...please read the full letter from Kim, who works in a shelter and provides a "behind the scenes" description of what she deals with on a daily basis.
Yes, it is a very difficult read. But you need to do it. Why? Because those of us who are not involved with shelter life on a day-to-day basis should understand the magnitude of the problem she is describing. Here's one snippet:
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.
There's an opportunity in reading and internalizing this information: each one of us can make a difference in a pet's life. We can counsel a friend who is having issues with their pet, we can influence another that is considering purchasing a puppy mill dog instead of going to the shelter to adopt. We can look into our own hearts to see if there is "room for one more" within our family. We can make sure our own pets are safe and well cared for, and by doing so, become role models for others.
Here's one of the key points Kim is making:
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!
And your thought for the day...
"...Saving just one pet won't change the world...but, surely the world will change for that one pet..."
Thanks, Kim, for writing this up. We all learned something and now we can all do something to make a difference.
Picture credit: San Francisco Chronicle
