First day volunteering

Blog Post 1 

Volunteering at the PSPCA was my first time volunteering at any animal shelter. What really struck me at first was the sheer amount of people and animals crammed into tiny waiting rooms and cages. Its a wonder that the staff there are doing so well. What also surprised me was how different the cats were to cats I had previously handled. I myself have had 2 cats and 2 dogs and (even though I'm much more of a dog person) I thought that I could handle cats pretty well. But I found myself feeling slightly intimidated by their fearlessness and unpredictability So many different personalities, interests, likes and dislikes really had me wondering how someone has intuitive as Renee Descartes could assume that animal lived by sheer instinct and not thought. A story that has confirmed in me the intelligence and capacity to think within animals was the story of Lucy the pig who saved her owner by attracting attention to herself by lying in the middle of a road until a motorist stopped. Lucy then took the motorist to her home to rescue her dying owner who was in the middle of a heart attack. If that's not thought then I don't know what is. Another thing I noticed was that, perhaps I'm over reaching here, but the manner in which people came in to adopt a cat or a dog reminded me a lot of how people go clothes shopping. Were they looking for a real life time companion or were they shopping for temporary excitement and satisfaction - the thrill of having a new pet? And who's to regulate that? Who can say that you can adopt but you can't. It seems that lack of education and knowledge about what adopting a new pet really means will lead to a  lot of those animals being returned within days. Perhaps I'm being overly cynical but that was the impression I got.