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12:51am

The Makeover Contest "Grieving Process"

Well, yesterday around 11 AM I got the phone call that the shelter I support didn't make it into the top 3. Thank goodness, I had a busy day with quite a few social engagements, so I didn't really get time to be depressed! : )
I was in shock, really. I think we all were at first. My fellow volunteers and I decided to be positive and to try to make things happen on our own.... if not a new million dollar facility, at least fixing the holes in the ceilings! Shock is an early reaction in the "grieving process" that psychologists speak of.

And there's also other emotions, like despair and anger. As for the sadness, yes, there have been tears from many and over 16,000 supporters who are bummed out. Most of all, many of the people closest to the shelter are sad.

I have seen and heard many, many angry reactions and words. And I've read some of them on Zootoo. Please, do not condemn people who are venting their anger as "sore losers", etc. I think people are entitled to their feelings. And how could they not feel angry? Yes, people are very hurt, because we all had this dream that we'd win a new facility and all of our work would pay off. See, we didn't find out until January that being number one in points didn't mean we'd win the grand prize. But then we theorized that if we earned the most points, we would prove to Zootoo that we were deserving of the big investment and that we would be able to sustain and support it. (Not to mention the official promo package containing a script that said the shelter with the most points had the greatest chance of winning)

So, we did work really REALLY hard to get to and stay at #1. And by hard I mean volunteers standing in the snow and rain outside of Wal Marts and PetCos every weekend, flyering the whole county, and spending entire weekends at public events with wireless laptops.

We did think we would win.... and thus the angry comments from people. Anger is a common reaction to hurt, pain, and disappointment. That's the human condition, and the pain is valid. So, taking into account how much effort and emotion was behind our 2 million + points, you can perhaps understand why some people are reacting in less than attractive ways.

The possibility of a $1 million shelter is like dangling one giant, juicy carrot infront of over 900 starving horses. We, who are involved in shelters, know of the endless, tireless, thankless, stressful work we do. We know how hard people have to struggle to make even a tiny dent of good in the massive pet overpopulation and abuse problems. We see on a regular basis things like (and I'll use examples that I have seen in the past 6 months at my local shelter): a four month old puppy strangled by a rope and killed, a 9 month old boxer mix stabbed, a cat shot at close range by a rifle, 27 dogs who never saw the outside, covered in cuts, urine, feces, and emaciated, all rescued from one tiny house, and a lovely 13 year old mutt who died of old age at our shelter, never finding a home.

This contest gave me so much hope, and now it is temporarily crushed. We did, of course, benefit from the contest, but not in the way that I thought we would. And that's all it is.... disappointment. Yes, we'll all move on from the sadness of missing out on this once in a lifetime opportunity. And we will keep saving lives every day, for as long as shelters are needed.

I am happy for whatever shelter wins because, even though this was a competition and my heart and soul were put into it, I know that the dogs and cats at WAHS are no more important than dogs and cats at any shelter and that we are all in the business of saving lives! It makes me happy to know that at least one shelter in the world will be more comfortable for the animals and people there.

God bless all of us who stand up for, rescue, provide for, and love the vulnerable and voiceless companion animals..... animals that are often better friends to man than any fellow human is even capable of.