Dallas Animal Services (DAS) workers are receiving death threats over the euthanization of animals, according to a report from Fox 4 News. The organization has filed four separate police reports this year concerning the threats.
“Most of the threats have been threats to euthanize our staff after reports, often false reports, that an animal has been euthanized,” said DAS Assistant Director Whitney Bollinger. “Some have had details about how they plan to carry that out.”
DAS employees are apparently not the only shelter workers to have faced death threats.
“Research is showing that more than 75% of animal shelter workers have been physically threatened, related to their work, and [that] is not something people expect to be part of this job,” the assistant director explained.
As much as the public may decry the euthanization of shelter animals, the animal service workers dislike it even more.
“No one here wants to see an animal euthanized, especially a placeable pet. This is the only industry where the staff are tasked with caring for these animals and also euthanizing them,” Bollinger said.
The work can take an emotional toll on the staff. Julie Squires, a “compassion fatigue” specialist, said that working “in a helping profession” is emotionally taxing, “and animal welfare workers certainly are vulnerable due to the repeated exposure to pain and suffering they witness in the animals, the humans surrendering them, and their co-workers.”
In addition to the emotional aspect of their work, overcrowding and lack of space for animals combined with a lack of adequate staff to share the workload all contribute to a high burnout rate among shelter workers, Bollinger noted. The added stress of death threats only exacerbates the problem, leading to more staffing shortages.
A shortage of staff, along with space issues, is what led to the euthanization of 23 dogs in one day last week. The Dallas shelter is almost at full capacity for large dogs, which means more euthanizations may be necessary soon in order for the shelter to continue accepting dogs.
According to Bollinger and DAS Director Melissa Webber, the solution lies partly with people who can help through fostering, even if only for the weekend. Of course, animal adoptions and shelter volunteers are always welcome.
In response to requests for more transparency and community awareness about dogs at risk of euthanasia, the Dallas Animal Service said it plans to regularly put out a list of its most vulnerable pets on its new website starting at the end of the year.