I spent nearly ten years volunteering with the County of San Diego Department of Animal Services (simply known as DAS). During that time, I produced more than 100 videos spotlighting animals for adoption from the department’s three shelters in Bonita, Carlsbad, and San Diego. As animal shelters tend to be seen by the public as deadly dungeons of agony and sadness, these videos were intended to provide short, humorous, and entertaining snapshots of the facilities’ animals who were up for adoption. I produced a bulk of those 100+ videos between 2012 and 2015, but there were a few sporadic uploads that trickled onto the department’s YouTube page until 2018.
This video, simply titled Animal Shelter, was an experimental piece and the second-to-last video I ever made for DAS. I never bothered to upload it to the DAS YouTube page, and largely forgot I had even made it. When I watched it the other day, I felt a lot of pride for the work I had done for the shelters for so many years. Yeah, this video is a bit more serious than my previous work, but I think the message it conveys is incredibly important: animal sheltering is hard, but progress is being made. You may not see it in real-time, but it’s there.
I continued to do video work for a number of animal organizations after my last DAS upload in 2018, but I gradually withdrew from volunteering altogether. Maybe it was compassion fatigue, I don’t know. I’ve questioned my interest in getting back into it, but thus far I am yet to find that perfect opportunity.
Until then, I think this serves as a solid capstone piece for my time as a producer for the Department of Animal Services. Enjoy!