To clarify, I don’t think the idea of having shelters, or rescuing animals, is wrong. I want to have a dog and cat sanctuary someday if possible.
I have had many dogs in my life and a lot of them have been rescues, including one of my current ones.
But the issues I had with the specific shelter I worked at were:
- Irrational hatred towards anyone who has an animal that they obtained from a *responsible* breeder or anyone who has a non-mixed breed dog, even if that dog is a rescue. (Which is why they ended up making up an elaborate lie about me to get me fired.)
- Hiring unprofessional, unfriendly, and underqualified staff.
- Spaying and neutering 3 month old puppies. And performing cheap and often unsafe spay/neuter surgeries.
It is unsafe to spay/neuter dogs before they reach sexual maturity.
- Euthanizing animals for displaying treatable behavioral issues that they didn’t really give me a chance to work on with them.
- Not labeling aggressive dogs as aggressive. I was mauled and almost killed in an unprovoked attack by a German Shepherd that they told me was a “sweetheart.” I was hospitalized and needed surgery.
- Using ineffective and outdated behavior management methods that have been proven wrong by science.
- Disposing of euthanized animals in a dumpster instead of cremating them. This was the worst one for me
And also bad for the environment.
So, in theory, shelters are trying to do a good thing. But we should also not be afraid to talk about the things they’re doing behind the scenes that are pretty messed up.
I’m not saying *all* shelters are bad, and I’m not saying *all* breeders are good either. But this was my nightmare experience with a specific shelter.
