Animal shelters-anybody ever work in one?
Moms View Message Board: General Discussion: Archive August 2007:
Animal shelters-anybody ever work in one?
Anybody ever work or volunteer in one? I volunteer with an all breeds doggie rescue group. All our dogs are in foster homes and none of them get put down if not adotped. So we work differently then shelters. In the area we have kill shelters and non kill shelters.
Some of our volunteers also volunteer at shelters in the area.
One lady in our group asked if any of us were willing to volunteer at the Norfolk animal control. Apparently they had a bad write up in the newspaper about it being unclean, too many dogs. Basically it comes down to staffing, not enough volunteers etc... They cleaned it up, painted it etc...
They were having an "open house adoption day" there yesterday. My son and myself went down to volunteer, we had 7 other volunteers show up from our group.
I had never been there. It was very clean, but again I did not know what it looked like before. There is AC on as well as big fans blowing every where.
Anyways, what they wanted us to do was take the dogs for walks, play with them, socialize with them etc... We were not there 5 minutes, and I just burst out crying. Apparently somebody left a big dog there that was in the midst of heat stroke. They had it in a cage, and 5 people were working on him/her . (I found out later the dog was fine)It was 90 here yesterday and to know somebody would just let a dog get like that breaks my heart. When we got there we just walked around and I saw this dog, and I literally burst out crying, I couldnt help it ....I walked away , my son was beside himself.."Mommy whats wrong""Mommy why are you crying"I told him its that dog. Another lady from our group came by and hugged me and said "the dog is getting better they are helping"...
UGH...how can people stand it. I would be an emotional mess if I had to see this stuff everyday.
After that, it turned out to be a fun 3 hrs. We got to pick the dogs we wanted to play with and walk.I ended up walking about 5 dift dogs. One dog I walked twice because I became so attached. Unfortunately, they didnt have many people wanting to adopt ....Our rescue group is taking one of the dogs, possibly two of them and putting them into our system.
It was an emotional experience for me.
Anybody ever work in one?
I worked at one for a few years. Luckily it was in a small town and not a lot were put to sleep.
I did end up with many pets that I brought home. LOL.
Some of the rescues were heartbreaking. One of my cats was from 17 that were dropped in the middle of a snow storm. Very few of the cats survived.
I will never understand how people can be so cruel to animals!
I find it heartbreaking enough, just to walk around and see what animals are there. All those animals wanting a forever home and pleading at you with their eyes. It would be too much for me.
I've always wanted to volunteer at a shelter, but I know I would have a hard time with it. I cry easily, and I become too emotionally involved. I also know I would want to bring so many home! I have great admiration and for people who work at shelters.
My sister has been volunteering at a shelter for years. She gets so angry when she hears the reasons why the dogs end up there. But she focuses on the positive. She'll call to tell me about a sweet family who adopted a dog, or a lonely older woman who found her new friend. She has loved dogs her whole life and finds it so rewarding to work at the shelter.
I too have helped out at our local animal shelter. The animal control warden is a close friend, and I help her out with rabies shot clinics, etc. I couldn't, however, do that for a living, or spend a LOT of time there. I would be one of those crazy old ladies who gets arrested for having a bazillion animals because I would take them all home. I have gotten most of my pets from there, and the rest have just shown up in my yard and stayed for years. It IS heartbreaking, and you really lose faith in human beings that they can be so cruel or uncaring.
We just had a guy in RI this summer, at the Seafood Festival, who was arrested for leaving his dog in the car for hours in the heat. Fortunately, the dog survived, but only because several people called 911 and the police broke into the car. The guy was visiting from California and said that Rhode Island has "18th century Puritanical laws" and that he will "never set foot in RI again". GOOD!! We don't want people like him. He WILL however, have to return to RI to face criminal sentencing for "wreckless endangerment and cruelty to an animal".
I thank the Lord that there ARE people who devote their lives to animal rescue, working or volunteering in shelters. Dr. Albert Schweitzer said that we "can judge a society by how it treats its animals".
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