Reflections on the Wild World of Animal Welfare

A Message From the whatcom humane society Executive Director

Dear Friends,

Fall is in the air. I hope you and yours are enjoying all the amazing things that the season brings with it. We had a chaotic summer at Whatcom Humane this year, and I for one am glad it’s over and hopeful that things will slow down enough to allow our staff and volunteer teams time to breathe.

I’ve had the opportunity over the past several weeks to attend some very informative training workshops and chat with colleagues from around the state and region. Working in animal welfare is such a unique space. In many ways, those of us working or volunteering in the shelter/rescue community share so much in common: we all want to help animals. But in many other ways, our organizations and groups are vastly different. Our missions vary, philosophical beliefs differ, short and long term strategic plans, types of service, animals served—I could go on and on.

In the sheltering world, you hear a lot of buzz words and phrases: “Capacity to care”, “length of stay”, “managed admission”, “open adoptions”, and “data-driven statistics” are just a few of the current popular topics on agendas when attending animal welfare workshops and seminars. These are all interesting subjects to research, and as organizations like ours review our programs and services and consider available resources, they facilitate meaningful discussions with staff, volunteers, and stakeholders. I enjoy learning about how other shelters, big and small, operate—what works, what doesn’t work, and how they implement and manage their animal populations and daily activities.

That being said, I always seem to find myself shaking my head a bit when I sit in group workshops, webinars, or am speaking with others in the animal welfare world who are so quick to judge open-admission shelters like WHS for doing what we do—making the difficult but necessary decisions that we make and being extremely transparent about those decisions. You know that feeling you had in junior high school when you didn’t have the cool jeans, your shoes were not the right brand, and you wore really bad glasses? Yep, that’s me, only 40+ years later, now talking to my colleagues. I’ve recently had well-respected members of national animal welfare groups suggest that our statistics would look better if we turned animals away, reduced all barriers to adoption (i.e., no need to ensure it’s a good fit for adopter or animal, just get the animal out the door), and stopped performing animal control services.

Let me be clear: Change is good. Regular review of our operations is vital to ensure that we are being responsible with our resources and utilizing best practices for the benefit of our staff, our volunteers, and most importantly, for our animals. But let me also say that I could not be more proud of the fact that for almost 125 years the Whatcom Humane Society has been an open-admission shelter, turning no animal away. We work tirelessly to find permanent, responsible, and loving homes for domestic animals in our care where both the animals’ needs and the adopters’ needs are being met. Our animal control team works 24/7 to protect, advocate, and care for our community’s animals, big and small. Our wildlife rehabilitation center is one of the most inspiring places one can imagine, caring for thousands of injured and orphaned wild animals annually. And if I got to choose anywhere to spend a beautiful fall afternoon, it would be the WHS farm, hanging out with the horses, goats, sheep, pigs, cows, and whatever other large animals are lucky enough to be housed there.

WHS might not have all the bells and whistles that some shelters have; we may not get the same publicity as some groups get; and we may not hang out with the “popular” crowd—but I will put our shelter programs, services, operations, philosophies, hard work, and heart up against anyone, anytime. And you know what: we will rock it!

Working or volunteering at a shelter like WHS can be challenging on a good day, really hard on a bad day, and then there are some days when it just feels impossible. But we get through it because of the commitment of those who believe in what we do: our dedicated staff, our amazing volunteers, and the support from our community. Thank you for continuing to believe in us, to believe in our mission, and to care about the domestic, farm, and wild animals in our shelters and community.

I hope to see many of you this fall and during the holiday season at our Division Street shelter, at one of our upcoming events, or at our thrift shop. Thanks for helping make our community a better place for people and animals.

With Sincere Gratitude & Appreciation,

Laura Clark, Executive Director