I am writing this 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. 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.
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 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 yard.
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?
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.
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", when 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 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 it's 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?
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 line and
it made me want to adopt". That would make it all worth
it.
