Animal Cruelty Investigator?

Am I qualified to become an Animal Cruelty Investigator?

• Okay, so my whole life I have had a passion for animals and helping them. I feel as if I was put here to help them. I want to be an animal cruelty invesitgator but the thing is everytime I see or hear about an animal hurting or living in fear I break down and I get so emotional. I want to help animals and I want to do this but the fact that I am so sensitive towards them being hurt is making me think maybe I wouldn't be able to handle seeing them in pain. Do you think I could get used to this or is this not the career for me? Thank you!

• Answer:

  Your love and devotion towards animals is fantastic!! However, you do need to have resilience to what you see, as a lot of the stuff is horrendous, things that can't be shown on the investigator programmes due to the severity of it. I personally think resilience can be built up, as the more cases you see, the more you are able to deal with them, even if you just cope whilst at work and the get upset when you get home! However, your emotion may not bode well for starting a new job, you need to have mastered keeping your emotions under control beforehand. One idea could be to work 'behind the scenes' in the day to day care of the animals brought into the shelters, rather than going out into the public. This way, if you break down, it's not such a big deal and when you feel you're more able to cope, apply for work on the road. Good luck in whatever career you choose, and never stop caring about animals :)