Animal Rescue: The best laid plans . . .

[JoB]

“See it through, even if in the end, there is no glory.”

this is a hard lesson for us all.

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[DBP]

Helper-type people get in trouble when they start to perceive themselves as the “only hope” for the humans/animals they work with.

If I don’t step up, then others will suffer . . . and that suffering will be MY fault.

So the thinking goes.

It’s a short trip from there to losing your ability to say “No.” And from there to the Looney Bin.

Look around. How often do we see the same pattern unfolding?

It starts with:

We have to help these poor creatures. Feed and clothe them. Bring them civilization.

and ends with:

We had to destroy the village to save it.

 

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[DBP]

You committed to caring for this animal, once you saved it, so the animal is now your responsibility. See it through, even if in the end, there is no glory.

—Yeah. And how many animals can one person nurse back to health and find homes for anyway? One or two? A dozen?

(Maybe. With the help of a good network. )

If you are a compassionate person who lives by this philosophy — and I hope that you are — you will eventually find yourself turning down cold some impassioned plea for help.

You will find yourself deleting that e-mail.

Ignoring that knock at the door.

Letting the phone ring and ring.

Someone will corner you and say: “Hey, can you help me save this dog? There’s no one else to do it.”

“Gee. Sorry. But no, I can’t help,” you’ll say.

Maybe they’ll play their trump card: “Well, if you don’t help . . . this animal is going to die.”

And then you’ll have to say: “So be it.”

Picture it happening.

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[JoB]

DBP..

your last post is difficult to respond to because i know you have given it some thought…

and i know you to be a compassionate guy…

but i can’t do the “so be it ” thing.

even if the only assistance i have to give is a kind word and a little moral support for the person asking to keep looking for solutions…

i will give what i have to give.

in this specific instance…

i agree that if you must put an animal down… you should do so in the most compassionate way possible after giving that animal the most that you could.. even if it isn’t yours.

and i know that some animals will have to be put down.

i don’t think the solution is that easy for people.

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[Robindianne]

I just shared the Animal Sanctuary link on my Facebook page. As a former young 20-something “rescue anything” type, I did everything I could not to release animals to a “kill shelter” (a true misnomer since they all do, or send to those who do, on down the line, after the animal has gone insane in a cage, imho).

And then I took a job at the Humane Society in Salem, Oregon. Truly an eye opening experience. I now believe 100% in euthanizing when an animal isn’t adoptable. I have seen many become crazy in a cage, be too feral to ever be comfortable with humans, be too abused to recover, be so mouthy we knew someone would haul off and hit them in retaliation someday. I’ve also pushed the plunger on the syringe, as well as holding and comforting and distracting pets while another employee injects. There were always two of us so one could comfort, pet, talk to, etc. We felt horrible because we knew a death was happening. The animal didn’t. And it truly was best for them, I believed then and I still believe 20 years later. Done well and skillfully, it’s not the awful thing we (who have not been there) think it is.

Imagine choosing for yourself: life in solitary confinement, for how long you do not know because all you have is right now, or a prick of a shot while being sung to, spoken too, comforted in someone’s arms.

There are exceptions to this method when the animal is dangerous but even then it’s not a drowning, suffocating, maiming, turning a loved one loose to fend for itself as prey to humans or cars or predators; it’s giving a shot.

I AM absolutely responsible for anyone I foster or “rescue” and I WILL absolutely see each one through until the end. Thank you for starting this DBP and Pamela. I am so glad you are out there, doing what you do, seeing the hard things, so we don’t have to.

And I am grateful for these lessons because I think they make me a better animal caregiver than I was before, more vigilant about spaying and neutering, restricting cats to indoors (I used to believe that was “mean”), etc.

Just sayin’ . . .

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[2krazy4words]

this is an excellent article, and they state honestly what SHOULD be considered by anyone & everyone rescuing or adopting an animal:

“Every time we save a life, we have to commit to providing a level of care for that animal that makes their life worth living. It takes a lot of work. And a ton of resources. And it might mean saving fewer animals, but we’ll be providing a higher level of care for the ones that we do save. Simply keeping them alive, at any cost, is not a humane solution…There are worse endings than humane euthanasia.”

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[hammerhead]

DPD

thank you for posting this for me.

Diane thank you for “getting” it. I am a rescue person. I am not one to “pass the buck”, on other rescues, because they don’t want to be the bad guy. One time I had to be there for 80 feral cats to be put to sleep. I was there for every single cat.(it was a hoarding issue)

I look at the big picture. Aborting is not my favorite thing to do, for every kitten/puppy ALLOWED to be born is one if not more are being killed in a shelter. I am NOT going to call up another rescue and ask them to take on a pregnant cat, because I am full and I don’t want to abort because it is to “far” along. I will make the difficult decision(abort) and save the ones that are already born.

Money will always be an issue. I don’t have it, so yes because I don’t have it I will put the animal to sleep if it has a serious medical issue. I have no choice I have to “pick” my rescues.

I send back 9 week old kittens at least they are fixed. There will never be enough homes or volunteers. Sad but true and it SUCKS.

FCAT

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[DBP]

This is a few weeks old, but still relevant to the topic. It’s a news clip from KOMO that talks about the ongoing controversy surrounding the CARES animal shelter in Burien.

Burien resident Pamela Stahaeli (our very own “Hammerhead”)* and other local rescue folks have been keeping an eyewatch on CARES, urging the City of Burien to either make CARES do a better job or drop CARES and go back to their old contract with Seattle-King County for shelter services.

http://tinyurl.com/burien-shelter-controversy

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* Now I know what you’re thinking . . .

  Pamela? Involved in a Controversy?! No way! No ‘effin WAY!

Yeah. Heh heh.

I couldn’t believe it either.

But then I saw it on Tee-Vee, so I figured, Well, I guess it MUST be true.

 

   

 

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[hammerhead]

This should be a HUGE warning for the Shorewood area and the other areas(white center) that Burien wants to annex.

Basically if that happens the areas that are being annexed will be “taken” care of by cares(animal control). For anyone who lives in Burien already know this is not working.

FCAT

DPD I don’t know if I should thank you or not. LOL

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