Leon County Humane Society Rescue Podcast Ep. 7 - Compassion Fatigue

In this episode we welcome our new Cat Coordinator, Mars, and discuss some of the ways being involved in animal rescue weighs heavy on us, as well as some of the challenges we face in facilitating successful interactions with our community to better the lives of animals. 

We do use profanity one time in this episode, while quoting someone who came in inquiring about our adoption process - just as a heads up. There is also brief discussion of euthanasia. 

Being involved in animal welfare is a double-edged sword - not only are we focused on bettering the lives of animals and feeling their pain through the empathy we have for them, but often we're also feeling the sadness of the pet owners who are seeking help. We spend each day hearing stories of struggle and often suffering, and several people enter our front door crying. We end our days wondering if we did enough, or if we could have done more. Sometimes people are unkind to us, and sometimes the animals we're working so hard to save can't be saved. We're constantly looking for ways we can do more while trying to make sure we're taking care of ourselves so that the animals and people can continue to rely on us. Then, we have to find ways to take these experiences and turn them into learning moments for our community - without being total bummers and risking people just tuning out or unfollowing. 

Our Mission Statement is Rescue, Rehabilitate, and Educate, and we discuss what these words mean to us and how this mission, along with our fearless leader, Lisa Glunt, guides us in our everyday decision making. 

We hope this episode clarifies some decisions we make so that we can better help more people and animals (like our new phone tree,) and sheds lights on some of the struggles that not just veterinarians, but all animal welfare professionals face. 

**The phone message we play also insinuates that we are taxpayer funded, so for clarification's sake - we are 100% donation run and are funded entirely by individual donations and grants. We receive no taxpayer funding.