Yoinked this from the alt.books.m-lackey newsgroup. More tissues may be needed. -_-
***
"I COULDN'T WORK HERE"
When you say to an animal shelter or humane society employee "I could
never do your job, it would break my heart. I love animals too much"
or words to that effect, it sounds like you are saying:
1) That we don't also love the animals, even though we've taken
minimum wage (or no wage) jobs in order to work with homeless
animals. For many of us it is our life's work.
2) That we, somehow, don't get our hearts broken.
3) That in order to do this job one has to be either cold hearted or
an animal hater.
Your declaration leaves us with some questions. If you can't do this
job, who will? Someone must. When we've euthanized the 500th kitten
for the month, because there are no homes available. Will you take
the 501st?
Our hearts are completely torn out and we just can't kill one more.
You already have enough pets? We understand, we do too. Our cages are
over capacity, our foster homes are all full. Do you have a solution?
If so, please tell us, we hate this part of the job. Right now, at
this moment, there is a dog or a cat in a shelter employee's arms and
there is no where on earth for this creature to go.
There is no cage space, no foster home. No forever home.. nowhere. It
is a heartbreaking feeling. There is a really nice yellow lab mix
named Jake. He's 3 years old, healthy, housebroken, loves kids. He
loves everyone! But, he can't find a home because he's quite generic
looking, not really flashy and he's not an eight week old puppy. ("I
want a dog to grow up with the kids"). We've had him there for 3
months, but can no longer justify taking up valuable cage space for a
dog that's showing no signs of becoming adopted. What would you do?
There are 10 dogs that came in today. We have two open runs. Who has
to die? Walking through the kennel, having to choose which ones have
no more time is the worst part. It breaks our hearts. If you know of
a way to keep Jake alive and still be fair to the other animals,
please tell us.
We've grown so attached.. it's our hearts again you know. They're
breaking into a million pieces this time. Will you talk to the woman
who brings in a blind, 10 yr old peek-a-poo with bad skin and
says "Don't kill her! Find her a good home!" Oh puhleeeeze. We can't
find homes for the healthy 1 yr olds, who's going to adopt a 10 year
old, unhealthy dog? You? No, not me either. I already have four dogs
that were considered unadoptable. Because we can't get this owner to
face reality and allow us to euthanize right away, the dog has to
spend her last 24 hours on earth in a holding cage, wondering what
happened. But, we held her as often as we could and tried to comfort
her! It's quite unlikely that there is someone that wants an elderly
dog that needs a few hundred dollars worth of veterinary care, but
maybe you're right. Our crystal ball is broken, but if you think she
can find a home and you want to save her, please go back to the
kennel and pick which young healthy dog has to give up it's space
here.
Ok. You can't work at an animal shelter. Not everyone can. Can you
help in other ways? Can you buy us a bag of food when you buy for
your own pet? Can you come in and talk to the cats? Walk the dogs? We
are so busy running the place that we often don't have time. When you
come back next week we won't tell you the final disposition of your
favorite one if you don't want to know. We are, after all, a
compassionate group and we understand about broken hearts. Could you
go to your friend or neighbor and offer to get their pet
spayed/neutered? Could you trap one of those stray cats in your
neighborhood and get it vaccinated and neutered? That will be one
more free-roaming cat that's out of the reproduction loop. Maybe you
could just send a check to say 'thank you". Anything at all would
help. I know you mean well. I know you mean to say "I couldn't work
here because my own emotions get in the way of doing what has to be
done for the animals, thank you for doing it."
Author Unknown
***
"I COULDN'T WORK HERE"
When you say to an animal shelter or humane society employee "I could
never do your job, it would break my heart. I love animals too much"
or words to that effect, it sounds like you are saying:
1) That we don't also love the animals, even though we've taken
minimum wage (or no wage) jobs in order to work with homeless
animals. For many of us it is our life's work.
2) That we, somehow, don't get our hearts broken.
3) That in order to do this job one has to be either cold hearted or
an animal hater.
Your declaration leaves us with some questions. If you can't do this
job, who will? Someone must. When we've euthanized the 500th kitten
for the month, because there are no homes available. Will you take
the 501st?
Our hearts are completely torn out and we just can't kill one more.
You already have enough pets? We understand, we do too. Our cages are
over capacity, our foster homes are all full. Do you have a solution?
If so, please tell us, we hate this part of the job. Right now, at
this moment, there is a dog or a cat in a shelter employee's arms and
there is no where on earth for this creature to go.
There is no cage space, no foster home. No forever home.. nowhere. It
is a heartbreaking feeling. There is a really nice yellow lab mix
named Jake. He's 3 years old, healthy, housebroken, loves kids. He
loves everyone! But, he can't find a home because he's quite generic
looking, not really flashy and he's not an eight week old puppy. ("I
want a dog to grow up with the kids"). We've had him there for 3
months, but can no longer justify taking up valuable cage space for a
dog that's showing no signs of becoming adopted. What would you do?
There are 10 dogs that came in today. We have two open runs. Who has
to die? Walking through the kennel, having to choose which ones have
no more time is the worst part. It breaks our hearts. If you know of
a way to keep Jake alive and still be fair to the other animals,
please tell us.
We've grown so attached.. it's our hearts again you know. They're
breaking into a million pieces this time. Will you talk to the woman
who brings in a blind, 10 yr old peek-a-poo with bad skin and
says "Don't kill her! Find her a good home!" Oh puhleeeeze. We can't
find homes for the healthy 1 yr olds, who's going to adopt a 10 year
old, unhealthy dog? You? No, not me either. I already have four dogs
that were considered unadoptable. Because we can't get this owner to
face reality and allow us to euthanize right away, the dog has to
spend her last 24 hours on earth in a holding cage, wondering what
happened. But, we held her as often as we could and tried to comfort
her! It's quite unlikely that there is someone that wants an elderly
dog that needs a few hundred dollars worth of veterinary care, but
maybe you're right. Our crystal ball is broken, but if you think she
can find a home and you want to save her, please go back to the
kennel and pick which young healthy dog has to give up it's space
here.
Ok. You can't work at an animal shelter. Not everyone can. Can you
help in other ways? Can you buy us a bag of food when you buy for
your own pet? Can you come in and talk to the cats? Walk the dogs? We
are so busy running the place that we often don't have time. When you
come back next week we won't tell you the final disposition of your
favorite one if you don't want to know. We are, after all, a
compassionate group and we understand about broken hearts. Could you
go to your friend or neighbor and offer to get their pet
spayed/neutered? Could you trap one of those stray cats in your
neighborhood and get it vaccinated and neutered? That will be one
more free-roaming cat that's out of the reproduction loop. Maybe you
could just send a check to say 'thank you". Anything at all would
help. I know you mean well. I know you mean to say "I couldn't work
here because my own emotions get in the way of doing what has to be
done for the animals, thank you for doing it."
Author Unknown
