‘She was morbidly obese’: Internet slams FATPHOBIC employee for not letting woman adopt a dog
A dog shelter employee is receiving criticism after claiming that they prevented an obese woman from adopting a puppy because of her body type. According to the Sun, the worker was concerned that the dog wouldn't receive the necessary exercise and is now being called "fatphobic" online.
The employee wrote in a lengthy post that has since been removed from Reddit that Rocky the dog had leaped up and smothered a woman in smooches during an adoption event a few weeks earlier. "It was love at first sight. Only problem? She was morbidly obese and drenched in sweat when it wasn’t warm. I know you can’t judge fitness by looks, but I’ve never met someone her size fit enough to run over two hours a day with a hyperactive dog or chase him when he jumps the fence," the post said.
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To determine if the woman and the dog would make a suitable match, the shelter staffer "interrogated" her. According to him, she displayed a lot of yellow-green signs, such as mentioning that she worked highly flexible hours and that her apartment was close to a dog park. When questioned about her amount of physical activity, she said that she had an active lifestyle, but she didn't further clarify.
"‘Active lifestyle’ has many meanings nowadays [and] I learned after having this job for a while that you have to go with your gut and prioritize animals over peoples’ feelings. As excited as this woman was about Rocky, I saw him going home with her, getting little to no exercise, trashing a couch or two, and then being taken back here or worse, to a kill shelter," the message continued.
The staff advised the woman to choose smaller house pets, such as cats, and explained why she couldn't bring Rocky home. "She got mad and said things I won’t say. I didn’t mention weight, but I think she knew that was the reason I turned her away, " read the post. It also mentioned that the employee was almost rethinking his decision of not letting her adopt Rocky but as soon as he saw her "struggle" to walk to her car, he knew he was right. The person also said that his boss would have done the same thing.
The lady, who supposedly has a large following, shared the uncomfortable situation at the dog shelter on her pages on social media.
"Now apparently the woman I turned away has a large social media following, and she’s been talking about the shelter, calling us fatphobic, and urging followers to post bad reviews of us and not to donate to us," the employee went on, "The owner also says I did the right thing, but I’m unsure. The emails have been getting worse and worse. I fear we will lose funds and adopters, all because I was too judgmental. The animals are my number [one] priority, but should I have just let Rocky go? "
Many Reddit users jumped in right away to voice their opinions about the circumstances.
One wrote, "‘I know you can’t judge fitness by looks’ and then you immediately did just that. The best thing to do would have been a home check and two-week foster trial. "
Another penned, "Why not do foster-to-adopt? Let Rocky go home with her on a trial basis and see whether his needs are being met before making it official? There are so many options. "
"I’ve seen obese people walking very high breed dogs who were in good physical condition (well groomed, perfect body weight)," a third commented, "I’m overweight currently. At my heaviest, I was classified as obese. So was my now wife," another person commented. "Yet when we were at our ‘fattest’ during the lockdown we walked our dog 5+ miles a day."