A BARCS Volunteer's Thoughts on Compassion
At BARCS, one of our core values is compassion: for the homeless animals who come through our shelter doors and for the people of our community. Every day brings new challenges for our passionate staff and volunteers. Recently, Brigid H., a BARCS volunteer, reflected what compassion means to her after an average day at our open-admission shelter:
“Today, I did a transport for a mama dog and her two puppies (one of whom is pictured here) from the shelter back to their original home. Without getting into the particulars, there are details surrounding this situation that are tempting to judge. When I arrived, I helped to bring the dogs inside and got a chance to speak with the owner about his dogs. It was easy to see the absolute joy on his face when he was reunited with his beloved dogs. He shared with me the deep, special bond he has with them and how much he loves them.
“It would be easy for outsiders to judge why his dogs ended up at BARCS, but we shouldn’t.
“Later, I chatted with a couple of folks in line at our Public Resources entrance. One person was the girlfriend of the owner of a “frequent flyer” dog who has ended up at BARCS multiple times after getting loose. It would be easy to judge someone who keeps making the same mistake… but, instead, we talked about ways that the dog can safely get his energy out. I’m going to email her some enrichment ideas, too.
“Then, I spoke with a woman who was there to surrender her dog. He’s young, has had positive experiences with cats and is crate trained. I’m hoping he’ll find a good home quickly. The owner clearly didn’t want to give him up, but felt she had to to give her dog a better life. She shared how much crying she had done all week, and she was crying as she drove away after she said goodbye.
“It would be easy for outsiders to judge why she had to surrender, but we shouldn’t.
“There are certainly awful stories involving owners who did not do right by their pets—we know these cases because we work with these dogs every day. But, there are also so many more pet owners with good hearts who are just trying their best and need our help.
“Today was a really good reminder of that.” ❤
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