Whenever I first began looking for places to volunteer, I thought it’d be easy. However, I was surprised that most places actually needed to know in advance, and wouldn’t let me. I found this confusing because it’s volunteer work after all, and I thought these animals could use my help. The first place I went was PetSmart. After being there for a while and playing with the kittens, I tried to take a picture with them. The guy at PetSmart said there were no pictures allowed, and so I told him I had to leave. On the way out, I saw a man in beat down clothes with a leash in his hand. On the other end of the leash was a Siberian Huskey. I decided to get a picture with the dog, and then the man tried to get me to adopt the Huskey from him. Wow, I thought. This is a $3000 dog, and it is so tamed and beautiful! “How much?” I asked. The man gave me a very confused face and said, “A good home. That is all.” This, for some reason, touched me deeply. I almost felt ashamed that I thought about how much money the dog would cost before I thought of anything. I was even more shocked that PetSmart would give away a dog like that for free. However, I saw the man checking out at the register, buying dog food. After talking to him outside, the man said the only reason he couldn’t keep the dog anymore is because he could not afford him. He said he would make ends meet for the dog and bringing him to the shelter was the last option in his mind. This is when I decided I should actually do some volunteer work instead of just taking a picture with the Huskey in PetSmart and trying to use it.
When I got to the shelter, it seemed like a pretty nice place, and I noticed that there was no A/C. The people working at the shelter also did not look very happy. I assumed that there was no A/C because of the budget that they were on. I guess people don’t put as much money into the animal shelters as they should. It made me wonder whether or not it was state or federally funded. Anyhow, I soon realized why everyone was in such a gloomy mood. When I entered the room with the dogs and saw all the kennels my heart dropped. The smell alone created an environment that was very uncomfortable. Then came all the whines and groans of the dogs, which clearly indicated that they were unhappy. The kennels at the shelter reminded me a lot like a jail cell, but I wondered what their crimes were. It made me think of animal rights, and how they really didn’t have any. Even though they were given food and water, I still think prisoners receive better treatment, even when they are in their for crimes they committed. The dogs’ crimes were simply being “wild” or “stray,” which are words we humans created anyway. It is this anthropocentric view that looks at “wild dogs” as a problem because they aren’t domesticated. This view is similar to that of Aristotle: “Tamed animals have a better nature than wild, and all tamed animals are better off when ruled by man.” However, being at the shelter showed me that this was not true. I feel like the dogs would much have been running around outside in the wild than cramped up in a little cage all day, so are they really better off when ruled by man? The dogs almost sounded like they were crying because they wanted some free space; after all, dogs need to be walked every day.
It is this form of specieism that holds humans above these dogs, and so people see nothing wrong with leaving a dog in a crate or kennel all day, just as long as it has food and water. However, more forms of specieism exist. Do we hold certain animals to higher standards than others? Think about the eagle, for instance. Why aren’t there any eagles in animal shelters? After all, aren’t they wild and stray? Humans have given certain animals specific values and purposes over other animals. What makes one animal be able to roam free in the wild, while the other (the dog) gets trapped and imprisoned, and in the long run even killed for doing so. How should we regard animals, then? I think we should reinforce that all animals are equal, so we should treat them the same whether an eagle, dog, or ant. We should also give animals certain individual rights. While in the kennel room, I walked up to each dog and gave them the same amount of attention, and each dog gazed at me with the same sorrow-filled eyes, as if they knew something dreadful was coming. None of them appeared to have rabies, which is also an ideology created from intersectionality. “Stray” dogs are instantly characterized as diseased animals. Looking into animals’ eyes is the best way to see them as a subject-of-a-life. This means they have a memory, expectations, desires, and emotions, which they openly express if you pay attention. If you have ever had a dog, you know the feeling of coming home after a long vacation and seeing just how excited your dog is. They remember you. How human is that?
After this service learning project, I think of animal shelters differently. The whole idea of the animal shelter is supposed to be to help the animals and keep them alive if they are healthy to live. However, I noticed just how expensive it was to adopt one of the dogs. Some of them were $200, and this is $200 of pure profit for the animal shelter, seeing as they are strays. If the shelter can’t sell the animal, then they gas it to save food costs. Gassing is an expensive procedure itself, so I wonder why this is so commonly the alternative to setting them free in the wild. It also made me think of “The Humane Society” as a whole. How can they claim to be so humane when they gas dogs rather than let them go? I think if government can provide funds for many needless human organizations, then they should also fund the animal shelters. If animals had the vote, I’m sure they’d agree with me. A higher budget for the animal shelter would mean better treatment and quality of living for the animals, and we should want that, as “our duties towards animals are merely indirect duties towards humanity.” We are all animals.
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