Animal Advocate Breaks Down Crying on Camera Recounting Heart-Wrenching Shelter Story
Marley’s Mutts Dog Rescue is one of the thousands of animal rescue shelters across the country that is committed to finding homes for dogs who would otherwise be euthanized.
Staff members and volunteers spend countless hours caring for abused, neglected or sick animals, hoping to rehabilitate them and move them into loving homes.
Some days, the job is rewarding. But other days, feelings of defeat and despair set in, leaving animal advocates like Heather in tears.
Heather, associated with Marley’s Mutts Dog Rescue, sat on her floor with a dog on her lap, in tears over a shelter scenario she had witnessed earlier that day.
“Today was really really difficult because the gentleman that has to actually physically euthanize the dogs at our shelter, he walked past us today. He’s always so sweet and so nice,” Heather said.
When Heather’s associate Lucy asked the gentleman if she could see his euthanize list, the man replied soberly, “It’s already done. I started at two o’clock today.”
The words shook Heather’s body as the sad reality of what happens to dogs and cats every day across America sank in.
Heather went on to express her sorrow over the people she personally knows who are allowing their dogs to have repeated litters or are breeding dogs themselves.
Heather has watched with sorrow as people pay expensive fees for a particular purebred puppy when shelters are bursting at the seams with dogs who need a home — arguing that even purebred dogs can be found in shelters.
“It makes me feel like we’re not doing a good enough job,” Heather said. “It makes me feel like we’re not spreading the word enough, that we’re not talking about it enough.”
“We’re not making a big enough impact on people because this is still happening. These are young people that should know better,” Heather said.
She went on to explain that part of being a human means taking good care of what has been given to us, and that includes our animals.
“We are failing them,” she said. “It is heartbreaking and today ripped my heart out.”
While in general, Heather chooses to focus on an at-risk dog’s future and not bemoan situations she cannot control, on this day, she could not keep silent about a cause she holds near and dear to her heart.
Do you agree with this woman’s thoughts about animal welfare?
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