World's first animal hospital chaplain cares for the underdog

Chaplaincy roles don't typically attract celebrity status, but the Rev. Barbara Allen has received quite a lot of media attention since accepting the role of the world's first ordained animal hospital chaplain.

While formally starting her new job at Lort Smith Animal Hospital in North Melbourne on November 1, 2006, commitments began beforehand with radio and print media including The Herald Sun and The Age.

While perhaps being the hardest part of starting the job, Ms Allen said that the media attention helped with introductions after she started.

"One client I called said 'I never thought you'd be ringing me. I've heard all about you, and now I need your help!'"

Chief Executive Officer at the hospital and fellow Uniting Church minister the Rev. Ric Holland first saw the need for the position when staff came to him for help with the stress, grief and trauma involved in veterinary practice.

To his surprise, they responded more positively to the suggestion of a chaplain than to the possibility of a counsellor or psychiatrist.

Ms Allen suspected there might be images in the minds of some of her wandering from cat to dog, patting each head in turn and contemplating the loveliness of everything.

In reality, a large part of her job relates to grief ministry, as Lort Smith conducts approximately 300 euthanasias per month.

Previously, vets and administration staff balanced their workload with the unpredictable and sometimes overwhelming grief of those who walked through their doors and dialled in their numbers.

"People have said, 'Isn't it worse when a human dies?'" said Ms Allen.
"But that really depends on the role of the animal in someone's life. It can be their only family. They might feel a bit guilty and ask, 'Why am I feeling this deeply?'"

For older people and the socially isolated, pets can take on some of the most difficult emotional jobs available.

People often ask her to pray for a sick animal, or quiz her about the probability of their pet meeting them again in heaven.

"I don't see that as a silly thing," she said. "I try to talk about it, ask why it is important for them and ask what it says about God for them.

"I often hear people's faith stories. It's interesting the depths of faith you get from people who say that they are not church people, but that they do believe in a God that has created our animals and will care for them.

"They get that - perhaps more than some people in the pews get that. They sometimes ask what this experience teaches us about God and I'll say it teaches us about forgiveness, loyalty and unconditional love. The qualities I see in our animals are often the qualities I see in our God."

Euthanasia is another issue the hospital deals with that brings religious belief to the surface.

"Some clients will say I could tell that it was their dog's time - that they could tell by the look in his eye. But some will say, 'It's just like being God and I never wanted to make this decision.'"

Sceptics have called on her theological background and hinted that animals don't have a soul. Her answer is always the same: "We don't know for sure but if we call a soul the spirit or the essence then I believe quite strongly that they return to the source from which they came.

"There will be people who say that because they don't have a soul you can do what you like to them, and others say that because they don't have a soul and a chance at another life you should look after them because it's the only life they have."

Ms Allen believes faith has a lot to offer animal welfare, and that a process of involvement is something to be reclaimed rather than started.

"When I look at scriptures, especially the Old Testament, caring for animals is very much there. If you look at the fact those animals are to rest on the seventh day - that might have been the first nod to animal rights.

"The RSPCA was set up by a clergyman in England. John Wesley was a passionate animal lover. He was a vegetarian. That was something I was never taught at college!

"Abraham Lincoln said that, to look at what a person's religion meant to them, you look at how they care for animals.

"Anna Sewell, who wrote Black Beauty, was a Quaker. "I think that era inspired a lot of people working in social welfare in different levels and across different spectrums to include animals and I think that we've probably lost a bit of that in terms of the Church's responsibility."

Ms Allen's appointment and the inclusion of Prayers for the Death of a Pet in Uniting in Worship 2 show that the church is beginning to take to take the plight of animals more seriously.

"I come home each day thinking that I've been where I'm meant to be," she said.

"I'm an advocate for those with no voice and for the clients who perhaps have no-one to help them through it."

Lyndal Irons