Annie Binns | Life in the Fun Lane

No, it’s not because I’m germ-phobic or have a tendency towards hypercleanliness.  It’s also not because I think bleach smells really good. 

The reason I smell like bleach is because, twice a week, I volunteer at the Denver Dumb Friends League.  The DDFL is a local animal shelter, established in 1910.  In 2007, they adopted out 14,557 dogs and cats.  They’re the largest non-profit animal shelter in the Rocky Mountain region.

The DDFL is an "open-admission" shelter, which means that they do not, ever, turn an animal away.

EVER.

They accept any animal, 24×7, for any reason and under any circumstances.  They work with other organizations and local farms to take animals that they can not house on-site.  They have a place for people to leave their animals anonymously, at night, in kennels that always have warmth and water at the ready.  They have extremely kind people who work with you if you have to relinquish your pet.  (For the record, I am not one of those people.  That falls into the category of things Annie is not capable of doing.)

Here’s the rub:  Animal shelters can either be "no-kill" or they can be "open-admission".  They can’t do both.  This means that the DDFL must euthanize animals.  I happen to think that this is awful and horrible and tragic.  So do they.  So does everyone who volunteers and works there. 

"…  the reality is that there is not enough space and money to accommodate all of them. We humanely euthanize those animals—primarily cats—that are not chosen by new families. We also euthanize aggressive animals—primarily dogs—that are determined to be a potential threat to the community and those sick or injured animals that are unrehabilitatable given our resource limitations."  DDFL website

My job at the shelter is to take care of cats and kittens that are too sick or too small (or both) to be adopted.  There is a large Foster Care facility where we nurse these kids back to health and then send them up to the adoption floor.  I also take care of the small animals:  rabbits, ferrets, hamsters, mice, rats and the occasional parakeet and chinchilla.  For all of these animals, my job involves feeding, loving, watering, loving more, changing papers, petting and more love.  Somewhere in this list I work a lot with bleach.  My car smells like bleach.  My clothes have bleach stains on them.  My hands will smell like bleach even after I take a shower. 

I don’t mind the smell.  It reminds me of the furry lives I help to save.  I urge you to do the same (save furry lives, not smell like bleach).  If you can, please

• Microchip, tag and collar your pets.
• Spay or neuter your pets.
• Tell people that keeping cats inside keeps cats alive.
• For the love of God, adopt your next pet from a shelter.
• Support legislation to control commercial breeders.
• Donate to a local animal shelter.

If you’re broke like me, volunteer your time.  Trust me, you’ll get used to the smell.

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