Ethnographic Essay - Grade: A PDF

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This essay I chose to interview multiple people from a human society near Ball State University to obtain some information about what it is like doing their jobs. ...

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Payton Linkogle English 104 Mr. McAlister Ethnographic Essay ARF: Animal Rescue Fund It is estimated that there is an average of around 6 to 8 million stray dogs and cats in the United States each year. That number only includes the dogs and cats that are in shelters, leaving out the rather large amount of animals left abandoned on the side of the road without food, water, or shelter. The Animal Rescue Fund in Muncie, Indiana was founded in 1998 with the mission to provide animals with shelter, protection, medical care, and love to animals that have been wrongfully abused and left to die. Terri Panszi founded the Animal Rescue Fund in 1998 while working as an x-ray technician at Ball State University. She used a little bit of each paycheck to rent out a small space in a building that could hold 20-30 animals, which was just the start of her big goal. At first, Panszi was the only one working in her small shelter doing everything on her own. The cleaning, feeding, care taking, and even adoptions and fundraising were all handled by her alone. Eventually, Terri hired her first employee, second and third, and ended up with 18 staff members. I decided to interview two different people from Muncie ARF in order to get a better understanding of how the staff members work each other and the animals. The first person I was intrigued to interview was the creator herself, Terri Panszi. I asked her why she decided to start this organization in the first place and Panszi responded with “Caring for animals has always been a big passion of mine, and I believe that every animals deserves to find a forever home. I’m simply here to provide a temporary home

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for protection.” A home for protection is certainly what this group does. I spent roughly 2 hours observing how well this group interacts with not only each other, but the animals as well. Animals are usually uncomfortable in a shelter, but these animals seemed to radiate positivity. I was able to observe dogs, cats, and even 2 pigs. I observed each different animal during feeding time. The pigs were as happy as can be. Many of the dogs were comfortable with the staff as compared to fewer cats being comfortable with them. What helps keep the animals comfortable is that members have an organized system that schedules who will do which jobs on which days, i.e who will feed which animals, who will bathe which animals, etc. Terri is one who believes that this system can reduce arguments amongst members if they are all doing equal parts throughout the week. Even though I observed how group members worked with each other, I wanted to obtain a first hand opinion from someone other than the boss. I decided to interview a woman by the name of Allison (last name disclosed) who happened to be taking care of animals on the day of my visit. When asking Allison how she felt about how well the team members associated with each other, she responded with “I think that for the most part we are all one happy family here because we all pretty much have the same goal of keeping the animals happy and healthy.” Aside from some of the heavy questions, I also had some rather neutral questions that peaked my curiosity because I had never been to a no kill shelter before this visit. First and foremost, I wanted to know what happened to the animals that take quite a while to get adopted. Still speaking with Allison, she explained that “no matter how long an animal has been here, we will never deny it a home or the freedom to live a

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healthy life. That is the goal of a no kill shelter.” Another couple of questions that were of interest were how long it normally takes for an animal to get adopted and which days of the week are typically busiest for adoption. Allison proceeded to explain that puppies and kittens can get adopted within less than a week, and “the older the animal is, the longer it takes for adoption to come through.” In regards to my second question, usually the weekend adoption hours are the busiest, which is when all the team members are on staff to welcome the community to greet both the new and the old animals available for adoption. Finally, I wanted the to know how the group members hoped that the community would view them as a whole. Every group has a common idea of what type of opinion they would like outsiders to have towards them, and for this question, I asked both Terri and Allison. Terri responded with “ I would really like the Muncie community to see as a family who works together to achieve a common goal. We want people to understand that we genuinely care for the wellbeing of these animals.” Allison respond with something similar in that she hopes the community views them as members who wish to provide love for all animals. As an outside member of the community, I see ARF as a well organized group that has effective communication skills, works well with each other and the animals, and has created a welcoming environment for any and all pets....