I worked at the Refuge Ste.Catherine (Ste.Catherine Animal Shelter) for just over 7 years. It is situated a few miles outside of Lausanne (Switzerland) in the middle of a forest but near the Lausanne to Bern main road. I started as a part-time kennel maid and after a few weeks was doing full time. By full time that means we started at 7 am, a lot earlier when there was snow on the ground because it had to be cleared before we started work in the kennels.

We finished, if we weren't doing night duty, at the earliest 6 pm. If we did weekend duty we went in on Saturday morning and worked through till Monday evening 6 pm. Alone from Saturday 6pm until 6.30 am Monday morning. The refuge was open from 9 am till 6 pm non-stop, Monday through Saturday so that meant on Sunday, whoever was doing weekend duty was doing the work of 4 people, all by themself. We would start by putting the dogs out in their parks. Then cleaning the kennels and catteries started at 7 am.

The veterinary surgery had to be cleaned and disinfected from any emergency that had happened during the night, and there was always an emergency during the night, every night. Then the dogs and cats had to be fed. No tinned or dry food. The local abattoir kept us in big frozen 10 kg blocks of meat and tripe. This had to be taken out the night before so that it could thaw. Then there were the veterinary cases to be looked after.

There were never less than half a dozen cats and several dogs hospitalised. The dogs and cats in the pound kennels had to be cleaned and fed. When all this was done, in between answering the phone and going to unlock the gate for people who had found a stray or brought in an injured animal, there were a couple of hundred chickens and about 40 geese to see to. Collect the eggs, muck out, then if you had time you might be able to make yourself a cup of tea.

On top of weekend duty we were obliged to do 1 - 2 night duties during the week. i.e. go in Wednesday morning and you didn't get home till Thursday evening. Our vet, Professor Samuel Debrot was also the President of the SVPA (Societe Vaudois pour le Protection des Animaux) and was also our superior. The Professor was always on call night and day and we also had to train to be veterinary nurses if we weren't already.

The refuge housed on average 70 abandoned dogs and 40 cats, often many more because we also had the 'special cases' like the dogs and other animals that had been sequestered because of cruelty. We looked after them until the owners had been prosecuted, often not being allowed to own any animals ever again or for a certain amount of time which meant these animals had to be found new homes but if they were too old, sick, or we didn't have enough room, were put to sleep.

We also received all sorts of injured wildlife. Deer, Castors, Weasels, Hedgehogs, to name but a few. The only time we had to ask for outside help was when they brought in a very old, but very agressive lion that had been sequestered from a travelling circus. A special wildlife park had to be found to house it as our residents were absolutely terrified as you can well imagine. We all had to be vaccinated against rabies because at that time rabies was endemic in most of the european countries, and several animals that were brought in had the disease.

They asked us to have our Certificate pour Gardienne d'animaux. (Animal Keepers Certificate). To pass this we had to go to courses at Lausanne University EPFL.

Not just courses to look after dogs and cats in shelters and kennels/catteries but also pet shops, laboratories, breeding kennels, bird sanctuaries and farm stock etc.. These courses took several months but we still had to find time to go to the refuge to work. On top of that you had to have at least 3 years practical work behind you with references from the people you had worked for. Some veterinary knowledge was also compulsory. It is now much easier. You only take the course for the category you need, not all of them, but they now need 5 years practical experience unless it has now changed. I am very proud of that certificate, I worked hard for it.

We had a good salary at the Shelter because our superior, Professor Samuel Debrot told us "If I give you a good salary I expect you to work long hard hours and for that work to be exceptionally good". He really got his moneys' worth. He would never take on benevolent helpers.

The bonus was we could all take our dogs to work with us. They had special big grass parks for them with shelters and we were allowed to have them in the bedroom, kitchen and lounge with us when we were doing night or weekend duty. We could walk them and look after them in our breaks and at lunchtime. I won't mention how many dogs I used to take but there were sometimes more and sometimes less. For puppies it was fabulous. You couldn't get better socialisation than that.

There was a good sized bedroom and a bathroom above the kennels which as you can imagine kept sleep at a minimum. There was a large tiled lounge downstairs which never got used except for meetings. We were kept too busy to be able to sit and read or rest. There was also a well equipped kitchen for staff at kennel level.

I remember one Saturday night having dropped into bed well after midnight when the vet rang to say he was bringing in a St.Bernard bitch who had puppies rotting inside of her. Between the both of us there was no way we could lift the dog onto the operating table so the operation was done with the bitch lying on sheets on the floor. We finished in the early hours of the morning. I was on my knees with fatigue and I had Sunday in front of me working alone in a kennel that was overflowing with dogs, cats, the sick bay, the pound, clean up the operation mess, 40 geese, a couple of hundred hens and about 25 tortoise!

It was a hard school but a good one. When I finished working there I had reached the position of sub-director. I still had to do exactly the same work with all the other kennel staff but I had the responsibility of taking the blame for whatever anyone had done wrong when the 'big chief' wasn't there. The rise in salary was hardly worth mentioning.

I loved it there. It was harder emotionally than physically. A good nights' sleep will refresh the body but nothing can take away the memories  of seeing what humans can do to animals.

JUSTICE

The families dog was bought for a guard,
Chained to a post in a chilly backyard,
Housed in a shed that was airless and dark,
And every few months had a run in the park.
When boredom set in with no fun and no work,
One day it broke loose and went quietly berserk.
Pa couldn't fathom just why it went wild,
As it flattened his wife and then bit his child.
The police were called in to sort out the mess,
And the whole sorry tale was revealed by the press,
The Rescue Society was really annoyed,
So, the dog was rehomed--and the owners destroyed.