Adopt vs. Buy How do you know a rescue is on the level?

[rogersmithiii]

If I were dishonest, I'd set up a fake rescue, and scrounge free or cheap animals. I'd post listings in Petfinder claiming to have saved animals, and after doing a really good sell, I'd charge a hefty adoption fee for supplying a cheap animal. Of course, the animal would have had no vet care, no behavioral checkout and no foster placement.

I love the idea of breed rescues, but I'm concerned that some listings on Petfinder and other places are really con jobs and money making scams. I even saw one group that places dogs in New England homes, but sources them from Tenn. Their adoption fee is really high, and you can't see the animal until they deliver it to the pickup place. The whole thing sounds dishonest.

How do you know that the rescue is really on the level?

Thanks
Rog.

 

[Jennicat]

Our director wrote a blog post for our rescue about the "rights" of adopters and what to look for in a rescue, it may help:

Searching for happy endings Why adopters should be just as choosy about rescues, as rescues are about adopters

 

[rogersmithiii]

Thanks. Nice response. I just read the article.

 

[rahunter]

Well sometimes you don't know if they are being honest. Case in point... I posted an ad on Craigslist wanting to adopt 2 yound guinea pigs in homes I could give some unwanted ones a new home. I received a response from a lady stating that she rescued GP's and had 12, 3 of which were babies. She charged a $10 fee. We went down to her farm and found 12 pigs crammed into a 3x5 open top box w/ no water and who knows when the last time it was cleaned out. She also raised chickens and had them for sale also. I was appauled at their living conditions but could not leave w/ out rescuing 2 from this "rescuer". My son's friend went with us and also wanted a pair of same sex. So after checking out several, we left w/ four.. 2 girls and 2 boys. We came home and bathed everyone and now they are living in the lap of luxury!! I then replied to every "wanted" ad in my area letting them know that these pigs at this farm needed a new homes ASAP.

In my situation, I really feel that taking in unwanted GP's was a means of making a little money for this lady...... or maybe she had good intentions but did not know how to properly care for them. I'm just glad that we were able to get 4 of them out of these conditions.

 

[JD In Van]

When I first started looking I ran into several breeders thinly veiled as other things.
I would suggest if your rescue is on petfinder, it's probably legit. If they have a forum online you can probably check them out that way (my local small animal and rabbit rescues both have tons of foster homes each so they use the internet to coordinate stuff, which is how I found them).

 

[akstrohm]

You can always ask about it here first. Especially if it's a guinea pig rescue, people are likely to know something about it--or the people who manage it may even be on this site. You should always be able to ask for references as well.