"Free To a Good Home" Ads
Did you know:
1. People value what they pay for.
Pets obtained for free are are less likely to be spayed or neutered by their new
owners (why bother with vet bills?), and more likely to be abused and/or
discarded, because "there are plenty more where that came from!"
2. So-called "Bunchers" gather free
pets until they have enough for a trip to a Class B Dealer who is licensed by
the USDA to sell to sell animals from "random sources" for research. The Buncher
may only get $25 a head for former pets, while a dealer can between $100 - $450
per pet. The Class B dealer probably already has a contract with certain
facilities (often for research) and will transport them to other areas within a
state, even out of state.
3. Free animals are at times
taken to "blood" pitbulls--to train fighting dogs how to kill, and to enjoy it.
This can be dogs and cats, of any size--in fact, rescuers suspect that a
recently rescued cat was used in this manner. Often, a larger dog's muzzle will
be duct-taped shut so that he can't bite back, and the fighting dog will gain
confidence in killing a dog larger than he is.
4. Unspayed or unneutered
pure-bred dogs may end up as "breeding stock" in a puppy mill. Keeping your dogs
AKC registration papers is no guarantee you will keep them safe from
millers. Unscrupulous breeders, who use puppies as cash crops like other
farmers raise cattle, pigs, or chickens, aren't above forging registration
papers, or using those from deceased dogs. Rescuers have learned the hard to way
to make sure that all pets they place have been spayed or neutered before going
to new homes.
5. So-called "collectors" watch the
newspapers for Free to Good Home animals. These collectors truly believe they
are "rescuing" the animals but usually quickly end up over their head and are
unable to properly care for the dogs and/or cats in their care.