A Letter from a Shelter Manager - anonymous in North Carolina
I think our socie...ty 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.
