"Sheltering an Animal’s Perspective"

by Gregory M. Simpson, Vice-President Meriden Humane Society, Inc.

It’s simple really.  Make a promise.  Keep a promise.  It’s a big responsibility but a small thing to ask in order to receive unconditional love in return. Yet animal shelter staff look daily into the faces of animals where these promises were not kept.  It does not matter whether the animal is purebred or not, as an estimated 25% of dogs in animal shelters are purebred, such as the one belonging to a man who appeared at a Wal*Mart Fill-a-Truck event and asked if the shelter would take his Chihuahua for which he had reportedly spent $800.  "I don’t have time for it anymore," he offered shamelessly.

We live in a throwaway society where we don’t bother to fix things anymore.  We just throw them away and get new ones.  Unfortunately, this is not only true for inanimate objects.  A man came to the shelter asking to trade in his older cat, which was incurring veterinary bills, for a "newer model."  We had to have a conversation about the word "commitment."  Make a promise.  Keep a promise. 

College students going on summer break, folks closing up their summer homes for the season, couples having babies, people moving, the list goes on…..all reasons some animals become homeless.  It’s just easier than fulfilling the commitment that was made.  Make a promise.  Keep a promise.

We live in a society where the Humane Society of the United States estimates that there are three to four million adoptable dogs and cats are killed each year.  Again, that’s three to four million killed.   Shelters that kill animals prefer the term "euthanasia."  The dictionary defines euthanasia as "the act or practice of killing or permitting the death of hopelessly sick or injured individuals (as persons or domestic animals) in a relatively painless way for reasons of mercy." These are not hopelessly sick or injured animals.  They are three to four million adoptable animals. 

Kill shelters prefer that no-kill shelters call themselves "open ended" shelters rather than no-kill.  Words are powerful.  Do not partake in putting a spin on reality in order to salve consciences.  Once I spoke to a presenter at a humane society association conference after her workshop.  She defended the role of kill shelters as "necessary."  "Someone has to do it," she said as definitively as one would say the sky is blue.  "I will never accept that premise," I responded.  "It’s all a matter of priorities," I added.  We live in a country where federal taxes are allocated 28.5% to the military and 1.4% for environmental protection. We could do more for the animals if there was the public will to do so.

There is a qualitative difference between "people who like animals" and "animal people."  People who like animals think it would be a nice idea to have a pet – until another idea comes along and the animal is no longer convenient. Animal people would no more give up their companion animal than they would their child. 

With people who like animals, it is often more about them, than it is about the animal – hence the purchase of so many purebreds.  Buying animals from breeders or pet stores only perpetuates atrocities like puppy mills and condemns an equal number of shelter animals to death.  In contrast, animal people want to care for those needing homes, recognizing that loving, adoptable shelter animals come in all sizes and colors.

People who like animals spend their weekends bringing their purebreds to dog and cat shows to win ribbons.  Animal people spend their free time volunteering at animal shelters to help dogs and cats that are not their own. 

People who like animals think it would be a nice idea to have a pet – until it costs them money.  Animal people find a way to care for their companion animal, no matter how meager their means.  In New Haven I often see two homeless men pushing shopping carts full of empty soda cans.  Each has a dog with him.  One can tell by observing that the dog means the world to him.  One even had cut out a shirt for his dog to wear.  These men are animal people.  It is not about money.  It is about commitment. 

Make a promise.  Keep a promise.  Your companion animal would do no less for you.