Our shelter was small, but we had big hearts and we never lost sight of our mission: “It’s great to be alive!”
When I ran a shelter, I liked to teach people a lesson when their animals ended up there. Like we did to the person whose cat, Dale, was brought to our shelter. Dale’s family had to go out of town and left him in the care of a friend. By accident, the cat got out of the house and given that he found himself in an unfamiliar neighborhood, he became lost. Someone found Dale hiding in the bushes and brought him to the shelter. Shortly thereafter, Dale’s person called the shelter to ask if we had a cat matching Dale’s description. We said, yes, that Dale was here and that she could come down in a couple of hours when we were open, pay the reclaim and impound fees ($16, required by the town) and pick up her cat. She said she didn’t have the cash and couldn’t wait the several hours to pick him up. I told her to bring what she had. 15 minutes later, I heard an excited pounding on the front door and I let her in.
Before she even reached the adoption room she began calling out for her cat. Every time she yelled, “Dale,” a little cat in the adoption room would cry out with a “meow.” Every “meow” elicited a louder “Dale” and every “Dale” elicited a louder “meow.” It was joyous reunion. As I watched the woman head out the door with her cat cradled safely in her arms I thought about asking her to fill out the required forms, but I decided against it. After the fear of believing she would never see her beloved Dale again, she was in tears and full of emotion, caught up in the happiness of the moment and seemingly oblivious to anything else. She dropped 36 cents on the counter—a quarter, a dime, and a penny—and asked if that was ok, as she didn’t have any more. I said yes. They left. We ended up paying the impound and reclaim fees directly to the town on her behalf. That will teach her!
And the lesson is this: if she or her cat ever needed us, we’d be there for them. We were the local refuge for lost animals and it was our job, our duty, to facilitate reunions and to ensure happy endings. Our shelter was taxpayer funded so she had already paid her fair share and now it was our turn to provide the services she and the other citizens of our community hired our shelter to provide. We took the 36 cents, she took Dale, and we now had another cage available for the next cat in need. A win-win-win. Isn’t that the lesson a shelter is supposed to teach?
Addendum – Bah Humbug! Here is my response to some who suggested in the comments on my Facebook page that it was wrong to give Dale back for 36 cents because she could not afford to take care of him: Some people live paycheck to paycheck and I was not going to ask for her tax returns. Nor, as a shelter, was I going to promote the notion that only wealthy people are entitled to the companionship and love of animals. He was happy, healthy, and robust. Dale clearly loved her and she clearly loved him. He was neutered and vaccinated, showing he has had veterinary care. Plus, if she ever needed it, we were there to help her.
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