Animal welfare is my life but it's also making me lose my mind.

Tag: Animal Welfare

  • The thing about cats

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    Jessica Kooistra
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    They’re tearing around the basement, scaling the cat tree with sharp claws and batting the noisy ball around. A wrestling match ensues and the smaller one squeals as she tries to regain the upper hand. Then canned food is put out and both dive into the bowls face first. Humans domesticated cats about 10,000 years…

  • The Myth About No-Kill Shelters

    The Myth About No-Kill Shelters

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    Jessica Kooistra
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    You find a lost dog in your neighborhood and ask friends for advice on what to do next. One person tells you to bring it to the animal shelter, another tells you absolutely not, they ‘will just kill it’. You contact a local rescue that is known to take dogs and are told they are…

  • Adopt don’t Shop

    Adopt don’t Shop

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    Jessica Kooistra
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    Everyone has likely heard this phrase before. Everyone seems to have an opinion about this topic. A call has me checking on a property where the complainant claims the people are breeding dogs and believe it to be a puppy mill. Once making contact with the owner I find that he does in fact have…

  • When Change Changes You.

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    Jessica Kooistra
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    Change: verb change (verb) · changes (third person present) · changed (past tense) · changed (past participle) · changing (present participle) We all experience change. Some change is good. Some change is bad. Some change changes you. When I started working in the animal welfare field, I was a kennel attendant in the shelter building. The old shelter building we still worked in, while…

  • The Welfare Issue.

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    Jessica Kooistra
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    Case in point – the happy Golden Retriever mix. We received multiple calls on a dog kept in a kennel all day, every day. I made contact with the family and concluded that the dog has always been an outside dog for them. I went over some basics with them regarding proper shelter in Michigan…

  • Pause

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    Jessica Kooistra
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    Mentally shutting it all off. Recharging ones own battery by physically removing yourself from the daily grind, stress and demands of work and life for a while. A necessity in my opinion. Many see a vacation as a luxury. Taking a break as a missed opportunity to make money. We have been programmed to believe…

  • A Special Hell: Part 2

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    Jessica Kooistra
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    The scalpel cuts deep into the stomach lining making a perfectly straight line and splitting the organ wide open. Her gloved hands pry apart the stomach allowing us to peer inside. Rocks, leaves and undigested dirt make up the hollow cavern. It is Tuesday morning and I find myself kneeling on the floor of the…

  • A Special Hell: Part 1

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    Jessica Kooistra
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    *Disclaimer: this post will have some graphic stories and photos. I encourage you to read on anyway. It may not be what the general public sees on a daily basis, but it is my reality. My job. The most frustrating part of my profession is that people assume there is a black and white. An…

  • Third World Welfare

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    Jessica Kooistra
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    In the 15 years now that I have been part of the world of animal welfare in America I have seen so many changes. Changes for the better. Changes that make the general public more aware. Changes that demand better from us humans. It was not always a given that your cat or dog would…

  • A Day in the Life.

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    Jessica Kooistra
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    You’ve seen ‘Animal Cops’ on Animal Planet right? Those people in uniforms that find awful puppy mills and starving horses and take the asshole owners to court. Or the one who picks up a hit-by-car dog and rushes it to the vet just in the nick of time. Well, that happens sometimes. The tedious, long…