From Pet Connection blog this week;
Shelters are seeing drop-offs increase, but instead of acting like shelters — a place of last resort to care for those in need — the organizations and people running them are too often condemning the very people who cared enough to bring their pets in hopes of their animals being rehomed. (As opposed to leaving them in abandoned houses or simply turning them loose to fend for themselves.)
Christie wrote about the problem, in her SFGate.com column, “Your Whole Pet“:
Pet owners who don’t want to abandon their pets to an uncertain fate seek help at their local shelter. But rather than being offered assistance, they sometimes are lectured about their “irresponsibility.†Some are simply told that their pets will be put down. This harsh scenario exposes a weakness in this country’s reigning animal-shelter philosophy, which may not be serving the unwitting animal victims of the foreclosure crisis well. […] The sheltering philosophy that has dominated animal control policy in this country since at least the 1970s is one that lays the blame for every pet problem, including large numbers of animals being killed in shelters every day, squarely at the feet of irresponsible pet owners. […] Proponents of this approach believe that high kill rates in shelters are simply their best attempt at cleaning up after an uncaring and careless public.
I can’t tell you how many times I have listened to people in rescue or sheltering talk about pet-lovers sobbing as they gave up their pets, only to have the folks who are supposed to be helping dismiss the pet-owner’s tears as being “just for show,†make a dramatic point of stressing how quickly the pet would be killed in the “shelter†and offer contemptuous diatribes on how “if they really cared, they’d …. †[fill in the blank with some unrealistic solution].
Think it doesn’t happen here in Oz? That our rescues wouldn’t be so heartless as to label those in the misery of financial crisis as ‘irresponsible’ when they have only done what we’ve asked them to; bring the pet to us rather than dump it in a park? That instead of being offered sympathy, people in crisis are belligerently lectured and told that they are worthless human beings for daring to need our help?
Sadly however, it seems we are no more charitable than the Yanks. From the Canberra Times
Owners using financial crisis as excuse to dump pets
Dog rescue and foster charities are facing a busy lead-up to Christmas with some owners using the economic crisis as an excuse to dump their pets, according to two organisations.
Foster carer Maree said she saw a man surrendering his dog, saying he was unable to afford to feed it.
”I said, ‘Do you drink and smoke?’ And he just turned away from me. He wouldn’t look at me after that,” she said.
”To say you can’t afford to feed the dog is ridiculous. You don’t give away your children.”
Rescuer Wendy said it was a bad excuse.
”It’s terrible, because if you take on an animal, you take on a commitment,” she said.
but goes on to say
… increasingly there were owners who could not afford to keep up mortgage repayments and were seeking out rental accommodation which often didn’t allow pets.
Since when is losing your home ‘just an excuse’ to surrender an animal? At what point is someone ‘eligible’ to be offered a little empathy for the situation they’re in? Does their house need to burn down, say? How about if their child is sick and they have huge hospital bills? Or what if they’ve died – should we feel sorry for them then?
Is it really ok for us to beat these people when they’re already down? This credit crunch has, and will have many, many families in strife. How about a little more help and a little less contempt; people are losing their jobs, their houses and their superannuation. And unlike in the past where people could get credit cards to save themselves in event of a crisis such as a big vet bill, banks aren’t lending to just anyone anymore.
Does this mean that they have been foolish with their money. Likely. Does this mean they have been living beyond their means? Probably. Does this mean they are evil? Hardly.
The truly evil ones are the ones who leave their pets behind and move away. This is really, really common amongst people who don’t care; for either their pet, or for the tongue lashing we’ll give them. We should be thanking our lucky stars they care enough to give us the chance to help.
We night think haughtily ‘I’d never give up MY pet. No matter what‘, but simply, unless you’ve been in the situation you have no idea what things you might have to do to keep a roof over your head, your family together and food on the table. Obviously, we can all do what we like when these people come to us; we don’t have to be nice to them. But the easiest way to keep people from bringing you pets, is not to open a shelter!
I’m not saying all people are good, there are asshats everywhere. But…
…as Nathan Winograd points out in his public presentations on creating no kill communities across America, irresponsible people will always be with us. They’ll fail to pay child support, drive drunk, cheat on their spouses, and not help their kids with their homework. They’ll also be irresponsible with their pets.
That’s what shelters are for. That’s what they should be for. ref
And being The economy is going to get worse before it gets better and being hostile to the public doesn’t change this. But it certainly harms our relationship with them. Doesn’t endear us to them. Doesn’t make them want to support our xmas appeals. And it certainly doesn’t help them be better pet people because when things are better and they are financially secure again, they will get a new pet, but they’ll certainly not be contacting us for guidance.
We owe it to the animals we serve to stop punishing and start helping people, whether we personally think their particular need is ‘worthy’ of our help or not. If you work in a shelter or rescue and you are caught in the cycle if anger, negativity and blame – quit or get help. Wallowing in frustration, anger and being filled with a hateful attitude is not a frame of mind that will allow you to accomplish amazing things.
