Shelter of the Day by Nicole

Shelter of the Day by Nicole - August 2017 Scholarship Essay

When someone talks about being a professor, most think of normal topics like chemistry or English. However, if I were to be a professor I would teach students on animal shelter society. Many people, maybe even yourself, like to say how much they know the environment of shelters. However, you never really know what happens until you work at one. There are some things to expect: emotional stress, faith, and pride. There is a lot of pain and hard work that comes to helping our furry friends.
When the word animal shelter is used in a sentence, most associate it with sorrow. “Look at these poor homeless animals” they often cry before walking out empty handed. Those who do that in “kill-shelters” are the sometimes the same ones who spit at the idea that a shelter euthanizes its animals after a certain amount of time. Employees of these shelters often find themselves in a constant state of emotional stress. Adoption is the only way to save these friends, yet they can only do so much. They often have an open-admission policy, which is that any animal that walks through their doors to be surrendered or as a stray must be taken in. Each day more and more come in until they are at capacity, then they have to pick. It’s never their fault, but people place the blame on them anyway. Though the emotional stress is not the same in a “no-kill shelter”, it is still there. Euthanization happens at “no-kills” as well, however not for time but behavior and health. The stress of an animal passing evaluation is always there. Not only that but there are times when a “no-kill” cannot help anyone. This can happen when the shelter becomes over booked and there is no-longer any space for any other animals. They would have to turn down people who need to surrender animals and have to inform them to go to the local open-admission shelter.
Everyone loves the shelter rescue stories that can be found on Facebook. They are often actually common within shelters; however, it is harder for the human mind to remember them when there is also a lot of bad. For example, I work at my local Humane Society, there was a wonderful adoption. A young woman, her boyfriend, and child were looking to get a cat. Originally the woman and the boyfriend agreed: one cat and they will come back tomorrow for a puppy. However, after mixed feelings on taking one cat or the other, along with some coaxing from a coworker when with both! However, there are always the bad stories as well. While that adoption was going on, I had to process an adoption I didn’t fairly enjoy. There was no way to decline the woman as everything checked out, however, there was a gut feeling of regret. When people in shelters talk about faith is normally referring to the faith we have in humanity and sometimes it can be quite confusing.
Finally, there is so much pride when it comes to adoptions. When things work out and the perfect match was made. Sometimes the animal has to come back a few times before that happens, but once it happens faith can be restored for an hour or two. One spring afternoon, a pit bull by the name of S’mores had his happy-ever-after ending. He was a high energy white and brown pit bull who was there since February. He was completely treated for heartworms by the time he was adopted, which takes at least two to three months. His adopter was a runner who was looking for a partner. Every day she would go out and run three to five times a day. I enjoyed that adoption more than I feel I should.
That is why I would teach the animal shelter society as a professor. There is so much stress, faith, and pride that is put into this community, yet not enough people know about it. So how will you learn about your local shelters and help animals?