How to be an Animal Shelter Volunteer?

Many people find volunteering work at Charities and Nonprofits satisfying and rewarding. Not only do they get to make a difference in someone else’s life, but volunteers also get to meet other kindhearted and passionate people who want to make a difference in the world.

One of the most common forms of volunteering is an animal shelter volunteer. A lot of people love animals and they enjoy being around animals. There’s a lot of people who find joy when they help animals in need.

If you’re keen about volunteering at an animal shelter, let’s take a look at what is the job of an animal shelter volunteer. This way, you’re able to understand better what animal shelter volunteers do and what are the expectations of their role.

What is an animal shelter?

An animal shelter is a safe place dedicated to sheltering and protecting lost, stray, surrendered, or abandoned animals. Some animal shelters provide additional services such as rehabilitation, behavioral treatment, and training.

Animal shelters provide care to these animals so they can be adopted by other people. Some owners surrender their pets to shelters for various reasons. While some find this inappropriate, animal shelter welcomes relinquishing of animals because it’s better than these pets are abandoned on the streets.

Many shelters take just about any type of animal, even though the most common ones are dogs and cats. Ideally, these animals are housed in the shelter until they can find a new owner or if the original owner comes and claim them.

What Do Animal Shelters do?

Day-to-day operations in an animal shelter include cleaning out the pens, feeding the animals, treating minor wounds, and of course, playtime. The non-threatening animals in a shelter are allowed out of their pens to play around with other animals and the people who work there.

How to become an Animal Shelter Volunteer?

Many animal shelter volunteers offer their service and time at the animal shelters near their homes. Chances are, there are several animal shelters around your place, and you can choose to volunteer at any of them because shelters are always in need of volunteers.

Determine the types of Animal Shelter that interest you

The first thing you should do is to check what kind of shelter you’d like to volunteer at. Some shelters take in any kind of animals such as rabbits, snakes, birds, and even horses. If you have any allergy or phobia towards some animals, this might affect your decision or commitment. Once you determine the types of shelters you want to work at, make sure to do research on the nonprofit shelters and find one that has good reputations with animals.

However, many shelters are very accommodating. You can tell the people in charge of the shelter about your allergies or phobia and they will usually work around these. But it’s worth mentioning that there are volunteers who learn to overcome their fear by volunteering at an animal shelter.

Before you commit yourself as a volunteer, it’s a good idea to go to the shelter as a visitor. This way, you get to familiarize yourself with what kind of animals are housed at the shelter and also observe how things are done.

Register with the Animal Nonprofit Shelter

After you’ve visited the shelter and decided to volunteer there, you can register your name with the organization. Animal shelters usually keep a volunteer profile, so you’ll need to provide your personal details and any skill that you have.

Usually, you can start volunteering almost immediately after registering. If the animal shelter of your choice has its own volunteer program SOP, you might need to go for a crash course on animal shelter volunteer. Here, you will learn about what needs to be done and what are the expectations of a volunteer.

Responsibility of animal shelter volunteer

An animal shelter doesn’t just protect and care for the animals. They also need a lot of help with fundraising events, distributing flyers, and updating their social media. If you have hard skills that can help with any of this such as a graphic designer or copywriter, you can also volunteer any of this service to the shelter.

You may also need to help out at charity drives. Many shelters have a long wish list where they need things such as kibbles or wet food, litter sand, toys, money for medications, etc. You may need to organize drives in your community to collect these items or do fundraising to raise money to purchase these things.

Even though you don’t need specific certification to volunteer at an animal shelter, it’s a good idea to call ahead and ask if they’re looking for anything specific. More importantly, most animal shelters need you to be physically fit and able to take care of the animals.

Animals in a shelter can be quite jumpy or turn threatening, especially the ones who were traumatized. So, you need to be able to stand loud noises on top of being prepared for the risk of bites and scratches. Not only that, animal shelters tend to have a strong odor that some people can’t stomach, so keep that in mind too before you decide to register as a volunteer.

As a volunteer, you will need to regularly clean the cages, fill up the animals’ food and water bowl, take them out for exercise, or help to supervise animals during behavioral therapy. While this is usually a full-day job, an animal shelter volunteer is often expected to work only between two to four hours every week.

Benefits and Reasons why should you volunteer at Animal Shelters

While all these might sound like a lot of work, any animal shelter volunteer will tell you that it’s really fun to work in an animal shelter. The satisfaction you get is quite different from taking care of your own pet.

Many animals at the shelter went through traumas or abuse. This may cause them to be hostile or defensive. But the joy you’ll feel when you get that break with a traumatized animal is almost indescribable. Even though you know they’ll probably be adopted, you can’t help but feel attached to them.

It’s also fun to volunteer at an animal shelter because you get to see many different kinds of animals and learn how to interact with them as individuals. You’ll come to learn that they’re just like us, creatures with needs and feelings.

You won’t be able to connect with all the animals at the shelter because some of them are highly defensive and won’t let anyone come close. So, understanding the boundaries of taking care of a shelter animal is also an invaluable experience.

However, when you get an excited and lovable animal, you’d want nothing than to take them home. Knowing how much these animals have gone through and how they can connect with you is definitely one of the best feelings in the world.

Conclusion

Just like any other form of volunteering, becoming an animal shelter volunteer takes a lot of commitment and passion. You need to be able to do the same thing over and over again without feeling bored.

Even though it certainly helps a lot, being an animal lover sometimes is not enough a reason to become an animal shelter volunteer. This is because taking care of your own pet in the comfort of your home is totally different from taking care of stray or abandoned animals in a shelter.

Becoming an animal shelter volunteer may be one of the best things you’ll ever do. So, make sure you’re ready to commit and willing to pitch in any form possible.