Have you had a bad experience with animal rescue? As a person who has been an adopter, a paid worker at a shelter, and a volunteer at an animal rescue, I’d like to share some thoughts. I’ve heard a lot of complaints, and I’d like to address some of them. These are my experiences based on my time in shelter work and certainly not true for every case.
Animal Shelters are Judgmental
Judgement of people surrendering animals
When people surrender their animals, it can be devastating for the animal. A lot of people don’t see the after-effects of this. Animal shelter workers do. Animals have strong emotions, and they do know that they have lost their home. They don’t know why. They often wait for their owners to come back. Many stop eating. Many act out and bite. A small minority do ok. Shelter workers feel very frustrated because they hear many of the same reasons from people for giving up their animals. I can’t count the number of people who suddenly have to move to a new home where it is not possible to have an animal. A few cases of this are legitimate, but in most cases- if you aren’t not someone willing to take your animal with you when and if you move, then don’t adopt an animal. Unexpected circumstances happen, and workers do get that, but for the majority of people who surrender animals, they probably shouldn’t have gotten an animal to begin with.
