The selflessness and selfishness of altruism

9th March 2010

The selflessness and selfishness of altruism

posted in Personal, Rachel, Vegetarianism |

Meet Stella. She’s the gorgeous bloodhound who spent an hour happily slobbering on a bone in the backseat of my car on Saturday as part of an animal rescue transport operation I volunteer with. An owner-surrender to an animal shelter in northern Ohio, Stella eventually reached her destination later that night with a nonprofit bloodhound rescue group in Tennessee, who will train her to work with law enforcement.

I’m passionate about many causes, but grad school really ate into any free time I had to volunteer the past couple years. After I graduated last year, I, in typical ADD fashion, wanted to immediately throw myself in an avalanche of causes. Part of successfully living with ADD is realizing that your zeal and enthusiasm often exceeds the grasp of your limitations and so these past few months I’ve thought long and hard about what it is that I’m most passionate about. Yes, I’m very concerned about poverty and homelessness issues and this blog is evidence of my commitment to eating disorder awareness and promotion of healthy body images, but what I’ve been most passionate about since an early age is animal rescue. Our house was always overflowing with both kids (there were four of us) and animals and our pets were all very much beloved members of our family. I rescued my first animal at the age of six — a box turtle slowly meandering across the street I lived on who found a new home in the woods behind our house. My mom worked as a 911 dispatcher at a police department and through it we adopted a black lab puppy some cruel boys tried to kill by cinching it in a plastic garbage bag and throwing in the dumpster (Bear lived to the ripe old age of 15), and a Irish Setter mix puppy, abandoned with his litter mates in the snow (all but one of the seven puppies found homes within the department).

Our family menagerie has included cats, dogs, fish, hamsters, rabbits and even a trio of baby Lovebirds I tried to nurse after their mother died. A family who lived down the street from my childhood home had a mini-farm with cows, goats, chickens, a turkey and even burros and they’d hire me to “farm-sit” whenever they went on vacation. The hours I spent there at the farm, laying in the hayloft with only the quiet cooing of speckled chickens insulating their eggs, are among my favorite childhood memories. My mother sometimes referred to me as Dr. Doolittle for all the time I spent with both our critters and various wildlife and indeed, as a fat kid who was taunted and harassed virtually every day of the school year, I often preferred the company of animals to that of other kids.

Just months after moving into my first apartment, I defied my no-pets lease and rescued two kittens I’d found on the side of the road. Word must have spread, because I was soon “found” by a succession of stray cats, none of whom I could resist. A few years later my eating disorder struck and I went vegetarian, originally because it offered me a convenient excuse to exclude large swaths of foods from my diet. Later, I saw a flier for a local Earthsave chapter that held monthly potlucks and was amazed to find that there were actually other vegetarians in Porkopolis. It was then that I began to learn about the horrors of animal slaughter and the often brutal and inhumane treatment of the animals and I soon realized that I couldn’t very well say that I was for animal rights so long as I continued to eat them. As I learned more about factory farming and animal abuses and progressed in my own personal eating disorder recovery, I became an ethical vegetarian, a lifestyle I remain firmly committed to today.

Our furfamily now consists of two rabbits, six cats and a foster-who-am-I-kidding-I’ll-probably-keep-cat and I will be picking up several bunnies this week to foster until I help them find their forever homes. We recently got involved with rescue animal transporting, which some have called kind of like an Underground Railroad network for dogs. The way it works is this: dogs are rescued from high-kill shelters and/or abuse and neglect and transported by volunteers to shelters or adoptive homes waiting for them. States like Kentucky, Tennessee and Georgia are considered non-adoptive states for the high numbers of unwanted/abandoned animals, so sometimes these animals can only find temporary or permanent homes in regions like the Northeast where there are more adopters than adoptees. The transports are broken down into legs of about 60-90 miles one-way and volunteer transporters — or pet taxi drivers – then hand off the animal to the volunteer taking the next leg of the journey. Sometimes these travels can be two- and even three-day long events. We transported three dogs a couple Saturdays ago that were coming from the Midwest and going to Canada!

Volunteerism is supposed to be altruistic, undertaken selflessly in the name of helping others without the expectation of personal gain, but I have to admit that I’m a selfish volunteer. What do I get out of animal rescue? Joy. Pride. Laughter. Confidence. For me, helping animals is not only the right thing to do but I find the gratitude of a fast wagging tail and sloppy kiss rewarding beyond measure. I get to meet lots of like-minded people who don’t think I’m crazy for the number of cats I keep and get the chance to indulge my dog fix (I can’t have one of my own as our lot isn’t suitable for a dog and Brandon is adamant that he doesn’t want one). I also do rescue work as a tribute to all the pets who have immeasurably enriched my own life and for those I was unable to save. But perhaps most of all, helping animals helps me feel better about myself. Knowing that you’re needed, that you’re making a difference even if only in the life of one dog or cat is one of the biggest self-esteem boosts I’ve ever found and the animals never gripe that you’re doing it wrong.

How about you? Are you involved with any causes, organizations or activities that you find enriching and rewarding and help you feel more accepting of yourself?

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 9th, 2010 at 12:47 pm and is filed under Personal, Rachel, Vegetarianism. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

1 On March 9th, 2010, Karen said:

Bless you for your ministry to animals! We are the delighted forever-people for a rescued golden/collie/chow mix from TN. She came up on a larger transport trailer with a lot of other dogs in individual cages with food and water. It was so exciting to see the transport pull in to the parking lot where I and a couple dozen other ‘expectant parents’ were waiting and watch as everyone met their new family members for the first time.

One of the most rewarding times I’ve spent is with the Appalachian Service Project – a home repair ministry. Groups of teens with adult supervisors work for a week together with a family to roof, floor, wire, plumb, etc as we talk, pray and sing together. Seeing the living conditions that people survive in and their generous spirits despite those conditions is just amazing.

posted on March 9th, 2010 at 2:25 pm

2 On March 9th, 2010, Charlynn said:

Yet *another* thing you and I have in common, Rachel. Before I moved, my husband and I both volunteered at the city’s no-kill shelter. We’d spend some time every week grooming the cats, socializing them, keeping them company, and matching potential adopters with compatible cats. There’s a shelter in my new community, but school is keeping me way too busy to make a solid commitment to volunteer. I miss it. It’s such a rewarding experience.

posted on March 9th, 2010 at 3:49 pm

3 On March 9th, 2010, Rachel said:

@Karen: That’s so awesome that you adopted a dog, let alone adopted it without even meeting with it first!

@Charlynn: I used to do the same thing at a local no-kill shelter. Oh, I walked the dogs, too, but I always spent most of my time in eight cat rooms grooming, playing with and socializing the cats. It really is quite relaxing — I’ve even seen people bring books and read while they’re stroking the cats. For me it was almost like a kind of therapy and bonus, it was free!

posted on March 9th, 2010 at 4:02 pm

4 On March 9th, 2010, J.S. said:

We have a beautiful 8-month-old boxer mix, rescued from a shelter with a high kill rate. She’s so high energy! I’m really grateful we got her, because as experienced big-dog people we know how to handle her, and I really think that somebody who just wanted an animal to hang out with them might have regretted their decision. (Needless to say, we don’t, not even for a moment.)

As far as causes I’m passionate about–we provide foster care to children in state custody. It’s really rewarding to take kids in who are neglected, abandoned, or abused and provide them with stability, comfort, and love. I know exactly what you mean about the selfish aspect of altruism. It’s not volunteer in the strictest sense of the word (we’re paid a pittance by the state–less per day than what you’d pay for 8 hours of group day care), but it requires a great deal and returns a great deal as well.

posted on March 9th, 2010 at 6:08 pm

5 On March 9th, 2010, LexieDi said:

I’m kind of an “If I see, it, I’ll do something about it” kind of person. Meaning, if someone’s being bullied, I’m not going to just walk past. If a dog’s running around on the road, I’m going to stop and call to it.

A pit-bull was locked in the back yard of an abandoned house across the street from my house. My friend and I found it, and piled stones up by the cinderblock wall to look over at him. Eventually, I went home, grabbed a bat for protection (because I didn’t know the dog and it was big and we were young) and marched across the street with my friend. Luckily the dog was the sweetest thing. We started calling him Cin, short for Cinnamon. In the end, Cin got out of the yard one morning and got into a fight with another dog (which wasn’t hurt) and was put down after the owner of the dog called the police. At the time that this happened I was going around with my dad to find a home for Cin with dog lovers that he’d worked for in the past. It broke my heart.

My boyfriend’s promised me a puppy when we move in together. I’ve insisted on a shelter rescue. (By the way, he’s also an ethical veggie.)<3

I also love working with children and hope to someday spread body love to youngsters as a kindergarten teacher.

There is so much potential in the world… I just want to do my part to make it better.

posted on March 9th, 2010 at 7:47 pm

6 On March 9th, 2010, Tiptoe said:

Aww, I love this post. Animal rescue is so rewarding. I remember a few years ago listening to Sue Sternberg talk about how sad it was that the south had some lovely temperamented dogs who were euthanized due to no space. This was one reason why they started shuttling these dogs up north. The other big issue is that the spay/neuter campaign has been much more effective in the north than the south, thus, the south has a surplus of more animals.

I’ve done foster work in the past and have found it a wonderful experience. Letting go of my first foster dog after 5 week was so hard. I probably would have kept him if I knew he did not have a good home. I did end up keeping my third foster though. My other two dogs are also rescues. I find with some of them, they just fall into my lap really.

I’ll probably do foster work again at some point. For me, it is a lot of fun to socialize and train the dogs, so they have better success in their forever homes.

posted on March 9th, 2010 at 9:48 pm

7 On March 10th, 2010, meerkat said:

I was fostering kittens but haven’t been able to for a while because of a ringworm outbreak (okay, so the kittens got ringworm but they were also super adorable and most of them have recovered and gotten new homes–kept one–and overall it has been a wonderful experience). I’m trying to do some Trap-Neuter-Return on the local strays but it’s getting off to a slow start (so far just one).

posted on March 10th, 2010 at 3:45 am

8 On March 10th, 2010, Other Kate said:

I’m curious how you foster so many herbivores and carnivores in the same house! Thanks for making the world a gentler place!

posted on March 10th, 2010 at 11:59 am

9 On March 10th, 2010, Alyssa (The 40 year-old) said:

There are a bunch of feral cats that live nearby, and an organization that feeds them. Last time I called, they said they had more volunteers than they needed (!!!!!), but they’d keep me on the list.
Maybe I can go groom cats and or dogs at a shelter. Thank you for the inspiration!!!!

posted on March 10th, 2010 at 12:43 pm

10 On March 10th, 2010, Rachel said:

I’m curious how you foster so many herbivores and carnivores in the same house! Thanks for making the world a gentler place!

Actually, it was finding out that you can socialize cats (and even some dogs) with rabbits that convinced me to get one. Well, that and they can be litter box trained, too. My cats were interested in them for about a week or so until they realized that the rabbits don’t really play and seemed to express no interest in interacting with them. Now they mostly ignore them. It also helps that my 10-pound brown bunny weighs more than most of my cats

posted on March 10th, 2010 at 6:58 pm

11 On March 11th, 2010, Jackie said:

I think you should consider joining Pixie Hollow as an Animal Fairy, or not. I mean, it’s like you help animals, but they’re like virtual and you’re doing such a great job at helping real animals. I was just thinking considering yourself a Animal Fairy would be like the icing on the cake for that. For those of you who may not know, all this fairy stuff has to do with Disney’s Fairies stuff.

posted on March 11th, 2010 at 4:32 am

12 On March 18th, 2010, Dani said:

i used to volunteer at two local homeless shelters for women & children who were survivors of domestic violence, but then i got a position at a domestic violence/sexual assault services center, so i wasn’t too keen on spending my free time on that anymore. i’ve always had an itch for volunteering, though, so i’ve recently started volunteering at the independent movie theatre, which has been a lot of fun! it’s been a way different volunteer experience–i guess i’m used to having some sort of vicarious trauma associate with my volunteer work, so having something that is really fun & you don’t have to take home with you has been a blessing. i’ve been interested in volunteering with my local animal shelter because i’ve adopted from them numerous times, but they are unfortunately inaccessible without a car. your service work inspires me, thanks so much for sharing!

posted on March 18th, 2010 at 9:51 pm