A few years ago on the TV there was a series about ppl training to be RSPCA inspectors and before they could start training the class were taken to a slaughter house where they had to administer the bolt gun to the head of a cow, the reason they had to do this was because they will be called upon to put an animal to sleep at some point in their careers and if they were unable to do it they were thrown off the course, one poor lad was so upset he was physically sick when he came out but he did it and was able to continue.
I know I would never have been able to do that and if I had got a job at a vets would probably fainted at the first animal being put to sleep but I guess if you decide to go into veterinary medicine or become a zoo keeper it something you have to get used to.
Remember Zamba losing an animal/pet is very sad but the reason we get upset is because we care, we never forget any of our pets and everyone grieves in their own way.

I think it's harder being an inspector than a vet (in regards to euthanising animals), as this training would kick in, in the field. So an animal that is unable to be eutanasied by a vet would need to be done by the inspector, in a less'gentle way (ie a horse in so much pain it needs doing immediately with a bolt gun, or an animal caught in a snare that needs immeaduate help). Not saying either job is easy, but at least as a vet, it's generally a set procedure and you can detach slightly from it (I would hope).

I quite agree with you bazaar, I have never forgotten the slaughter house program but luckily there are ppl who can personal feelings aside and do what needs to be done, a friend of mine's daughter did her work experience in a funeral parlour and loved it, because of that she is now a pathologist

I could probably do it. If one of my animals needed it, I'd hate it, but could do it for their sake. Fortunately we have vets on call for that sort of thing!

I did work experience in a vets when I was a teen and witnessed many pets being put to sleep. It wasn't the act itself that upset me, but the reaction of the owners. Seeing an adult man cry in front of his kids as his dog was lowered to the floor broke my heart. Hell, it's made my eyes a bit misty even now.

i've done this a couple of times,
one, just this week with one of my guinea pigs. i won't go into details, but it is incredibly hard.
In the end it was the right thing to do as they were suffering. none of them struggled as i let them go, i think they knew themselves that it was something i did to help them.

if you ever need to do it, you'll feel absolutely horrendous for some days afterwards, no matter how much you tell yourself it was the right thing, and how much others reassure you of that and i'm still feeling that now

It must be awful, but I know that working with animals means that it's a distinct possibility, and I have to be prepared for it. I always chuckle at the few that started our course because they wanted to work with animals as they are so 'cute' after lesson 3 of animal science where we dissected a rat they were all dropping out, a lot of people fail to see that working with animals means you will deal with animal death on a regular basis, be that for scientific purposes and dissection, due to required euthanasia or just natural causes. It's not an easy career path.