As hard as this is to write, sadly it is long overdue. The total years in the rescue community of the individuals contributing to this email is well over 100, so please listen with an open mind.
As a fellow rescuer who has been active since 1967, I ask the following: How could you adopt out an animal without checking references and doing a home check? How could you not spay and neuter every animal that passes through your hands? How could you not have a lifetime return policy? How could you not be a support/counseling system for your adopters? How could you adopt a puppy mill survivor to a family not capable of handling their special needs?
Recently, many of us have received calls from frantic individuals who adopted a pet only to be told by the “rescue group” that they couldn’t or wouldn’t take the animal back. Remember “lifetime return policy.”
The reason so many groups are importing dogs from the shelters in the south is that after decades of working on the spaying and neutering issue, many of the states in the east have gotten the problem somewhat under control. Bringing puppies in from the south and letting them go without spaying and neutering will ultimately set us back decades once those dogs start reproducing.
Additionally, many of us have worked tirelessly on the puppy mill issue. Right now there are puppy millers and backyard breeders posing as rescue groups because the public has gotten it. They don’t want to shop. They want to adopt. So those smart little devils are now calling their sales adoptions.
If we in the rescue community don’t follow a code of ethics then how will we be able to tell the good guys from the bad guys?
The most important thing any rescue group can do for an animal they rescue is be responsible for them. That responsibility has to last the life of the pet. It is not good enough to import dogs and puppies from a kill shelter if you adopt them out and then move on and never look back. It is not good enough to take in puppy mill survivors with their special needs, and leave the family to figure it out on their own. The adoption retention percentage can be greatly increased if you share your knowledge with your adopters. Remember you picked them. You owe it to them and to the pet you placed with them to be an educator, friend and extended family. If after you have tried to work out the issues and the pet still needs to be re-homed, it is your responsibility. If your group is not able to take back every single pet they have adopted out, then close your doors. Do not adopt out one more pet. You are not helping them nor are you helping the rescue community. Who is going to clean up your mess? The shelters or the rest of us?
There are many groups out there who refuse to take back a dog or cat they have adopted out. I suggest that when we get those calls, we urge the adopters to contact the authorities. Hopefully the few bad apples won’t spoil the public’s perception of a community who is there to help. We need to police ourselves before these problems ruin our good names.
Sharon Gaboff
Carol Araneo-Mayer
Adopt A Pet Inc.
Freehold
Cindy Meyer
A Tail to Tell Inc.
New Gretna, Pa.
Kathy Hargis
Puppy Mill Awareness Day
Jackson
Sandra Harris
Shih Tzu & Furbaby Rescue
Davidsonville, Md.