Goodbye to volunteer work
Another day, another bunch of job applications sent off. That paranoid moment when you fear that employers disregard your application because you've got an unusual name and they might think you're some dirty furriner. I mean, that might not be the issue with me at all - I've got a pretty "safe" Germanic and English name anyway. I still take care to point out on my résumé that Norwegian is my native language though, just in case.
But anyway, that's me fretting as usual. I take heart, if I don't find anything very soon I'll go back to retail or the grocery store, and I'll keep sending applications for other jobs.
So anyway; Last night I did my last shift at the cat shelter. It was a melancholy goodbye. The official explanation is that my new non-student life means I've got less time and resources to do volunteer work, and that's certainly true, but I can't deny that me and the organization no longer seem to see eye-to-eye on certain practical and political matters.
Over the course of the summer (while I've been away) there have been run-ins with the police, a lot of bad publicity in the local press, and I don't think my superiors have handled the matter in a good way. I know everything they've done, they've done with the best of intentions - to help abused animals, and I'm not saying we shouldn't fight for them, tooth and claw; But I believe there are better ways to do it, I don't think civil disobedience, breaking the law, and inhabiting every damaging animal activist stereotype out there will help our cause in the long run. Now my boss has to pay a hefty fine; that's money that could have been spent on food and spaying and medicines, and now it won't because my boss wanted to make a point. Not to mention the money contributors we've lost because "we're just some fundamentalist animal activist whackjobs after all".
Let me move on to my usual rant here: If you call the police on somebody routinely abusing a dog or cat or other pet, chances are that person will still have that animal at the end of the day, and until it eventually expires.
This is not the police's fault. This is not due to the police's incompetence or lack of sympathy for the animal.
A policeman can't enforce laws that we don't have. It's that simple. Our animal welfare laws merely state that animals "should be treated well", that they shouldn't be "left in a helpless state" (whatever that might be), no "excessive or unnecessary violence" should be used towards them, and that they shouldn't be abused sexually (that's the most recent addendum to the law, I recall it appearing a few years ago). See, these laws are vague and easily excused and not at all helpful. So the police know there's not much they're allowed to do.
"But what about Dyrebeskyttelsen ("Animal Protection")?" people have asked me when I've ranted about this. "Can't they do something?"
No you see, I'm amazed at how many people think that this (albeit big, national) organization called Dyrebeskyttelsen is something official or government-mandated. It's just another volunteer organization. It's a charity, not very different (although much much bigger) from where I've worked (you might even recall I worked at their shelter in Lillehammer some years ago). Dyrebeskyttelsen has as little say as any other charity organization.
The government agency actually in charge of animal welfare is The Norwegian Food Safety Authority. No, I'm not using hyperbole. It's literally the Norwegian Food Safety Authority. The guys who're in charge of making sure your cornflakes package is up to standard are the guys who are notified if your neighbour sexually abuses his dog. Safe to say, mere pet-abuse cases (and cases concerning all non-edible animals; See the fur industry) are not prioritized because surprise, the Food Safety Authority mostly wants to concern itself with what people eat.
It's all so ridiculous. It makes me so mad.
But I don't think breaking the law and verbally abusing policemen is what it takes to change it.
See? I still care about important things. Politics, even. That doesn't change. It's just that writing about comics or TV shows is much kinder on my blood pressure and RAGE METER.
But anyway, that's me fretting as usual. I take heart, if I don't find anything very soon I'll go back to retail or the grocery store, and I'll keep sending applications for other jobs.
So anyway; Last night I did my last shift at the cat shelter. It was a melancholy goodbye. The official explanation is that my new non-student life means I've got less time and resources to do volunteer work, and that's certainly true, but I can't deny that me and the organization no longer seem to see eye-to-eye on certain practical and political matters.
Over the course of the summer (while I've been away) there have been run-ins with the police, a lot of bad publicity in the local press, and I don't think my superiors have handled the matter in a good way. I know everything they've done, they've done with the best of intentions - to help abused animals, and I'm not saying we shouldn't fight for them, tooth and claw; But I believe there are better ways to do it, I don't think civil disobedience, breaking the law, and inhabiting every damaging animal activist stereotype out there will help our cause in the long run. Now my boss has to pay a hefty fine; that's money that could have been spent on food and spaying and medicines, and now it won't because my boss wanted to make a point. Not to mention the money contributors we've lost because "we're just some fundamentalist animal activist whackjobs after all".
Let me move on to my usual rant here: If you call the police on somebody routinely abusing a dog or cat or other pet, chances are that person will still have that animal at the end of the day, and until it eventually expires.
This is not the police's fault. This is not due to the police's incompetence or lack of sympathy for the animal.
A policeman can't enforce laws that we don't have. It's that simple. Our animal welfare laws merely state that animals "should be treated well", that they shouldn't be "left in a helpless state" (whatever that might be), no "excessive or unnecessary violence" should be used towards them, and that they shouldn't be abused sexually (that's the most recent addendum to the law, I recall it appearing a few years ago). See, these laws are vague and easily excused and not at all helpful. So the police know there's not much they're allowed to do.
"But what about Dyrebeskyttelsen ("Animal Protection")?" people have asked me when I've ranted about this. "Can't they do something?"
No you see, I'm amazed at how many people think that this (albeit big, national) organization called Dyrebeskyttelsen is something official or government-mandated. It's just another volunteer organization. It's a charity, not very different (although much much bigger) from where I've worked (you might even recall I worked at their shelter in Lillehammer some years ago). Dyrebeskyttelsen has as little say as any other charity organization.
The government agency actually in charge of animal welfare is The Norwegian Food Safety Authority. No, I'm not using hyperbole. It's literally the Norwegian Food Safety Authority. The guys who're in charge of making sure your cornflakes package is up to standard are the guys who are notified if your neighbour sexually abuses his dog. Safe to say, mere pet-abuse cases (and cases concerning all non-edible animals; See the fur industry) are not prioritized because surprise, the Food Safety Authority mostly wants to concern itself with what people eat.
It's all so ridiculous. It makes me so mad.
But I don't think breaking the law and verbally abusing policemen is what it takes to change it.
See? I still care about important things. Politics, even. That doesn't change. It's just that writing about comics or TV shows is much kinder on my blood pressure and RAGE METER.