What is Rescuing and Adopting

[VoodooJoint]

Dictionary definitions are

res·cue[FONT=Arial Unicode MS]/[/FONT]ˈrɛskyu[FONT=Arial Unicode MS]/[/FONT]verb, -cued, -cu·ing, noun –verb (used with object) 1.to free or deliver from confinement, violence, danger, or evil. 2.Law. to liberate or take by forcible or illegal means from lawful custody. –noun 3.the act of rescuing.

a·dopt [FONT=Arial Unicode MS]/[/FONT]əˈdɒpt[FONT=Arial Unicode MS]/[/FONT][FONT=Arial Unicode MS][[/FONT]uh-dopt[FONT=Arial Unicode MS]] [/FONT]–verb (used with object) 1.to choose or take as one's own; make one's own by selection or assent: to adopt a nickname. 2.to take and rear (the child of other parents) as one's own child, specifically by a formal legal act. 3.to take or receive into any kind of new relationship: to adopt a person as a protégé. 4.to select as a basic or required textbook or series of textbooks in a course. 5.to vote to accept: The House adopted the report. 6.to accept or act in accordance with (a plan, principle, etc.). —Verb phrase 7.adopt out, to place (a child) for adoption: The institution may keep a child or adopt it out.


Those definitions tell us what the words mean, but do not tell us what the words mean when we speak of rescuing or adopting an animal.

In animal welfare circles, and on this forum, it is not believed that you can rescue or adopt an animal when you buy it from a petstore or breeder.

When you buy an animal, no matter what condition the animal is in, you may be helping one animal but dooming others to take it's place. This is not acceptable to animal lovers and welfarists. When buying from a petstore or breeder you are not a rescuer. You are a customer and your money or action goes to support the cycle of abuse.

To truly rescue an animal it must be removed from a situation without allowing the perpetrator to profit or enable them to use the loss of the animal to accommodate the suffering of more animals in it's place. For example. Taking a breeder's "culls" for free only creates more room for the breeder to keep breeding and create more culls. In this case you would be doing more damage then good.

To truly adopt, the animal must be in relatively safe and decent care and have come to be there because it was rescued, seized, or dumped. In some cases of hardship a normally good home may also need to rehome or adopt out their pet/s.

Adoption fees are not price tags. The money is used to support the rescue or shelter and their efforts or, in the case of a private party looking to rehome an animal (non-breeder), it is a nominal fee to discourage impulse "buys" and reptile feeders. The "adoption fee" is never used as a means of gaining profit.

Some petshops and breeders like to say they charge an "adoption fee" while in fact they are simply selling the animal. A good clue as to if it is an adoption or a sale would be the presence of an adoption application and if they breed themselves or buy from breeders and/or brokers to replenish their stock.

All decent shelters and rescues at least have a cursory adoption application so they have basic info on you, your other animals, animal care history, plans for your new pet, and your knowledge of your new pet. They never purposely breed or buy animals to have more available. The best rescues and shelters will also do at least one interview with you and home checks/inspections with the option of continuing these inspections for the rest of the animals' lives and, if possible, spay or neuter the animal. If there is no adoption application, and they breed or buy to replenish, then it is a sale. They are selling you a product they do not care about and have no interest in the quality of future care. This is not a person or business you want to reward with your money.

The next time you see an ill, abused or neglected animal for sale and you are temped to buy it (or even take it for free) please remember what you have learned here. Yes, that animal does deserve love and care but not at the expense of other animals suffering it it's place. Instead of buying the animal call the SPCA, Humane Society, Department of Agriculture and/or Health Department instead and keep up the heat, if necessary, to get them to do something about the situation. Keep the numbers handy in your cell phone. Carry a camera with you at all times to document abuse when you see it. By getting the petstores and breeders in trouble and hopefully punished for their deeds you will be helping more then just the one or two animals you may want to buy without removing evidence or supporting the abusive practices.

[debbiejo2007]

not all breeders ABUSE their animals!! i sure as heck don't!!

and how dare you say that breeders dont care about their animals???

my bunnies are part of my family! i love them sooo much and i would never let anything bad happen to them

my baby lionhead got really sick and acording to your logic i would have just set him free or left him out to die.... but what did i do??? i stayed up with him half the night for DAYS AND DAYS making sure he was eating and drinking enough and cleaning his eye. if i didnt care about him do you think i would have done that? i mean crap i coulda go another one just like him for $20 or just a little more. god these lies make me soooo mad.

i'm not saying that ALL breeders care as much about their animals as i do. but i sure know a lot that do. you can have a fairly successful breeding program with out it being detrimental to the health or wellbeing of any animals.

[Ly&Pigs]

All I have to say to you Debbiejo is that Breeders+Rescuers combined = OXYMORON.

Also, if you haven't noticed this site is RESCUE oriented and ANTI-BREEDING. Your current attitude won't get you far here.

[debbiejo2007]

oh my god. you know nothing about my attitude. i am sick of you peolple bashing breeders. and you know what im entitled to my own opinions as are you. I know that I am a breeder and I also know that I rescue rabbits as well as horses so you know what I dont care what you say about breeders being the devil or anything else. People who think that you should leave an animal to die in a pet store or with a bad breeder because if you buy or even take it from them you are furthering the problem is a bunch of crap. If you leave that animal to die when you could have done something then you are as much at fault as anyone else for not stopping the problem and saving the poor animal. so stick that in your juice box and suck it.

[Ly&Pigs]

This clearly isn't the forum for you. I'd find a more breeder friendly one. We won't change our mind about breeding or breeders anytime in the near future.

Your attitude has now gotten you caged.

[Susan9608]

you can have a fairly successful breeding program with out it being detrimental to the health or wellbeing of any animals.

Hmmm ... not detrimental to the health or well being of ANY animal. What about the animals who are forced to either live out their lives in a shelter OR are euthanized because the home they could have gone to was taken up by one of the babies YOU (or any other breeder) bred? I'd say that result is QUITE detrimental to the animals who are either euthanized or forced to live in a shelter.

[seagirl96]

And what about the females that are forced to bear the babies that overpopulate the pet world? It is soooo good for their health that sometimes it kills them. Sometimes it just wears them out.

[jackie158]

Since this is the kitchen, I am going to express my opinion. I know someone on another forum that is a breeder. It is sick. And she thinks she is responsible. Like someone said, if you think haveing breeders cages the size of a 1 x 1, not pairing your pig with any other pig because you are afrid other piggies will barber the hair and wrapping tissue/tin foil in a pigs hair "to keep a nice coat," is responsible, you better guess again. I would hate to see the people who really neglect animals if breeders who do this think it is ok. It plain out makes me sick. I am starting to hate breeders. Plain and simple, they are clearly in it for one thing and one thing only and thats money and prizes.

[Piggersrule]

I don't believe in breeding ANY animal. There are way to many animals now that are homeless and/or abused and why add to it. My favorite saying among breeders is "I breed to better the breed." Yeah right, how many breedings will it take to better what Mother Nature produced?

[mommyoffive]

Originally Posted by Piggersrule

I don't believe in breeding ANY animal.

What about fish, birds, and reptiles. If these were not breed, then they would not be around, plain and simple. You dont see these animals often in animal shelters, and if you do, they would get taken up fast. These are the only animals that I believe breeding is ok with.

[daftscotslass]

Originally Posted by mommyoffive

What about fish, birds, and reptiles. If these were not breed, then they would not be around, plain and simple. You dont see these animals often in animal shelters, and if you do, they would get taken up fast. These are the only animals that I believe breeding is ok with.

There are still more of these animals than there are people who know how to care for them properly. It's brilliant that there are so few of them for rehoming in your area but there ARE still many in rescue across the world - there are many here in specialist rescues.

There are many of the bird, fish and reptile species kept as pets still in the wild. Most are not endangered so there's no danger of extinction.

The fact is they WILL be around, but yet again selfish humans can't see past their want (not need) for fancy, exotic pets.

[rabbitsncavyluv]

I see birds and reptiles all the time and most don't do well in captivity. They're wild animals for a reason. The parrot trade is awful for the most part. Who really needs a large python in their living room?

[Piggersrule]

The lady that I got Pinkie from rescues birds, reptiles and fish. She just adopted out a pair of Parakeets, goldfish and still has a turtle for adoption. At one time small animals weren't a problem and weren't seen in rescues and shelters but now with people backyard breeding, breeder mills breeding for profit and petstore screw-ups the number of unwanted animals is staggering and out of control. Just because you don't see birds, reptiles and fish in rescues doesn't mean they aren't out their abandoned somewhere.....cause they are. Most rescues aren't knowledgable enough to care for these exotic animals. The idea of thinking it is ok to breed these animals just because they aren't seen in rescues is wrong. If people keep thinking this way than there will be a need for more shelters to house all those unwanted birds, reptiles and fish.

[VoodooJoint]

Originally Posted by mommyoffive

What about fish, birds, and reptiles.

In my opinion reptiles should not be pets at all. I believe, and am actively lobbying, to put an end to the pet trade of most wild animals. This means that if the animal exists in the same form as we keep it as a "pet" in the wild then, in most instances, it should not be owned by the general public. A person wishing to own or breed these animals should have to get special licencing and monitoring as the owner of a wild animal.

My objections include;
-most/all reptiles and amphibians
-many species of birds
-some fish (but not all as many species of fish do very well in captivity)
-many species of mammals

I do not want to see one more wild animal fad...ever! No more cute sugar gliders dying by the thousands because if improper care due to unknowledgable/uncaring owners. no more wild cat/domestic cat crossbreeds or wolf/dogs.

There is a new fad up and coming. It's the South American short-tailed opossum. Just like sugar gliders these poor little animals will also die by the thousands as victims of the pet trade unless something is done to change the laws.

[seagirl96]

Excellent! The frst time I saw guinea pigs referred to as exotic pets I did a little web searching and was horrified by the animals that anyone can buy. How does one lobby to get this done? Letters to Congressmen?

[fourbwabbys]

What about fish, birds, and reptiles

Actually, birds are HIGHLY overpopulated. Parrots are bought for their look or 'just because they talk' and when people realise they are messy, loud, demanding animals that can outlive them, they end up in shelters. Take a look at any petfinder, you'll see plucked birds that had such bad luck they ended up in a home that just ignored them. I especially blame the large chains like PetSmart, Petco, etc. Sooooo many people buy on a whim or lie to the workers when they say they know what they're getting into. You'd be surprised how many birds dumped at shelters are from those stores.

[seagirl96]

I saw four cockatoos in one shelter alone! Those birds cost a thousand dollars or more but ended up dumped. Turtles are another type of pet that look easy but are quite complicated to keep healthy.

Another really big problem is that people dump the animals outdoors so if the habitat is hospitable to them, they start breeding and often endanger local species. For example, the starling, brought over from England has almost completely killed off the bluebird by stealing all its nesting sites.

Two summers ago someone spotted piranha in the Merrimack River in New Hampshire! The Forestry Service thought they would be killed off by the winter. I hope so!

[thalestral]

If a species is sold in a pet shop then you won't have to look far to find those in need of rescuing. That is the gift to society that pet shops give :/

[mommyoffive]

Well everyone has different views and opinions. Yes there is stupid people out there who do not realize what their getting themselfs into when they buy a bird, reptile etc. but that will not change my views on exotics breeding, especially with fish.

[gpigluver14]

I do not want to see one more wild animal fad...ever! No more cute sugar gliders dying by the thousands because if improper care due to unknowledgable/uncaring owners. no more wild cat/domestic cat crossbreeds or wolf/dogs.

There is a new fad up and coming. It's the South American short-tailed opossum. Just like sugar gliders these poor little animals will also die by the thousands as victims of the pet trade unless something is done to change the laws.

And along with what voodoojoint said, there are so many cross-breeds people are creating, using wild animals to breed with domestic animals to create an almost hybrid animal, like the liger for instance or the new domestic cat breed, the toyger. I don't think it's right. If it's not a natural breed then it shouldn't exist. They'll only end up with genetic problems and deformities, as well as become unfortunate pets that will be bred by the thousands to die in pet stores.