Shelter Frustrations

I’m growing more and more frustrated with people who run animal shelters. I’ve filled out their forms. I gave them four non-family references. I gave them vet numbers, wrote essay answers and filled out everything they wanted. Each of them approved me for fostering and then nothing. No email back. No phone call.

The one dog I did get was not what I said I wanted (for health and Daisy reasons, not because I just didn’t want it). You can read all about

Moreover, I follow along on Facebook, where these groups post photos and heartbreaking stories about animals who need homes or face certain death.

So here’s my problem: If there are other people who want to help and there are animals without homes who will die if people don’t help them, then why are they not responding?

It has been about two weeks now since I got three “We would love to have you” emails from three separate groups. If I hadn’t been approved, I wouldn’t be this frustrated. If I hadn’t been approved, I would understand why they would ignore me.

It seems, though, that they want money more than fosters. I’m not implying that they don’t need it—these groups are and understaffed. But they can’t get homes for animals if they don’t contact people who want to foster.

More than that, it makes me wonder how many animals have died because people who want to help are overlooked.

I keep seeing posts where a dog is scheduled to be euthanized at 8 a.m the next day, dogs that I could take, dogs that fit my lifestyle by being a female and older, and no one will contact me.

I’ve reached the point where I’m going to have to unlike one particular Facebook page because I’m so disheartened about the whole situation.

I know it’s tough to run a charity right now. But this is far from the first time I’ve tried to volunteer for something for which I wasn’t contacted, then read where they were complaining that they needed volunteers.

I’m not bringing a dog into a “hostile” environment, as I was told the last time I wrote about this. I don’t have kids. It’s just me and Daisy, and she has only a few teeth and has never bitten anything in her life. Shoot, in four years I’ve only heard her bark three times. She apparently doesn’t care for the cows that live behind my parents’ home.

I’ll even let you come over and see how not hostile it is. Well, unless you’re scary or mad, in which case you can’t come over.

I know I’m going to get hate mail for this. I know right now which not-so-pleasant people will make their not-so-pleasant comments. But I promised to write about this honestly, and this has been my experience.

I’m not set in this opinion. Feel free to offer more information that will change my mind. I’m open to think differently. I would actually love for you to change my mind. I hate thinking negatively about people who obviously want to help animals.