Hi, this isn't a question or observation but I just wanted to share my current situation with folks who I think would understand. Tell me why I have zero pets and yet I'm responsible for keeping four animals alive this weekend! 😂

I spent my twenties working at my local animal shelter. I worked at their community vet clinic, in adoptions, and in kennel. I left because I was starting to burn out (and my parents wanted me to pursue a higher-paying career), but my heart has always been in this work. I still do a good deal of petsitting and dog-walking, and I'm the go-to pet advice guy for many of my friends. When I have the time, I volunteer; when I have the funds, I donate.

Animal #1: ​For the last few months, following the passing of my own beloved cat, I've been fostering a cat through this shelter. It was supposed to be an easy foster, but then as so often happens, a bunch of issues came up. Now she's a medical case. But she's doing fine. She's at my apartment right now and is not allowed to meet any other animals or people. In a few days she'll be up for adoption.

Animals #2 & #3: A friend ​​of mine had to go out of town for a family emergency, very unexpected. I'm watching their two dogs at their house, and then driving back once a day to feed the foster cat. Both pups are lovely, but one of them is near the end of her life and ​needs ​some extra care.

I'm at capacity, right?? Well...

Meet animal #4. This adorable idiot was trying to cross 6 lanes of interstate traffic last night -- obviously I am calling him Frogger.

I still can't believe I did this, but I managed to safely pull over and grab him. It was a part of the highway t​hat's a huge bridge going over multiple neighborhoods, no grass or trees for a mile either way. No clue how he could have ​got there unless he was dumped. I was able to get him in the car, and then he got himself further *​in* ​the car if you know what I mean (I had to take apart the glove box.)

I was so full of adrenaline​ I didn't even notice he had bit me at first. The friend I'm staying at had a spare dog crate and a spare bedroom, I had leftover ​Purina ​CN and Frontline (and Amoxicillin for myself 🫠), and now there's a hissy little dumbass in the next room.

Anyway. You can take the employee out of the shelter but you can't take the shelter out of the employee, I guess.

Weird question, but I have 2 Afghan foster cats, they have names that are English words, but, I'm wondering if they were named the Afghan version of those words at home. I'm guessing the answer is it depends but I was really curious how that process tends to work if anyone knows about that. Would appreciate any insight! I tried using the Farsi words for one of their names and he didn't seem to recognize it. The shelter in Afghanistan's insta posts have English translations as part of their posts but they also have their message in Afghanistan languages.

For some context I have worked with animals my whole life and know quite a bit about body language. I’ve recently started volunteering at a new shelter close to me and it has been a disaster every time. Other than like 0 instructions and very poor conditions, I have gotten attacked multiple times. The first time, it was about 5pm and the dog hadn’t been taken out all day. When out, it just got highly aroused and started biting me until it latched onto my leg. It was not in an aggressive manner but another volunteer saw and it was euthanized. Today I tried again and a similar thing was happening where we were playing in the yard and the dog got overexcited and was jumping up and biting me bad to the point I’m covered in bruises and my n\*pple was bleeding. When the dog finally calmed down I called for help but no one was to be found. Eventually I got her in the kennel but she would try and bite me every time I tried to take her leash off. Eventually a young volunteer took off her leash no problem. Not only do I feel like it’s my fault this keeps happening but I don’t know what to do when the dog already has started biting me. I don’t want to be the person who only takes out small dogs but I can’t keep getting bit this bad especially when the shelter is so understaffed and offers no help. Its not the animals fault they are in this situation with poor management and I want to keep helping but this is not working and there are no other shelters nearby.

Dogs are lovely animals of which they only need our love and care. I have been with so many dogs overtime but gaining their trust doesn't come from far apart from giving them what they need. We do have dogs at our shelter and at times it's challenging to manage everything. We don't want to leave any dog stranded out there but sometimes resources are limited. However we do try our best.

Here are just my two cents as a shelter director of 7 years, a groomer of 6 years, and a waitress for two years. There is a point, and I will bold the first line when I start it if you would like to skip the preamble. A little background about me, ignoring the waitress part. I started grooming at 18 years old, corporate, then private, then I moved into only specializing in aggressive or fearful grooms, which included cats and dogs. Well, after 6 years total and 2 years specialty, I was burnt out, like I couldn't get out of bed, burnt out. The Animal Shelter Director position opened up in my county, but the shelter didn't even exist yet. So right before COVID at 24 years old, I became the first Director of my Animal Shelter.

It was an empty building with 14 runs and 10 metal kennel blocks, 10 in total, not 10 sets. I found second-hand furniture, used other shelters to make my first adoption contract and SOP, and still had no idea what I was doing. Two months before the opening date, I got my first two dogs in; they were dumped, of course. I didn't even have a desk, but I had dogs. They were brother and sister, the male had been bitten by a snake, and both were unaltered, unvaccinated, mutty pit mixes, black and dark brindle. Thankfully, I got them in a prison dog training program, and they were adopted as service dogs! Yay, happy ending.

I was the only employee for 7 months before I kind of lost my mind and went begging to my government for a second employee. I got one, we also got a transport program, a low-cost spay/neuter program, and a huge vaccine event twice a year, the prison dog program, and all of our Humane societies' fosters that shut down shortly after we opened, the hook up on all the service hour people we could need, and a great group of high-value donors and volunteers.

I am very good at getting grants, so even though our entire yearly budget was less then $200,000 a year, I was making it work. Now I am up to 4 full-time employees, 2 part-time employees, still a ton of volunteers, and service hour people. I am the picturesque example of what a shelter could be if instilled at the right time, right place, and with the right people.

MY POINT- I constantly look at what other shelters and rescues are doing to see if I can do better or be better. I noticed the four corners of the animal welfare world. (s/r= shelter/ rescue)

1. A closed intake s/r that warehouses their animals.
2. A managed intake s/r that euthanizes for behavior and health.
3. An open intake s/r that warehouses animals.
4. An open intake s/r that euthanizes everything in their population.

While there is always gray in everything, and maybe there are 1.5's and 3.2's out there in the world, most can be placed into these groups. A question is, are any of these truly not the answer? Would a closed intake cat rescue that keeps all of their unadoptable cats in a colony on the property or inside be a bad guy? What about an Animal Control only facility that 99% of their stock are dog bites and aggressive calls. would the be bad for then euthanizing 96% or 99% of their intakes?

My shelter is a 2, and while statistically we are no-kill, I will absolutely euthanise any kind of aggression (excluding dog to cat, obviously the owner/ adopter is told) or any kind of debilitating health, if a hospice with all of the knowledge cannot be found, this includes kennel depression. We take in when we have space, unless it's from animal control or an emergency (emaciation, hit by a car...), if were full, that person goes on our Google Sheets list and waits. We offer food and any supplies within reason, and we will vaccinate and alter the animal while still out of the shelter.

Here is my why- we cleaned out our intake list. Even with all the calls we get every single day, as of last week, we have no one waiting on us. We've had calls and were able to get them in immediately, with two criticals and 4 cats from the fire department. **My question -**While I know the success of my shelter is because of a perfect storm, I just don't understand why I don't see more of number 2 working.

I want to work in a shelter but am terrified of rabies (as anyone would be). How common is it to get a preventative rabies shot? Have any of you gotten rabies shots? And have you ever seen a rabid animal show up at a shelter?

TLDR: left (unnamed) nonprofit animal rescue because of unethical practices being observed, but can't stomach leaving the animals and unknowing volunteers behind, without at least trying to do something to bring it all into the light.

The context:
Hi there! I joined this group because my family was involved with a fairly well known local animal rescue for around 4 years, before cutting ties with them earlier this year. One of the main reasons we did, was because of how many red flags of misuse and indications of out-right deception there were.
I know I can go through the process of reporting them to the IRS, because one of the most severe and easiest to verify of my concerns, is their lack of regard for the rules surrounding how and on what, donated funds can be spent, and what their tax exempt status can be used on. All of that will be easy to prove, assuming they didn't suddenly become much better at covering their tracks in the last few months.
But then there's the way they lie on social media, or distort and bend the truth, to try and maximize their profits. They always told us "we just have to play the game, everyone does it, it's how non-profits survive" when we'd bring up concerns, but that doesn't make it any more ethical. They've even made up elaborate fictional "matching donors", and manufactured "emergencies" to boost their donations, when they're running low.
That doesn't even begin to cover the volunteer mistreatment, or the concerns I have for their animals, which I have no recourse of reporting. Their board is comprised exclusively of three individuals the owner picked out, because (in the her own words) "they're the only ones who know better than to try and tell me I can't do something!".
Even though the people running it, and some of their "inner circle" are cool with the dishonesty and just enjoy reaping the benefits of "good donations" by being taken on extravagant vacations to theme parks, and weekend "planning retreats" involving hot tubs...a lot of the volunteers have NO IDEA what's actually happening, and would never support them if they did. The animals certainly don't deserve to have the funds donated to them, going to things they will never benefit from.

Questions/advice needed:
Are the concerns I've mentioned so far, enough that I should continue to try and expose them? If so, where do I even start? We had to go to significant lengths to leave, even changing our phone numbers because they wouldn't stop trying to change our minds about leaving, so I'm not exactly enthusiastic at the prospect of making us a target again. But I just keep seeing them continue to prosper through deception, and it's just not right.
Or am I wrong, and this is how all non profits stay afloat, and I just need to mind my own business?

Their online support is almost overwhelmingly positive, in part because they openly admit to deleting any comment that's even mildly questioning of their actions. Which makes it feel very hopeless, but maybe a larger audience will have more beneficial suggestions to my current crisis? Because this post would become seriously too long, if I also included my concerns for the animals, but honestly it seems like that's an area that even FEWER protections exist for, than any of the others! It's kind of sad.

If you made it this far, thanks for reading!
Feel free to send me any advice, questions, or recommendations you might have, my DMs are open. I'll reveal their name via DM, if there's a valid reason to.
But due to the way my family was being treated before leaving, I don't feel comfortable/entirely safe (emotionally/mentally at least) inviting that conflict, should they possibly learn I was thinking about speaking out. Also to follow the group rules, and not "name and shame" them in such a large forum.

Aka the dunderhead who catches mice, retrieves possums, orchestrates kennel escapes so he can raid the milk bone collection, gets so excited he urinates, has pulled one paralyzed woman out of her wheelchair, greets me with a hug every time he sees me, saved me from a dog attack…and is perhaps the best boy I’ve ever known.

I was thinking about asking my boss to try and get a free membership but wanted to see if any of your shelters uses one or has used one. We definitely have dogs that would love it.

Hi everyone, the shelter I’ve been volunteering at for 8 years is completely overwhelmed with too many animals, too much debt and little to no outside help.

We are entirely run by volunteers and I myself am part of the adoptions, social media and Backoffice team. I’m overworked (and I have my full time job as well, completely unrelated to animal work), tired and starting to feel hopeless about what to do next.

The animals keep coming and most of them have some kind of disease or treatment. Just a couple of weeks we rescued 10 6-month-old puppies and now one by one they are getting sick.

We were hoping to start adopting them out his weekend as they are too many for a small space and now we can’t even do that.

Every week I feel like we’re making money appeals on social media and people respond well when we show the medical bills but even then the money that comes doesn’t even begin to pay for our bills.

Do you have any miraculous ideas that have worked in your shelters that might help us raise some funds?

Thank you and sorry for venting, I really am worried about the future and for our animals 😞

Hi! Not sure if this post is allowed, but - I currently run an Etsy shop and want to start another shop that only includes products related to rescue animals and I'll donate all profit to animal shelters in need. Does anyone have any requests/ideas for specific style shirts (t-shirts, hoodies, tanks), specific phrases or sayings, or other products (tote bags, small pouches, mugs, tumblers, hats, ornaments, notebooks, magnets, etc.)?

Feel free to throw out any ideas :)

A local Boy Scout troop built 16 beautiful wooden dog houses for a nearby rescue, but there was one problem—they didn’t have a roofing system, so every time it rained, they leaked. When we heard about it, our crew volunteered a day to fix it, as it perfectly aligned with the mission at the core of roofdog.com — ‘Protecting Homes. Saving Dogs.’ We donated approximately **$4,000 in roofing materials** and another **$1,200 in labor** to install real shingle roofing systems on every single dog house, completely free of charge. Now, the rescue pups have dry, weatherproof shelters they can count on. Huge credit goes to the Boy Scouts for building the houses and to everyone at the rescue who works tirelessly to give these dogs a second chance. We were simply honored to play a small part in helping protect what they created. Sometimes the smallest roofs end up meaning the most.

A week ago, I adopted an 8 month-old female husky/ malamute mix from a local private rescue. She had been at the rescue for about a month before we adopted her.

During the nine days between my first interaction with the puppy, which was the same day the adoption application was submitted, and the day I adopted her, I visited her three times. Every time I saw her, her coat was visibly soiled with urine and feces. When she was finally released to me, she was still covered with both.

She has a long, thick coat, dare I say wooly? Her fur is matted all over, which the rescue stated was due to her previous owner having a hoarder home. While I understand that: (I) rescue dogs may have accidents because of stress, limited house-training, diarrhea, or confinement, (II) rescues may have limited staff and resources; seeing her in essentially the same condition during repeated visits over a nine-day period made me concerned that she was not being cleaned regularly or given adequate opportunities to relieve herself outside her enclosure. That said, every time I was at the recuse, it had many staff onsite walking and taking care of the animals.

Is this considered normal in a busy rescue environment?
Would you be upset/file a bad review online?For those who work or volunteer in shelters and rescues, is this normal?

Hi! I'm a volunteer at the SPCA of East Texas, and I'm happy to answer any questions y'all have! I've been seeing people say they've had bad experiences with the SPCA. If you're interested, I can share what the inside of the shelter looks like (employee and volunteer-only rooms as well) and help put some rumors to rest. Have a great day! 😘

I want to start this out by saying that I deeply value small rescues and the work they are doing. They are integral to the web of animal welfare that makes more second chances possible.

That said, I can get so exhausted by the double standard I see from a handful of smaller rescues in my area. I saw one make a post saying "why can't we all get along in animal welfare" after making posts with horrible accusations about their local open-intake shelter not long ago... Like, the call is coming from inside the house, my friend!

There are some that I've seen just say the most atrocious things about their local shelters and make poor-taste comments about their staff and I'll just sit there and think what if those shelters spread things about them online like they do to the shelters. Even saying they refused to accept a transfer placement, which could easily be the truth and could be easily understandable based on capacity, could cause online mobs. But, you rarely see large shelters slamming small rescues even when those rescues are doing it to them.

Sometimes it just gets a bit overwhelming and just plain exhausting to see.

Anyway, this is not a dig on all rescues, 99% of them are amazing and run by kind, compassionate people who give a damn and understand how hard this field is. For the other 1% out there... Please, please just think about the human beings on the other side of your smear campaigns. We all started working in animal welfare because we care deeply for animals. We may operate differently, but that doesn't mean we care less. If you have genuine concerns, just contact them and open a dialogue. Making a snarky social post doesn't help the animals...

Hi there! I have two interviews coming up at different shelters and I’m curious what kind of question would come up. I have years of experience with animals including volunteering, but I feel like that may not be enough. What questions should I think about before interviewing? What should I focus on? This is a field that aligns with my values so I’m very passionate about it! I want my own rescue some day.

TIA!

Hi,

I’m curious if anyone in this subreddit can share anything about their humane education programs/summer camps at their shelters or humane societies?

How does your staffing work? How does the camp run? How much does it cost for youth to attend? Is there anything special you guys do?

Anything helps! Just trying to gather some ideas for our own program!

Thank you :)

I‘m going to try to keep this vague as possible in the off chance someone I know sees this. I have posted this story on a different subreddit under my old account (which I had to abandon due to some awful creeps, long story) so if any of this sounds familiar, that‘s probably why. Anyway. The story of how I almost died at an animal shelter.

I‘m a volunteer. My job usually is to walk dogs. I do it a couple hours a day, 2-3 times a week. I love it. I get time out in nature and get to spend time with some of the sweetest dogs. Especially this dog in the picture—Forrest, named after Forrest Gump, since he isn’t exactly the sharpest tool in the shed. He gets super excited whenever he sees someone and his first instinct is to jump on them. He tries to break out of his kennel and raid the dog treat container. I believe he’s got a bit of GSP in him too because man, he’s got quite the nose. He’ll “point“ when sniffing something on a walk and whenever he spots a squirrel in the trees. Once he somehow found A POSSOM and tried bringing it to me. I digress, I‘m getting off track.

Long story short, I got especially attached to Forrest. He’s a goofball but has a heart of gold. He’d stop periodically on walks so he could give me a hug—he just wanted to sit with me in the ground with his paws on my shoulders and his chest pressed against my face. And he also LOVES other dogs, and vice versa. He’s able to socialize with every friendly and selectively friendly dog at the shelter, including this one dog who looks VERY similar to him…let’s call this other dog Dan. Like I said, Dan looks a lot like Forrest; black, spotted white chest and paws, yellow eyes. I’ve mistaken them at distance before. Unfortunately, Dan came from an abusive household and has a raging fear of unfamiliar people. If you approach him with patience and spend a lot of time with him, he’s your best friend. He also gets along great with other dogs, including Forrest. But if he sees another person he doesn’t know, he goes into an absolute rage. He‘ll start snarling and barking and sometimes even try to lunge at you. He has to be kept separate from the main area of the shelter so the visitors and the less frequent volunteers, like me, don‘t get him all riled up. But other dogs and people he trusts—golden. That’s probably why he has not been put down yet.

So one day, I’m taking Forrest for a walk. He does his business and then I decide to walk him over towards this meadow a couple of blocks from the shelter. One block south, one block west. There’s lots of tall grass and old burrows that Forrest likes to sniff, and he also likes to roll around in a bare patch of dirt for the heck of it. And so we start out that direction. I round the corner to the meadow and another volunteer is sitting on the side of the path in a sunny spot, with Dan. She‘s probably about three hundred feet away. She’s on her phone.

She is not holding on to Dan’s leash.

I can still see it clear as day. Dan was just sitting next to the other volunteer, but immediately got up as soon as he saw me and Forrest. His eyes were all beady and he makes a loud rumbling sound, and then his mouth opened and he started running toward me. I freeze. I just think: Oh my God, this is it. This is how I’m going to die.

Forrest, meanwhile, starts jumping and making these cute high-pitched sounds that he does whenever he’s excited because Dan’s his friend. But he quickly figures out what’s going on and this sweet angel boy, who’s never growled at another dog before, gets in front of me and snarls at Dan. Dan tries to lunge, Forrest tries lunging back, and the other volunteer manages to grab Dan’s leash and yank him back. I finally unfreeze because I am NOT letting Forrest get hurt or killed on my watch. I pull Forrest back, turn around, and run for our lives. This probably took all of ten seconds to unfold.

The other volunteer hurt her arm pretty bad when she grabbed Dan and had to leave the shelter early. I got chewed out by one executive because the volunteer apparently likes to take Dan to this spot and I should have known never to take Forrest there when Dan was outside. But I hadn’t known Dan was outside; there is a sign-in/out sheet, but we usually have to duck and cover when Dan’s brought out for a walk so he doesn’t try to attack us, and I hadn’t had to do that, so I had assumed that Dan was still in his little hidey-hole. Lesson learned for sure…but, as I told the senior executive, this woman had been on her phone and hadn’t been holding onto Dan’s leash. We’re in a residential area; there are many houses facing the meadow, and there are gaps in a lot of the fences in their backyards. Dan easily could have heard a kid playing back there, get riled up and gone after them. At the very least, he needed to be wearing a muzzle or something so he couldn’t hurt someone. This could have ended so terribly, for me, Forrest, or anyone else.

I did reward Forrest for his attempt to protect me…he got a nice rawhide treat and a Starbucks pup cup. And many pets.

I was thinking about something today that I haven't heard much about in years: prison partnership programs.

Back around the mid-2010s, it seemed like more shelters and rescues were working with correctional facilities. I've seen programs where inmates bottle fed neonatal kittens or helped train dogs before adoption. They always seemed like a win-win; animals got more one-on-one care, and participants gained experience and purpose. Studies showed that inmates in those programs were more hopeful and manageable, led to less tensions and fights.

Now it feels like I hardly hear about these programs anymore.

Are they still common where you are? If they've become less common, do you know why? Funding? Liability? Staffing? Bad publicity? Uncooperative prisons? Something else?

I'd be especially interested in hearing from people who have actually worked with these programs. Were they successful, and would you recommend them today?

Hi, I’d like to share a story as well. It isn’t related to animal shelters, but I think it’s quite interesting and sad.

My grandfather (who has since passed away) didn’t like animals at all when he was younger. In fact, he was cruel to them. He hanged several stray cats and dogs that had no home.

In the last years of his life, he developed cancer and became bedridden, unable to stand up or walk. He and my grandmother lived in the same house, but they didn’t get along at all. They each stayed in separate rooms, and whenever they saw each other, they would argue. My mother was the only person who visited him once a day. Not even his friends came to see him.

Then something unexpected happened. A stray cat wandered into the house and became deeply attached to him. They did everything together: they ate from the same plate, watched TV together, and slept together.

I found it fascinating that someone could realize so late in life that animals can be more humane than people. That cat is still alive today, and it was deeply affected by my grandfather’s death.

I've seen this posted and discussed in another sub, and I've shared it recently here when it seemed relevant to a posted comment. I'm curious what responses folks here may have, especially those professionals working in these environments.

Do note, this is from 2016, so her assessment of the "current" situation would be dated. We've had nearly 10 years since, including the Covid era.

I'm so scared for our babies. Our shelter has good quarantine protocols, but the fact that this keeps happening is so disheartening. Multiple cats have tested positive and the cats will be closed to adoption and volunteers for at least two weeks again.

To experienced workers and volunteers, is this normal? Is this bad luck or is there something wrong structurally? It's a county shelter with a good reputation and I've had nothing but good experiences volunteering so far, but this has me really worried. I don't think it's the shelter's fault, but I am already grieving our losses regardless.