The nice answer is bc we love animals, which we do. The less nice, more honest answer is that those of us who are good at it become addicted to it. It takes a certain type of person to be good enough to take care of broken animals, skilled enough to get a wounded/broken animal to trust you. When you figure that out, you’re stuck bc not everyone can do it, and you care so much it hurts. And then you’re hooked.

The only thing that makes me ever seriously consider quitting is the horrible people who do these terrible things to the animals, or scream at me or threaten my staff. That’s what really hurts at the end of the day.

Yep, most shelters are nonprofits or government funded. The jobs don’t require a ton of technical training that you could get from a university or trade program, but still require a lot of specialized skills. So most of the jobs are minimum wage/entry level.

So for example I am a manager at a shelter that does 3000+ adoptions a year, am euthanasia certified, have my med clerk license, work 50-60 hours a week and am often on call. I have experience with dangerous behavioral animals and have been attacked by horribly aggressive dogs. I have deescalation training for verbally and physically abusive people (and use it on a weekly basis). I have 10+ years experience. I make $25/hr with bare min benefits in an area where min wage is $18

As a shelter manager, yes, we are hella broke

1000%. Worked in an emergency vet as a break from from sheltering. Shelters are so much worse.

I ran an emergency vet and now run a shelter.

Shelters are worse. Much worse.

Shelter work has similar suicide rates and typically lower pay and much more physical labor than vet med. It’s a tough gig that not everyone is capable of. Vet med is hard too, not denying, but shelter workers are under appreciated bc people think it’s just playing with puppies without the medical background.