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10 Years a Volunteer

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ho2cultcha's loves11578 of 22708Ancient Coin - Roman, with Emperor Valens c.365ADANTIQUE INDO - PERSIAN SHIELD (DHAL) CIRCA 1700
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    Posted 7 years ago

    SpiritBear
    (813 items)

    And all he had to say was "Thanks" when I walked up to him and told him that next week would be the last time I come.

    I'm 20. I've been volunteering at the animal sanctuary since I was 9. We fled only once due to weather, and have always worked through random heavy rains, ice storms, deep snow, and frigid Michigan temperatures. Then the summer, with high humidity and many mosquitoes and flies.

    I've done some very disgusting jobs in my time there. One of the most recent ones was that a freezer of meat had stopped working, so the owner told me to go feed the meat to the wolves (as I volunteered at Michigan's only animal sanctuary capable of housing wolves),

    I found the freezer and could smell the rot before I even opened it. Upon opening it, I grimaced. It was disgusting. Selecting samples, I decided all of it was waste and set to work (also enlisting a new volunteer who will replace me) cleaning it out.

    Some of the meat had turned green-blue in areas. Christmas hams from the year before had gone black. Breathing through my mouth so as to try and not smell it, I still gagged as we pulled out the meat. Eventually we moved the freezer out of the deteriorating shed and tipped it over as blood poured out. I then began raking out the last of the meat and saw the black slime coating the bottom and lower sides.

    Another memory to live with was Tim the Timber Wolf (yes, such an original name). He was only 3/4ths wolf, the other part being unknown dog, and was very over-weight but also very nice. He was one of the first wolves to like me.

    The owners were gone one day, and we came out in the morning where we found his body frozen to the ground where he died.

    In the end, I dug through the ice as best I could, only getting a few feet into the ground that early January (5 years ago this month?) and rolled him into the hole after separating his body from the ice. That Spring, we got another set of wolves there. His enclosure had been vacant, so they occupied it. I nicknamed the new wolf Grave Digger, for that is what he did.

    During that entire year I was reburying fur and bones and filling in the holes with rocks, as well as putting large logs over it in an attempt to keep the body safe.

    As a lead volunteer I often get wrongly blamed for things I didn't do. The owners complain about most every volunteer, so I can only imagine what they say to the other volunteers about us. I would have stayed had two long-term requests been fulfilled:

    One was, "Put back what you take out," referring to the barrels of dog-food the male owner would take from and tell me to fill up (which became a simple conflict of us just staring at each other one day when he told me he wouldn't do it).

    The other was, I wanted a sled. We had long ago brought one, but it went missing. I'm tired of dragging 400 pounds of dog-food through snow on a wagon-- the wheels of which don't want to turn in the snow. Sometimes I have to have someone else push it as I pull so I can transport the food the owner won't put in. We go from one side of the property to another with it.

    The owner would have an easier time, as he has a Gator-- a heavy-duty golf-cart-- and a golf cart I'd use if he would repair the flat in the tire. When it was working, as soon as we got there he would take it to go feed the horses, so I rarely got to use it. (He happens to have a water truck he also uses for the horses).

    For years I've medicated, loved, fed, watered, cleaned up after wolves and, in my first few years, also took care of the horses and 'farm animals'. When I got a job, I couldn't spend as much time there. I put off work by one hour; then, I began coming to the animal sanctuary an hour earlier so I could shower, eat the one meal a day I eat, and rest a little before work.

    We all used to get along before I got a job, but now it's all false-face niceness.

    For a long time I've wanted to stop, but they keep getting more animals-- from California to Florida, animals come-- so there is no end to their collecting. They require the help of others to take care of them, but other than myself and my mom, there is only one other 10-year volunteer. Most volunteers leave. We rely more on the community service people than people who want to do the work.

    They never meet my requests-- a sled and putting in what he takes out would have seen me stay. In general, they don't listen. For 7 weeks I wrote notes and told them in various forms, "We need more dog food," becoming more and more urgent until on the 7th week I ran out. It took them over a month to meet that 500% needed request. There have been times where my mom bought the dog food because the owners did not.

    Even here I've praised the work the owners do, but a lot of that was myself forcing myself to look at the good side. This is the bad side. There are numerous other problems, but no one and nothing is perfect, so I consider them irrelevant. I'm just tired of not being listened to. Again: I'm a volunteer. I don't get paid. I have work and college to attend to. If they want something to get done, they should listen to the requests of those who do the things.
    -------

    I wrote that last week. On Saturday there was yet another wolf-dog (what a surprise), and I ended up hurting my back "pretty good".
    I ended up walking around taking pictures, and work decided it still needed me albeit I couldn't list anything or stand straight.

    Photos in order:
    Sheba and White Socks talking (everyone was howling). They're a couple of the last "originals".
    Nero, a big dog who never stops moving.
    One of a pair, Spirit.
    One of the newer mixes, deciding he wants the llamas which are also newer and in desperate need of being shaven.

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    Comments

    1. Celiene Celiene, 7 years ago
      What about reporting them? You can do it anonymously.
    2. Celiene Celiene, 7 years ago
      Poor babies! I LOVE wolves pretty much more than anything.
    3. SpiritBear, 7 years ago
      The State comes by often. Everything is up to State code.
    4. Caperkid, 7 years ago
      What's wrong with the wholves that they need to be in a sanctuary. Looks like a jail.
    5. Celiene Celiene, 7 years ago
      You can't let 'tamed' wolves or wolf-dogs out in the wild. It's sad because they may have been loved until they became a burden to the idiots who thought they could make them pets!
    6. Caperkid, 7 years ago
      Oh ok thank you.
    7. PoliticalPinbacks PoliticalPinbacks, 7 years ago
      I'm sure the animals were happy to have you with them and thank you as I do for your volunteer work, The State has some strange codes I know as I live here too.
      Peace
    8. Efesgirl Efesgirl, 7 years ago
      The owner sounds like an uneducated, uncaring heathen. The loss will be his when you stop.
      A place being up to state codes vs. the treatment of the wolves are two different things. Does the state inspector announce his arrival or does he simply show up?
    9. PoliticalPinbacks PoliticalPinbacks, 7 years ago
      It sounds like you put a lot of yourself into the place when the owners wouldn't and worse they don't appreciate who they have/had I just hope your back is better and not a long term injury as a good back is a huge part of overall health I know because my back injury is what ended my working days. Also it's hard when you care more then they do and hurts when you find out what you considered friends turn out to be just co-workers this too I know 1st hand after working together near 20 years I considered many to be friends however after my injury only few kept in touch the 1st year then stopped calling or returning calls so I hope at least 1 or 2 turn out to be real friends in any case the owners will realize there loss as you did more then your part and one can only do so much.
    10. SpiritBear, 7 years ago
      The wolves were pets that people couldn't take care of/had illegally (you have to have a license and certain set-ups to have them in Michigan), didn't want anymore, or in one case the owner died. The wolves would either be euthanized (killed) or sold to private collectors if it weren't for the animal sanctuary.
      The State does both-- shows up at planned times and at random. We maintain code, which is pretty much all about enclosure and housing-- not nutrition, albeit the wife tries to get the canines to eat fruits ad veggies as a small part of their diet, supplied through donations (what stores throw out because it's about to go bad).
      As for the back, I think I'll be okay.
      There is one 7-year volunteer (who went to college a few years ago) that comes out periodically. She's a 'friend', albeit we rarely talk outside the animal sanctuary (she has my email).
    11. PoliticalPinbacks PoliticalPinbacks, 7 years ago
      kewl I hope the back is okay, write 1st friends are priceless.

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