Texas shelter employee arrested and charged with killing kittens using blunt force trauma

Gabriel Caswell accused of killing many kittens at an animal shelter

NEWS AND COMMENT-Weatherford Parker County Animal Shelter, Weatherford, Texas, USA: This is a very disturbing story. It reminds me of the Lucy Letby story in the UK; the nurse who is serving a whole life sentence for killing babies in a hospital. In this instance, the above-mentioned shelter hired Gabriel Caswell as an animal …

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Canine and feline behaviour evaluation at shelters

Assessing cat and dogs at shelters

There would appear to be no safe and comprehensive personality and behaviour testing procedures to assess dogs and cats at shelters with accuracy. Nathan Winograd, American’s expert on animal shelters, states that “current temperament testing regimes for dogs do not qualify as objective criteria as they have been found to be no better than …

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Volunteer who rescued cats from cat hoarders was hoarding cats herself

Michelline Toulouse

FLORIDA – NEWS AND VIEWS: This is the story of a volunteer cat rescue worker who rescued cats from cat hoarders while at the same time being a cat hoarder herself. It is highly unusual in that respect. It is the story of 36-year-old Michelline Toulouse. She lives in an apartment at Sunrise, Florida, …

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How to help animal rescue workers get over compassion fatigue and occupational stress

Animal care work can be particularly stressful

Occupational stress and compassion fatigue is not uncommon in animal rescue workers. One of the most visited pages on this website concerns the high suicide rate among American animal rescue workers. In fact they have the highest suicide rate among all American workers and same level as police officers and firefighters. This begs the …

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Shelter euthanasia is taking a mental toll: Animal rescuer sounds off in Facebook viral video

Heather Skow

This video comes from Zach Skow and is one that every animal lover should see. Zach gave the intro back in April on his Facebook page as his wife Heather gives us an idea of the torment shelter staff, volunteers and those in rescue face on a daily basis. It’s been viewed more than …

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Animal care workers at animal shelters need support to deal with grief due to their losses

Shelter worker with cat

“The loss of such a sacred relationship can be devastating. Owners of companion animals facing the loss of a companion animal often experience numbness, disbelief, ruminations about the death experience….” Working as an animal care worker (ACW), specifically an animal shelter worker, leads to close bonds with the animals in their care. The conditions …

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Animal shelter workers provide 26 coping strategies for those dealing with euthanasia

At risk of euthanasia

In this article I discuss 26 coping strategies for animal shelter workers who are involved with euthanizing animals at shelters. The advice comes from 242 experienced workers who were or are directly responsible for euthanasia of animals at shelters. They have worked or work at 62 US animal shelters. Although euthanizing animals at shelters …

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