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Tag: shelter

  • Pretty Much Dead From The Moment They Walked In

    The shelter manager’s letter:

    “I am posting this (and it is long) because 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.

    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.

    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.

    No shortage of excuses

    The most common excuses I hear are:

    We are moving and we can’t take our dog (or cat).

    Really? Where are you moving to that doesn’t allow pets?

    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 garden.

    How about bringing her inside, 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, and how stressful do you think being in a shelter is?

    Well, let me tell you. Dead pet walking!

    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 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, rottweiler, mastiff, etc) it was pretty much dead when you walked it through the front door. Those dogs just don’t get adopted.

    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, though not for long. Most pets 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.

    The grim reaper

    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. That is, until they get to “The Room”.

    Every one of them freaks out and puts on the breaks 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 their size and how freaked out they are). A euthanasia tech or a vet will start the process. They 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 its leg. 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 pet’s 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?

    Liberty, freedom and justice for all

    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 do everyday on the way home from work. I hate my job, I hate that it exists and I hate that it will always be there unless 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 is 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 person’s 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 thing on Facebook and it made me want to adopt”.

    That would make it all worth it.”

    Author unknown

  • Heartbreaking Story Of Abandoned Dog

    “My family brought me home, all cradled in their arms. They cuddled me and smiled at me and said I was full of charm. They played with me and laughed with me and showered me with toys. I sure did love my family, especially the little girls and boys.”

    “The children loved to feed me; they gave me special treats. They even let me sleep with them – all snuggled in the sheets. I used to go for walks, often several times a day. They even fought to hold the leash, I’m very proud to say.”

    “These are the things I’ll not forget – a cherished memory. Now that I’m in the shelter – without my family. They used to laugh and praise me when I played with that old shoe. But I didn’t know the difference between the old one and the new.”

    “The kids and I would grab a rag, for hours we would tug. So I thought I did the right thing when I chewed the bedroom rug. They said that I was out of control, and would have to live outside. This I didn’t understand, although I tried and tried.”

    “The walks stopped, one by one, they said they hadn’t time. I wish that I could change things; I wish I knew my crime. My life became so lonely in the backyard, on a chain. I barked and barked all day long to keep from going insane.”

    “So they brought me to the shelter but were embarrassed to say why. They said I caused an allergy, and then they each kissed me goodbye. If I’d only had some training when I was a little pup, I wouldn’t have been so hard to handle when I was all grown up.”

    “‘You only have one day left, I heard the worker say. Does that mean I have a second chance? Do I go home today?”

    -Anonymous

  • Being A Vegetarian Ruined My Childhood

    So my parents always did what THEY thought was right, but being a vegetarian ruin my childhood.

    Now you may think ruined is a bit extreme but I genuinely feel it did, let me explain why.

    School was a nightmare whilst my friends all had tasty delights in their packed lunches or got to eat shepherd pie or lasagna from the school canteen, I was left with chick peas, a vegetarian cold pasta dish and fruit.

    Now okay that’s not completely terrible some of the meals were very tasty but as a child when friends had birthdays and brought in cakes or sweets the teacher would always have to check if I could have it, this caused me great embarrasment.

    Soon my friends began noticing how different I was, going to a friends party and having to bring my own food I soon got nicknamed “Carrot”, “Rabbit” and “freak”.

    I stopped being invited to parties, my mum was always so vocal about me being a vegetarian and soon other parents didn’t want the responsibility of monitoring me and making sure I wasn’t sneaking sausage rolls and pizza slices.

    I craved to be normal, I wanted to eat the food my friends ate, I didn’t want to read labels, I didn’t want to be different.

    I pleaded with my parents to allow me to eat normally but their beliefs were too strong.

    I found myself craving meat, and would often steal from my classmates lunch boxes, even go so far as steal from my local village store.

    My whole existence was thinking about how I could get more of the tasty delights which were forbidden, and how I could escape my family and life.

    By the time I was a teenager I was seriously depressed, self harming and my education was failing.

    At age 16 I hadn’t passed a single Gsce, I had no friends and no life, I left my parents home and slept on the streets.

    Homeless but happy, I found myself on them cold dark streets, I vowed to be a better me.

    A charity called Shelter (http://www.shelter.org.uk/ ) helped me get a bed sit, I found work and eventually found love.

    Fifteen years later I am the proud father of two, I let them make their own life choices and have never been happier.

    I rekindled my relationship with my parents for the sake of my children but I cannot forgive them for pushing their beliefs on me, so yes being a vegetarian ruined my childhood.