Bogus Freakin' Reptile Rescues

Scenario:

Poor excuse for a pet store owner makes an appearance at a local reptile show. By "poor excuse" I mean the animals are not well cared for, there is little knowledge of how to properly care for them, the store is dirty, the displays are poorly constructed, etc. etc.

Poor excuse for a pet store owner sees a few animals up for "adoption" at the local reptile show. Inquires about one specifically beautiful special situation animal and is rejected as a suitable owner due to lack of.....everything desirable in a new owner.

Fast forward 3 days. While driving by this poor excuse for a pet store, a new sign has been planted in front: "Reptile Rescue"

I am so angry I am speechless. I am appalled. I am furious. "Rescue" my ass. This poor excuse for a pet store owner is looking for free animals to turn around and sell (healthy or not) to more unsuspecting, unprepared, irresponsible owners.



Those poor animals. Dammit!

Go get 'em... I am sure that some public awareness will change the whole scenario there!!!
greg

Man i know your anger. I have seen threads on certain boards, where someone is looking for a animal cheap. Then you find them on another board now doing "rescues" for that particular animal....................... Trying to trick people into giving him a free reptile + caging..........

People do this in the bird world too, and I am sure with other types of animals as well. The time is ripe to talk some local news station into ponying up some money to microchip an animal and follow it's 'progress' through some of these slimebucket rescue operations, all the way from receipt to subsequent sale.

That's a great idea.....there would be no denying what the "rescue" folks are doing when the animal is tracked through its microchip thru the whole journey.

And as you said, it's not just reptiles that are subjected to this kind of scam, it's every saleable animal known to man, as far as what I've seen. Around here, the worst ones you run into are for dogs and birds....I know a woman about 20 miles from here, she couldn't afford to buy a Macaw, and knew so little about them, no quality breeder would have sold her one anyway. She already has 4 dogs, 3 cats, and a ferret running aound her house (NONE of which are actually housetrained, NASTY!!) so she decides to start a "bird rescue". Long story short, she got her Macaw, and a whole slew of other birds she can neither afford to take care of, nor did she have the knowledge to care for. The birds are getting sick, their bad behaviours for which they were initially given up for continue to get worse, and she eventually ends up selling most of them to any Tom, Dick, or Harry that comes by her door flashing some cash. I heard a couple days ago she still has the Macaw and 3 Amazons, the Amazons attack her kids, and the Macaw has a nasty gash on the side of his face, but she can't afford to treat it. PITIFUL.

I've done plenty of "rescues" myself....too often from people who claim to have rescued the animal in the first place, realize they can't handle it (for the same reason the original owners didn't want it). I have spent more money than I care to even attempt to figure, and have NEVER sold an animal that I acquire in this way. I know I spent well over $1000.00 on one horse that I took in, it had been starved to the point of being to weak to even stand. My vet actually DONATED all of his services for her, only charged me for any actual meds she needed... I still spent over a grand. And I ended up GIVING her to an absolutely wonderful home.

Truly RESCUING any animal is never a profitable venture....on the contrary, it is usually a very costly experience. Anyone who tells you different is in it for all the wrong reasons, and people like that crappy pet store owner advertising as a "reptile rescue" ought to be forced to live in the conditions he leaves his animals in, and wait for someone to care enough to rescue HIM.

I think the sad part is with all the scam rescues out there, it makes it hard for people really needing a rescue to find a reliable one to use. I had a ferret i took in from someone who was neglecting it, but i needed to find a good home for him and finally found a reliable rescue i could give him to. (after 3 months a searching and communication) They had paperwork i had to fill out to surrender him, which most of the scammish ones did not. They make people fill out paperwork with vet references, before they adopt him back out. So i feel safer knowing the next person will have to jump through hoops to get him. Unlike the previous owner who paid $10 for him from someone who stole him from somewhere. I never knew he was stolen, until when the ferret was being picked up by the ferret rescue people. The people who sold him to the people i rescued hom from, said he fathered a litter of kits and they did not need him anymore. too bad he came pre nuetered from marshall farms..............

Normally people like NAEM Link here Are rescuing animals with no clue on what they are doing to begin with. No understanding on what exaclty mbd is or anything else. Heck, only within the last 6 months he found a vet.............

I myself have animals i have rescued from other people. A puppy that was going to be thrown into a busy street, all because the person's roomate did not want their carpets to be ruined. The same owner of the ferret i rescued had a cat that was severly emaciated. They would feed it 2 cans of catfood a week and had no litterbox or waterbowl inside the house for it. So i took him in too and got him back up to good health. I am also always working with alley cats that roam my area too, i never take them in my house, but i treat their wounds and feed them on my porch.

I adopted my Bloodhound from a REAL Bloodhound rescue....and there was more paperwork, reference checking, and home visits than when you adopt a human child, I think!!

Yes, there was an "adoption fee" for him, but it was small compared to the amount of time and money these people put into all of the animals they take in. Most reputable rescues are in debt, but keep going out of love for the animals.....the one and only reason they should be doing what they are doing in the first place.

Of course, there is the cases where people start with good intentions and get in way over their heads, and the animals won't get the care they need in that case either. You have to be willing to admit when you've reached that point and ask for help also, or you're no better than the people you've "rescued" them from.

Oh my, great thread Terese, I have seen the same thing so many times it makes my heart shrink.
There is a "rescue" not to far from me that just made me sick. From sorry ass treatment to trying to profit from rescues........UHGGGG.


Don't get me wrong, some folks rescue for all the right reasons and we have even done so, but if your gonna run a rescue, for the love of god do it with some taste.

Speaking of rescues, We just rescued a poor little kitten about 4-6 months old that was alongside a very busy street hiding underneath a van. This kitten was SOOOO terrified for the first 15 minutes till we got it home. He seems to have calmed down alot though. The kitten so sooo pretty i can't understand why scum shove their cats outdoors to roam around.

That is just sad poor cat...I have had cats all my life i currently have 3 of them i have a dog and they just came to my house out of the blue so i fed them and well now they are here i love animals i sometimes hate feeding some roaches that i have for my veiled they look so defenceless but its a chameleon eat roach world i guess.