greater Lafayette (AAGL). I first discuss the increasing research and scholarship in the social work field that examines the role of pets in human lives. I describe my methodological frame, drawing on the fields of autoethnography and personal narrative in qualitative research. I then relate both animal and human stories from the field (in this case, an animal shelter), and tell the story of the founding and current activities of AAGL. In conclusion, I suggest that AAGL, as a community organization, models how to rethink families through a multispecies lens.