UNCLAIMED

In this season finale, we reflect on documented animal welfare cases from 2025 where shelters were called in after harm had already occurred. Although this podcast only began in the final months of the year, the same patterns kept appearing: large-scale cruelty, neglect, hoarding, and shelters absorbing the fallout when systems failed upstream. All cases discussed are real, publicly reported, and...

Today’s episode pulls back the curtain on a part of sheltering that deserves way more conversation: what really happens once an adopted pet goes home. We break down the 3-3-3 Rule, talk through common post-adoption behaviors, explain why decompression matters, and share practical tools that help animals settle into their new lives safely and successfully. If you’ve ever adopted from a shelter (or...

In this episode, I break down one of the most common misunderstandings in animal welfare: the cats that live outside. Not every outdoor cat is lost. Not every outdoor cat wants to be rescued. And some of them? They are basically raccoons in cat suits, living their best cryptid life behind the grocery store. This episode covers everything the public needs to know about outdoor cats, feral cats, TNR...

This episode dives into one of the hardest truths in animal welfare: sometimes saving a dog means ending their suffering. After seeing a TikTok about euthanasia lists, I unpack what the public gets wrong about “just try harder,” and why shelter workers and trainers often see behaviors the average adopter can’t safely handle. Featuring the story of Badger — a feral dog who spent six months learning...

Content Warning: This episode includes descriptions of animal cruelty involving newborn puppies. In this episode of Unclaimed, I share the raw and emotional story of eleven newborn puppies found tied inside a garbage bag and thrown into a commercial dumpster. What follows is told through three intertwined perspectives: the sanitation worker who discovered them, the firefighter who fought to keep t...

In this episode of Unclaimed , Devi tells the story of the 1981 Silver Spring Monkeys raid — the first police raid on a U.S. research lab. Through Billy and Domino, two monkeys who survived the same nightmare in different ways, this episode breaks down the experiments, the neglect, the raid, and the legal changes that reshaped animal research in America. ⚠️ Content Warning: This episode discusses...

This episode is an introduction to who I am, how I ended up in animal sheltering, and why this podcast exists. I talk about moving from emergency vet medicine to municipal shelter work, the emotional reality of caring for animals who have been overlooked, mislabeled, or abandoned, and what it means to “claim” an animal when the world already gave up on them. This podcast isn’t about shock value or...