Hi Guys,
gosh those replies are fantasytic! Thanks Teresa for that fantastic repy! I did an initial reply on the other forum that stated the following but yeah new i couldnt cover everything in depth. This is what i wrote:
I don't agree with breeding any animal for the benefit of the human and not the animal their are sooo many homeless small animals around and ones that are fed as food and kept inhumanely the rat/mice situation is probably more of a joke than the homeless/neglected/mistreated piggy situation. over here.
Just as food for thought and this is my number one reason i would never breed and rescue...imagine how many animals you could rescue and save if you didn't have your breeding stock and their offspring breeding their aswell? That's space for lives to be saved and also rehomed that's taken up by deliberate breeding and selling. mean if someone can come up with a good enough reason by all means please post it but yeah breed quality/colour and coat arn't good enough reasons in my eyes because they're all in the benefit of the person and not the animal...they're usually the reasons breeders of guinea pigs use telling everyone that pedigree breeds have less health problems, are bred to a \\\\\\" standard \\\\\\" and that they are breeding to improve a line or improve some aspect of the features of the guinea pig...when you're on rescue side of thinking you realise how pointless it all is I mean they're guinea pigs why should they have to conform to a standard that we human beings designed for them?. People that breed not to keep the offspring are simply doing it for their own benefit and not the animals. I've seen more health problems and genetically inbred problems in pedigree guinea pigs than i ever have in pets anyhow...
By breeding you not only represent yourself but you represent other breeders and a good number of breeders don't care where their offspring go, some petshop offspring, animals that don't meet their breed \" standard \" are sold/discarded from the home some even euthanased as a result of not meeting certain criteria and being useless to the breeders breeding program, some breed mass numbers, and some also keep hteir \\\\\\" stock \\\\\\" in terrible and tiny living conditions. The word breeder is something i would never want to label myself as I don't want to be a part of the example others lead in the breeding world.
I guess to me what it comes down to is that breeding/showing is for the benefit of the person and rescue/welfare is for the animals benefit. You can definitely give out good information and promote better care and awareness by being either a rescuer or a breeder but to me the two run under opposing systems of ethics ( i think thats the word i meant to use
i couldnt think of the word i wanted so sed ethics
).
I never thought of that before that breeders that resdcue could indeed pretend some of their own stock are rescue guinea pigs...gosh htats terrible!
Jess