Like many, I was very touched by
the Subaru televisioneat of marketing
wizardry. These days, there are rescues for blind animals, disabled
animals, neonate animals, senior animals, and even dying animals. When
Home for Life® (HFL®) began many years ago, these were mostly the
animals that needed our help. They were the last choice of potential
adopters, even if they were put up for adoption at all. HFL® remains
committed to this population.
But now, something different is going on in animal welfare. Rescues
are highlighting animals with disabilities and the message being
conveyed is that “if animals with obvious problems are being showcased,
then surely the masses of healthy animals are easily finding homes
without needing to be promoted.”
The picture looks much different from inside animal welfare. Each
week, pleas go out asking organizations to step up for dozens of dogs
and cats who will otherwise be euthanized. These desperate souls have no obvious problems aside from the fact that nobody wants them.
Such was the case with Caden, a three-year-old hound who came to HFL® from the Anti-Cruelty Society in Chicago.
The All-American Dog That No One Wanted
Caden was a Southern boy, bo
rn in Alabama, who was sent north to
Chicago to try his luck finding a home. As a young dog who should have
been in his prime, Caden arrived in Chicago from the Alabama shelter,
positive for heartworm and having what appeared to be a dislocated left
hip. He was admitted to the Anti-Cruelty Society facility in February
2018. There the Society’s veterinary staff treated his heartworm and
obtained x-rays of his left leg and hip. Caden became a staff favorite
with his gentle face and humble demeanor.
For months, Anti-Cruelty personnel tried to find an adopter for Caden or a rescue to take him on. But no one was interested.
Was he not distinctive enough? Too big? Too old? Too young? A
mixed-breed hound? Was it the medical history? Or did his photos, when
shared and networked, fail to convey what a good dog he was?
Adjacent photo: Caden could be defined as “adoptable” and it seemed as if he
should be, but how did that definition make a difference for him? It
meant nothing if no one would help him.
Months went by, and NOT ONE individual or rescue group from around
the entire country expressed ANY interest in him! It was crickets
wherever the staff at Anti Cruelty turned to find him a place, whatever
avenue they tried.
Finally, the week came when those who must make the tough calls at
the shelter told the rescue coordinators and staff that they would have
to let go of Caden and give up the hope that he could find rescue. He
was to be euthanized and his date was scheduled, before the July 4th
holiday when the shelter staff knew they would see many new animals
admitted and surrendered. Caden had been in the shelter kennels for
months with no interest and other dogs needed to come in and have their
chance too. It made logical sense but was a heartbreak for all those
involved, to see Caden fall through the cracks despite their best
efforts.
The day before Caden was scheduled to be euthanized, a friend and
colleague at Anti Cruelty reached out to Home for Life,® one last time,
to plead for Caden’s life. We had previously turned her down, believing
that a three-year-old dog could be adopted, right? But he had not been
and was not going to be alive next week if help wasn’t offered soon.
Home for Life® hastily put together a transport for Caden and welcomed
him just a few days later—the week of Independence Day.
What Does It Mean To Be “Rescued”?
“Rescued” in animal welfare is not the same thing as being saved.
Look at Caden: he had been “rescued” twice: first by the Alabama
shelter, then by the shelter in Chicago. Those are the rescues we know
about. In addition, he’d had at least two adoptive homes—all by the age
of three. Much of the anguish animals experience occurs not from abuse, as depicted in still
more dramatic commercials, but from cycling in and out of the system and
homes, forsaken and unwanted.
Adjacent: It is interesting that in the months that Caden was available yet
overlooked by all rescues, there was an English Bulldog who came through
the same Chicago shelter, an older dog with many health issues.
Organizations were climbing over each other to “rescue” this bulldog
while Caden was completely ignored. Increasingly, it is dogs and cats, like Caden, who are most in need
of sanctuary—those who have nothing “wrong” with them but are
nevertheless deprived of options through rescue. When we started our
sanctuary, those who needed our help were the animals with obvious
disabilities or medical conditions. More organizations are extending
themselves to “rescue” these animals with great drama and fanfare, while
allowing those like Caden to twist in the wind.
Maybe it’s social media and the need to have a visual impact with a
very extreme case to be heard above the noise. Maybe with so many rescue
organizations, competition is driving this circumstance. The more
extreme and dramatic the “rescue,” the more heart-wrenching, the greater
the leverage for donations.
Rescues compete to scoop up a particularly sympathetic case, knowing
what that will mean for donor goodwill and ensuing financial support.
The public assumes if a rescue can help the very extreme cases, then the
average cat or dog is surely finding placement. But it is turning out
that these “normal” ones ARE the animals who need help, but aren’t
finding it with “rescue.” And they are the ones, the invisible animals,
who are being left with nowhere to turn, often euthanized because they
have been overlooked.
It’s difficult to understand why some
animals are so easily dismissed or ignored. It’s hard to pinpoint
exactly why some well-behaved, sweet-natured dogs or cats get bounced
around various rescue organizations for months or years before finally
being put down. What is going on here? The reality is an animal is NOT
adoptable if no one wants him. In other words, people’s interests,
tastes, and the current trends decide the fates of dogs and cats much
more than the animals’ own worthiness.
What is One Life Worth?
We live in a market-driven world, catering to the interests, tastes,
and desires of people. Our problems and solutions are defined in terms
of the marketplace. It can be hard to recognize when this framework is
creating more problems.
Success in this world is measured by moving your product. Marketing
is a useful tool but not the appropriate basis for saving lives. Each
animal, like each person, is a unique being whose value can never be
measured in market terms. Treating animals as consumer goods has
consequences. The adoption-as-success metric hides a sad story: only 1
in 10 dogs born will find a home for their entire lifetime.* One very
likely reason for this shocking statistic is that animals rely on
people, and people’s tastes and interests change rapidly, depending on
what is marketed or promoted. Our attention is curated, and our focus is
drawn by whatever is served up. But the problem of unadoptable animals
can’t be solved with the same market mindset that created it. It is the
wrong system to solve the problem of animals at risk, and the entire
strategy that is widely pursued to save animals from euthanasia is
creating its own problems. Why? Because such a system where rescues
function as the new pet stores is made to close deals, move products,
make profits. It is not a system made to honor the intrinsic worth of
living beings. We cannot allow the very structure of animal welfare to
operate based on a flimsy and false foundation where living beings are
commodified and treated like consumer goods, and where success is
measured by how many units are processed.
*Do Something, last updated September 2023.
Rescue Remedy
To see Caden and learn about his story shines a light on a widespread
phenomenon in animal welfare that leaves scores of cats and dogs just
like him adrift with their lives at risk. It’s real, rather than data.
As a care for life sanctuary, standing at the end of the funnel when
animals can’t find a new home but shouldn’t be put down, we hear about
cases like his that may escape the notice of the average animal lover.
Home for Life’s® focus on overlooked individuals and the intrinsic worth
of all living beings has enabled us to spot gaps in the animal welfare
system where cats or dogs are underserved and vulnerable, to identify
where change needs to happen, and where there is opportunity for
widespread improvement.
Home for Life® has always taken a different approach to addressing
problems in animal welfare. We believe that it is impossible to benefit
animals as a whole without caring about each individual animal. While we
are mindful of the broad factors affecting animal populations, our
focus and service have always been directed toward individual animals.
And by serving individual animals, we have been able to exert widespread
influence on the direction of animal welfare practice.
Thinking about all the animals who lose their lives each year is
overwhelming. The estimate is that close to a million cats and dogs are
killed annually because no one wants them. Even people who care are
challenged to understand how they can make a difference with a problem
of this scale.
When we look at animal homelessness and the vast numbers being killed
each year through a wide scope, it’s difficult to see the individuals.
They become numbers and abstractions. If we operate only from this
frame, we begin to lose the sense of our original mission and that’s
when dogs and cats like Caden fail to find the help they so desperately
need. Because they are only one animal, it is easy to turn away and
ignore them or justify their death as if they are collateral damage. But
the truth is, we’re only able to understand the depth of a problem
through an individual who is experiencing the problem firsthand and
through their story.
The millions of suffering, lonely and unwanted animals are made up of
individuals like Caden. Whenever we disregard or devalue one of them,
we place all animals in jeopardy, since any dog or cat can lose their
home, become old, injured or ill and unwanted. What keeps animals safe
and cherished is our attitude towards them, and our capacity to care,
recognizing them as spirits in their own right deserving of life and
respect—rather than constantly evaluating dogs and cats only in relation
to ourselves and what they can do for us and discarding them when they
become inconvenient or a nuisance or can’t achieve a price point, a
consumer good instead of a living being. For animals who are vulnerable,
everywhere, we can’t turn away from tough cases like Caden or consider
their fate of negligible consequence. Saving an animal is more than a
metaphor or marketing slogan. It is meaningful because preserving the
chance for one animal takes a stand for all animals in similar
situations and makes visible and practical what is possible.
Just a few days before we went to print, Caden died of inoperable
liver cancer. This summer, when his spleen was removed, the surgeon and
pathologist were worried about some suspicious areas on his liver, but
he seemed to bounce back so well that we were shocked one morning when
he wouldn’t eat and was very jaundiced with a soaring temperature. His
blood values were off the charts, indicating terminal liver failure and
ultrasounds revealed the liver was very misshapen. We had no choice but
to let Caden pass peacefully, so he wouldn’t suffer. He was only 8 years
old. We considered writing about a different HFL animal, but decided
that Caden’s life and death were meaningful, his story emblematic of
many animals like him with so much love to give who are forsaken by
rescue. Rest in peace Caden and run free now, knowing we have told your
story and that we will never forget you.
Invisible no more! Caden was never overlooked at Home for Life®!
With Gratitude,
Executive