Episode Notes
NonprofitA non-governmental organization whose primary purpose is something other than selling goods or services. Specialist Julia, Research Specialist Amber, and Community Education Specialist Andie discuss animal sanctuary and rescue collaboration considerations with animal sheltersOrganizations, either government-funded and maintained or not-for-profit and funded by charitable contributions, with a physical infrastructure in which homeless animals are cared for and offered for adoption.. While the word “shelter” can be evocative for many, and many folks may have a lot of feelings about them, it’s important to realize that shelters are often an essential point of contact when it comes to saving the lives of animals in need. They are frequently a first point of entry for animals in need of assistance, and they can be a critical ally to your animal organization! Have a listen to learn more about how your organization can develop and maintain relationships with shelters so you can maximize your helpful impact for animals!
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This Episode’s Referenced Open Sanctuary Project Resources:
- A Starter Guide To Terminology Around Animal Care Spaces
- A Starter Guide To Understanding And Working With Animal Shelters For Animal Sanctuaries
- Managing Requests To Take In And Help An Animal Outside The Scope Of Your Sanctuary’s Mission
- Determining Your Animal Sanctuary’s Capacity For Responsible Care
- Fostering Positive Relationships Between Animal Sanctuaries
- Managing Cruelty, Seizure And Escapee Cases At Your Sanctuary Or Rescue
- Building And Maintaining A Good Relationship Between Your Animal Sanctuary And Veterinarians
Episode Transcript (Auto-GeneratedThe following content was transcribed through an automated process and may contain transcription errors or misspellings.)
Julia Magnus: Greetings, sanctuary and rescue friends, to a new episode of the Open Sanctuary Podcast. I’m Julia Magnus, the nonprofit specialist for the Open Sanctuary Project. I’m honored to be joined by Amber Barnes, our research specialist, and Andie Springirth, our community education specialist. So, today we want to talk a little bit about collaborating with animal shelters. And that was Rocco, who has many opinions about this, as roosters tend to do. And as Rocco has many feelings, so do many other people about the bird shelter. It’s evocative, and many people have many feelings about it. So, Rocco and others definitely feel that it’s important that we all recognize that while we have feelings about shelters, they’re often an essential point of contact when it comes to saving the lives of animals in need. And when we’re talking about shelters, it’s important to remember that they’re frequently a first point of entry for animals in need of assistance. And they can be a critical ally to your animal organization. So, let’s start out by offering a really simple definition of what a shelter is. An animal shelterAn organization, either government-funded and maintained or not-for-profit and funded by charitable contributions, with a physical infrastructure in which homeless animals are cared for and offered for adoption. is a publicly supported animal care space with a physical infrastructure in which homeless animals are given care and offered for adoption. And not all shelters are the same. It’s important to distinguish between different kinds of shelters. Like specifically when it comes to municipal shelters versus nonprofit shelters. Animal shelters can either be municipal or nonprofit. How they’re structured and receive donations varies on local law. But typically speaking, a municipal shelter is going to be government funded and maintained while a nonprofit organization is funded by charitable contributions, typically tax dollars. In the case of a nonprofit organization, they may be tax-exempt, but they also are accountable to the public in the sense that they hold a public trust. So both are answerable to the government in various different ways. Municipal shelters tend to be directly answerable to the entity of government through which they were created, which could be a city, county, state, or combination of the three. Nonprofit organizations are answerable to their state administrative bodies that oversee nonprofitsNon-governmental organizations whose primary purpose is something other than selling goods or services. as well as the IRS, and both are likely to be overseen by the Department of Agriculture in the state in which they are located as well. One other point I want to make about municipal shelters is often, and in my city for example, Chicago, our municipal shelter is tasked with taking in every animal that comes through their doors. While a nonprofit shelter may not always have that same charge or obligation. So that’s another important distinction. So each of us have worked with different kinds of shelters in the past in different ways. On my end, I’ve worked with multiple municipal shelters as well as some nonprofit shelters on bird rescue specifically, and I’ve had some intense collaborations around cockfighting busts with a few municipal shelters. And what that all taught me is that the stigma that a lot of folks hold around shelters is not necessarily true because I’ve met so many shelter staff who are so into going above and beyond the call of duty to help work on saving lives of all species and are happy to work with vegan-oriented animal organizations, with farmed animal sanctuariesAnimal sanctuaries that primarily care for rescued animals that were farmed by humans. and others, to help get lives out, to get them saved, to get them in safe forever homes. On the other hand, we’ve also encountered some stresses and frustrations at times specifically around timeline, scarcity, resources, and space. Andie and Amber, you’ve both worked with shelters. So, do you all want to talk a little bit about your experiences and what has made you happy and what has been stressful for you?
Amber Barnes: Yeah. This is Amber. I have some experiences on both sides of things. I’ve definitely worked with shelters from a sanctuary perspective as a caregiverSomeone who provides daily care, specifically for animal residents at an animal sanctuary, shelter, or rescue., and I’m thinking in particular there were, like, a pig showed up out of nowhere on the street and someone called “sack,” things like this, right? They don’t know what to do. This is not typical for them. And so what we found is luckily someone on their staff knew that there were different animal sanctuaries in the nearest vicinity, and they did a little research, and they were able to reach out to us. They were very informative about what the situation was. They were also very receptive to what we recommended. They were on a bit of a time crunch, as a lot of shelters are, because there isn’t space, and they did not have a space for Harry, we called him Houdini, Harry Houdini, and he was also very hairy. He was pretty funny, but there wasn’t a good space for them. So they had pressure from the top being like, “We can’t really, we’re not set up for this,” but you also had shelter workers that were absolutely wanting to make sure that he went somewhere where he was going to be well. As Julia had said, I have seen so many shelter workers go above and beyond. And quite honestly, as we know as caregivers, anyone that’s caregiving in really any capacity, it just is kind of going above and beyond. Like you just run into so many situations. The very job, I feel like that is part of the, you know, the title, almost like “the above and beyond caregiver,” is because so many things happen. And these individuals were no different. So they were very helpful. We worked together. They were like, “What, you know, how would you like us to do things?” You know, where we showed up to pick him up. And so that went really well. And that was great. And I know it does not always go that well. And this is where I can go on the flip side of things is actually I did work at a shelter. I’ve worked at two different shelters, and it was hard. It was really hard. One of these shelters was small, you know, kind of outside of a smaller town, and that one was a little easier because the other one was in a pretty large city, and they had a deal. It’s interesting because with the municipal, there was an animal control, and then they were connected in this new building by like a hallway, and then there was the humane society shelter where I worked. And so they had worked out a deal with like the city. They were private, but also they did get some government funding if they agreed to certain stipulations, right? In this big city, there was such an issue as so many animals that they weren’t, they couldn’t refuse. We could make suggestions and be like, “Hey, if you can handle this, you can come back. Try and come back next week, and we’ll have some space.” But I say this because I know we all have a lot of strong feelings about what can happen there to the innocent lives that come through those doors. And it can be very heavy to be a worker there and to be a shelter worker. And I did work on euthanasiaThe act of ending someone’s life to spare them from suffering or a significantly reduced quality of life that cannot be managed., which it was awful, honestly. And I know that everyone here on that caretaking level, if you know what it is to love and care for all these animals, it’s definitely another story, but I just say this to help us remember we know what it’s like when we’ve been working such long hours and we have just run into a situation where maybe you’ve lost someone or maybe there’s just something else going on and you just can’t breathe. You can’t take time for yourself to really catch up to process things. And just to remember that while they are not farm animal sanctuaryAn animal sanctuary that primarily cares for rescued animals that were farmed by humans. caregivers, they do care. And it’s one of those situations where there might be philosophy of care differences or this or that, but ultimately you are dealing with someone that cares. You don’t do that job if you don’t care because there’s no, okay, you already know this is not the job you go into for high pay and high praise. So, yeah, Julia, do you have something to say or?
Julia Magnus: Yeah. Oh, I have many things to say. I have definitely many things to say because I’ve gotten to know over years some of the staff at these shelters, and I know many veganAn individual that seeks to eliminate the exploitation of and cruelty to nonhuman animals as much as possible, including the abstention from elements of animal exploitation in non-food instances when possible and practicable as well. The term vegan can also be used as an adjective to describe a product, organization, or way of living that seeks to eliminate the exploitation of and cruelty to nonhuman animals as much as possible (e.g., vegan cheese, vegan restaurant, etc.). staff at animal shelters. Sorry, we’ve got also a cattle dog in the background who has meeping little opinions. But yeah, it’s really important to recognize, I think, that we’re all on Team Buddy. Like, these folks wouldn’t be working there if they didn’t care. So, it’s important to go in with a mindset of understanding and kindness because many of the pressures that these folks are dealing with is way more than even we see in farmed animalA species or specific breed of animal that is raised by humans for the use of their bodies or what comes from their bodies.<animal rescueAn organization that helps secure animals from dangerous or unacceptable situations. As organizations, rescues may or may not have dedicated permanent infrastructure for housing animals. or sanctuary contexts. In terms of intake, when you have to take everyone who comes through your doors, that’s a whole other level. It’s a lot. Andie, you’ve also worked in shelter settings. How was that for you and what is your insight that you think might be helpful for our audience in understanding how shelters work?
Andie Springirth: Yeah, I worked at a wildlife rehabilitation clinic, and about a year into that actually had the opportunity to simultaneously work there and at a farmed animal sanctuaryAn animal sanctuary that primarily cares for rescued animals that were farmed by humans.. So the first time that I actually visited this clinic, and it was a clinic, but it was very much a shelter type setting, right, as a lot of rehab centers are. But the first time that I actually visited there, a person opened up the door and they had a disgruntled expression on their face. Probably expecting me to be handing them a wild animal in need and was not a warm greeting or introduction. As a newcomer and somebody who had not worked in this type of setting before, I can completely honestly say that I was put off initially and kind of had this reaction of, “I thought this was supposed to be like a caring environment, and people were supposed to be warm and fuzzy and friendly.” I had zero insight in terms of having an understanding of what they possibly could have been going through. Now, fast forward six months later, after rehabbing there for quite a long time and also doing some education work there, I was that disgruntled person who was opening the door to that clinic. Because this is a type of setting, like a lot of, I would say, all shelter settings. If you don’t work or haven’t worked in a shelter setting like this, I’d love for you to contact us. I’d love to know if that exists anywhere. But we were receiving literally hundreds of wild animals a day, particularly birds. And at any given point, any given day, you could walk into that space and see 200 different birds and some other wild animal species. And then on top of that, during bird migration season in the spring and the fall, you can double that. And I’m being very serious. Some folks who’ve not been in these spaces, these are not big spaces. Friends, if you’ve ever been inside of a wildlife clinic or any kind of animal shelter, regardless of the species they care for, generally speaking, unless it’s something that’s brand new and top-of-the-line and they’ve had some kind of unbelievable amount of funding, it’s incredibly overcrowded. This was a nonprofit, by the way, I should say, not a municipal space. This particular clinic, they very well could have said no to people, but they had a policy to accept pretty much everyone who came in that was within their legal capabilities. In terms of wild animals, there’s a lot of reasons why wildlife rehabbers cannot take certain species. But anyway, so I just wanted to provide that anecdote because I think being inside of a setting like that provides you with a new perspective, and it’s important to get that perspective and to get it out into the world, especially because once I continued to do that and then started to work in the farmed animal sanctuary world, it was a big learning curve for me. I will say in my experience at the clinic, the wildlife clinic, I was the only vegan there. Though there were other vegetarians, just being in a wildlife space, the philosophy of care is different than it would be in a farmed animal sanctuary setting. I’m not saying that it has to be or that it should be. I’m just saying that oftentimes it is. And one of those reasons is because in a wildlife shelter setting or rehabilitation setting, the goal is to rehab and release. There’s a lot of species that in the wildlife community, if that animal cannot be released to live the life that they were ultimately meant to live as a free-roaming animal, oftentimes the mentality that folks in these spaces hold is that life is not worth living. And I know that can be a hard concept to swallow as a vegan and as somebody in the sanctuary world. And again, I’m not saying that that’s right or wrong. I’m just saying that that’s the reality in terms of the mentality there. So, that was difficult for me to navigate, I will say. So, yes, being overcrowded, understaffed, overtime is a given. There’s no eight-hour workday in a shelter setting. Never. I would get in there at 7:30 a.m. and get out of there easily at 5:00 or 5:30 p.m. And sometimes that was even early because they’d open till 8:30 or 9:00. And there were two different shifts, but they overlap constantly. So, with all this said, I also want to say that even though I was the only vegan at the time, I want to echo what Julia and Amber you all said regarding the staff in these settings: even though they weren’t necessarily vegan or had opened their circle of compassion yet to farmed animal species, every single person who was there was there, as Amber mentioned, not for money, not for fame or glory or anything like that. It was simply because they cared to make a difference in the lives of so many wild animals that roamed in this particular region and were harmed directly by human activities. So I took that as my baseline view of these people: that regardless of our differences in ethics here regarding “food animals” and wild species, I knew that these folks had already opened their hearts and minds up in this way and that the connection was possible there right away. So this is kind of a long-winded way of getting at a point that I feel is really important to speak about with the sanctuary community, and that’s that these folks, it can be frustrating, particularly at this clinic, when a farmed animal species would come in because there are farmed animalsA species or specific breed of animal that is raised by humans for the use of their bodies or what comes from their bodies. in big cities, many times for unfortunate reasons, that get abandoned or escape from certain settings and are brought to spaces like shelters and wildlife clinics. What was frustrating for me oftentimes was that the folks in this particular shelter setting did not know a lot about farmed animal care, which is very unique and different in a lot of ways from wildlife rehabilitation, especially farmed bird species, and the type of nuanced understanding and care that goes into what can be a very complex situation. What I found, interestingly, is that other sanctuary folks who had actually discovered this particular space, some of them would actually write off this place as a place that was not valuable to the community, even though this was one of the only places in this entire area that would take these escaped or abandoned farmed birds. And I kind of saw my role there for the time that I was there as a bit of a liaison to try to bring in knowledge from the sanctuary world into the wildlife rehab world and the shelter setting and share knowledge about what could be done differently. I won’t say it was easy. People have strong opinions about things and how it should be done. But I do want to emphasize to round this out that I built some really great relationships, positive relationships, with folks in this community, this wildlife clinic and shelter community. It had a direct positive impact on the farmed bird species that would come in there and then find very compassionate homes in farmed animal sanctuary settings that were somewhat local to there. And I see that as a really positive thing. So I’m just saying this to say, yes, Julia and Amber, let’s not write off these spaces. Even if there’s a gap in understanding or philosophy or ethics, they can be, and most of the time are, allies, and I think we should see them as such and treat them as such.
Julia Magnus: Yeah. I also agree with that. It’s hard because most shelters are typically serving the needs of more traditional companions like cats or dogs. So there definitely can be a major knowledge gap. And so even while virtually every sanctuary that exists has capacity issues at this point, you may not always be able to take the buddy. But you can help advocate for the buddy. You can help educate shelter staff about the buddy. And Andie, it’s great that you served as that liaison or bridge person between the sanctuary community and the wildlife rehab space. It’s something that I’ve done. I’m sure Amber has done this as well, just working to educate folks within the shelter community when they get suddenly a rooster or suddenly 114 roosters from a bust, and what do we do? Oh no. Well, what are the kinds of ways that we can help support shelter staff, even if we can’t always do all the intakes? What are some of the kinds of ways that we can help support shelter staff and shelters in educating them about farmed animal care and providing? I mean, one thing I know is just getting them the proper food. You know, that’s a big thing because they don’t have access to that. That’s not in their donation box every day. Like you can ask farmed supply stores for food donations, you can get them over there, but what are other ways? And Andie is an educator and Amber is just the general person that you are who’s worked in all these spaces. What are some of the ways that you found to be helpful to shelters?
Amber Barnes: Well, speaking additionally on my experience as, you know, working as a shelter person, is we did receive roosters from time to time. The area we worked in, unfortunately, it wasn’t uncommon. They were working on breaking up, you know, fighting bases, and that was one of the things that came up for us. And also, there was a goat once that just was wandering that ended up there. And we found homes kind of, but it was like we didn’t have what we needed, and there wasn’t a farmed animal sanctuary in this area at all at the time or even close. There wasn’t any in the state. But if there were, if they had reached out to us just ahead of time, just knowing, “Oh, okay. Here’s all the shell birds within whatever distance of us.” And then like, “Hey, just wanted to introduce ourselves. And also, we know sometimes this just, you get a surprise intake, and if you ever have any situations like that, please, here’s my card or whatever or number, and you know, put it up there and give us a call, and we’ll do our best to help you out.” That, number one, if we had just known, because we would do special, like if we got in a certain dog breed or something that we thought might, there might be breed rescues, right, specific. We would call around to them, but we, number one, most staff don’t have time to research, and a lot of them don’t even really know that farmed animal sanctuaries exist. So we knew that breed, you know, rescues existed so we could do that. And if someone had a minute, and it was usually me because I like researching, I like finding, just making stuff, but that wasn’t an option. So, one, I think letting them know of your presence in a really friendly “I’m here to help. We’re on the same side.” Like, number one, just starting from that space. And also, as Julia was saying, you could help with this or that. We have a resource about capacity and how to do this responsibly, and mention there are other ways to help sanctuaries deal with things, or people, individuals. Same thing with shelters, like, “We can’t take them, but what we can do is we can help with transport to this other space.” You know, “I can talk to this other space. We can bring you food. We’ll drop off a donation of food.” You know. So, this is another way. Or even sometimes you can provide like a temporary something before they get somewhere, or we can send a volunteer over to help set up a space, things like that. Actually, and here’s our vet that works with this species, if you have any issue. That’s what I’d say.
Julia Magnus: Yeah, I got to tag on to that because that is the two things that I’m thinking about that haven’t been mentioned yet that we’ve done in the context of working with municipal shelters and specifically in the context of cockfighting is we have arranged transport to and from our avian vets. We’ve coordinated our avian vets with the shelter vets, and we’ve also helped vetting homes because a lot of shelters are not aware of some of the issues that come around cockfighting, and there have been some unfortunate situations where we strongly believe that birds ended up right where they started after being placed. And these are things that you as an organization, if you’re familiar with, for example, re-vetting, any of those kinds of things where you have specialized knowledge where they might not.
Andie Springirth: Oh, so many good points here because I have so many direct experiences with these exact things that you all are bringing up. I just want to shout from the rooftops, “Vets! Vets are such a wonderful resource to share between each other.” I know we mentioned, “How can we help shelters?” and I want to touch on that, but I also just want to say, “How can we help each other?” Yes, knowledge share in terms of who vets are, what they specialize in, is massive. I cannot tell you how many folks in the sanctuary community where I was at were excited to learn about avian specialists in the area that the wildlife clinic that I worked with utilized, and I think a lot of us in the sanctuary community are aware that finding vets that specialize in avians can be a very challenging task. So that is something I just wanted to echo. Also, I think Julia, you mentioned in terms of sharing new ways of doing things. So I can share a concrete example of that: how to wrap bumble feet for bumblefoot and sharing different products, whether they be over-the-counter or prescribed, different tools helping each other. Especially in terms of sanctuaries helping shelters. You know, if a shelter gets in a farmed animal species, the sanctuary, aside from potentially being able to provide permanent residency for that animal, which is not always possible, but sometimes it is, but also providing advice and suggestions on more appropriate temporary living arrangements, how to do that in a way that is more beneficial for the animal. I also, two other things I wanted to say in terms of helping each other is if you’re able to build a positive relationship with spaces, in my example, with a wildlife clinic/shelter, they can also provide direct help to you. How many folks out there who are listening have found an injured, orphaned, or ill wild animal on their property or driving to and from the property and they’re like, “What do I do? Who do I call?” This is a really common scenario. I do just want to plug in, we have a resource on this: “Managing Requests to Take In Animals Outside the Scope of Your MissionThe stated goals and activities of an organization. An animal sanctuary’s mission is commonly focused on objectives such as animal rescue and public advocacy.,” which provides some more general resources of where to find help depending on where you are. But I also just want to say that if you have a direct contact or connection with a wildlife rehabber or even a whole clinic and shelter space, you are in luck in terms of getting direct help in that way potentially or just advice, you know, and networking. The last point I wanted to bring up in terms of sanctuaries helping shelters is I just wanted to go back to a point I made earlier in terms of potentially holding different ethical values and perspectives on animals and different species of animals. That’s actually something that you can provide shelters with is new perspective. So to give a really concrete example, there was another wildlife rehabber that I worked with that I adored, and I remember though one day there was a staff luncheon that we were having. I don’t know if it was a celebration or something else entirely, just for fun, but cheese was being served, cheese that comes from cowsWhile "cows" can be defined to refer exclusively to female cattle, at The Open Sanctuary Project we refer to domesticated cattle of all ages and sexes as "cows.". And we all make decisions in these moments of whether we want to bring the “elephant into the room,” in this case. And I decided this was an opportunity I wanted to bring in, particularly because it’s an animal clinic. And I was like, “I really feel like this is an opportunity for me to just share something that these folks, my friends, my colleagues didn’t know about.” And I had this one particular rehabber holding a squirrel in one hand that he was kind of transporting from one area to another. And he said, “Andy, why would I care about a cowWhile "cow" can be defined to refer exclusively to female cattle, at The Open Sanctuary Project we refer to domesticated cattle of all ages and sexes as "cows." that I’ll never meet?” And you know what? Instead of writing him off, I said, “Why do you care about that squirrel that you’re holding?” And it was like literally watching him make a connection in real time. Like his, I was watching the brain synapses connect because I could just easily go back and say that, and it’s the same reason I think he kind of discovered. Now, did he go vegan on the spot? No. But did we start a conversation and did he gain a new perspective, or a new connection that he hadn’t thought about? Absolutely. And for me, it was worth it just for that one point of connection right there. So I just want to say too that you can also provide, in addition to direct type of care and resources, you can also provide a personal perspective on in terms of how we view animals and our relationships with them that I think are really beneficial.
Julia Magnus: You know, another thing that you can do that’s great and it’s a way of building solidarity with shelter workers. Bring them some vegan snacks. I mean, I have brought vegan tamales over to the shelter I don’t know how many times, and everyone always is very, very happy about this. We’re fortunate to have that shelter near a vegan tamalier, and we can get the vegan tamales, and everybody’s always really excited when that happens. There’s ways to share your view and there’s ways to open minds with shelter workers while recognizing they’re all on Team Buddy. You know, we’re all on Team Buddy, and building solidarity versus division. And all of us keeping in mind as well that we have to recognize that not everyone can serve in the same capacity that we do, in the same way that we do. So, it just feels really wildly important to me to build solidarity in these ways. I just want to say one more thing, sorry, because I feel like this is necessary. Shelter spaces can also provide sanctuary spaces with really valuable new insight and perspective as well. Right. So,
Andie Springirth: Absolutely. So, in terms of how I know oftentimes from kind of a vegan sanctuary perspective, we, I’m just going to provide a direct example because I’ve seen this so many times, you know, with domesticatedAdapted over time (as by selective breeding) from a wild or natural state to life in close association with and to the benefit of humans and farmed animal species, we have a certain way of interacting with them, and we think that that translates to free-roaming wild animals, and it just does not. Most 99.99% of the time it does not, and it should not translate. And this was something, an invaluable insight and perspective that I think can be brought more into these sanctuary spaces. In terms of, yes, you can help them certainly, and we should when they’re in need, but also there’s a different way of interacting with them, handling them, etc., that is also really important.
Amber Barnes: Yeah. Just one more, on that same note, I’m just thinking of the people I’ve interacted with, and also Andie is definitely onto something because I met who is now my bestie at the animal shelter 13 or 14 years ago, and I brought in vegan enchiladas.
Julia Magnus: Oh!
Amber Barnes: They are now my vegan bestie and have been for like 10 years. But of course, you know, that’s not always our focus, but it was nice. There was, there is that kind of ability that’s set up there. But also, I think what Andie was saying about our perspective too, it is also important. One of the sanctuaries I worked at was well-funded; it was so nice. That is not the case for most of us. I’ve definitely worked at others that were not, and definitely not for those shelters. And I remember going in and I actually trained on something with shelter workers. So we were connected that way, and they were really like, “Wow, you know, like what you are able to do, and we don’t have that funding.” And so I think it’s just also important to not judge people harshly in those spaces. A lot of them don’t have control over all the things. And you know, they are dealing with individuals that are right there in front of them, so it makes sense that that individual is their focus. Now when someone comes in, like it was a bantam that came into one of you can tell, you know, I didn’t even have a conversation because I was vegan, you know, with anyone about that, but the way that they just fell in love with Mr. Buckbeak, just having that and then realizing that he’s a little rooster person. That in and of itself, and doing what you can to just promote that, even if there isn’t space to hold a conversation about veganismA movement and way of living that seeks to eliminate the exploitation of and cruelty to nonhuman animals as much as possible. Often, veganism is defined synonymously with a plant-based diet, although veganism includes abstaining from elements of animal exploitation in non-food instances when possible and practicable as well. or something, just realizing that you are there. And snacks are always great, right? And who has time to think of their lunch when you’re working a lot of the time? So when you just bring nice vegan snacks, “Oh my god, somebody brought us snacks!” And that’s so great. And you know, so it’s just a way to share the love too, and provide people with a great way to connect with you. You’re nurturing them and your relationship, and that’s something that can be hard for us to do sometimes with caregivers where we translate to humans, but it’s also really important. You know, they’re empathetic people, you’re empathetic people. Just remembering, coming from that standpoint, and you have had different things that have led you to right, and I’ve had different things that have led me right where I am. So just meeting people where they’re at and finding those ways to connect with them I think is great, and tamales.
Julia Magnus: Yeah. And
Amber Barnes: Oh, the tamales. Yeah. Sadie wants
Andie Springirth: I was just going to say too, and just recognizing that we’re all on our own journeys, and to be patient and kind, right?
Amber Barnes: Yeah. When you are connecting with sanctuary, or not sanctuary, when you, as a sanctuary, are connecting with shelters, another just really great thing you can do is invite them out to your sanctuary. You might have it set up in a lot of different ways, but you could invite them out for like a tour or, you know, if you have a special event going on, things like this, or even just a private, like, “Hey, you come out.” Also, if you do this kind of thing with them, you could build like friendship, right? Like there’s actual care, and then you have things going on. They might be able to put up flyers for you at their shelter. They might want to be involved with it. There could be so much more that could grow from this just from saying, “Hey, come on out,” or do something particularly special for the staff. Like, “We would love to have a couple times where your staff can come out. We’ll have lunch. We’ll show you the grounds.” And wow, the connection from there. And quite honestly, for people who are there for animals, to be there even if they’re different animals that haven’t quite, like you’d said earlier, Andie, like broadened the compassion to farmed animal species. Well, this is an opportunity, and it’s an opportunity for them to be out of a space where there are those individuals that need you so bad, and you all know what that’s like, and to go into a space and see individuals that are hands-down in a good place, being taken care of, that don’t need them but they get to enjoy being happy and healthy. How feeling is that for any animal caregiver? You know, also just on that note, even just giving updates on the people that you’ve placed. We’ve had birds go all around all over the country, and the shelter staff loves to see those updates. It makes them feel super great about themselves, and they should because they did a great job. They did their job amazingly and well, and it’s really, it’s worth giving them the credit for that. It is. And just to remember that a lot of times, they don’t actually have to because it is outside their scope. So they didn’t have to take them in, and they didn’t have to call, but they did because they care. They care about that individual, even if they haven’t fully come to the same space as we are in our minds about them.
Andie Springirth: I cannot, I want to just megaphone that because there were so many instances where certain staff that I worked with at the wildlife clinic would connect with one of the farmed bird species that was temporarily there, even though they weren’t vegan or vegetarian friends, and they would want to find a special home. And coming to the sanctuary space that I worked at, that was the first time for almost all of them that they had ever seen a space like that, that there, that that even existed, like Amber said, where they are cared for in this particular way by people like that, you know, in a healthy, happy home. And so, yeah, just such a wonderful opportunity to invite folks in and build those bridges and, yeah, make those kinds of connections that last a long time. I mean, in a sense, this is not dissimilar from another podcast that we worked on with regards to establishing a good relationship with your veterinarian. Building rapport, building common ground is way more important than focusing on differences because everyone’s Team Buddy. So, you know, well, today we just started scratching the surface of how your animal organization can collaborate with shelters to help ensure safer landings and better outcomes for farmed animals who come their way. We also do have other resources that are helpful. Andie mentioned, if you look “mission scope,” I think if you search that on opensanctuary.org, you will find a resource that addresses a lot of questions that may arise at your organization with regards to wildlife. If you’re just starting on your journey, we do have a starter guide to terminology around animal care spaces that may be helpful. It’ll help you learn more about what rehabbers are versus rescuers versus what’s a sanctuary versus what’s a, you know, it’s got kind of all those terms and things for you to think about. We do have a resource specifically on the subject of collaborating with shelters. And if you search “shelter,” you’ll find that at opensanctuary.org. And then we also have a pretty advanced resource, a pretty lengthy resource for anyone who’s considering larger collaborations with shelters on cases of seizures, cruelty, and busts. That one is a lot, so you should be aware going into that that there will be discussion of cruelty. It will lay out the many and complex considerations at play when you’re considering whether your organization should embark on dealing with those kinds of cases. We do hope that they give you insight on some of the many things you can think about as an organization. As always, you can check out opensanctuary.org to find these resources and more. And if you found this episode helpful, please share it with your community. It’d be great to see a larger movement towards general collaboration between shelter spaces and vegan sanctuary spaces. We would love to see that. If you do have suggestions, feedback, or other input that you’d like us to consider, or you want to share your experiences, please feel free to reach out to us. And we would absolutely love it if you would consider either a one-time or recurring donation so we can continue generating this kind of content for you. Thank you all so much for listening. Thank you, Amber and Andie.
Amber Barnes: And thank you for your hard work for animals.
Andie Springirth: You too, Julia.
Julia Magnus: Bye, friends.
Andie Springirth: Bye.
