A Letter from a Shelter Manager - anonymous in North Carolina
I think our society needs a huge âWake-upâ call. As a shelter manager, I am going to share a little insight with you allâŠa view from the inside if you will.
First off, all of you breeders/sellers should be made to work in the âbackâ of an animal shelter for just one day. Maybe if you saw the life drain from a few sad, lost, confused eyes, you would change your mind about breeding and selling to people you donât even know.
That puppy you just sold will most likely end up in my shelter when itâs not a cute little puppy anymore. So how would you feel if you knew that thereâs about a 90% chance that dog will never walk out of the shelter it is going to be dumped at? Purebred or not! About 50% of all of the dogs that are âowner surrendersâ or âstraysâ, that come into my shelter are purebred dogs.
The most common excuses I hear are; âWe are moving and we canât take our dog (or cat).â Really? Where are you moving too that doesnât allow pets? Or they say âThe dog got bigger than we thought it wouldâ. How big did you think a German Shepherd would get? âWe donât have time for herâ. Really? I work a 10-12 hour day and still have time for my 6 dogs! âSheâs tearing up our yardâ. How about making her a part of your family? They always tell me âWe just donât want to have to stress about finding a place for her we know sheâll get adopted, sheâs a good dogâ.
Odds are your pet wonât get adopted & how stressful do you think being in a shelter is? Well, let me tell you, your pet has 72 hours to find a new family from the moment you drop it off. Sometimes a little longer if the shelter isnât full and your dog manages to stay completely healthy. If it sniffles, it dies. Your pet will be confined to a small run/kennel in a room with about 25 other barking or crying animals. It will have to relieve itself where it eats and sleeps. It will be depressed and it will cry constantly for the family that abandoned it. If your pet is lucky, I will have enough volunteers in that day to take him/her for a walk. If I donât, your pet wonât get any attention besides having a bowl of food slid under the kennel door and the waste sprayed out of its pen with a high-powered hose. If your dog is big, black or any of the âBullyâ breeds (pit bull, rottie, mastiff, etc) it was pretty much dead when you walked it through the front door.
Those dogs just donât get adopted. It doesnât matter how âsweetâ or âwell behavedâ they are.
If your dog doesnât get adopted within its 72 hours and the shelter is full, it will be destroyed. If the shelter isnât full and your dog is good enough, and of a desirable enough breed it may get a stay of execution, but not for long . Most dogs get very kennel protective after about a week and are destroyed for showing aggression. Even the sweetest dogs will turn in this environment. If your pet makes it over all of those hurdles chances are it will get kennel cough or an upper respiratory infection and will be destroyed because shelters just donât have the funds to pay for even a $100 treatment.
Hereâs a little euthanasia 101 for those of you that have never witnessed a perfectly healthy, scared animal being âput-downâ.
First, your pet will be taken from its kennel on a leash. They always look like they think they are going for a walk happy, wagging their tails. Until they get to âThe Roomâ, every one of them freaks out and puts on the brakes when we get to the door. It must smell like death or they can feel the sad souls that are left in there, itâs strange, but it happens with every one of them. Your dog or cat will be restrained, held down by 1 or 2 vet techs depending on the size and how freaked out they are. Then a euthanasia tech or a vet will start the process. They will find a vein in the front leg and inject a lethal dose of the âpink stuffâ. Hopefully your pet doesnât panic from being restrained and jerk. Iâve seen the needles tear out of a leg and been covered with the resulting blood and been deafened by the yelps and screams. They all donât just âgo to sleepâ, sometimes they spasm for a while, gasp for air and defecate on themselves.
When it all ends, your pets corpse will be stacked like firewood in a large freezer in the back with all of the other animals that were killed waiting to be picked up like garbage. What happens next? Cremated? Taken to the dump? Rendered into pet food? Youâll never know and it probably wonât even cross your mind. It was just an animal and you can always buy another one, right?
I hope that those of you that have read this are bawling your eyes out and canât get the pictures out of your head I deal with everyday on the way home from work.
I hate my job, I hate that it exists & I hate that it will always be there unless you people make some changes and realize that the lives you are affecting go much farther than the pets you dump at a shelter.
Between 9 and 11 MILLION animals die every year in shelters and only you can stop it. I do my best to save every life I can but rescues are always full, and there are more animals coming in everyday than there are homes.
My point to all of this DONâT BREED OR BUY WHILE SHELTER PETS DIE!
Hate me if you want to. The truth hurts and reality is what it is. I just hope I maybe changed one persons mind about breeding their dog, taking their loving pet to a shelter, or buying a dog. I hope that someone will walk into my shelter and say âI saw this and it made me want to adoptâ. THAT WOULD MAKE IT WORTH IT.
How to find a true No Kill shelter or rescue group:Â http://www.examiner.com/dog-rescue-in-national/how-to-find-a-true-no-kill-shelter-or-rescue-group): I would adopt but my heart is set on a malamute, the breeder takes the time to know everyone she sells her pups to. Not all breeders are terrible and horrible people.
Denmark
superwhoavengehobbitpotterlock:
You are allowed to drink when youâre 16.
You are allowed in clubs when youâre 18.
You receive free education.
You receive economic support while studying.
You enjoy free hospitalization.
Youâll be correctly informed by objective news channels.
- police: *knock knock*
- me: whos there
- police: theres been an accident
- me: theres been an accident who
Teaching myself Greek because I am half Greek (although I feel 100%) and itâs about time. Iâll track my progress in the tag #Itâs all Greek to me
*on my deathbed*
nurse: do you have any last words
me: iâŠâŠâŠ..regretâŠâŠbeing soâŠâŠmâŠ..meanâŠâŠâŠand heartlessâŠâŠâŠâŠâŠ.
*the light goes out of my eyes*
*a small piece of paper falls out of my hand*
*the paper says one word only*
âsikeâ
(Source: greelin)
