I Know Someone Has To Do It...

[Guest donatella]

But how on earth do the vets who work at pounds do their job? Day in day out euthing healthy animals. I cant think it would be well paid either, makes me wonder how they attract and retain someone in this position and if it has a high staff turn over?

[Crisovar]

Most Pounds do not actually have a Vet on staff, they are simply contracted for the Vet work. It isn't pleasant work, however many are of the opinion that it is better for the animals to have someone who is sensitive to the animals actually helping them to pass. Large shelters and welfare organisations are a different scenario as there is a lot of actual veterinary work not just the Euths and the Vets get to do a lot more to help the animals.

ETA

If you spend enough time in pounds you will also understand that there are far worse things than death for many of the animals that pass through the system. For them it is a release from suffering.

Edited June 27, 2012 by Crisovar

[tdierikx]

It doesn't have to be a vet doing it either - some pounds have Euthanasia Technicians who are certified to do the job. I don't think I'd like to have to do it myself, and of the ones I've met, they aren't overly enamoured of the job either - but they do everything they can to make it easy for the animals they have to pts.

... and as Crisovar said, for some animals it's the best gift we can give them.

T.

[JaneyA]

and certain other (rural) pounds don't employ vets or certified techs at all, the ACO just ties the dogs to a fence and shoots them, yes in 2012

[Guest donatella]

and certain other (rural) pounds don't employ vets or certified techs at all, the ACO just ties the dogs to a fence and shoots them, yes in 2012

Oh wow

[frenzied1]

and certain other (rural) pounds don't employ vets or certified techs at all, the ACO just ties the dogs to a fence and shoots them, yes in 2012

WA and NT do that still apparently

[Dame Aussie]

Where I used to work there were a few long termers, but otherwise a high turnover. They don't like it, but someone's got to do it and they find ways to cope.

I couldn't do it. I struggled even seeing it or knowing it was going on and had to leave in the end.

But yes, it is true that for some of the animals it is a blessing.

Edited June 28, 2012 by Aussie3

[Issy]

and certain other (rural) pounds don't employ vets or certified techs at all, the ACO just ties the dogs to a fence and shoots them, yes in 2012

Seriously? In this day and age?

Does anyone know where one can make a formal complaint about something like this?

[Kirislin]

and certain other (rural) pounds don't employ vets or certified techs at all, the ACO just ties the dogs to a fence and shoots them, yes in 2012

Yep, I saw a doco a couple of years ago where a council worker grabbed a timid little terrier, dragged it out of the car, shot it and threw it onto a rubbish dump. They made no secret of it being done, he knew it was a doco. Just how it is in some places.

[mita]

[i saw a doco a couple of years ago where a council worker grabbed a timid little terrier, dragged it out of the car, shot it and threw it onto a rubbish dump. They made no secret of it being done, he knew it was a doco. Just how it is in some places.

Interesting to look at the rest of the life of a bloke who'd behave like that. Callous brutality towards animals tends to go along with callousness to humans.

While a less brutal means of despatch is used in most shelters & pounds, there's been documented adverse affects on staff who have to contribute to it. Yes, even when the rational response is that the animal is being sent to 'peace'. The fact that so many of the animals are intrinsically healthy and fine in temperament....can have a corrosive emotional effect on people within the normal range.

UQ reported that mental health issues, like post traumatic stress, goes along with it. Their conclusion was that high rate of PTS of such animals is not just an animal welfare problem, it's also a human mental health issue.

Edited June 28, 2012 by mita

[Dame Aussie]

[i saw a doco a couple of years ago where a council worker grabbed a timid little terrier, dragged it out of the car, shot it and threw it onto a rubbish dump. They made no secret of it being done, he knew it was a doco. Just how it is in some places.

Interesting to look at the rest of the life of a bloke who'd behave like that. Callous brutality towards animals tends to go along with callousness to humans.

While a less brutal means of despatch is used in most shelters & pounds, there's been documented adverse affects on staff who have to contribute to it. Yes, even when the rational response is that the animal is being sent to 'peace'. The fact that so many of the animals are intrinsically healthy and fine in temperament....can have a corrosive emotional effect on people within the normal range.

UQ reported that mental health issues, like post traumatic stress, goes along with it. Their conclusion was that high rate of PTS of such animals is not just an animal welfare problem, it's also a human mental health issue.

Wouldn't surprise me at all mita. I never did anything like that when I was working in the industry but even knowing it's going on around you is soul destroying. I completely burnt out.

[Aussienot]

The catch22 is that the only reason to do these jobs is a love of animals. You don't do it for the low pay, the difficult working conditions, personal fulfillment or the opportunity to deal with the aftermath from people who think animals are disposable. You love animals but have to participate in the death of some to save others. Impossible to reconcile, difficult to accept.

[Her Majesty Dogmad]

Some of the vets are interested in the dollar only and take to the work like a duck to water however, for most of them it is something that distresses them i'm sure. I saw one vet who has the contract for a large pound in NSW speak at a public meeting and it was very emotional for him, my heart went out to him as he spoke of destroying so many young, health animals mostly with lovely natures.

[Rebanne]

It's not just the vets, it's the staff that assist them as well. I know, I did it for years, it's soul destroying.

[Sheilaheel02]

and certain other (rural) pounds don't employ vets or certified techs at all, the ACO just ties the dogs to a fence and shoots them, yes in 2012

Yep, I saw a doco a couple of years ago where a council worker grabbed a timid little terrier, dragged it out of the car, shot it and threw it onto a rubbish dump. They made no secret of it being done, he knew it was a doco. Just how it is in some places.

I remember seeing that doco and the images have never left my head.

S

[mita]

Quote from 'Paws for News', School of Vet Science, University of Q'ld, Summer,2008.

"This is a heartbreaking job,and one with significant human toll. Post-traumatic stress syndrome is suffered by as many as 50% of shelter staff faced with this hopeless situation on a daily basis, leaving them with severe long-term effects and health issues."

As dogmad said it's the huge numbers of healthy dogs with lovely natures. No matter how it's rationalised that the dog will be in a 'better place'....the fact is that the only reason for PTS has nothing to do with the animal. It's to do with conditions that lead to so many dogs becoming homeless.

And as Aussienot's said that's what's so hard for people with any empathy to adjust to....as they're involved in the PTS (vets, vet nurses, pound/shelter staff & management).

Anyone who can do it with overt brutality & lack of empathy (like the example of the terrified little terrier being shot) should be hauled off, for scrutiny on anti-social behaviour towards humans, too.

[Maddy]

[i saw a doco a couple of years ago where a council worker grabbed a timid little terrier, dragged it out of the car, shot it and threw it onto a rubbish dump. They made no secret of it being done, he knew it was a doco. Just how it is in some places.

Interesting to look at the rest of the life of a bloke who'd behave like that. Callous brutality towards animals tends to go along with callousness to humans.

While that's probably often true, I think for some people, it's easier emotionally to harden themselves and not see the dogs as living creatures. Much easier to dispatch a "thing" than it is to kill a dog.

That said.. I don't think that long-term, it really does much to help people cope with the job in a healthy way and the end result emotionally is probably far worse once the defences wear thin. I have a lot of sympathy for people who have to do such a job on a daily basis- I've had to hold a few foster dogs as they were put to sleep and even when it's done as a last resort and with much love and respect for the animal, it still hurts.

I don't believe that humans have souls but each time you have to hold an animal as it passes, something dies a little more inside. For those sorts of roles, councils should be funding support for their pound employees. It'd help with staff retention and probably improve the pound environment considerably.

[mita]

[i saw a doco a couple of years ago where a council worker grabbed a timid little terrier, dragged it out of the car, shot it and threw it onto a rubbish dump. They made no secret of it being done, he knew it was a doco. Just how it is in some places.

Interesting to look at the rest of the life of a bloke who'd behave like that. Callous brutality towards animals tends to go along with callousness to humans.

While that's probably often true, I think for some people, it's easier emotionally to harden themselves and not see the dogs as living creatures. Much easier to dispatch a "thing" than it is to kill a dog.

That said.. I don't think that long-term, it really does much to help people cope with the job in a healthy way and the end result emotionally is probably far worse once the defences wear thin. I have a lot of sympathy for people who have to do such a job on a daily basis-

I agree, HA, that suppression of strong feelings is what lies behind the mental strain & even post-traumatic stress syndrome which eventually comes through. Apparently, it can also be manifested in physical health problems.

You took my comment about the relationship with callousness towards people out of context. I was specifically talking about a person who'd be observed to be overtly brutal and callous....as in the example given. That demonstrated likely lack of empathy, not just temporary suppression of empathy. And there has been relationship found between lack of empathy for animals with lack of empathy with humans.

That would not be true of the majority of people involved in the task of PTS of healthy dogs....who'd have to develop all sorts of ways of coping with what UQ calls 'a heartbreaking task', as you rightly pointed out.

Edited June 29, 2012 by mita

[Maddy]

[i saw a doco a couple of years ago where a council worker grabbed a timid little terrier, dragged it out of the car, shot it and threw it onto a rubbish dump. They made no secret of it being done, he knew it was a doco. Just how it is in some places.

Interesting to look at the rest of the life of a bloke who'd behave like that. Callous brutality towards animals tends to go along with callousness to humans.

While that's probably often true, I think for some people, it's easier emotionally to harden themselves and not see the dogs as living creatures. Much easier to dispatch a "thing" than it is to kill a dog.

That said.. I don't think that long-term, it really does much to help people cope with the job in a healthy way and the end result emotionally is probably far worse once the defences wear thin. I have a lot of sympathy for people who have to do such a job on a daily basis-

I agree, HA, that suppression of strong feelings is what lies behind the mental strain & even post-traumatic stress syndrome which eventually comes through. Apparently, it can also be manifested in physical health problems.

You took my comment about the relationship with callousness towards people out of context. I was specifically talking about a person who'd be observed to be overtly brutal and callous....as in the example given. That demonstrated likely lack of empathy, not just temporary suppression of empathy. And there has been relationship found between lack of empathy for animals with lack of empathy with humans.

That would not be true of the majority of people involved in the task of PTS of healthy dogs....who'd have to develop all sorts of ways of coping with what UQ calls 'a heartbreaking task', as you rightly pointed out.

I think it's still arguable that what appears to us as callousness could well be someone else's way of coping with a job that emotionally, would be extremely damaging, regardless of support received. If I had to guess, I'd say a fair few of those sorts of people originally got into the job because they liked dogs and over time, the working conditions have forced them to emotionally remove themselves entirely. Either way, it's not a good situation and ACOs who get to that point really need to replaced before their handling of the dogs becomes a welfare issue.

I see a fair bit of callousness and rough handling with the breed I rescue and it's not even seen as a bad thing, generally. It's just the accepted way of doing things. Which is something else to consider. What us crazy dog ladies see as brutal, unnecessary handling, people with a more utilitarian view of dogs see as being an acceptable way of managing/handling.

[Nic.B]

I agree Mita, great post.

I have no doubt that ethical and compassionate staff and vets are profoundly affected on many levels. Councils provide regular physiatrist sessions for staff for very good reason.

We can 'pretend' to be as tough as we like, ultimately you can’t lie to yourself though.

The destruction of healthy rehomeable pets, despite best effort to rehome or find rescue, is distressing beyond words for the staff who have nurtured the animals while impounded, formed bonds and are aware that unwanted pets are there most often through no fault of their own.