[Susan9608]

Theres the rub, right there exactly. Quite a few people on this forum.

You've misunderstood me. My point was that many people, PRIOR to becoming members of this forum, did research on guinea pigs and came to the conclusion that it's better to adopt.

Most people never get or go this far in their ownership of any pet, and while it was wrong of me to call you who are members of PETA "morons", again it is a unwavering ethic and combative position that prevents your own goals from being realized.

Well that certainly explains why PETA's had so many successes - their unwavering ethic and combative position has prevented them from realizing their goals.

Susan, I know you and other mods have stipulated that critcism of this type is walking the line, but I would encourage you to see it as constructive rather than combative, as I impart no animocity into these typed words and seek only to expand the range of discussion on the issue brought up by this thread.

Yes, using the terms "moron" and "moronic" are certainly constructive and contain no hint of animosity.

While the idea of selling pigs for profit might make your stomach turn, you could retrofit your shelters to market to stores, offer compeditive prices to breeders, and use the invisible hand to push the world your way.

Perhaps it's just because I'm a PETA moron, but this makes no sense to me, and I'm *still* not quite sure what you're suggesting here. Offer competitive prices to breeders? Do you not realize that one of the goals here is to eliminate breeders?

It's all well and good to say that it would be better to have the pet stores act as adoption agencies, rather than point-of-sale outlets for small animals, but HOW do you think you're going to make that happen? If people are, at this point, willing to walk in and purchase an animal, why in the world would a pet store be willing to undergo the significantly increased costs to serve as a rescue only?

You need to realize that just like the thousands of pigs out there and the thousands of breeders and the thousands of stores, there are thousands of pet purchasers that dont know anything, many of whom will never know about your education campaigns or rescues or about the overpopulation problems.

Actually, I don't think I need to realize that. It's a very defeatist attitude. I don't know that I can't eventually reach everyone because I haven't yet exhausted every possible opportunity and/or method of doing so. I firmly believe it's possible to educate everyone adn bring about an end to the sale of animals in pet stores.

Do you not realize that it's already happened with dogs and cats? You don't see many pet stores any more selling dogs and cats. People boycotted that idea, and look at the results. Chalk one up for the morons at PETA and all the other morons out there who failed to realize that education couldn't reach enough people to make a difference.