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Destiny Premo

Mrs. DeBock

English IV Honors

28 February 2019

Essential Question:​ How do animal shelters balance out the difficulties involved in running an

animal rescue facility while making it worth it?

Working Thesis:​ Animal shelters have a difficult time catching and caring for neglected and

abused animals due to emotions and the fact that they must rely heavily on donations and

volunteers.

Refined Thesis: ​Animal shelters go through the daily struggles of animal euthanasia, treatment

of animals, emotional decisions, and overall running an animal shelter successfully. Shelters

must be able to balance their difficult tasks in order to be able to run successfully and complete

the ultimate goal of helping animals.

Annotated Bibliography

Guenther, Katja M. “Volunteers' Power and Resistance in the Struggle for Shelter Animal

Survival.” ​Sociological Forum,​ vol. 32, no. 4, Dec. 2017, pp. 770–792. ​Academic Search

Complete​, EBSCOhost

Two volunteers had decided that a better method of preventing animal shelter deaths was

necessary and important. Due to their beliefs, the volunteers then wanted to develop new daily

routines in order to combat euthanasia. The author emphasizes that animal deaths are commonly

believed by shelters to be unavoidable and the volunteers of these animal shelters did not believe
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this to be true. Thus, they used two separate approaches in an attempt to prevent shelters from

having to put animals down. This information will be essential when needing to know about the

difficult tasks shelters feel is necessary to complete in comparison to the volunteer’s belief that it

is not necessary with their methods.

Hawes, Sloane, et al. “Factors Informing Outcomes for Older Cats and Dogs in Animal

Shelters.” ​Animals (2076-2615),​ vol. 8, no. 3, Mar. 2018, p. 36. ​AP Source​, EBSCOhost

Cats and dogs living in shelters are able to live much better lives in the modern era in

comparison with the past. Due to modern medicine and veterinary practices, sheltered strays are

able to live longer. Spaying and neutering domesticated pets have helped to reduce the

overpopulation of homeless animals as well. The article includes a sample of older cats and dogs,

taken to determine how well they do when put into a shelter. In other words, the sample was used

to draw comparisons between shelter animal lives and treatment. Veterinarians use this

information to determine how best to care for elderly cats and dogs. Information on how pets

lived their older years related to how they were cared for in an animal shelter helps to explain

how animals, specifically the older ones, are treated in animal sanctuaries.

Schabram, Kira, and Sally Maitlis. “Negotiating the Challenges of a Calling: Emotion and

Enacted Sensemaking in Animal Shelter Work.” ​Academy of Management Journal,​ vol.

60, no. 2, Apr. 2017, pp. 584–609. ​Business Source Premier​, EBSCOhost

Emotions and reasons to do good usually can affect the choices made by workers in

animal shelters. The article discusses a study conducted in which fifty different workers were
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interviewed about the decisions they have made and how their choices were influenced by

emotions. The interviewers identified three types of reasons for employees wanting to work with

strays. Although the workers had similar reasoning for taking up jobs in animal shelters, each

had their own emotional challenges and decisions which had different outcomes. This article

highlights key reasons why certain actions in an animal shelter take place, which helps to

understand the emotions and emotional decisions that take part in running an animal shelter. This

will be useful in understanding the decision process made by the people who work in animal

shelters.

Spencer, Terry, et al. “Factors That Influence Intake to One Municipal Animal Control Facility

in Florida: A Qualitative Study.” ​Animals (2076-2615)​, vol. 7, no. 7, July 2017, p. 48. ​AP

Source,​ EBSCOhost.

One animal shelter in Florida was studied for an entire year. The information found was

based on where they find their strays, how they found missing pets and how these pets were

returned to their owners. The study recorded the intake of pets and the release of pets through

adoption. This article supplies a useful example of how an animal shelter is run and provides

information on the difficulties and challenges in which the shelter must overcome.insight is also

provided for why animals are abandoned and/or neglected by their owners. This information will

be useful to learn about the tasks required to be completed at animal shelters and why animal

shelters are needed.

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Steneroden, K. K., et al. “Zoonotic Disease Awareness in Animal Shelter Workers and

Volunteers and the Effect of Training.” ​Zoonoses & Public Health,​ vol. 58, no. 7, Nov.

2011, pp. 449–453. ​Academic Search Complete​, EBSCOhost

Due to stray animal exposure, animal shelter workers are at a higher risk to get diseases

known as zoonotic diseases. These diseases can include but are not limited to rabies,

leptospirosis and even the plague. The article identifies information on these diseases and

provides insight into a select group of animal shelters. An evaluation took place for the workers

of the chosen shelters to determine their knowledge of topics. These topics include being able to

identify signs of the disease, species that may be more vulnerable to carry these diseases and the

ability to know how they are transmitted from animal to human. The article also highlights new

training which was provided for workers to better prepare them for preventing these diseases.

Information about worker risks and prevention training is valuable when looking for information

about what it takes to work in an animal shelter.

Prasad, Kathleen. “Reiki at Animal Shelters and Sanctuaries.” Reiki News, vol. 16, no. 4, 2017,

pp. 60–62. Alt-HealthWatch, EBSCOhost

Reiki is a type of healing for both emotional and physical problems and is believed to

work through palm healing (the heat of someone’s hands going through another which is said to

be able to heal). The purpose of this article is to explain how Reiki has been used in animal

shelters to improve the well being of not only the animals in the shelters but the caretakers as

well. Reiki's purpose is to help animals build trust with humans considering numerous strays

have gone through difficult times with humans such as being abused or neglected. Improving the
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relationships between man and rogue domesticated animals is important when researching how

shelters care for their animals.