I would naturally take care of family and friends. A reasonable amount, maybe pay off their mortgage or the equivalent. Enough to be a treat but not change their lives. I would do the same for myself. I would buy a large farm house with lots of land and make it into a sanctuary for animals. I love the Gentle Barn in Tennessee and would model it after that.
The picture above is Dudley. You really should read his story at the Gentle Barn. Dudley has a prosthetic foot having lost his foot. The animals there are so loved. Then there is Henry and Horton two rescued pigs. Talk about pampered, they each have their own blankie to cover them at night. Some day I must go there and visit.
Then, also in Tennessee is the Elephant Sanctuary another place I must visit some day. Maybe we can take a weekend trip and visit both places.
The elephants are not on display and can not be visited. They are retired and live a life of leisure and contentment and sometimes have met old friends from their past life. All animals deserve this life, especially when they have worked all their lives and in many cases been abused.
This is what I would want to do. I would find places and causes. I would try to get it so that no "shelter" was allowed to kill animals unless they had to be for medical or mental reasons. So dogs and any other domestic animals would be fostered until a home was found for them.
Animals would be my main cause. I would buy as much land as I could and keep it in trust so that wildlife could be protected indefinatley.
I would try to buy lands that are/were belonging to Native Americans and give it back on condition that it was protected and owned only by a whole tribe in perpetuity never to be sold, mined or diminished in any way.
I hope that a billion dollars would stretch as far as I wanted because there would still be a long way to go. I would also like to set up care homes for elderly that do not cost everything they have worked for all their lives. The prices of those places are so outlandish and I know can be run for a lot less and give much more than they do now. I would work on that locally where ever I lived. I would probably move to England or Canada. It would not matter so much because I would hope I could afford to take trips. Although I think most of the money would be gone quite quickly unless I got a very good invester who could help me make it grow to support these things when I was gone.
I know that people deserve help too, but most people have a choice in their life, animals don't. I would work on trying to get some laws changed regarding breeding animals and for better lives for farm animals raised for food.
Yes, I would love to win the lottery, not for me but for what good that could be done with it. No one needs that kind of money and one cant take it with us, so my goal, my dream would be to do as much good with it as I possibly could. I have no interest in material things, only a nice house and a reliable car. The rest is gravy.
Thanks for you thinking and wish list to help animals. I liked the paragraph on elephant sanctuary you hope to visit.
ReplyDeleteMany years ago, a friend and I visited the St. Louis (MO>) Zoo section of elephant stalls. A mother elephant had to be changed at the leg to separate the mother from the baby. Hard to view, so little room for the elephants, but the desire to care and provide a place for elephants was there. On line, one may read the deaths of too many elephants in Africa and Asia. The animals are used for work and understanding the need for heavy transportation of logs and other items, the elephants habitats are destroyed over the years. Cannot complain, so little desire, except for elephants in circus shows in the USA have decided to close elephant shows. What will happen to these large and endearing animals? Probably the same as the USA wild horses and race horses-meat packing or sold to other countries. No time or money-can remove the countries that eat horse meat. Look at Wendy Fast-foods-horse meat instead of cattle? Thanks! ATK
Other cultures do use Elephants for work and not all are abused but, when they get old they should be retired and live the good life. In this country the circus elephants that are to be retired are to go to a sanctuary of sorts. They wont be treated like the sanctuary in Tennessee though.Animals that are used for work, well, some do work well and if treated well I don't object but then take care of them when they get older and let them live in peace. Thanks for your comment
ReplyDeleteI agree with you my friend! I would want to buy as much land as I could. I would try to help animals and the elderly too. Also, pay off my visa bill! LOL! I truly hope who won, does good with the money!
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