The emotional fatigue of working with animals

Don't get me wrong, it is very rewarding. To hand-raise a baby or injured animal until it can be sent back to the wild to live the life it's meant to, that makes me feel a joy inside that is rarely rivaled.

I can only imagine the same can be said for others who work with animals. Rescue shelters, Vets, Zoos. They would all be rewarding in their own ways, whether helping a loved family pet live another day or seeing a sad abandoned dog adopted into a happy loving home.

But rarely, rarely do these people talk about the pain. The heartbreaking parts of the work that leave you awake at night crying, wondering why you couldn't help

See people that work with animals in these ways they do it because they care, because it's what they love. It's not for profit, not for recognition, it's because we love animals. So when you can't save one, let alone most, it breaks your heart.
For every 10 calls we get to the shelter 9 of the animals will be euthanized before they even come through our doors. Of the ones that do come in maybe 1/3 make it past the first 3-4 days, after that the chance of survival becomes much higher, maybe around 3/4.
We don't give anyone names until they've been here for 3 days. It helps to be able to think of them as a wild animal if we find they need to be euthanized. We do everything we can not to but if a kangaroo has leg injuries it cannot be rehabilitated. If a wombat has brain damage to the point it cannot eat, we will never be able to release him and based on the laws we must abide by If an animal comes into the shelter and it cannot be rehabilitated to such point it can be released back into the wild it must be destroyed

Destroyed How lovely...

It's the ones you get close to that hurt the most. The ones you name and you raise, you see them growing bigger and stronger. Putting on weight and becoming more independent. You love them, the same as someone might love their pet dog or cat. When you have to take a baby kangaroo to the vet after raising it for 2 months, bottle feeding it 5 times a day and changing its pouch, cuddling it and taking it outside to get used to nature (it's alot of work) to be put to sleep. It breaks your heart.
I'm writing this post because today when I came home one of my baby's Tabitha, a short nosed wombat about 8 months old, had passed away unexpectedly.
When I walked in I saw our other baby wombat Carl in an enclosure by himself and when I asked why he was all alone my mum just looked at me sadly. There was no real reason for it that we know of, she was underweight when we found her but she had been gaining weight and eating well, she was becoming more confident and showing her personality.
It sucks. It really sucks and as I write this I'm still crying 2 hours later.

But this, this isn't a one off, and it isn't uncommon for people who do this sort of work. This is the cost of doing what you love

People that work with animals suffer internally more than most people realize. It hurts to have to kill something you love and over time this pain can build into a real issue, something known as Compassion fatigue is also known as “secondary-traumatic stress disorder” (STSD).

In a study published in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine, animal care workers in the U.S were shown to have a suicide rate of 5.3 in every million. A stupidly high rate shared only by police and firefighters and much higher than the 1.5 in a million average for most jobs.
This is hard proof of how draining it truly can be to work and care for animals.

Sometimes I wonder why I post about them, it seems people like to look at the cute pictures but otherwise most people don't really care. But It's what I love and if I can make some money to put towards the animals by writing about them then that's good enough for me.

R.I.P Tabitha, I'm sorry we couldn't save you. I'll miss seeing you around the house and cuddling with you, you were a beautiful little sweetheart. xxx