Emotional burn out of animal rescue and veterinary staff is becoming an increasingly common issue around the world. I don't suppose the global recession is helping as more owners are abandoning pets, or refusing to pay for surgical procedures.
I found a blog recently... it was simple and to the point and lingered in my mind... and last night, in a discussion relating to fish farming, I remembered it again. I don't suppose this person expects this blog to be widely read. It is a coping mechanism; a small memory of each life that passes through their hands. I am sure many who work in our industry will relate to it.
What I Killed Today - I work with a lot of injured wildlife. Also not wild animals that are just in a lot of pain. Sometimes I have to euthanize them. I decided to record each animal I euthanize here.
The reference to the fish farming came here
Next a male is removed from the water. He is clubbed, in theory, to death on the floor then the sperm is milked out of him. His body is thrown out the window into a pile on the ground.
I refused to participate. The instructor, disappointed and possibly angry, said "you're going to have to kill something sometime." I rolled my eyes. I stepped outside to avoid ridicule and realized that many of the male fish lying on the ground were still alive. I told one of the hatchery workers and he came out and half-heartedly clubbed one again. It was still moving. While it may have just been postmortem nerve reflexes, it still unsettled me so I spent the next hour cutting the heads off the fish as they were tossed out the window to ensure they were dead rather than have them suffocate to death. The knife they gave me was dull and it took all my strength to cut through.
So, honestly, I don't know if I killed anything today but it still felt as bad, if not worse, than any euthanasia I've ever performed.
So this got me thinking today as I teach Grief Management to my classes . ....which is about learning to deal with euthanasia and grief - for both their clients and themselves. People enter animal industries because they want to work with animals. They don't want to watch them die. And yet they do....
Animal Control Officers and shelter workers routinely deal with many challenges besides euthanasia: cruelty, ignorance and carelessness towards animals; hostility from the public; disrespect for their skill, commitment and love of animals. Of all these stressors, however, euthanasia is the most heart wrenching and unique to animal care work. No other profession asks people to end lives of those they deeply care about and want to help.
Euthanasia: A Veterinary Technicians Perspective
Each one hurts us, too. In fact, veterinarians and technicians alike tend to suffer more burn out in this field than in most jobs. It’s an emotional field to work in. It is not exactly professional for us to break down crying for each pet, and we try to keep in our minds that this is the right thing, but we see the owner’s suffering, we see the bond- whether it’s your first and last visit in one, whether this was something unexpected when you pulled in, or whether you made this appointment last week. We can see it in your face, hear it in your voice- we know how it feels because we love our pets so dearly and know how strong your bond is with your loved pet- each and every single euthanasia is a heartbreak for us, and we feel your pains.
Shelter workers pay a high price of traumatic stress and compassion fatigue
I believe that the majority of front line workers in animal welfare organizations suffer from traumatic stress and compassion fatigue. Why? Because the work is the most emotionally complex and morally challenging of any trauma worker role in our society. Remember, compassion fatigue is different from burnout in that the cause of compassion fatigue is always related to caring about, taking care of, or exposure to trauma victims, while burnout can result from any type of stress. Compassion fatigue is unique to certain roles and situations.The factors impacting the severity of these traumatic stress symptoms include: the duration of the experience/exposure, potential for recurrence, degree of exposure to death, dying and destruction, degree of moral conflict inherent in the situation, and the extent to which the role is direct or indirect. Every one of these factors exists in the shelter/animal control/rescue workers job:
Caring for traumatized animals is a daily event, not occasional. It is on going, not episodic.
Exposure to death is frequent at many shelters
Degree of moral conflict is extremely high for humans who deeply love animals and are in a role of choosing who will live and who may die, and are in the role of personally performing euthanasia
Their role is seeing these animal victims of trauma is direct and hands on, along with direct and on-going exposure to the very perpetrators of animal abandonment, neglect or abuse
Convenience Euthanasia - Just say no
What price do we pay for convenience euthanasia?
The highest rate of suicide in our profession in America involves workers who euthanize dogs and cats in animal shelters and pounds on a daily basis.
Researchers from the University of Southampton School of Medicine in Hampshire, England, report that the rate of suicide in veterinarians in the UK is four times that of the general public and twice that of doctors and dentists.
Richard Mellanby, David Bartram and David Baldwin published this sad information in the October 2005 issue of the UK’s journal Veterinary Record. They listed several factors that influence suicide in their veterinary surgeons, such as access to lethal drugs, euthanasia being an encouraged and justified procedure, job dissatisfaction, job stress and predisposition to depression.
Is there anything we can do?
I liked these suggestions from Cornell University and the Maddie's® Shelter Medicine Program at Cornell
Working with Veterinarians
Introduction
The simple truth is that enacting real change in our communities regarding the welfare and disposition of homeless pets requires participation from us all. We all have to work together in positive and effective strategies to non-lethally control the pet surplus. Veterinarians are uniquely positioned to participate and to take leadership roles in these efforts. These roles include: helping to increasing adoptions (through direction of shelter medical programs and building strong relations with shelters and the public), increasing sterilization of pets (in shelters and in practice--including feral cats), and increasing owner-retention of pets (through applied behavior counseling and permanent identification (microchipping) in practice).Good on Hills pet Food for running workshops
Compassion Fatigue and Burnout Workshop
Highlighted in Animal Sheltering Magazine, published by the Humane Society of the United States, SSACP's highly praised Compassion Fatigue and Burnout Workshop helps animal care professionals deal with the feelings that often lead to fatigue and burnout. The workshop provides a safe, confidential, supportive environment to address these feelings and restore hope, energy and enthusiasm.
And you, as members of the public, pet owners etc, can acknowledge the good work these people do, daily....
Animal in our Hearts
Have you ever wondered why people work at animal shelters? Have you ever thought or said, "Oh I couldn't work there, I love animals too much"? Interestingly, in response to both written surveys and verbal exercises in workshops I've conducted, involving several hundred shelter employees since 1995, the number one reason shelter workers have given over and over again for working in shelters is "because I love animals". They work there because they love animals, despite the pain and heartache they witness and feel themselves.
The next time you find yourself in a conversation with an animal shelter worker (or animal control officer or humane officer), instead of saying, "Oh I couldn't do your job, I love animals too much", try saying, "You must love animals a great deal to do the work you do." This type of comment, this acknowledgment, will go a long way toward boosting the morale of the people who care for the abused, neglected and abandoned animals of your community.
Thank you for reminding me that they are all worthy of being remembered.
Now that I ave made myself cry, I apologise if I have upset you in any way, or unearthed memories and fears for anyone reading it... losing a pet is never easy and their memories live on in your hears forever. Perhaps they go "Into The West"... like Frodo and Bilbo...
This moving piece was written for New Zealander Cameron Duncan ((April 20, 1986 – November 12, 2003) .. and then used in The Lord of The Rings... see lyrics below the video clip :)
Into The West
Lay down
Your sweet and weary head
Night is falling
You have come to journey's end
Sleep now
Dream of the ones who came before
They are calling
From across a distant shore
Why do you weep
What are these tears upon your face
Soon you will see
All of your fears will pass away
Safe in my arms
You're only sleeping
What can you see
On the horizon
Why do the white gulls call
Across the sea
A pale moon rises
The ships have come
To carry you home
And all will turn to silver glass
A light on the water
All souls pass
Hope fades
Into the world of night
Through shadows falling
Out of memory and time
Don't say
We have come now to the end
White shores are calling
You and I will meet again
And you'll be here in my arms
Just sleeping
What can you see
On the horizon
Why do the white gulls call
Across the sea
A pale moon rises
The ships have come
To carry you home
And all will turn to silver glass
A light on the water
Grey ships pass
Into the west
