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Volunteering at the Louisiana SPCA: “I see
animals given not only a chance,
but every chance possible.”
If you’re lucky enough, you may find yourself in a place where
you can look back on a moment that was not only an experience,
but an eye opening, life-changing one. Call it your ah-ha
moment.
 For Susie Folkes, a Louisiana SPCA volunteer since November
2005, her experience with the LA/SPCA has been, in her words,
both “gratifying” and “wonderful,” and in just thirteen months
she’s experienced quite a few ah-ha moments that have changed
her views dramatically about what life is really like for
animals cared for at an animal shelter. Especially an open
admission shelter like the LA/SPCA where no animal is ever
turned away; and which, in turn, translates into hundreds of
animals always in need of homes at any one time.
When Susie meets someone who learns that she’s a volunteer she
is often greeted with sympathy of how difficult it must be to
volunteer for an organization like the LA/SPCA. Before she
signed on as a volunteer, Susie explained, “Even I didn’t think
they [the LA/SPCA] kept animals as long as they do. Now I see
that animals are given not only a chance but every chance
possible, for as long as possible. That was one thing that
surprised me and now I try to educate the public.”
 Susie recalls animals that literally grew up in the shelter like
the pitbull mix Rita, “A beautiful, black and white, energetic,
silly girl,” that was adopted locally after being here seven
months. Or Hazel, “who was with us for seven months before she
went to Maine and found a forever home.” And there are others
like: “Candy, a beautiful fawn pit mix who came to us
 as a
puppy. She was with us almost a year before she was adopted out
locally.” Susie also recalled Cortez, “A silly, goofy Rottie mix
came to us as a puppy, grew up in the kennels and stayed with us
eight months until he got to go to Maine,” where he was later
adopted.
 Susie said she’s also been heartened by the number of animals
that are cared for in the LA/SPCA rehab tent. The LA/SPCA
rehabilitation tent is designed to build the confidence of
animals that enter the shelter, and are found to be frightened
or especially traumatized. Each animal’s needs are assessed, and
they receive individualized interaction and socialization until
they reach the point that they can comfortably move into the
shelter’s general population. Susie also thinks fondly of
Archie, a pit mix and rehab alumnus that was recently adopted.
A native of Virginia who moved to New Orleans with her husband
Buddy in February 2005, Susie’s previous volunteer experiences
included stints for the Richmond Ballet in Virginia, and an ESL
(English as a Second Language) organization. In fact, it was her
husband who encouraged Susie to volunteer for the LA/SPCA. When
Susie and her husband returned to the city following Katrina,
Harry’s job was temporarily on hold so he decided to look into
volunteering. Both dog lovers, the couple was still mourning the
loss of their beloved Boxer, Ruby. Ruby lived to the age of 11
before succumbing to a pancreatic disease while the couple still
resided in Virginia. Not sure they were emotionally ready to
adopt another pet and now living in a small French Quarter
apartment, Harry realized the next best thing was to volunteer
at New Orleans’ only animal shelter. Harry encouraged Susie to
join him.
 “When I started I wasn’t sure I could even look at the dogs,”
Susie recalled when explaining how emotionally difficult it was
being around so many homeless animals. “I’m a dog lover, but all
I could bring myself to do was paperwork.” Shortly thereafter
Harry’s job re-started, but Susie remained on as a volunteer.
One day Susie decided to go into the
rehab tent to read to some
of the animals and from that moment on she never looked at
paperwork again. “Once you make that first contact, they’ve
pretty much got you.”
Susie’s volunteer experience also opened her eyes to the
practice of getting dogs from newspaper ads. Because of the
unending number of wonderful animals and the wide variety, from
purebred dogs to mixes, available on any given day at animal
shelters all across the country, Susie came to the realization
that once you work at an animal shelter you can’t ever imagine
using newspapers ads as an avenue to adopt a pet, because of the
thousands of animals in shelters who need homes.
Susie also made a self discovery. She’s developed an unabashed
love and respect for the pitbull. She never disliked the breed
but was always neutral about them. Now she can’t imagine a
better animal companion. “Pitbulls are so people-oriented and so
focused on you.” Getting to know the breed by interacting with
so many at the shelter, Susie has had an opportunity to see that
pitbulls are really
just lovable creatures. ‘I think pitbulls
are great with kids,” Susie added even though she acknowledges
that most people might be surprised to learn that.
When one volunteers for the LA/SPCA you get to see many facets
that go into operating a shelter, from adoptions to rehab to
evaluating animal temperaments to educating the public about
being a responsible pet owner. When pet owners aren’t
responsible, Susie has learned that everyone suffers; and the
animals are often
the ultimate victims. “I understand that you
can’t just bring a dog home, you have to socialize it as well.
You have a greater responsibility to yourself, the breed itself
and
 the neighborhood.” Susie has also witnessed the impact of
not spaying and neutering, especially when observing a family
coming into the shelter to surrender
a litter of puppies or
kittens. “When they do that all they’re doing is teaching their
kids that it’s okay to [pawn] the animals off for someone else
to deal with it,” said Susie. “I didn’t realize that was so
prevalent and in hindsight I realize [the state of] Virginia has
some of the same problems.”
When you consider that between six million and eight million animals
enter shelters every year, if one were to compare animal
overpopulation
to a looming mountain, Mount Everest would be a
mere molehill. Consequently, in an
open admission shelter like
the LA/SPCA where no animal is turned away and where all animals
are offered a refuge, regardless of whether an animal is
adoptable, Susie has gained insight into why difficult
euthanasia decisions must be made. From her experience she’s
acquired an understanding of why the decision to humanely
euthanize is made in order to alleviate or prevent an animal’s
suffering, whether physical and/or mental suffering. “I think
people assume space is always the reason for euthanasia (I know
I did) but I found that the opposite is true. It's often because
the animal simply can't mentally tolerate the stress of
confinement anymore.”
 In the course of
volunteering, Susie said she’s seen dogs,
mostly large breeds, that start out tolerating shelter life
well, but after months in the kennels, start giving into the
psychological stress of being confined. “At this point, it seems
cruel to keep them in the kennels and I understand why they have
to be humanely euthanized.”
Although she experienced her share of heartbreak, as has anyone
who works our volunteers for an animal shelter, she’s quick to
point out that, “You get more gratifying experiences then
frustrating ones.” Susie has volunteered in almost all facets of
the organization including off-site adoptions, the rehab tent,
evaluations and daily socialization. Unfortunately, due to her
husband’s job she will be moving back to Virginia in April 2007.
But wherever she ends up, animal shelters will always be a part
of her life. “It’s been a wonderful, gratifying experience and
it’s definitely in my blood. It’s like a TV remote. I can’t
imagine life without it.”
- Gloria Dauphin
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