The idea behind animal rescue groups is a good one. They take homeless and/or abused animals into their facilities and then adopt them out to good homes. You have your general rescues that have a variety of animals and breeds and then you have your breed specific rescues. I have had the occasion to have dealings with a few different types of rescues and with mixed results.
We adopted Chloe, our rabbit, from a rescue in Vermont. The process wasn't simple by any means. Short of having to get security clearances from the government, we had to get recommendation letters, fill out applications, have a home inspection, two preliminary visits with the animal, and have personal references. To. Get. A. Homeless. Rabbit. Oh yeah. And we had to sign a form stating that if we couldn't keep her, that we'd give her back to the rescue we got her from. Sound familiar? When it came time to move from Vermont to N.C. we were afraid that Chloe wouldn't do well during the two day car ride because of her age so I, in accordance with our agreement, called the rescue to take Chloe back. The woman gave me a hard time about it and made me feel bad as if I didn't feel bad enough having to give up an animal that was part of our family. I was simply trying to do what I thought best for Chloe. Additionally, we knew of people that wanted her and would have given her a good home, but I had signed the form. But you know. If they don't want the animals back in such a bad way, they shouldn't force people to sign their agreements.
Our next adventure with a pet rescue occurred when we decided that we wanted a second Boxer. There just happened to be a Boxer rescue that wasn't too far from where we lived in Vermont so we filled out their preliminary application online after we had perused their online descriptions of dogs and picked out a couple that we thought would be good for us. We were denied. Why? Because C is in the military. Yep. That's right.
Lastly, and I do mean last, we adopted our cat, Cal, from the Humane Society in Vermont. It wasn't so bad once you got past the personal references, applications, fees, etc.
But you know, pet rescues are all the time complaining that they're overcrowded and can't find homes for their animals but they make it damn near impossible to adopt them. They take pet advocacy and give it a bad name. They're freaking maniacs is what they are. And I'm not totally clueless. I understand why they have guidelines, rules, regulations, standards, etc. But they take it to a ridiculous level and I think they are partly guilty for the excessive pet population. Take us for example. Instead of us being able to adopt a Boxer, we bought one from a breeder instead. C's being in the military shouldn't have kept us from being qualified for a dog and it was blatant discrimination in my opinion and why I will never have anything to do, ever again, with pet rescues.
Ellen DeGeneres' current situation and the reaction from that pet rescue is typical. They're not going to give the dog back because the hair dressers' kids are under the age of 14??? That's bull. 11 and 12 year old kids are perfectly capable of being responsible with pets. We've had Bailey since S was 6 and she has yet to harm her. In fact, C and I have had pets since we first lived together and my kids haven't killed any of them at this point. But I guess I should give our dogs up to a loving Boxer rescue for their safety until my kids are old enough to have pets. And furthermore, if they think that kids shouldn't be around animals, what they should really be saying is that the parents aren't capable of controlling and disciplining their kids so they shouldn't have dogs either. And if you want to get picky, it was irresponsible of the rescue to adopt out a pet that hadn't been altered yet.
It's experiences like mine and stories like Ellen's that are going to keep rescues overcrowded and animals from having perfectly good and loving homes. Pet rescues need to stop being over-dramatic fanatics, take it down a notch, and become true advocates of homeless and abused animals.
Ellen's Story and Video of Her Plea for Iggy
The Pet Rescue's Reaction
That is seriously pathetic. Not Ellen, but that so called charity. Remind me never to give any donations to them ever. They are getting threats and losing revenue becasue of this. They should have just shut up about the dog unless it was being abused or something. And rejecting you because of military is so wrong. You should have gone to the local paper, people are real big on support the troops and cute puppies. That would have been one hell of a story.
ReplyDeleteI know. Rescues are insane. And the lady said she couldn't believe she was getting threats; she rescues dogs. That's their mentality. Not that she deserves to be getting threats or anything. That's taking it a bit far but she thinks she's a great, awesome person because she rescues dogs. She's a fanatic.
ReplyDeleteAnd we were real pissed about the military thing but it was in liberal Vermont. We were used to being discriminated against because of C's job, sadly enough.
Several years ago we were denied at a rescue because Mark is military. I don't think it's right that they are allowed to do that. To me it really is a form of discrimination. Just because people get moved around doesn't mean they don't take their pets with them.
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