I'm Not Afraid of the Forsaken

"American Pit Bull Terror!" The headlines scream shrilly about vicious, erratic dogs who run through the streets, attacking at random, any person who dares get in their way. But not just dogs, these are PIT BULLS. These are the bloodthirsty beasts who suddenly turn on their owners with locking jaws, clamping down with a bite force of greater pounds per square inch than a white shark! It is amazing what people will believe. Search any media reporting on dogs, and you will find a story like this. They can not say "dog", they must screech "PIT BULL" as they then pause for the collective shudder to pass through their wide-eyed readers. These dogs suffer more than any other breed of dog. Victims of stereotype, prejudice and hysterical legislation, they are also sought out by those who seek to use them as accessories to their ego, parading them on logging chains, scissoring their ears to frayed points, and while they sleep in their houses, their canine trophies, alone in the yard, pace the earth into bare dirt ellipiticals at the ends of their chains. I can not understand the puzzling contradiction that seems to exist between those whose ego seems to rest on the bulk and bridge of their dog's nose and the physical characteristics of the breeds, but then leave those same dogs to wither in the yard, tied to trees or old cars. They allow their coats to wear thin from flea infestation or mange, to never be vaccinated against distemper or parvovirus. They are left in empty backrooms for the discovery by a landlord days later, or dumped on country roads with scars zigzagging their legs, hairless pocks tracking across their faces. Bestowed with names such as "Gucci" and "Remy", they come into the shelter when they break free of their chains and they never return home. The dogs with the expensive names aren't worth the $30 to reclaim. They are easily forgotten because they are possessions and one can always buy a new object. Despite these pathetic existences, the dogs are then persecuted by media and frantic city legislators as neighborhood nuisances and threats to public safety. Rather than addressing irresponsible and neglectful dog owners, regardless of what breed of dog they own, legislation is passed to outlaw particular dogs. And rather than questioning stories, rather than searching for answers or lobbying for laws that would protect both dogs and people, the dogs that suffer so much because of their breed face further discrimination when we condemn them from our cities.

http://www.kcrg.com/news/local/Deputies-Find-Five-Pitbulls--100122614.html
www.pbrc.net
www.animalfarmfoundation.org

"The worst sin towards our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them. That's the essence of inhumanity." -George Bernard Shaw

I love my animal shelter. I love it in ways that are perhaps similar to the way one loves a spouse or a friend; even though it is difficult, and requires hard work, even though it makes me sad and at times very angry, it also makes me very happy and full of joy. My shelter is a municipal shelter. It is technically what is termed a "pound". Even though the word seems archaic, and the connotations it evokes make me cringe, a "pound" is different from other animal services. It refuses almost no animal through its doorway. We accept all strays from our county, regardless of whether or not we have an open cage. We take in hundreds of what we call "owner relinquish" animals each year. These are pets that are no longer wanted by their owners. Rarely do we turn these owned animals away. We, as a municipality, are funded by the city. We have definitely felt the impact of our wounded economy these past couple of years, as our budget was cut and shrunk to almost nonexistence. We exist within the city's police department, and so are also charged with animal control. This means that we enforce local and state laws and do public safety as it is concerned with stray or roaming animals, animal bites, wildlife issues, neglect or cruelty investigations, as well as education and disaster response. We offer support and assistance to the community in the form of subsidized low cost spay/neuter funding, emergency housing for pets and a pet food bank. We depend heavily on our volunteers and donations. We are a small shelter in comparison to many other places, we take in approximately 3,000 animals per year. We are able to house about 80 cats and 30 dogs. We are almost always full to capacity. Winter is a little slower than spring and summer (currently, we have 73 cats in the shelter, plus more in foster homes, and 16 dogs). Because we have a smaller intake than some other shelters, we are able to get around some of the more difficult issues other places deal with; We are able to interact with and get to know each individual animal very well. We are also able to not have a time limit on our animals' stay. Iowa City is growing, and we are feeling those changes. Even before we lost our facilities to the flood of '08, we had outgrown that building years before. Now, we are almost able to hold as many cats in our temporary location as we had in our old one, but there are times where every cage is occupied and we have plastic kitty carriers stacked upon each other with cats inside of them, as well. The time for a new animal shelter has long since passed, but the devastation of the flood has allowed the community to really see where we are lacking and give us the publicity we needed to gain support for a capital fund raising campaign.
Visit the shelter online: www.icanimalcenter.org
and our fund raising foundation: www.facf.org

Okay, so we're all done moving in to our new house! Life has finally returned to normal and it is so nice to be in a home where we are not walking all over each other. Although I am nostalgic for our little Czech cottage at times, I am definitely in love with our new house. It took me a little while to feel comfortable here. I actually had a sense of being homeless for a few weeks. We have settled in, however, and I realize that this is exactly what we wanted. It has all those subtle architectural details that are so scarce in modern houses; pocket doors to the dining room, leaded glass in the tops of the sitting room windows, wide wood trim and yellow pine flooring. We didn't get our fire place (Patrick still mourns this), which seems odd for a house of this age to be without, but they must have originally had a couple of wood burning stoves instead. There are aspects of an old home that I didn't forsee having to live with, such as the loud creaking of every step on our staircase, excruciating when one is trying not to wake a sleeping baby, and the never ending list of small repairs that need to be taken care of. However, it is fun to have a house with so much potential, to look forward to completing little projects that will bring the satisfaction a home owner feels when they put love and work into a home that is theirs.

Living

When people find out I work at an animal shelter, a common response is 'I don't know how you do it.' For me, it's not a conscious effort. It's just how I live. We don't think of the tiny details of daily life, or make an effort to breathe in and out, we just do it. The animal shelter is my life and I can not imagine being without it. It's like a partner for me, a companion. It's always with me and it's also a highly emotional experience. I take it with me wherever I go. For me, working at a shelter is not a job that I can shuffle into a neat little pile like a stack of papers that I don't think about until I come in to my desk the next morning. It's a force that motivates and gives me purpose. It allows me to funnel my energy into something that I can give a name to... I can say "this is my cause." This is what I do to be productive. I feel lucky to have a cause. It makes me feel empowered, that I can do something to make a difference, to have a positive impact on the world around me, however small it may be. When I feel I have a purpose, I forget that I am a small woman, I feel as capable as the men I work alongside...ex-military..cops. I am thankful for this catalyst, this energizer that keeps me going.

("Get Your Dog or Cat Fix at the Iowa City Animal Shelter" photograph of a poster left behind after the flood of 2008, which destroyed everything within the shelter)