“The expectation that we can be immersed in suffering and loss daily and not be touched by it is as unrealistic as expecting to be able to walk through water without getting wet.”
— R.N.Remen
If you’ve ever gone into a shelter to adopt a dog, you might have encountered staff who seem disinterested, distant, or lacking the warm enthusiasm you’d expect from fellow animal lovers. This apparent disconnect isn’t a reflection of indifference—it’s often a symptom of compassion fatigue, a significant challenge facing those on the frontlines of animal care.
The Unseen Struggle Behind Animal Welfare Work
Animal welfare professionals — from shelter staff to veterinarians, behaviourists to volunteer walkers — routinely witness situations that most of us encounter only rarely. Every day, some of the most dedicated animal lovers face the realities of animal suffering, abuse, difficult euthanasia decisions, and resource limitations that prevent them from helping every animal in need.
This constant exposure to trauma creates what experts call “the cost of caring.” As Charles Figley, a pioneer in this field, describes it, compassion fatigue is “the emotional residue or strain of exposure to working with those suffering from the consequences of traumatic events.”
After reviewing hundreds of references from multiple databases, researchers found several other terms in use: Compassion Fatigue, Countertransference, Secondary Traumatic Stress, and Vicarious Traumatization. This terminology traces back to Carl G. Jung’s 1907 discussions of countertransference in psychology, examining how therapeutic work affects the therapist. The labels themselves say a lot to describe the condition.
Recognising the Signs
Compassion fatigue manifests in various ways:
- Emotional numbness and decreased empathy
- Chronic exhaustion and sleep disturbances
- Irritability and withdrawal from social interaction
- Physical symptoms like headaches
- An overwhelming sense of responsibility and guilt
- Feelings of hopelessness about making a difference
These symptoms create a challenging cycle. The very qualities that drew these individuals to animal welfare work—compassion, empathy, and dedication—become compromised by the cumulative effect of traumatic exposure.
Why Animal Workers Are Particularly Vulnerable
Several factors make animal welfare professionals especially susceptible to compassion fatigue:
First, the work involves constant exposure to animals in distress. From abandoned pets to cases of neglect and abuse, these experiences create an emotional burden that’s difficult to process daily.
Second, those drawn to animal care often have exceptionally high expectations for themselves, driven by a profound love for animals and a relentless desire to make a difference. This sense of mission makes it difficult to establish or maintain boundaries, often leading to overwork and self-neglect. Working in animal welfare is not a job that can be ‘finished’.
Finally, animal welfare often means navigating complex situations with limited resources. When financial constraints or other limitations prevent helping every animal, workers experience profound feelings of helplessness that contribute to compassion fatigue.
Imagine being exposed to animal suffering every day when your greatest love is animals, and there is nothing you can do to change the difficult experiences they are having. Numbness is subconsciously employed as a coping strategy, it is a last resort. But it costs the benevolent animal lover their ability to feel, which in itself is inhumane.
How CAEP can provide support for compassion fatigue
The Captive Animal Enrichment Project (CAEP) was established to address this challenge through a novel approach: improving quality of life for animals in welfare settings through innovative enrichment strategies.
By designing and implementing enrichment programs that stimulate natural behaviors, CAEP helps reduce stress behaviours in captive animals and creates more positive environments. This transformation matters not just for the animals but for their caregivers too.
When animals display more natural, engaged behaviors and show reduced signs of distress, the daily experience of those caring for them shifts dramatically. Rather than constantly confronting suffering, staff witness animals expressing natural behaviors and showing signs of wellbeing.
This positive reinforcement creates a healing cycle. As animals demonstrate improved physical and psychological wellness through enrichment activities, caregivers experience more rewarding interactions, which helps rebuild emotional resilience and restore a more stable psychological state.
CAEP’s work offers a practical solution to compassion fatigue by transforming the daily experience of animal care from one dominated by trauma to one balanced with moments of genuine connection and visible progress.
Moving Forward Together
Understanding compassion fatigue helps us appreciate the complex challenges facing animal welfare professionals. Next time you visit a shelter or welfare organisation, remember that behind every interaction is someone who may be processing significant emotional burdens while striving to make a difference.
CAEP exists to contribute to a world where animal welfare professionals are better cared for, supporting them to provide continued high quality care to their animals. We work toward a symbiotic picture in which no need is isolated and all are addressed, for the good of people, animals and the environment.
“Burnout is a depletion or exhaustion of a person’s mental and physical resources attributed to his or her prolonged yet unsuccessful striving toward unrealistic expectations, internally or externally derived”
— H. Freudenberger
