07 January 2011

Pet Shelters - Part I

Amanda drove over 2 hours to the Franklin County Animal Shelter last night. I drove over and hour. The weather was terrible but we had emailed ahead about the dog and indicated we would be near closing and wanted to see a specific dog. They never noted any of that.

While I was still lost and sliding on the road, Amanda was already in an altercation with a piss-poor volunteer who refused to even acknowledge our attempts to support their efforts and the animals with simple cordiality. I don't care how bad your day is, you don't treat me and my wife that way.

Once I arrived, I went back in, bringing Amanda with me. I bypassed the malcontent and addressed an older, heavy man behind the security glass. He informed me that we were too late and we could only see the dog within its cage. That's better than nothing, but then he found out that our dog was diagnosed with a zoonotic disease over a week prior and that we couldn't see her. Both the fact that the place restricted access to animals at a certain time of day, and the fact that the dog we specifically inquired about was not visitable would have been great things to include in the response email. Terrible "customer" service wouldn't begin to describe the shameful atmosphere we endured, all in the name of love for stray animals.

If you were getting paid to adopt a dog, I might recommend this shelter right now. Unfortunately, this is where we found a dog we were interested in. Thus, this is where we have to return if we want to see this dog again. If this dog is out, you will probably not see me there ever again. Other shelters treat people better and I'd rather support their efforts.

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