There are topics I struggle with, not my position but how to state the position politely.... Yesterday Dallas Animal Shelter took in 199 animals.. in one day.... Like most Municipal Shelters DAS is open intake.. meaning they cannot turn any animals away. Dallas Animal Services does a great job against crazy numbers like this but can you imagine?
Animal Shelters and Rescues ultimate goal is to work ourselves out of a job.... but each year intakes get higher, surrender requests more frequent and unwanted adoptable pets more abundant. This weighs heavy on our hearts....
Recently someone shared a blog post by The Simple Lens titled The Ugly Truth About Animal Shelter
s. It says it all very well.... be sure to click on her follow up..
The Ugly Truth about Animal Shelters
** Warning: this is a departure from my typical blog post. However, anyone who knows me well at all, knows there are two things I’m passionate about: God and animals. You might find this post unpleasant or perhaps, dare I say, offensive …. but there’s nothing pleasant about this subject. You’ve been warned**
An article caught my eye the other day. It told the story of a vet, Jian Zhicheng, who worked at an animal shelter in Taiwan. She had euthanized 700 animals in two years – many of whom were healthy and perfectly adoptable. The fact was there was no space to keep them and no one to want them. She worked hard to promote adoption over buying. But animal rights activists threatened her and called her a butcher.
She took her own life. Distraught by the overwhelming burden of euthanizing animals who have nowhere else to go and being labeled nothing short of a killer by her fellow humans, she injected herself with euthanasia drugs from the shelter.
This story hit me hard. Anger swelled inside me: this woman’s life has needlessly ended. She took on the weight of other people’s criticism, the weight of solving a problem that came to feel insurmountable. The problem that Jian Zhicheng faced is one that many, many shelters in our own country face daily. Too many animals, not enough homes.
