By Maris Seto, Behavior Care Technician
When the quarantine began and the effects of the COVID-19 crisis hit Animal Friends, we saw an impact on the animals that we never could have imagined …
We were blown away by the kindness of our community and the generous people who stepped up and fostered so many of our animal residents. By getting as many animals as we could out of our kennels and into foster homes, not only were we able to stay safe while performing our duties, but the animals were able to receive care in a more comfortable setting away from the stress of the shelter environment. This break gave these animals a chance to enjoy more individualized attention and they were much happier and comfortable in general. And, as the population in our kennels decreased, our longer-term residents had a better chance of getting adopted!
We saw great improvements in behavior which we attributed to a quieter and calmer environment at Animal Friends. Many of our shy residents received more individualized attention which helped them to come out of their shells and build trust with our staff and volunteers.
Like Hector and Hercules, a bonded pair of cats who came to Animal Friends after their owner became ill and could no longer care for them. Hercules was the more outgoing of the two and would often protect Hector, but both were still very cautious of their environment and wary of human interaction.
During the closure, our Behavior team continued to work with the pair and began to notice improvements with both of them. Hector has experienced an especially impressive transformation and began to take treats from the hands of trusted friends. And, he even initiated contact with a nose to finger touch and a paw to hand touch!
With a smaller population of animals, we were also able to complete necessary improvements to the facility that would be much more difficult with full kennels. We were able to take on projects like painting, deep cleaning and re-organizing so that the focus could be entirely on the animals when we reopened. It was a difficult and uncertain time, but we came together to take care of our facility in order to continue to uphold the standards of care for the health and safety for animals and humans alike.
This ongoing crisis has presented us with its fair share of challenges, but all of these things have allowed us to grow as a team and improve communication not only within our department but throughout the entire organization. Despite the current situation, we have upheld our mission to care for and help find a loving home for each animal who needs us.