For extra credit in one of my classes, we could volunteer at the local animal shelter and then write a paper on our experiences. We had to have a certain number of hours put in there. I'm used to volunteering for a large scale rescue with great facilities... I went in not expecting anything fancy but at least something safe and clean. I was shocked and appauled. Due to lack of funding, the rescue is a hole-in-the-wall operation with kennels that have no heat for the dogs and puppies living outside in kennels covered by tarps. There is no quarantine and disease is so easily spread that you aren't allowed to interact at all with the puppies and cats. Dogs desperately need their ears cleaned out and their coats groomed. Furthermore, as a volunteer I felt I was treated as more of an inconvenience than a benefit. There wasn't a whole lot for us to do besides walk dogs, and it seemed as if the employees could get more work done if there were no volunteers at all.
In the paper I wrote, I was brutally honest about my observations. I just received an email from my professor asking if he could take my paper to a meeting he was having with the animal shelter director. He said that he thought I provided great insights to the condition and needs of the shelter and animals and he'd like to use it in a "much needed conversation" with the shelter director.
Just goes to show that good things happen if you aren't afraid to be brutally honest and speak up for those (the animals) who can't speak sometimes.
In the paper I wrote, I was brutally honest about my observations. I just received an email from my professor asking if he could take my paper to a meeting he was having with the animal shelter director. He said that he thought I provided great insights to the condition and needs of the shelter and animals and he'd like to use it in a "much needed conversation" with the shelter director.
Just goes to show that good things happen if you aren't afraid to be brutally honest and speak up for those (the animals) who can't speak sometimes.
