PAWS – I am a shelter veterinarian
This article has been mostly extracted from an SPCA vet’s Facebook post and describes pretty much what Tracy has to deal with, although we pay vets to do the vet work.
We (society) bred into them (our animals) a dependence on us. Even feral cats, who have never felt a human’s love, flock to civilization in order to get food, whether it’s from a dumpsite or a mall or a well-meaning person’s yard. In the world we live in today, more and more people are shrugging off this responsibility. Under our law, animals are considered mere property.
So the SPCAs of the world were founded to try and take the responsibility that society sometimes refuses to take. They were first founded to “deal with” rabid dogs that roamed the streets. To deal with feral cat overpopulation. Later only, to deal with people that are cruel to animals. To deal with all the abandonment that occurs every single day. And you know what? None of this “dealing with” actually does what we stand for. None of it actually prevents cruelty to animals. Because how do you change the rest of society?
Animals come in by 2 main routes: they are surrendered by their owners, or stray animals are picked up by the inspectors. All of them are checked to see if there are any obvious injuries or other health concerns. My phone is filled with pictures of horrific injuries. Some of these animals have been lying with these injuries for days before a Good Samaritan calls us to pick them up. I euthanize these animals. I end their suffering, them being gone, is, by all means, better than carrying on in their hell of pain. (In Plett we also have many sick animals brought in with their disease so advanced that it is too late to save them).
A portion of the strays are collected by original owners. We re-home them. but there (are some) of those animals that have never been socialized. Feral cats hide in the roof support of the catteries. If left there, they sometimes don’t even come down to pee. They soil themselves. So I sedate them, one quick needle prick while they are distracted or restrained in a net and I put them to sleep before they have to endure any more. Why do we even take feral cats in? Well, the alternative is that members of the public take matters into their own hands when they have a feral cat problem, shooting, poisoning, drowning, suffocating. I think my way is kinder, don’t you?
Then there are dogs that come in that are riddled with behavior problems because they are improperly socialized. They try to bite in fear. They are destructive. They bite other dogs. They escape their yards. There are many other things.
Why does this happen? Because society has made dogs objects. They forget that these living creatures that need much more than food to thrive. They need exercise for their bodies and their brains, they need socializing, they need attention, love, and hard work to create those cute creatures you see on YouTube.
When man fails to give them all this, they become incomplete creatures. Remember how we bred them with all the characteristics I talked about? Well, if we don’t nurture those characteristics, the nasty opposites appear. And once a dog comes in showing fear, or aggression or whatever, we give them a chance, by working kindly with them, we try and restore their trust in humanity.
Sometimes this isn’t enough to reverse the damage. So now we sit with an unhappy animal in a kennel. Must he live out his life in an enclosure, because death is not acceptable? Or can society accept that maybe death is also a better outcome for him…
I can tell you with 100% confidence that for each and every animal I have let go, I know that the alternative they had, would have been worse than death, and that’s why I still know I’m helping. Even though I don’t personally like doing it, I know it’s for the greater good.
There is more to my job than killing though, I get to sterilize all the animals that find a home. I get to see them waking up, and I get to know that once the little surgical wound heals, their life will become 200% better because they will be loved again. They will be living out their second chance at life with the part of society that did not fail them.
I also get to do preventative medicine, to protect our shelter’s animals from parasites and disease, and so, prevent them from suffering in the kennels. I get to foster babies. (In Plett we ask volunteers to foster). Bottle raising is an extremely demanding task that most people are either unable to do or they just don’t have the time.
While I can save some, some will never know life, but at least they didn’t lie in a ditch and starve slowly over days.
I also get to write reports when we have a cruelty complaint, to try and bring people to justice. People who intentionally harm (or neglect) animals…..
Many families don’t have enough to feed themselves, let alone afford vet care for an animal. I try to help as best I can. Sometimes we can stitch them up and watch the family happily re-unite with them. Sometimes we have to feed them up and find them a new home. Sometimes I can sterilize them so the sheer number of animals can be reduced in our communities.
for more information contact PAWS 083 287 9917
“I am a shelter veterinarian” – written by Sulet Gous