HOW CAN WE HELP ANIMALS?

For many years I've asked myself: how can I help the seals, the polar bears, the elephants, among hundreds of different species?
I've never found THE answer. I try to sign every petition that I find, try to feed strays and when I have the chance I try to explain to certain people why we, as human beings, should be HUMANE and respect, protect, and love animals.
I believe deep down in my heart that if we all try to make simple changes, eventually things will get better.
So these are basically a few things that I've done:

-First of all I became  a vegetarian.
-I don't buy fur
-I don't buy leather jackets, wallets,purses,shoes.
-I do not purchase (or at least try not to)buy products from companies that support or practice animal testing.
-I do not "teach" or "train" my dogs using violence or violent methods, if they learn a few tricks, it's great, but if they don't well it's not the end of the world.
-When my neighbor's dogs are wandering on the street I take them to their house. Sometimes I don't even tell my neighbor because he's just an ass.(Luckily his front door is usually open, and I make sure I close the door after the dogs are inside)

I am, in no way, saying that I'm perfect, or the most noble human being (which I'm not)but what if (if not wanting to be vegan or vegetarian) you decided to eat less animals?
 Or what if you decided not to beat the crap out of your dog because he/she (yep I'm sorry I won't say "it")peed inside your house?
What if instead of buying that awesome leather jacket, you buy something else and use the extra cash and buy some food for all the strays?
What if you take a couple of minutes of your life and finally sign a petition,to stop animal abuse?

Change begins with us.