5 Things I Learned from Working in Animal Welfare
Today, I’m sharing five things I learned during my time working in animal welfare. When I use the term “animal welfare”, I mean it to include municipal animal controls, non-profit shelters, private rescue groups of all sizes and sanctuaries. Nowhere do I use the words “kill shelter” or “no kill”, and I never will. Those terms are not honest or factual, they are frequently misunderstood and they are dripping with disdain.
A few years back, I quit my 9-5 working for an animal shelter. When I resigned my position, there was no bad blood, I was not burned out and I was not suffering from compassion fatigue. I was handed an opportunity that made more sense for me, my career and my family. So I jumped and never looked back…
It was a big transition and, since that time, I’ve been reflecting on the many things I learned from working in animal welfare, what those countless hours meant to me and what changes I think need to be made in the animal welfare community
Though the lessons are numerous and broad, I’ve been thinking a lot of about one particular subject: judgement.
Today, I’m sharing five things I learned during my time working for a private, not-for-profit shelter where animals were, generally speaking, free from the threat of euthanasia. When I use the term “animal welfare”, I mean it to include municipal animal controls, non-profit shelters, private rescue groups of all sizes and sanctuaries.
Nowhere do I use the words “kill shelter” or “no kill”, and I never will. Those terms are not honest or factual, they are frequently misunderstood and they are dripping with judgement.
Stop Judging People! (News Flash! There ARE some very good reasons to surrender a pet!)
Though there are some very bad reasons to surrender an animal to a shelter and I could write a whole article on this alone, there are also some very good reasons as well. Despite the best laid plans, life is unpredictable and sometimes bad things happen to good dogs (and their people).
I have comforted grown men, crying, almost hysterically, because he had to leave his dog. I have met women living in domestic abuse shelters that would not let her live there- her one chance at physical and emotional safety- unless she re-homed her cat. These are good people in the midst of terrible situations. They are grieving their own loss and they feel guilty because their best friend does not understand what is happening or why.
The act of surrendering and being surrendered is a traumatic experience and it requires some grace and humanity on our part. I can’t even imagine what this feels like and, knock wood, I never, ever will. Sometimes, people have to make terrible decisions and yes, sometimes it is in the animal’s best interest to be surrendered to a shelter. The truth isn’t always warm and fuzzy, and sometimes, it just plain sucks.
Please, Stop Judging Animals Control Agencies
Within the convoluted maze of county animal control agencies, private not-for-profit animal shelters, rescue organizations, private individuals working alone and sanctuaries that exist in most areas of this country, there is frequently a certain level of distrust for each other. Each organization believes that their approach is the best solution, that the others are corrupt or hoarders or liars or murders or crazy people who don’t know the limits of how many animals they can help any at any given time.
The open-admit, government-funded shelters are usually mandated to take in any animal that comes through the door, despite a pittance of a budget and very few resources to work towards successful adoptions.
Many of these agencies have created large-scale foster care programs, transfer and pet-retention programs, but when options have been exhausted and space has been filled, euthanasia must be considered, and this doesn’t even begin to consider those broken dogs who, due to genetics, terrible life experiences or a combination of both, are aggressive to animals and to humans. These dogs are dangerous, perhaps through no fault of his own, but dangerous still, and they pose a very real public health threat, a legal liability and a public relations disaster.
These are good people tasked with making horrible decisions and they don’t like the outcomes anymore than their critics. They did not create the problem; rather, they are supposed to magically fix this problem of epidemic proportions with little to no resources- while so many of us in the animal welfare community are picketing and public-shaming and screaming “Murderer!” from the top of our lungs.
My question to those arm-chair Barbaras is, what are YOU doing, besides creating conflict, distrust and stirring the pot? Have you considered fostering, donating your money or your time? These may seem like small actions but they save lives much more frequently than indignant outrage spewed controlled on the Facebook machine.
Seriously, Stop Judging Limited-Admit Shelters!
Many in our communities misunderstand what a limited-admit shelter is. Many people call them “no-kill”, which is inaccurate. Generally speaking, they take in animals if they have space to house them and and if they feel he is an adoptable animal. When space fills ups, they close intake. It sucks but it’s called math. If you have 50 rooms and 50 cages, you can only humanely house a specific number of animals.
But as much as it is simple math, it is also a much more complex equation that involves an assessment of the size of the dogs, the size of the rooms, the behavior of the individual animals and their medical and their socialization needs. It’s important to remember that, for social creatures domesticated by humans, living the rest of one’s life in a room or a cage is not the answer. It may prolong death for a year or ten, but it does nothing to prevent suffering.
Limited-admit shelters also develop comprehensive foster care programs, implement enrichment and behavioral modification programs (if financial resources allow) and even forge transport relationships with other organizations with similar missions and policies.
These not-for-profits are also strapped for money and depend on adoption fees and donations to provide food, medical care and to keep the doors open. They are doing the best that they can with what resources and community support they have.
To accomplish these lofty goals humanely, their intake procedures must be slow and controlled. You typically can’t just drop off a stray animal or even your own pet. Call ahead. Ask about the intake procedures. Be patient. They are doing the best they can to help as many animals as possible, but sometimes the answer is going to be “Yes, but not today.” or “No, but here are some other resources for you.”
Their first responsibility is to the animals currently in their care. Once they have attended to that, then they can begin to accept new animals.
If You Really Want to Help The Animals, Stop Judging Private Rescues!
Private rescue groups are doing important work. They often step in when animal control and not-for-profit shelters can’t help an animal. Rescues are almost always entirely foster-based organizations that have even less resources available than shelters. We are talking about a group of individuals who walk the talk when it comes to helping homeless animals.
Though there are some completely irresponsible rescue organizations that toe the line between “rescue” and “hoarder”, there are many responsible, reputable rescues that do right by the animals in their care. We cannot judge all rescues by a few crazypants hoarders who are working from a place of how they feel about an animal’s situation rather than what is in the best interest of the animal- and these are two entirely different things.
I can name a couple dozen responsible rescue organizations in my area off the top of my head.
I will tell you, that in my experience, a responsible rescue organization has been designated as a 501(c)(3) and is registered with state or local governments when applicable and they are registered as an authorized organization that can pull from municipal animal controls. These are a few things I personally think are hallmark indicators that a rescue organization is reputable and responsible. It’s not fool-proof to be sure, but it is a good criteria to start from when evaluating a rescue organization.
For God’s Sake, Please STOP Judging People Who Want to Adopt!
With over 7.6 million homeless dogs and cats in the United States alone, we need to stop erecting unnecessary barriers to adoptions! We need to stop judging a family’s fitness to care for an animals based on income alone, or if the neighborhood they live in does not meet our own personal standards, or if they are first-time pet parents or if they have the wrong color skin or if they do not have a perfect pet history.
I am a veterinary technician, my family earns a livable wage and my animals are all current on vaccines and preventative care. I am a pet blogger who is a huge advocate for deaf dogs and I work to educate pet parents on proper care, nutrition and socialization of their pets. Each of my dogs is trained and extremely well-behaved.
Yet, I would be denied an animal by many not-for-profit shelters and rescue organizations. My pet history is not perfect. I work (egads!) 8-9 hours a day while my husband travels for weeks at a time. My backyard is fenced but my front one is not.
As a relevant side note, a while back I was helping a very small shelter with a deaf dog in their care. After working with him a few times and meeting with the entire staff and most of the volunteers, I offered to foster him so I could expose him to an intensive 2-week training program where many basic skills could be learned and mastered. Despite my reputation (they had reached out to me for help!) and my personal interactions with them, they insisted that they do a home check prior to saying yes. Under the circumstances, I declined.
I personally know adoption counselors, both staff and volunteers, at several organizations who are fantastic pet parents that, based on an adoption application alone, would deny themselves as adopters. They would deem themselves unfit to adopt and provide a loving home. THIS MAKES ME WANT TO SCREAM!
One part of the adoption process needs to be educating people- on the specific animal they want to adopt, on what kind of medical care will be needed, on keeping the dog safe, on the importance of basic obedience training, and the list goes on. Education should be a key component of every adoption, and the organization should look towards developing a relationship with the adopter, to be a resource and to support them whenever possible.
I love the animal welfare community and am still a part of it. It is a part of how I define myself, and that is not going to change. None of what I’ve said is meant as an indictment. Rather, it is meant as a call to action to educate ourselves, our community, to forge partnerships with each other and to focus our energy on what is in the best interest of the homeless animal before us.
To me, the guiding question for every single interaction with each individual animal in our collective care needs to be, “What do you need from me right now?”
Thank you for this very thoughtful and well written post. I agree with a lot of the points in your post, and I greatly appreciate your saying it and encouraging a rational discussion.
Animal welfare is a pretty unique environment. There’s a lot of emotion involved and good intentions can often be overwhelmed and subsumed by the passion and love people have for animals. Many situations could be made smoother by having both sides exercise some empathy and try to understand the other persons’ unique situation and circumstances. A little bit of understanding and empathy can go a log way.
I do think there is a lot of “arm-chair Barbara’s” and “Monday Morning Quarterback” people out there. I’m generally of the opinion that if you’re not going to offer help or support and are merely there to second guess the actions of others’, your input isn’t valuable to me, and I’m likely going to start dismissing or devaluing your opinion.
I’m on the Board of Directors or the local shelter and have three deaf rescue dogs. I’ve seen both sides of many of the situations you bring up, and have seen the good and bad results that can arise from these interactions. Understanding, empathy, and communication can go a log way towards helping to alleviate these issues.
I thoroughly appreciate your thoughtful, comprehensive and honest feedback. Animal welfare is an animal like non other.
And I hope you don’t mind, but I enjoyed this post so much that I thought I’d share it on reddit.
I would love it if you did! Maybe send me the link too!
I would love it you did! Maybe send me the link?
Here’s the link. It should generate substantial discussion!
https://www.reddit.com/r/dogs/comments/3fmi8v/linkdiscussion_five_things_i_learned_from_working/
THANK YOU, no BLESS YOU for writing this post Bernard! You did a fantastic job of outlining these ugly truths. I’ve been a volunteer at a municipal county shelter for 6 years and I have learned and lived these ugly truths. I am so grateful you’ve called out the “no kill” vs. “kill” terms that people throw around like it’s nothing, without full understanding of what really goes on. Another term people throw around when they don’t have a clue is “high kill” shelter. What does that even mean?? Not one person has been able to provide a true definition of that disgusting term. I love that you cited the difference between municipal shelters being obligated to take in every pet that comes their way vs. most other shelters who have the luxury of assessing and denying a pet if they don’t feel they will be able to place that pet in a home. e.g. an aggressive dog who has severely bitten a child will likely not be accepted by most shelters but a municipal shelter is obligated to accept that dog, even though they won’t be able to safely adopt that dog to another family. If I hear one more person say to me “I’ll ONLY adopt a dog from a No Kill shelter” I think I will scream!! Where do they think dogs in all the other shelters come from? Many come from those municipal shelters you won’t adopt from. It’s about the Animals people, not the poorly funded, under staffed shelters forced to take in every pet that comes their way entity! In my opinion the thing that needs to be addressed most is reducing the number of pets that end up in shelters to begin with. Most of this comes down to education. There are legitimate reasons to surrender a pet but there are too many ridiculous reasons to surrender pets and not enough people who spay/neuter and microchip their pets! Sorry for this long winded comment, I get very emotional about this subject!
I’m sharing the heck out of this post!
Love & Biscuits,
Dogs Luv Us and We Luv Them
Cathy, I adore your passion, your detailed feedback and have tremendous admiration for you. Volunteering in any shelter is not easy, but open–admit shelters are a particularly tough place! Thank yo for committing yourself to the neediest of animals in the shelter system. Also, thank you for sharing. It only be fits the animals.
Also, if you use or understand Reddit, someone posted this there. I’m at a loss when it comes to Reddit, but I do see its categorized as being “on the rise”. Perhaps engage there as well?
Thanks for the kind word Bernard, I appreciate that. Open admit shelters are definitely not easy, but the animals there need our help even more than those at other shelters. I’m sorry but I’m not on Reddit so I can’t engage there as well. I probably should get on the Reddit train, but haven’t had the time! (-:
As always insightful and thought provoking
Thanks, Andy!
Thank you for this post. I particularly appreciate the part about not judging those who want to adopt. Having worked at a shelter myself, I’ve seen what it’s like to be on the other side of the desk, judging potential adopters and their applications. I’ve seen perfectly capable individuals who would be amazing pet owners be turned away because they attend school, have an outdoor kennel, work full-time, have farm cats…the list goes on. I hate to think about how many animals go without homes simply because of the human tendency to judge others.
I understand that it is ridiculous for someone to say that they will only adopt from a “no-kill” shelter, but I’m interested in learning more about using the terms “no-kill”, “kill”, and “high-kill”. These are terms I have (I’m now ashamed to say) used many times when talking to people – I have only been working in rescue for a few years, so I’m still unfamiliar with many things. Can you explain a little more about those terms being offensive? I’m sure I agree with you, I guess I’ve just never heard/read about it before! I’m interested in learning more 🙂 Again, great post, Bernard!
So this is really interesting to me because I just started a new career in animal welfare, specifically doing community outreach. Its interesting to read this and reflect on my first few days. What is the new opportunity you have/where are you working now?
I’m working with another not-for-profit supporting survivors or childhood sexual a us.
You are gifted at sharing exactly what it is that needs to be said. THANK YOU for this.
Powerful! I think overall we have a tendency to “judge” others for their actions without learning their circumstances. This post hopefully will resonate in the hearts and minds of many, and help change our thought process. Thank you.
You make some really excellent points, some I hadn’t thought about before. Thank you so very much for this excellent take on animal welfare from an insiders perspective. Sharing…
So many people are passionate about animal welfare, it is a shame that many of those same people are also judgmental of others. I like to hold to the adage that at any given time, everyone is doing the best that they can under their personal circumstances. Of course it isn’t true in every case, but I really believe it is true for almost every case. Thank you taking the time to write this and helping people remember the important thing: the majority of people involved in animal welfare are in it for the right reason: to help animals the best way they can.
I especially love the part about not judging potential adopters. One of the most frustrating things I have experienced while working in rescue is seeing animals sit in the shelter for months (sometimes years) longer than necessary because potential adopters have been denied as the result of ridiculously rigid adoption rules.
I also couldn’t agree more that education should be a huge part of the adoption process. In my experience many, many dogs have been returned to the shelter largely because this piece was missing when they adopted their dog. While I am happy to see so many people, advertisements, etc. espousing the adoption of shelter animals, I fear that rescued animals are becoming romanticized…people expect an animal that is “move in ready” because they are “thankful” to be out of the shelter. The truth is that it is work anytime you bring a new animal into your – whether in the form of house breaking, training, establishing a schedule, behavior modification, etc. Educating adopters during the adoption process could go a long way in managing expectations.
Yes, this is a big problem–especially, with the rescue groups. Are they any the business of wanting to get animals homes or??? Lack of education on their part as well.
Thank you for a very thoughtful and compassionate post. I too (as one other commenter noted) despise the term “high kill shelter” or even “kill shelter”…..as if the people working there have the goal in mind of killing animals rather than helping them. There certainly are some bad apples in every form of animal welfare organizations, but it particularly infuriates me when people criticize the open admission shelters who often take in the animals that other groups will not, then get called on the carpet or blasted on social media if the euthanize (often done for very valid reasons, as hard as that may be to accept). I have to admit, I am probably a little more judgmental than I should be of the limited admissions shelters, only because many tend to tout themselves as having a high “save rate” that makes them look superior to other animal welfare organizations. To my mind, it’s easy to have a high save rate if you only accept the animals you feel you can adopt out, yet in my experience the general public doesn’t understand that nuance. They see that the local “no kill” shelter has a 90% save rate and compare that to the lower rate of the open admission shelter down the street, not appreciating that the open admission shelter takes in the unadoptable animals as well as the adoptable animals. Then they give their donations to the “no kill” shelter because they view it as more successful and humane. I will never understand the folks who on the one hand refuse to support what they consider to be a “kill shelter” yet still expect that shelter to measure up to all the ones with more financial support in terms of facility improvements, quality staff, innovative programs, etc. Overall, we would be in a far better place if everyone passionate about animals would learn to appreciate that while not everyone does it the same way, everyone (in general) has the same goal in mind. Your post does a lot towards helping us move towards that understanding…..thanks.
Sorry, but I don’t really agree with this. They’re high volume kill shelters and yes, some are better than others. Trust me I know…A lot of people that work at these places are not that compassionate about the well-being of animals. If you have a compassionate person that runs these places then, it makes a big difference. Also, they’re some lazy people that work at these shelters and rescues–trying to get help is like pulling teeth. Some of them have terrible attitudes.
I have personally walked out of a couple for that very reason. These people that work at these facilities should be lucky they have jobs……..! Some of the volunteers too–why volunteer!
None of the above is helping save lives.
THANK YOU for writing this article! You so beautifully and clearly express so MANY things that animal rescues, shelters, and other animal organizations struggle with, every single day. I found myself agreeing with every single point you made in your article, cheering for you: “YES!” I’ve been volunteering in an open-admission county shelter for 10 years, have volunteered in an limited-admission shelter, volunteered with rescue groups, and fostered animals in my home. I think, at this point, that open-admission work is the toughest, and perhaps the most rewarding, when we get our “miracles.” Our open-admission shelter works closely with limited-admission facilities, rescue groups with foster programs, and a juvenile prison program. And I wouldn’t give it up for the world. Everything you wrote rings true–and i fervently hope that every animal-rescue-related person can read and understand what you’re telling us.
My favorite line in your post:
‘To me, the guiding question for every single interaction with each individual animal in our collective care needs to be, “What do you need from me right now?”’
Thank you so much for taking the time, energy, and compassion to share this with us.
It’s been my experience that there are elitists in almost any specialized field and animal welfare is no different. It’s really irritating, actually. As you pointed out, I also have had to ask the arm-chair experts what exactly they were doing to help when they criticized the shelter I sometimes volunteer at. The fact of the matter is, people that care for cast off animals give a lot. As a trainer, I do hear a lot of stupid reasons for giving animals up, or have ridiculous expectations of animals that set them up for failure. It’s aggravating, but as you said, there are also some people that have situations we can’t really judge, reasons they may need to give up their beloved pet, and if we haven’t actually been in those situations (or even if we think we have) we are not experts at how other people should handle hard times in their lives. I’d rather have an animal given up to a shelter instead of dumped in a ditch or buried alive or some of the other awful things some people will do to unwanted animals. Even though you are no longer full time at the shelter I’m glad you still devote time there. I really need to get there more often but I do what I can. Thanks for all you’ve done. 🙂
thank you <3
and yes – i like the part with armchair-barbaras 😉 furbaby jesus for president <3
I volunteer several times a week at a shelter and we do the best we can.
I support the small rescues, too, but I adopted my Jack Russell from a small shelter and everything they told me about her was a lie. She does not “love other dogs”; in fact, she will run all the way down the block to try and attack someone much bigger than her. She does not “love trips to the dog park” because she’s so busy trying to attack everyone that I can’t bring her. The charity made her out to be this lovable little dog when actually she’s very disturbed. I have other dogs, but cannot foster or even let my friends bring their dogs over because of this one.
At least tell the truth. At my shelter we will tell people that a dog is meant to be an only dog. No one told me that.