RE: Animal Lovers Need Not Apply|

An article appeared on  the huffington post just a few days ago. The title of the article read “Animal Lovers Need Not Apply” The post is based around an animal shelter where a cat managed to get stuck in a wall, and no one did anything about it, until the cat eventually died. Only then when the body was decomposing and smelling, was when staff cut open the wall and took out the body. Now I can not speak for this shelter, I do believe there are two sides to every story. I would like to hear this shelter side of the story. Maybe someday we will; maybe we won’t. However my thoughts on the story surrounding this cat, I do feel that for a staff that is supposed to be there to protect these animals and help them, clearly have lost compassion somewhere along the line, when you feel it is okay to sit and eat your lunch knowing just a few feet away from you, there is a poor starving animal in the wall. I think it’s time for a new job when you lack caring and compassion like that. I personally do not know anybody who would just sit around and let that happen!

As I continue to read this article it begins to question how do you let people like this work in an animal shelter.

“working at a municipal pound is a job, not a mission; animal control lacks accountability; applicants who score the lowest on city aptitude tests get placed in animal control; some agencies are staffed by prison inmates with no oversight; employees who fail in departments deemed more important by uncaring bureaucrats are placed in animal control rather than fired; city officials sign draconian union contracts that make it difficult to fire neglectful and abusive staff; lazy managers won’t do the progressive discipline necessary to fire them (and workers know this); some people just don’t care; and some people are just callous and cruel.”

There are places in the states that do have a prison inmate type of program. One of my favorites can be seen on Pitbulls and Parolees. Those men on there show more caring for animals and have lots of compassion. Yes it’s a reality show but I do not believe for two seconds the caring you see from those men is an act. I see it as real, I do not believe Tia Torres would hire those men if they did not care. Now I may not know what I could score on an aptitude test… I also don’t work for animal control. I work as an animal care attendant, I do care, I am not cruel or callous…I am also not a prison inmate either. I do have two college diplomas, and have been in the animal shelter environment since I was 14. Yes, I have seen some sad things but it never once came from any of the staff that I have worked with that care a great deal about these animals. We work our butts off, helping them by fostering, rescuing, finding rescue to take animals we can not place up for adoption. This summer alone a co-worker had over 10 animals from our shelter at her home fostering them! Some people may not care, and some people maybe cruel. But the keywords is SOME PEOPLE. You can put all shelter staff in that category,

“Studies of slaughterhouse workers have found that in order to cope with the fact that they are paid to kill day in and day out, self-preservation motivates them to devalue animals in order to make what they are doing less morally reprehensible. In other words, the workers make the animals unworthy of any consideration on their behalf”

“Employees Wanted: To Commit Daily Violence Towards Animals”

First of all. I am not a slaughterhouse worker. I am an animal shelter work. Second of all, I am not paid to kill day in and day out. I also don’t devalue an animal. You think it makes us happy when we have to pick animals to euthanize. I have said this before it’s not easy to say who deserves to live and who gets to die. It is not an easy part of the job. We don’t desensitize our selves to this. My last litter of foster cats all had to be euthanized. Yes, I made that decision. They were really ill and not responding to their medication. Turns out the mother had feline herpes virus and transmitted it to the babies. They were getting sicker and sicker each day. What would you have liked me to do, leave them suffer until they all dropped dead, or humanely and yes I said HUMANELY euthanize them. Do you think I didn’t cry? You think I didn’t care? It killed me to make that choice but for me it was the right choice, and maybe that something you will not agree with.

“Because shelter workers understand that they have the power to kill shelter animals, and will in fact kill many of them, every interaction they have with those animals is influenced by the perception that the animals do not matter, that their lives are cheap and expendable and that they are destined for the garbage heap.”

You honestly think that? Really? I did not apply to work at a shelter because I enjoy killing and think every animal is going to die. It’s a sad truth yes animals are euthanized in shelter. Yes many will me euthanized. But I will have you know every interaction I have with everyone of my animals, at my shelter is not influenced by the perception they do not matter or destined for the garbage heap like you say. Every interaction I have with those animals is full of love, caring and expecting they will become a great pet to someone, and watching there confidence grow. Every animal that walks through that door will have the chance and will be expected to become a great animal for someone. And sometimes that doesn’t happen. Sometime they are euthanized for various of reason. You think I don’t care? You think I excepted them to fail? It is the saddest thing in the world when you have tried so hard for an animal and unfortunately they do not make it. It makes you feel like you have failed that animal, and that feeling of failure is a heart wrenching thing. But we do have to be strong, STRONG, not heartless, we have to move passed it and be there for the next animals, because let’s face it, those kennels will always be full, and there will be another animal waiting for you to them.

“The reality is that truly caring people, people who actually love animals, either do not apply to work at these agencies or if they do, they do not last.”

It is true that a lot of people do not last in animal shelters because they can not handle the sadness. I’ve had my days were I felt I did not want to do this anymore. I actually care about animals, whether you believe me or not. I go in on my days off to socialize scared animals and work with dogs with certain issues that need help. I spend a lot of time off the clock at my shelter.

I’m sorry for what happened to that poor cat in Dallas. That is really sad. It is beyond me how anybody could just let an animal suffer like that. But you can not blame all shelters for something that happened at one shelter. Or something you have seen happen at a few shelters. There are shelters our there that care for these animals and do whatever possible to help as many as we can. I’m sorry that you blame all the “killing” on shelter workers. Yes, we do euthanize animals. I don’t feel we are to blame. If you want the euthanizing to stop I feel you need to look at where there animals are coming from? If people would stop buying from pet stores, puppy mills, back yard breeders, if they start spaying and neutering their pets, if more people adopt from shelters, then and only then will the euthanizing of animals in shelter will be minimized and who knows maybe it will stop.

I am an animal lover, and I did apply and I do care for every animal that walks through the doors of my shelter doors.

You can read the article here:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nathan-j-winograd/employees-wanted-to-commi_b_4311182.html

They Know….

It was one of those days today. I befriended this dog a few weeks ago. He was a cutie, a little nervous of his surroundings but nothing in my eyes that was major concern. Today was his day, to see if he would make it for adoption. Unfortunately he did not make it. I went to go find him, knowing in the back of my head it was not good for him. I found him in his kennel, in a pool of his own drool. He was anxious, he was nervous….. he knew.

As I sat outside of his kennel, with my hand on the fence, he placed his paw up onto my hand. We weren’t very close friends, but I was still his special someone who would take him out for a run every now and then. I told him to sit, he did, give paw, he did, lay down, he did. He kept licking my hand, still drooling. I took him out for one last run, it the dog park, let him off leash and he just ran around, happy.

They know, they all know. Dogs are not dumb. It’s sad to see, when they start doing things out of the ordinary for them. I always see something in those with issues. They have a life before they end up in a shelter, they didn’t just come from nowhere, they all came from somewhere, someones home, someones family, and now they are just a stray with a time limit, and no one comes looking for them….

My heart hurts for them. Especially those ones who are so scared, right up until there last moments. You just want to tell them it’s okay, tell them it is alright, and that you are there for them and not going to hurt them. I looked into the eyes of one of those dogs today. He finally came up to me, let me pet his nose. Those sad scared eyes looking at me. I told him it was going to be okay, he won’t have to be scared anymore, he will finally be at peace soon.

There is so much good that comes from an animal shelter, but behind the scenes there is all these sad moments, sad cases. Days where you just want to quit, because you can’t take it anymore. How do people treat animals so badly. How do you just lose your animal and not bother to look for it, how this and how that. You wouldn’t abandon your child, why is it okay to abandon an animal?

Rex is in need of a home<3

Meet Rex! He is for sure something else!

He is a Lab/Pit mix. He was surrender to the shelter in September 2012, not 100 percent sure on the reason why he was surrendered. My first impression of Rex, was this big dog with no manners at all. He would jump all over you, no matter how many times you pushed him off, back up he go. He does have a lot of energy, but what else do you expect from a 1 year old dog. He is actually a very smart boy, he does need some leash work, but once he has your attention he does make a good impression.

I have grown to love this boy! I see him well everyday, and have seen him everyday since September, so even with his badness he still makes me smile! This boy is going to need a home with someone who can work with him and have patience. It is preferred that he go to a home with no kids, no other dogs, or no cats. However I feel depending on how knowledgeable anyone who is interested in Rex, I am sure exceptions can be made, and it has been made in the pasted for other animals as well. We want nothing but the best homes for them and want to see them succeed in their new homes. Rex deserves a great home. I passed his photo around facebook a few months ago without any luck. I thought I would try to post it here, as I do have Canadian Viewers who visit my blog.

There is a home out there for this sweet little boy. He is patiently waiting.

Can I take them all home?

When working with animals, it’s so hard to not get attached to them. You can not save them all, no matter how hard you try. Living in an apartment, I am limited to how many I can foster at one time, it’s funny because those ones that touch my heart, tend to come in packs. It’s like I want to save this one, and that one, and those ones, and can I take that one, that one and this one all home and work with them. It’s never just one dog that shows up and I am just attached to, it is always a few at a time.

I currently have two on my list, who I want to help if they don’t pass their temperament test. Those two dogs are so lovely, one is a little nervous and still not sure what he thinks of the shelter yet. I can not post any pictures of them or any information until they become available for adoption, or make their way into my home.

Lots of people always ask me how do I bring them into my home and can just let them go so easy. It’s not easy at all, that is for sure. But what would be harder. Leaving them to be euthanized at the shelter because of a problem that may possibly be fixable and trying to save the animals life, or just letting the animal be euthanized and not doing anything at all to help? Yes I know I can’t help them all…but if my home is empty and I have the space, why wouldn’t I try?

I know my limits and I know what I can, and what I can not handle. If I can take them on, I will, and it will be, because I know or I feel I can help them or at least try. I have not had a foster dog since marley, she was very hard for me to give up. I wanted to keep her, but I just did not have the room for her, and three dogs in my apartment just would not work. I still think of her and I am glad I was able to make a difference in her life and keep her alive and help her find her forever home.

It is exhausting, when you work 8 hour shifts and come home and your still working because now you have your animals, and whatever fosters that are in the house to take care of. It doesn’t end when you leave the shelter. The work continues. As long as there are shelter overpopulated with animals, and homeless pets, the work will always continue.

I couldn’t save you

Spent three days trying to get to know you
Hoping you’d see life wasn’t so blue
Gaining your trust was a must.
Hours of just sitting on the ground
While you just growled and looked around
Yes I am here, I was always there.
Spent an hour reading your files
Your owners drove for miles
To give you a life that would be better
Even I never thought I’d be writting this letter
You stole my heart, in the end it was ripped apart
Left for the pieces to mend, I was left without my friend
I couldn’t save you, I really wanted too
I saw more in you then just your troubled dog
Sometimes I hear your bark through the fog
It’s hard to be a pitbull in a world where you have been ban
Society has become a hard thing to understand.
Because of that it has failed you
You are no longer here, and now I am blue
Some days I just don’t know what to do.
It helps to know I made your last days fun
playing frisbee in the sun,outside for a run.
I’m sorry I couldn’t save you, believe me I tried
Many saddened tears I have cried.
I’m sorry I wasn’t the last thing you’d see
I really wish it was me
But I wasn’t there, and don’t ever feel like I didn’t care
The reason I can not share, but you know why
As time goes by, I’ll always think of you.
You won’t be the last to grab my heart,
or the last to watch it fall apart.
But it will mend, and another dog I will be friend
and the cycle will start all over again.
I try my best to stay true,
There will always be a part of me
that is sad I couldn’t save you.

He was not euthanized because of the ban, but he had come from a place where there was a ban, and sent for a chance at the shelter, unfortunately with his background history and not passing our temperament test, he could not be placed for adoption, sadly he was euthanized. I loved this dog like one of my own, I love them all, sadly you can’t save them all, but you can make their time with you wonderful and fun and worth wild, and this is what I did for him<3