Toronto Humane Society

Humane Society

As a reward for getting almost all A's on my report card, my dad is getting us a dog. It's been 4 months now since he made his promise. Finally he remembered his promise and started making plans. I went asking my friends about taking care of a new dog. However, most importantly, I asked them about which dog breed suited my family's lifestyle the most. Luckily, one of my friends has a dog and after questioning my lifestyle, she recommended getting a Yorkie. She also suggested that I should get my dog from the Toronto Humane Society.

The Toronto Humane Society is a charity/animal shelter that helps unwanted or abandoned pets find a forever home that is perfect for the animal. After I told my dad and did a little research on the shelter, my dad wanted to check it out. He drove us to the shelter, and after a couple of minutes, we arrived. The Toronto Humane Society was a short but big building. It had pictures of dogs and cats all over the place. But the most depressing and attractive part, was a wall. Yes, a wall. But on that wall, was the names of the animal that died, so carefully carved on the memorial wall. It was overwhelming to see so much dead animals that never got treated properly. It showed how cruel some humans an be; thinking animals are just something like a pencil. But that's wrong. Dog have their own will and thought. To see so many names of the animals who were rejected just because they were maybe ugly or too aggressive, etc. The animals who get taken are extremely lucky. Which brings us back to the shelter. 

When we went inside, we decided to visit the dog section first. (After all, we were looking for a perfect dog for us). We opened the door to find a sweet white poodle. However, this was a shelter dog. As soon as the poodle saw us, it started barking frantically. It was scampering around it's cage, barking and clawing. It was as if he/she were saying, "Hey! Guys! Over Here! Please take me, I don't like this place." Every dog except for the ones who have been there since forever, barked loudly, trying to get our attention. The more mature ones (the ones that were there for a long time) only stood there pleading and begging with their eyes. When we were going to see another dog, those mature ones would follow us as long as they could. One of the big dogs would bark savagely, as if all those years of waiting for an owner, made him mad. His barks, unlike the poodle's, were more of an angry bark than a "Please take me" one. He was saying, "You, humans! Look at what you did to me! I don't deserve this! I've done nothing wrong and now look at me!" His eyes showed pure anger. Even when we left his cage, he was still barking furiously. He was yelling, "See?! That's exactly what I meant! You just leave me to rot!

Everyone was relieved to go and see the cats. At least the cats don't bark. However, the cat section was even more depressing than the dogs. Way more. There were at approximately 10 rooms with about 20 cats in each room. That's about 200 unwanted cats! Maybe even more! Each cat has a poster giving a short description about the cat's personality, why it was rejected/abandoned/surrendered. Most cats ended up in the shelter because the previous owner didn't have enough time any more. This shows how irresponsible some owners are. They just get a cat for the sake of getting a cat. They don't think ahead of time of all the possibilities that could happen, or if they even have enough time and money for it. One of the cats got surrendered by her owner just because her cat got kittens. The owner should have considered the possibility before getting a female cat and have gotten a male. What was more sad was the fact that some of the cats were unwanted because of their appearance. It's not like humans get killed because they are born ugly. One of the cats has an incurable eye problem which makes him unable to see. In place of the bracelet and the pupil, there was a cloudy gray spot on both of his eyes. Because of that, this poor cat was rejected and unwanted. Some of the cats, the ones who have been there for a long time with no luck on finding an owner, don't bother when somebody passes their cage. They have been through a lot and nobody bothered to even think about getting them. Some of the new members would trot up eagerly with a flicker of hope in their eyes. They were like the dogs but also unlike them. The dogs were pleading with barks and tried to attract our attention while the cats were waiting for someone to walk up to their cage, then act as sweet as possible. Their form of persuading was to try to make the people give in and melt into their cute, cuddly and sweet faces.

When it was time to leave, I couldn't help but feel sad. All those innocent animals might never have a perfect home. Or even an okay home again. However, the good-ish news was that they will be remembered and honored once their names get carved on the memorial wall.