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| May 2011 Deployment in MS |
I had the opportunity to deploy as a volunteer through the
Humane Society of the United States’ Animal Rescue Team recently, where I
volunteered at a temporary dog shelter in Texas for five days. This was my
sixth deployment through HSUS (and RedRover Responders, formerly United Animal
Nations), so I feel fairly seasoned as an emergency animal shelter volunteer.
But even still, I always learn something new each deployment, and I take away
memories that will forever stay with me—memories of working with other caring volunteers
to help animals on their journey to a new, humane life.
So what are these temporary emergency animal shelters? These
shelters are set up to house large numbers of animals who have been taken from
a manmade disaster such as puppy mills, hoarding cases, dog-fighting rings, or
other cruelty cases, or animals sheltered during natural disasters like
tornadoes, hurricanes or wildfires. Because there is such a range of reasons
for setting up a temporary shelter, each deployment is unique in its own right,
with the same end goal of helping animals to have a safe, healthy place to live
until they are transferred to their permanent homes.
Because many of these shelters care for animals that have
been seized from criminal cases, the details of these shelters are confidential
until the case has gone through the court system (as is the case with my last
deployment). However, I can share with you a couple of the things I took away
from my last deployment.
I have to say first that I am fortunate to work for an
animal welfare organization on a daily basis—it’s what I love to do, but it
also means that the staff understands the need for national animal rescue
volunteers as well. So I was lucky just to have the chance to take a little
time off work to deploy! I’m also lucky that I got to work with some fantastic animals
and some amazing fellow volunteers. It’s such a unique experience, so you
really do remember each deployment and the people you work with. You all are
there with the same concerns and passion to help the animals, so it quickly
feels like you’ve known the other volunteers for years! And you tend to see the
same volunteers and HSUS or RedRover staff, so you do get to know each other
better with each deployment.
When I got back to work, my Executive Director asked me if
there was one thing I could pinpoint that I took away from this particular
deployment. It’s hard to choose just one, but it did come to me and takes a
little explanation. It’s an amazing feeling to work with animals that have been
neglected and to be a part of their new lives. It’s a feeling that’s hard to
put into words. Not all of them have been socialized or are quite ready to go
directly into a family home, but each and every one of them deserves a second chance
at life and to know what they should have been given all along. The majority of
the dogs at this particular shelter were pit bulls or pit mixes, but they
didn’t fit the undeserving stereotype of their breed. Most of them were so sweet
and were just happy to have our company and pets! (And we were more than happy
to be in their company and give out those pets, too!)
One of my volunteer duties was to work in one of the smaller
sections of the shelter where we had to walk the dogs more often due to health
reasons. I become really attached to one, but it’s funny because if I’d just
seen photos of all the dogs there, I know I wouldn’t have picked her as my
favorite! She was a little pit bull mix who was just so incredibly sweet. I
can’t think of a better word to describe her. She just wanted to be near you
and be petted, and you could see her sweet demeanor and personality just by
looking into her eyes. Each day as I went to walk the dogs, I would get
especially excited when it was her turn to go out. It was hard to leave her
there (I would have tried to adopt her if she weren’t in Texas!), but I know
that some other family is going to be unbelievably lucky to bring her into
their home and that she’ll get to live a happy life from now on. Just thinking
about it makes me smile.
But that brings me to one of the main things that sticks out
in my mind about this deployment. There are always going to be one (or a few)
animals in these shelters that the volunteers will fall in love… but guess what?
There are animals right down the road in our local animal control shelters that
are just waiting and hoping that someone will walk in there and fall in love
with them so they can have a second
chance at life, too! They come from all walks of life and ended up in the
shelters for different reasons—many reasons that had absolutely nothing to do
with them, just like in the
deployments. And you can’t just look at a few photos online to know which one
you’ll really fall in love with. It’ll certainly help you narrow your search
before you go to the shelter, but please keep an open mind when meeting all of
the animals. You may surprise yourself and fall in love with an animal that
didn’t quite fit what you had envisioned. You have to meet them and fall in
love with their personalities, not the color of their fur or their breed. Just
like people, you can’t judge an animal by the cover of its book. You may be
like me and decide to take home an animal that you never thought you would… but
that will make your family happier than you could have ever imagined!
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