Your Personal Change: Shelter from the Storm
By Jennifer Rowan
“We can judge the heart of a man by his
treatment of animals.” – Immanual Kant
During hurricane season 2004, my mother nicknamed me
“Hurricane Harriet.” I was living in Florida and working for an animal
shelter. I hatched a daring plan to move animals out of the area
via cargo plane, alleviating overcrowding in animal shelters as more
and more people lost their homes. It became a specialty of mine to
airlift animals to safety; and since then I’ve been honored to take part
in transferring 3,000 animals, helping not only those pets on board, but
those within organizations that took animals from the flights as well.
Having worked with dozens of animal care organizations across the
nation with different beliefs, needs and problems, I made a conscious
decision to take a break from the idea of ever having to euthanize a
healthy, adoptable animal to make room for another healthy, adoptable
animal. That circle is vicious, endless and painful, and not without
ethical and moral dilemma on a daily basis. When I learned the Bay
Area SPCA was a “Limited Admission Organization,” meaning their
unique philosophy was the perfect match with mine, I was thrilled to
be offered the position as Shelter Manager.
As a former animal welfare consultant with experience in
disaster relief, it came as no surprise when Hurricane Dean made an
appearance on the horizon just days after I began my job as the Bay
Area SPCA Shelter Manager. Pulling the staff and volunteers together
to get prepared for a worst case scenario was like operating a welloiled
machine. I recognized immediately that if we could handle the
stress and preparation of an oncoming hurricane, we would be able to
accomplish many dreams for our beloved shelter animals. Thankfully
our wish for no storm came true.
Now back into the day-to-day operations of an animal shelter, one
of the first adoptions I was lucky enough to witness was of Annie, a
quiet Shepherd mix breed whose former owner had passed away. When
Annie’s adoptive mom was filling out the application, I was curious as
to why she chose Annie, who tended to cower a bit in the corner of her
kennel; but when I saw them interact, I knew beyond a shadow of a
doubt I was witnessing a perfect canine-human match. Since that day,
I have received many heartwarming emails containing photos of Annie
from her “mom” Judy. Words and photos like this assure us at the Bay
Area SPCA that the animals that have been in our care, often for a
long time, have had their dreams come true and found the loveliest
of homes.
In a field that is challenging at every turn, with a dedicated, highly
motivated staff and volunteers struggling to keep such organizations
afloat financially and emotionally, the dreams we have for our sheltered
animals are priceless and clung to fiercely. We can ill-afford to be small
dreamers with the lives of so many animals depending on us.
I have found my dream working with shelter animals. I hope you
find yours in 2008.
 Jennifer Rowan is the Shelter Manager of the Bay Area
SPCA. Please visit www.BayAreaSPCA.org to learn
more.
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