“Being a veterinarian, I had been called to examine a ten-year-old Irish wolfhound named Belker. The dog’s owners, Ron, his wife, Lisa, and their little boy, Shane, were all very attached to Belker, and they were hoping for a miracle. I examined Belker and found he was dying of cancer. I told the family we couldn’t do anything for Belker, and offered to perform the euthanasia procedure for the old dog in their home. As we made arrangements, Ron and Lisa told me they thought it would be good for six-year-old Shane to observe the procedure. They felt as though Shane might learn something from the experience. The next day, I felt the familiar catch in my throat as Belker’s family surrounded him. Shane seemed so calm, petting the old dog for the last time, that I wondered if he understood what was going on. Within a few minutes, Belker slipped peacefully away. The little boy seemed to accept Belker’s transition without any difficulty or confusion. We sat together for a while after Belker’s death, wondering aloud about the sad fact that animal lives are shorter than human lives. Shane, who had been listening quietly, piped up, “I know why.” Startled, we all turned to him. What came out of his mouth next stunned me. I’d never heard a more comforting explanation. He said, “People are born so that they can learn how to live a good life – like loving everybody all the time and being nice, right?” The six-year-old continued, “Well, dogs already know how to do that, so they don’t have to stay as long.””
excuse me while I go bawl my eyes out…
hold on im trying to collect my tears but they keep coming
T A T
my family hates pets.
My immediate family and relatives are actually quite pet friendly. We’ve had cats, dogs, fish, bunnies, turtles, hamsters, chickens and ducks.
The chickens and ducks were very protective. If they saw someone approach me, they would attack that person’s foot by pecking them. And they’re very smart.
And yeah, cats, we’ve had lots and lots.
A Letter from a Shelter Manager
Reposting from: http://animaladvocates.multiply.com/journal/item/201
[whatsuppaws] Fw: [CARAmember] A Letter from a Shelter Manager
From: whatsuppaws@yahoogroups.com on behalf of PAWS (philpaws@yahoo.com)
Sent: Monday, July 19, 2010 11:56:05 PM
To: whatsuppaws@yahoogroups.com
Forwarding a very relevant piece from the CARA e-group below. We have heard all types of excuses from people wanting to abandon their pets at PARC.. and these are people who get angry when we explain PAWS’ policy to them. (“You mean you have no program for abandonments?!” ). See our policy under NAG-AAMPON BA NG ASO O PUSA ANG PAWS? on www.paws.org.ph.
It is as if these abandoners demand that they be given an easy way out to dump their pets. Excuses like “we are moving to a smaller place”, “there are too many, we can’t take care of them any more” are rampant.
These are the people who do not want to make the screening effort in order to rehome their pet/s. These are people who could easily have brought their animals in for spay-neuter but did not (and still do not - even if we offer rehoming assistance on the condition that they spay-neuter their pets).
PARC does not accept pet abandonments and instead, gives advice on how pet relinquishment can be avoided through simple efforts exerted by the pet owner.
As a limited-admission shelter we have thankfully not turned into a “euthanize-within-72-hours”-type of facility.
Even rescues/animals in distress are requested to be fostered by the rescuers until such a time that quarantine kennels are cleared up.
Quoting from our admission policy:
“Due to the fact that there are always more animals in need than those who are willing to provide homes for them, PAWS’ limited-admission policy will look at the special circumstances of each ‘animal in distress’ presented for admission which will be weighed against the needs of animals already in our shelter”
We hope people will read the piece below and realize that when they acquire pets that they are ultimately unable to care for in one way or the other, they are the root of the problem of a society that ultimately gets used to the idea of disposable lives.
-The Philippine Animal Welfare Society (PAWS)
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Please read. Perhaps we can forward this to breeders.
http://nodogaboutit .wordpress. com/2010/ 07/13/dogs- a-letter- from-a-shelter- manager/
Dogs: A Letter from a Shelter Manager
Posted on July 13, 2010 by Mel
I posted this blog post a few days ago, but I’m going to include it in Blog The Change For Animals because I am a huge supporter of pet adoption and it is “my” cause. I think every pet owner or prospective pet owner should have to read this before they get a pet. If more people did perhaps there would be fewer animals euthanized in this country. Read On.
If you have never worked or volunteered in an animal shelter, you should.
If you’ve never adopted a shelter dog, you should.
If you’ve never known a shelter manager or shelter staff member, you should.
Maybe then you would realize why it is so important to adopt a pet.
Today, I share with you A Letter From A Shelter Manager. If you think you can’t read this because it would be too hard to read, too much to bear, too much to deal with; you should. Maybe this letter can make a difference in just one person. You.
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
Please Be The Change and Adopt A Pet. There are so many good ones just waiting for a new home.
