The disillusionment of the shelter world

 This photo was taken in 2006. I had been volunteering at one of the local shelters for several years when this was taken. I was gainfully employed in a job which paid me a good salary, so I not only donated my time in walking dogs, but also my money to help the shelter thrive. I was on the board of directors, made friends who were as passionate about animals as I was, and worked tirelessly to find the shelter pets a home. I began my animal blog at the newspaper, and I wrote a weekly column on shelter animals. This translated in to several stories, which generated lots of donations for the shelter. 

As is true with most nonprofits, decisions are made at a higher level than I am normally at. When these decisions conflict with my internal thoughts and a compromise cannot be found, I simply vacate the organization. I try not to speak badly of them, even if that is the way I feel. The reason is because it is not the humans who suffer when a volunteer leaves; it is the animals. 

For the past 15 years or so, I have been frequenting a different shelter. This one was more along the lines of the no kill philosophy I follow and I spent many happy hours there walking dogs and cleaning. I cannot tell you the number of loads of laundry I have washed or truckloads full of scrap metal taken to the recycle spot to earn as much money as I could to donate. My financial situation changed so cash money was not as plentiful for donations as I would have liked, but hours of time donated were extensive. 

Being that I try to be an active person, when my  physical well being told me I could not walk the dogs like I used to, or clean kennels for hours, I had to back off from physically working around the shelter but I continued to donate what I could, share animals on the internet, talk up the organization when I had the chance. Both of my dogs are former residents. 

For the past several years, I have watched decisions being made that I felt did not present the shelter in a positive light, but they were not my decisions to make. I continued to support their mission. Then, last night as I was attempting to view the volunteer page to see what what happening, I found out I had been removed from the page. Like I didn't exist any longer. To say I was quite upset would be an understatement. 

But then I thought about it and realized that all things change. Because my face is not seen around the physical part of the shelter, perhaps someone felt what little I contribute was not worth keeping me in the loop. Perhaps it was done inadvertently by a person who did not know me. (highly unlikely because this is a very controlled organization) perhaps I made someone angry. I have no idea who, but it could happen. 

So, what to do now? I do know there are numerous animal organizations that always need help. I learned from a very involved person that it is the little donations that keep organizations afloat during hard times. So I guess my little donations will be put to another organization who can use my help. It shouldn't bother me but it does. It is part of the disillusionment of the shelter world I had hoped to not experience again.