"
Woman arrested after beating up a duck." Admittedly, I am paraphrasing.
I volunteered at an animal shelter for several years. Every weekend, I'd drive to this rural outpost to exercise and give attention to as many mammals as possible. The real issue for many shelters is that the animals are stressed in that environment, and need to stay normalized and socialized if they are to be chosen by anyone to take home. So, as much as they need food and water and a clean area, they need regular human interaction.
In addition to dogs and cats and rabbits, they had a dozen roosters taken from a cock-fight bust, and a goat or two, maybe an iguana. I never knew what would be there from week to week, and it was always interesting. It was a gift for me and my kids to be able to learn how to care for everything from a Shetland pony to a Russian tortoise, and feel like we were giving something of ourselves as well. It was often heartbreaking to see not only semi-feral pit bulls, but middle-aged, perfectly behaved Yellow Labs, and lonely, confused elderly Terriers waiting in pens for someone to take them on a walk. People would walk in with their beloved family pet, hand someone behind the counter the leash, and walk out again. You'd come in and there would be a box of kittens abandoned on the front stoop. A mom with anxious children trailing behind her would bang on the doors after hours, a dog in her arms, trying to get someone to take over.
It was a no-kill shelter, so many of the animals were there for months. At first I loved caring for the dogs the most. I would go visit their pens, give out cookies and take them into the play areas. After a while, I would feel that ache in the center of my chest every time I looked. The cats stretch their paws out between the cage wires, some of them, trying to snag your attention. The kittens just call to you, over and over. Eventually, I couldn't even walk by one of the areas without getting choked up.
The more I worked there, the less I liked people.
