Letter from a Shelter Manager
I think our society needs a huge "Wake-up" call. As a shelter manager, I
am going to share a little insight with you all...a view from the inside
if you will.
First off, all of you breeders/sellers should be made to work in the
"back" 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 don't even know.
That puppy you just sold will most likely end up in my shelter when it's
not a cute little puppy anymore. So how would you feel if you knew that
there's 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 "owner surrenders" or "strays", that come into my shelter
are purebred dogs.
The most common excuses I hear are; "We are moving and we can't take our
dog (or cat)." Really? Where are you moving too that doesn't allow pets?
Or they say "The dog got bigger than we thought it would". How big did
you think a German Shepherd would get? "We don't have time for her".
Really? I work a 10-12 hour day and still have time for my 6 dogs!
"She's tearing up our yard". How about making her a part of your family?
They always tell me "We just don't want to have to stress about finding
a place for her we know she'll get adopted, she's a good dog".
Odds are your pet won't 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 isn't 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 don't, your pet won't 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
"Bully" breeds (pit bull, rottie, mastiff, etc) it was pretty much dead
when you walked it through the front door.
Those dogs just don't get adopted. It doesn't matter how 'sweet' or
'well behaved' they are.
If your dog doesn't get adopted within its 72 hours and the shelter is
full, it will be destroyed. If the shelter isn't 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 don't
have the funds to pay for even a $100 treatment.
Here's a little euthanasia 101 for those of you that have never
witnessed a perfectly healthy, scared animal being "put-down".
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 "The Room", 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, it's 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 "pink
stuff". Hopefully your pet doesn't panic from being restrained and jerk.
I've 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
don't just "go to sleep", 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? You'll never know and it probably
won't 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 can't 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 DON'T 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 "I saw this and it made me
want to adopt". THAT WOULD MAKE IT WORTH IT
For those of you that care--- please repost this to at least one other
craiglist or site in another city/state. Let's see if we can get this all around
the US and have an impact. .
_____Thanks to Hilary Sontag for this letter.
