Josh Pagan

Atlantic County Animal Shelter

On September 27th, I volunteered at the Atlantic County Animal Shelter with the Honors Program. Although rides were not provided, I decided to carpool with some friends that were just as excited as I was to volunteer at the shelter. After filling out wavers, I was assigned to take care of cats. These were no ordinary cats, though. This was the cat infirmary and it was one of the cutest yet saddest things I have ever seen. The cats ranged from small, fist sized kittens to fully grown cats. Some were so sick a mere sneeze would send them flying to the ground. I had the privilege of cleaning their cages, feeding them, and showing them love in the process. During this time, I had to handle each cat and move them to an alternate holding cell so that I could clean their cage. This mostly turned into holding each cat for five minutes before any work even began. By the end, I had grown quite fond of a cat named Uri that reminded me of my cat from home and I just wanted to take him home. Frankly, I wanted to take all of those cats home because I am a crazy cat lady at heart.

Doing this project gave me a newfound respect for people that work at animal shelters and a new outlook on how important it is to adopt from local shelters if one is thinking about getting a dog or cat. The jobs that these people have to perform are not pretty. Some of these jobs include scooping poop, cleaning throw up, and cleaning countless cages. Regardless, most of the workers perform all of these duties with a smile on their face. It was hard for me to do my job with a smile because of the conditions that these animals were in. However, I would be more than glad to volunteer again there after such a rewarding experience.