Rat Rescue
:: Running a Rescue
Running a Rescue
Running a rescue is a tough business, yet many
people perceive animal rescuers as people who sit around all
day playing with fluffy-wuffy cute animals. If only! Sadly,
that is not how it is - we spend many sleepless nights nursing
sick or badly abused animals; we spend our days cleaning out
and feeding animals; going to vets appointmernts; vetting homes;
dropping off and collecting animals; fund raising...oh, and
doing a full time job too!
We also have the emotional distress of seeing people's cruelty
to animals day in, day out and often have to decide when it
is the right time to have an animal put to sleep. Life isn't
easy!
The following excellent article from Best Friends magazine and
website (a brilliant animal
rescue website in the US) accurately portrays life for an
animal rescuer. If you sometimes wonder why we don't always
pick up the 'phone straight away when you call us or answer
emails straight away, or you are thinking of doing animal rescue
yourself..read on...
Burned Out? By Faith Maloney
An all too common message was posted to the members’ forum
on the Best Friends Web site recently:
“I take in homeless cats and try to find them homes. Word
gets around, so I have people threatening to take their cat
to the pound, where it will be killed, if I don’t take
it. I always offer to help these people solve their problems.
Most don’t even want to try. I don’t understand
how people can dispose of a pet like it were a used tissue and
not a feeling being. This is beginning to wear on me. All I
have been able to do for the last two days is take care of my
own cats and then go back to bed.”
This rescuer, like so many, was in the throes
of full-fledged burnout. Burnout affects people in all walks
of life. Anyone can become stressed at work and start putting
the soda in the cupboard and the glasses in the fridge. But
in the world of animal rescue, it comes with a range of acute
feelings: from anger to anxiety, and helplessness to guilt and
a sense of failure. In animal rescue, burnout is seen most often
in people who
work the front lines.
This can be the employee or volunteer who mans
the front desk at a shelter or humane society or an animal control
officer on call for abuse and neglect cases. The turnover in
these jobs tends to be high. Also affected are the people who
take the calls on animal help lines, or the person who is out
rescuing dogs and cats in their community and taking them home.
For many people, these jobs can be overwhelming.
The woman who posted her message on our forum
found she had plenty of company. Someone else wrote in to say:
“Now that winter is here, all I can think about are the
cats that are suffering outside in the freezing weather. I know
I can’t save them all, but I find myself constantly trying
to figure out ways to fit in ‘just one more.’ I
need to put some balance back in my life, but I don’t
know how to block out all the horrible images
from my mind.”
Burnout can be crippling. I experienced a heavy
dose of it while acting as the unofficial animal control officer
for my community. I would stare at the red blinking light on
the phone answering machine, unable to respond and filled with
dread about what new horror awaited me. But there are solutions
to the syndrome. Joy Jett, one of our online forum moderators,
gives wise advice to people experiencing burnout. “You
are your first priority. If you don’t have enough energy
to care for yourself or your own animals, you have nothing to
give to anyone else.”
You need to ask yourself some basic questions.
Perhaps what you are currently doing is no longer the right
job for you. We are not all cut out for coping with the wicked
world – or at least not every time the phone rings. Some
people can handle the trenches for a year or two and then need
to find a different job in the animal field. Others need to
get out altogether and do something quite different –
at least for a while. And there are
some who can do the same job year in and year out without ill
effect.
John Paul Fox has been the Humane Society of Utah’s
animal cruelty officer for almost 30 years, dealing with cruelty
cases all over the state. He is as kind and compassionate today
as he was when I first met him over 15 years ago.
In my own case, after doing a front line job
for a number of years, I realized that it was not for me anymore.
I knew that I still had a lot to offer, and I was able to use
my experience here at the sanctuary to help others and still
make a difference for the
animals.
You may or may not be able to make that kind
of move, but there are certainly things you can do to lessen
the feelings of burnout right now.
First, share your feelings with someone else. Sometimes just
expressing the frustrations
can help you see another way of looking at things.
Here are seven tips that may help:
1. If you’re flooded with calls to rescue animals, stop
answering the phone and let your
voicemail or answering machine pick it up. If you have a spouse,
friend, or family member who can field the calls for you for
a time, ask for their help. Give them a tip sheet on how to
respond to various situations. If you can’t get help,
return the calls when you feel most able to deal effectively
with the problem.
2. It helps to be able to tell the person about options and
possible solutions for the animal they are calling about, whether
it’s a stray, a feral, or a pet. If possible, provide
them with literature on how to find homes for homeless pets.
3. Keep positive reinforcement in your life. Look to all the
stories of animals that were helped. (That’s how Best
Friends magazine began!)
4. Seek out friends and other animal people when you feel overwhelmed.
You can support each other emotionally. Online forums and chat
rooms can provide help, too.
5. Recognize that you did not create the problem.
All too often, we compulsively try to take on the responsibility
for a situation we did not originate. Your part in the situation
is to offer people help, advice, and some of the tools they’ll
need to extricate themselves from their problem.
6. Strive for balance in your life. Go and see a movie, take
up a hobby, or explore the great outdoors. When we take care
of ourselves, we get to live another day to help the
animals.
7. Remember that most people love their pets and would never
abandon them, and that there are lots of people who, like you,
take in strays and work to rescue animals. You are not alone.
Burnout is not the end. It’s a signal. You
need to listen to what those feelings are telling you. One lady
told me that she could no longer cope with volunteering at her
shelter and now just writes checks. We need the people who write
the checks as well as the people who pick up the poop or answer
the phones. When you find the role that works best for you,
you will be happy and motivated. Best of all, you’ll have
become even more effective at helping the animals.
“ Mankind’s true moral
test, its fundamental test (which lies deeply buried from view),
consists of its attitude towards those who are at its mercy:
animals.” – Milan Kundera
