TRIGGER WARNING: This week’s blog goes out to the true heroes amongst our animal-loving community-those working in the animal welfare field. This blog openly and honestly addresses the feelings of depression and emotional distress that affects those in the animal welfare field. Resources for those who need crisis help are listed at the end of the blog.
As an animal lover or a potential new adopter, we scroll through the social media pages and websites of pet rescues and shelters, looking at the lovely photos of adoptable animals and “oh” and “ah,” over their cuteness. Or, we may even stop at a shelter, kennel, or rescue and walk up and down the aisles and see the pens and cages that hold a healthy, eager dog or cat ready to go to their forever home. While sometimes we may consider, briefly, what that dog or cat’s story was before they came to be on the adoption floor, we probably move on fairly quickly from that thought and begin to look towards the future that that pet will have. And, it’s even less likely, that we stop to consider the other hundreds of animals that came into that shelter or rescue but never made it onto the adoption floor. Today, I ask you to consider, for a little bit longer, the people behind the scenes of those shelters and rescues and the weight they carry in their hearts from working so tirelessly to try to save every animal that comes into their care. According to the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, “animal rescue workers have the highest suicide rate amongst all American workers (the same rate as police officers and firefighters).” It was only recently, in the 1990s, that the term “compassion fatigue” came into use as a diagnosis for the exhaustion and depression that animal welfare workers felt in correlation to their job efforts. According to the Director of the Tulane Traumatology Institute, compassion fatigue (CF) is defined as: “Emotional exhaustion, caused by the stress of caring for traumatized or suffering animals (or people).” Day in and day out, animal welfare workers dedicate their lives to the care of animals that enter their facilities. Animal control officers, humane investigators, vets and their clinic staff, animal care staff, behaviorists, intake staff, adoption coordinators, volunteer staff, the rescuers, and the administration of these kennels and rescues all see these animals during the most traumatic and stressful moments of their lives. They see animals that have come from extreme circumstances of abuse and neglect. They nurse them back to health, and then must begin the long and emotionally arduous process of showing these animals that not all people are monsters. Then, there’s the ones that couldn’t be saved; The ones that couldn’t be shown that people can provide love and warmth and not pain and suffering. These are the cases that end in euthanasia, and the ones that cause the heaviest burden of guilt and grief. Those are the ones that take the biggest toll. There is not a single worker in animal rescue that wants to turn their back on these animals- that do not want to give their every effort to save them. That, even if they’re dangerous, aggressive, terminally ill- that they don’t want to give that animal a chance. Even when a kennel can celebrate a 91.9% live release rate of the animals that came into their shelter- it’s the 8.1% that they carry home with them at the end of the day. When an animal welfare worker continually focuses on that negative percentage, the animals that couldn’t be helped in their care, it can lead to some detrimental consequences. Compassion fatigue could begin and this leads to a person feeling numb to the suffering of others. One of the biggest problems with CF is that people who are experiencing it are unwilling to admit to it and try to continue working through it. This denial is what can lead to extreme depression and suicidal thoughts. So, the next time you have the opportunity to speak with an animal welfare worker, take the time to give them the thanks they deserve. Thank them not only for caring for the animals that you see at their rescue and kennel but thank them for carrying that emotional burden of letting go of the ones that didn’t make it out to the adoption floor. The hearts of those in animal welfare are of the biggest you could ever imagine. If you are experiencing any of the following symptoms you may have compassion fatigue:
You can also use the Crisis Text HotLine to talk with a crisis counselor- Text HOME to 741-741 REMEMBER- YOU ARE NOT ALONE. The Weirdo Leadership team cares about its community and urges you to reach out to a member of leadership if you need to talk. On behalf of the Weirdo Cat Lovers of Cleveland, we see you, we appreciate you, and we understand you. THANK YOU
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This Saturday the Weirdos attended 3 local events to collect signatures for our specialized plates petition. We are so grateful for our awesome Weirdo family and their help in this endeavor!
First, the Weirdos had a table at the Lake County Volunteer Fair at Harvest Cleveland in Eastlake. Huge thanks to Christy Weaver, Kathleen Pierce and Jen Braz, who braved the weather to be there manning the table and getting the word the Weirdos. There were many other great non-profits, some of whom are also Weirdos, such as Willowick Pet Food Pantry, House of Mews, Community Cats and Caroline's Kids Pet Rescue, just to name a few, We got to educate people about who we are, what we do and were able to collect 14 signatures for the petition to make the Weirdo Cat Lovers of Cleveland specialized license plates a reality! Check out some photos from today's event below. We would also like to send out heartfelt thanks to Viva Los Gatos for inviting us to join them at the PetSmart in Mayfield Heights and to Bonni Ashie and Stacey Marie who were there today and got another 12 signatures! In addition to these 2 great gatherings, House of Mews was kind enough to welcome me into the Pet Supplies Plus in Mentor after the Volunteer Fair, where I was able to collect another 7 signatures for a total of 33 today! Also, we wanted to send a huge shout-out to Linda Bellomy, who I know as of last Friday had collected 30 signatures on her own and that's not including the 2 events she had last weekend the 2 she's having this weekend. We so appreciate you! Keep your eyes on the Weirdo Facebook page for further updates coming soon. Our goal is to collect 300 signatures, which is twice the minimum requirements. Once we get there, we will have to find a Senator willing to sponsor a bill to have our plates approved. We have lots of other events coming up the next few weeks, so please check out the events on our website or Facebook Page and join us to meet your fellow Weirdos and help us reach our goal! Best wishes, Weirdos :) -Amber Tischler Weirdos- today we are going to dive into an uncomfortable topic. Although it’s tough to talk about death and it seems surreal to consider, it’s an inevitability that nobody lives forever. Sometimes, we may know our time is coming because of an illness, and other times, it’s completely unexpected. In either case, it’s still hard to talk about it and it can be a very emotional conversation to have with the people you love. The reason we’re blogging about this topic right now is because very recently the Weirdos were called into action to facilitate the rescue and immediate placement of two cats that were left orphaned due to their owner’s death. The owner of these cats was named Betty and she lived alone with them in a hotel. Betty passed away and her two cats, Ginger and RC, were discovered by hotel staff. Unfortunately, Betty had not set up any wishes for what was to be done with her cats in the case of her death and they were left without caretakers. Betty’s friend reached out to the Weirdos and with a lot of help from us, Riggi Rescue, and police officers who let us into the hotel to get the cats, we were able to get them placed at the APL to be adopted out together. You can read more about this rescue under our Success Stories section of our website.
Ginger and RC are far from unique when it comes to situations under which animals end up coming into a shelter or rescue. Too many times our fur babies are overlooked by our friends and family and not kept around to get the same continued care and love that we had been providing for them. So, what do you need to do in order to make sure your most prized possessions, your fur babies, aren’t left alone without caretakers in the event of your death? If you haven’t considered it before now, don’t wait any longer. The very first step would be to reach out to your most trusted friends or family members and discuss with them that you’d like them to take over care of your pets in the event of your death. It is crucial that you know that the people you’d want to take care of your pets are willing to take them. Make sure they’re on board! It would be terrible if you had someone in mind but never let them know, and then upon your death they turn away the request and cast aside your pet. Make sure you talk in detail about the type of care you provide for your pets currently, and the time and expense it would require them to take on the care of your pet. They should know what vet you use, what kind of food they eat, and any other details that are part of your pet’s daily care. This conversation, depending on if you’re facing a terminal illness and know that your time is limited, or if you’re doing this just as a safeguard for whenever it is to happen, could be ongoing and perhaps ever-changing. If you talk to a best friend and they agree to take in your one cat you currently have in the case of your death, but then three years later you’ve adopted two more cats- check in with your friend and make sure they’ll still willing to take over care now that there are three to take care of instead of just one! Now, secondly, you’d want to make things official and not just based off of a verbal agreement with your friend or family member. You’d want to reach out to an attorney and work out the details of who you would leave as caretaker for your pets. You should include in your will- which is a legally bound contract- who you want your pets to be left with so that way there is no confusion. Another good idea is to set up a trust- this is a place where your money and assets are laid out and that immediately upon your death can be allocated to the people who take over the care of your pets. It’s a good idea to set aside money that will be given to the new caretakers so they have a little less financial burden on their hands with the new pets in their possession. Something to think carefully about is the fact that wills can take several weeks to months to actually be carried out because of legal constraints. Having a “temporary” emergency foster set up for your animals in the meantime would be a very good idea. Make sure your trusted friends or family members have keys to your household and could come and go to take care of your pets as your estate is settled through the courts. While I hope that this blog finds you currently in good health and that worrying about this type of thing is far from soon, I still think it’s very important to start these considerations as soon as possible. For more information on the legality involved with setting up a will and trust specifically regarding your precious pets, I encourage you to visit the webpage for the Humane Society of the United States. They have more tips and information on how to go about including them in your final wishes and working with your attorney to make sure everything is set up the way you want them to be. https://www.humanesociety.org/ Most Sincerely, Cassandra Bean-Ungvarsky |