Recently sent to me, posted on Craigs list, you know....the site where backyard breeders can get free advertizment.....

shelter manager posted this on CL!! OMG HOW SAD!



I am posting this (and it is long) because I think our society needs a huge “Wake-up” call. As a shelter manager, I am going to share a little insight with you all...a view from the inside if you will. First off, this is a forum to for adoption and/or rehoming as clearly stated in the rules. All of you breeders/sellers on craigslist should not only be flagged (and I hope the good people on craigslist will continue to do so with blind fury), but you should be made to work in the “back” of an animal shelter for just one day. Maybe if you saw the life drain from a few sad, lost, confused eyes, you would change your mind about breeding and selling to people you don’t even know…that puppy you just sold will most likely end up in my shelter when it’s not a cute little puppy anymore. So how would you feel if you knew that there’s about a 90% chance that dog will never walk out of the shelter it is going to be dumped at? Purebred or not! About 50% of all of the dogs that are “owner surrenders” or “strays”, that come into my shelter are purebred dogs. The most common excuses I hear are; “We are moving and we can’t take our dog (or cat).” Really? Where are you moving too that doesn’t allow pets? Or they say “The dog got bigger than we thought it would”. How big did you think a German Shepherd would get? “We don’t have time for her…”. Really? I work a 10-12 hour day and still have time for my 6 dogs! “She’s tearing up our yard…”. How about making her a part of your family? They always tell me “We just don’t want to have to stress about finding a place for her…we know she’ll get adopted, she’s a good dog”. Odds are your pet won’t get adopted & how stressful do you think being in a shelter is? Well, let me tell you…your pet has 72 hours to find a new family from the moment you drop it off…sometimes a little longer if the shelter isn’t full and your dog manages to stay completely healthy…if it sniffles, it dies. Your pet will be confined to a small run/kennel in a room with about 25 other barking or crying animals. It will have to relieve itself where it eats and sleeps. It will be depressed and it will cry constantly for the family that abandoned it. If your pet is lucky, I will have enough volunteers in that day to take him/her for a walk. If I don’t, your pet won’t get any attention besides having a bowl of food slid under the kennel door and the waste sprayed out of its pen with a high-powered hose. If your dog is big, black or any of the “Bully” breeds (pit bull, rottie, mastiff, etc…) it was pretty much dead when you walked it through the front door. Those dogs just don’t get adopted. If your dog doesn’t get adopted within its 72 hours and the shelter is full, it will be destroyed. If the shelter isn’t full and your dog is good enough, and of a desirable enough breed…it may get a stay of execution…not for long though. Most get very kennel protective after about a week and are destroyed for showing aggression…even the sweetest dogs will turn in this environment. If your pet makes it over all of those hurdles…chances are it will get kennel cough or an upper respiratory infection and will be destroyed because shelters just don’t have the funds to pay for even a $100 treatment. Here’s a little euthanasia 101 for those of you that have never witnessed a perfectly healthy, scared animal being “put-down”. First, your pet will be taken from its kennel on a leash…they always look like they think they are going for a walk…happy, wagging their tails. Until they get to “The Room”, every one of them freaks out and puts on the breaks when we get to the door…it must smell like death or they can feel the sad souls that are left in there, it’s strange, but it happens with every one of them. Your dog or cat will be restrained, held down by 1 or 2 vet techs depending on the size and how freaked out they are. Then a euthanasia tech or a vet will start the process…they will find a vein in the front leg and inject a lethal dose of the “pink stuff”. Hopefully your pet doesn’t panic from being restrained and jerk…I’ve seen the needles tear out of a leg and been covered with the resulting blood and deafened by the yelps and screams. They all don’t just “go to sleep”, sometimes spasm for a while, gasp for air and defecate on themselves. When it all ends, your pets corpse will be stacked like firewood in a large freezer in the back with all of the other animals that were killed…waiting to be picked up like garbage. What happens next? Cremated? Taken to the dump? Rendered into pet food? You’ll never know and it probably won’t even cross your mind…it was just an animal and you can always buy another one right?

I hope that those of you that have read this are bawling your eyes out and can’t get the pictures out of your head…I do everyday on the way home from work. I hate my job, I hate that it exists & I hate that it will always be there unless you people make some changes and realize that the lives you are affecting go much farther than the pets you dump at a shelter. Between 9 and 11 MILLION animals die every year in shelters and only you can stop it. I do my best to save every life I can but rescues are always full, and there are more animals coming in everyday than there are homes.

My point to all of this…DON’T BREED OR BUY WHILE SHELTER PETS DIE!


Hate me or flag me if you want to…the truth hurts and reality is what it is…I just hope I maybe changed one persons mind about breeding their dog, taking their loving pet to a shelter, or buying a dog. I hope that someone will walk into my shelter and say “I saw this thing on craigslist and it made me want adopt”…that would make it all worth it
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Some very strong words from a person who (frankly) has seen enough...
& in the meantime animal shelters continue to fill as well as rescue centers and lets not forget, (killing machines better known as Humane Societies)...
Helllllloooooooo anybody home?

__________________

When all is done that is asked from me and I can fly no higher, I pray this day his hand extends to welcome home a flyer.
Author : http://www.pigeonrescue.com/
Website:http://pigeonworld.informe.com/index...e3a2a754004832
Watch: http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...29577913622678
Sign: http://www.all-creatures.org/alert/alert-20070124.html
E-Mail tallship30@yahoo.com

Arty, I worked as a euthanasia tech for several years. Decades later, I still relive the nightmare years. They haunt my dreams. I can attest to the total truth of what that woman was saying. Animal shelters are usually where animals are dumped to die by heartless, stupid, unthinking people. It's one of the reasons why we have so many dogs--most of them are shelter or rescue adoptees.

I won't read this thread again. It still breaks my heart.

I saw a video of the 'back' of a shelter. I still get cold sweats at night from the nightmares...I won't post as it's too graphic... It's really quite sad though. We purchased 2 toy poodles 2 years ago. They are the best little dogs and we have since had a puppy, Hanley, who is equally as wonderful. I am always keeping my eyes open for animals to adopt. I think we all should, there are too many out there... However, I don't think we should bash breeders, at least not all of them. When looking for a dog, start at a shelter or on CL, then look for a RESPONSIBLE breeder. The one we got out two from was amazing. Looking at her site, she has a lot, but isn't a mill. She only breeds a couple litters a year. Roxie, the mother of our two boxers who was ours at one time. My uncle bred her, had a litter because the whole family wanted one. They all found great homes and a few of our family members are looking at shelter boxers to adopt.

I believe that CL gets a bad name for all the flaggers there and because of the adoption. I am pro CL for many reasons, the biggest being I got two of the best things that have ever happened to me from there. I wouldn't have Echo or Lucy...

Its a vicious circle, humans continue to make a buck and the animals continue to pay the ultimate price, they pay with there lives...
There are good humans out there,...many hang out right here on Parrot Chatter, but the sad reality is there are more bad humans than there are good ones.
Many of our kids...are throw away birds, our birds are just that OURS, til death do we part.
Sooner or later this madness will end, Lawmakers will make it almost impossible to own a pet in the future, and whom will we point the finger at????
You guess...I already know...
Many have died in my hands from there injuries...but I keep trying....and I keep having nightmares...
This person posted this issue on Craigs list, It was flagged and took off the board, who do you think flaged the post...the backyard breeders who can't seem to get it through there heads....GET A REAL JOB and stop relying on the selling of LIFE for your livelyhood...
Kinda bitter about this issue.....folks know what happens at shelters...but they don't give a damn...
All I have to say is this...there is a Heaven...and there is a Hell......

it's heartbreaking to think about this reality - but it's a reality, and we all have to do what we can. all my friends' dogs are shelter dogs, and though some of them have behavioral problems the humans are willing to work with them.

the unfortunate thing is that lots of people don't see their animals as what they are - another form of a child, a similar commitment though our society makes it easy to slip out of this commitment which is really the saddest part. to an extent it's an issue of how people are raised. i've said this before but my parents always made it clear to us kids that opening your home to an animal means entering a responsibility that's not deniable for the entire life span of that animal. we've never re-homed a pet. unfortunately, if so many adults are lacking decent moral values when it comes to animals, how's the future generation supposed to learn them?!
it's sad .....

Ditto that, Arty.

Arty........ I wish you would have said "some or even many of the backyard breeders" and then I may have not felt a strong urge to respond to your post. No ill-will intended though in adding to the discussion.

Such a deep & sad subject, not sure where best to start with my own feelings. I think though that almost everyone shares in the blame of what happens in these so called shelters, in one way or another - directly or indirectly and some of us should not be so free to point fingers, unfairly in some directions. I think we all could do more to help halt what I hear is going on in these places. Damn, I wish I had the time to get involved in that.

One thing I don't understand & am curious about (maybe someone can enlighten me on this question): How anyone can work in these shelters or draw a paycheck from a place where animals are being put to death & I don't understand how anyone can be part of the actual on the spot process of killing them, injecting them with death chemicals etc.....

Arty.... I have met many backyard breeders and I have yet to meet anyone who relies on the selling of "life" for their livelihood. I am only talking about birds here in my post as I have no experience with the breeding of dogs or cats or any knowledge of what goes on with them in that dept....

I myself am a hobbyist type breeder, I mean I pair my birds up because I think it best for them. I really do not care if they breed or not, most don't for one reason or another and that is fine with me - I still love them the same regardless and I care for them the same. If I happen to get a clutch of babies from whatever pair, once in awhile, then I do my best to find them the best homes possible (hopefully "forever" type homes) and do turn down buyers that I know will not fit the bill in that dept....

Laws do need to be changed, tougher restrictions on owning pets and breeding of pets do need to be put into effect, better law-makers do need to be elected, etc. etc. etc. but I think it is kinda unfair to just lump every breeder into one basket. Yes, there are breeders whose only concern is the dollar bill. They will keep their birds in poor living conditions, feed the bare minimum diet, sell their birds to just anyone and that is of course not right and sad. I wish somehow these people could be shut down forever. Then there are the good breeders (although some of you sound like you believe there is no such animal), who take care of their flock members and who will do their best to only sell to good homes and responsible pet shops. Once the birds leave their hands though, there is no telling (for sure) what happens to those birds just as there is never no absolute guarantee that any shelter pet that is re-homed will go to a forever type home and be cared for in the best manner possible.

I certainly don't have the answers for the problems all these poor innocent abandoned animals have to face in their lives but I do lay the blame on the buyers/pet owners who give them up or let them lose and not on the breeders, at least not on the responsible breeders. JMO for now.

I'm still looking for a shelter sun conure Arty if you have any available. And I agree to an extent with the breeding issue but as of late...I've noticed WAY less dogs for sale or kitties for sale in pet store windows. almost like it's becoming taboo. I remember when I was a kid seeing all those puppies and kitties everywhere, now there's maybe 6 of the kitties, 3 dogs average in the stores I've gone into. I hate that people just dump pets, mom said one lady came into the shelter while she was there and dumped her poodle there because it no longer matched the furnature. WTF you know? The shelter there held the animals for 20 days. It's too bad though that no one can put a 3 year ban on breeding any animals and have them all spayed and neutered during that period. I think maybe with a 3 year gap we can drastically reduce the numbers that way by time the dogs that are say over the age of 3 who weren't spayed, who are now 6 can have the puppies or what ever but no need to over blow the groups. I mean...there are other ways to live aside breeding. My bird, someday like when he is 15 I'd really like to let him clutch and get to keep the babies the one time I will ever let him do it if he decides to. So I have his grand babies when he and his future girlfriend is gone. It makes me feel so sad that animals are destroyed every day because of selfish humans who were involved in their creation forgetting the life after the paycheck is recieved. I mean I once had thoughts of hobby breeding...decided after getting screamed at by a few that that'd be a bad idea. But lots of people here breed and aren't yelled at for it. I guess it really just depends on who you talk to...ah I'm rambling and I have to be in class in six hours, it's 1 in the morning....night.

What do you suppose should happen with all of the animals then Joel? Believe me, people aren't banging down the door to adopt cats, dogs, or even kittens and puppies in some areas. It is better to humanely euthanize them than to keep them locked up in a cage for the rest of their life. Someone has to do the job and better that it's someone who truly does care about the animals.

There are very few responsible cat and dog breeders. Very few. The rest of them are disgusting puppy mills or ignorant backyard breeders who don't seem to understand that there are millions of animals in shelters waiting for homes. We don't need any more cats and dogs!

Maybe there's a chance that for the next year or three there'd be a manditory ban on breeding animals. All of them have to be spayed or neutered if breeding continues that way no one will buy a fertile pet. Maybe if we strengthen that leash on breedable animals there'd be less in the shelters, by no means am I saying that the breeding animals shouldn't breed, but if they bred animals that couldn't be bred again that would take about 75% of the problem I think right there.

Also there's a man in indonisia who uses tranq darts on strays they can't bring in and part of the tranq is an anti rabies shot. We should use those to sterilize animals we can't catch to try and curb the populations too.