The Why and How

This work is certainly a nebulous, everchanging thing... in the way of how one deals with it.
The esteemed Doug Fakkema sums it all up.

Any thinking person, when faced with the same issues every day, is always trying to come to terms with the big Why. In our case, Why must we contend with the same problems day in and day out?

My idea of Why changes from time to time.

My current Why, the reason why animal sheltering is necessary, is simple:
Puppy and Kitten Addiction.

It's more complex than that, but that's it in a nutshell. That mentality is reflected in lots of areas in society, really. New is better. Pretty is better. Exciting is better. NOW is better. Fewer people are of the mindset of investing time and work into anything, whether it be relationships, cars, homes, work situations, education. Pets are no exception. And something about the face of a baby anything makes many people stupid and shortsighted. When I am in a room with a needle and syringe in my hand, putting to sleep a stereotypical big, strong, undisciplined, dominant 2-4 year old unneutered male dog who has indicated a distinct tendency to maul the hand that feeds, this is what I think about and feel anger about. I know that there was a point when that dog was a cute little puppy, and someone was impulsive in their sea of "AWWWWW!!"s, in their puppy lust. I know they goo gooed and bought large amounts of toys and treats for the first several months. I know also that they never took the time for good socialization and training, nor made the effort to discipline. I know it came time to neuter and they chose not to spend the money, just as they chose to remain passive in discipline. Fast forward a couple years, Baby Huey has become a monster and gee, the owner is "moving." Here I am cleaning up the "mess." We can't risk our 130-something years' existence, our function of helping thousands, just for this one individual...this giant, walking bite risk. One skilled lawsuit would eradicate us. So here I am, needle in hand. It eats at me. And what I also know is that the person who turned the dog in is sleeping soundly at night, ignorantly believing that there are people out there who are not consumed by reckless puppy lust, who would be willing to put their family and neighbors at risk by adopting a big, macho, grown up time bomb, people game to put in the exhaustive work to rehabilitate it....and that these mythological, benevolent and capable people will happen to walk into our shelter some sunny Saturday and "fall in love" with the drooling snarl of the beast in Run #11. This belief is stored in the brain next to the one that so many have...that there is some magical "Farm" where all animals go and live and romp forever in harmony. And no doubt the turner-inner is already dreaming of their next cute wittle puppy. And several Saturdays have come and gone, with 60%, easy, of visitors leaving after a cursory stroll to see if we have any small-breed puppies kicking around somewhere. We don't. The dog in #14 was a small-breed puppy, fresh from Hunte Corp. three years ago....too bad now he's a dominant little shit with balls like walnuts, ready to take your toddler's face off over a dropped Cheerio. Er, uh...or should I say, his owners were "moving." So many people start edging out when they hear there are no puppies here. A friendly mention of some nice young adults we have brings a glaze to their eyes.

I see the same when I stand in the cat room. Each face...each 5 year old given up for "moving", and who will sit here for months, meowing for their food in the morning, while kitten after kitten gets adopted.....they were once a kitten, too. I imagine them, adult face morphed into baby face, rewind 5 years....tiny face peeking out of a box at a flea market, or even from the cage bars of our own shelter...the soundtrack is always the same: "AWWWWWW!" (the sound of Hell itself). And now, the face not even worth a glance to most people. How short the distance between the cuteness of kittenhood...the fun of making your own lolcat .gifs, the glee of buying toys...to adult cathood. I prefer the latter, and thankfully some others do, or else we'd never get our adults out. But still...each time I look at a shelter cat's face here, now, waiting, given up...I only see a kitten, once worshipped. Now fallen.

Thankfully, we rarely must resort to euthanasia of our own animals. Thankfully, once in a while and sometimes in wondrous spurts, folks do come along and see something special in an adult animal. Thankfully, too, conscientious people come in to adopt a puppy or kitten with the well-thought-out intention of committing for life. That is as good as anything...each kitten in a lifetime home is one less adult cat ending up in the shelter system in the future.

What is the Answer? Spay/neuter seems to be. Obviously. But, I ask: if society is leaning more and more towards a sense of individual entitlement and instant self-gratification (can anyone deny this?), won't there continue to be a demand for cutewittle puppies and kittens? A reduction in population but an increase in demand....how will that work? Hopefully I am wrong.