I am getting really tired......

[Russ S]

He brought himself to my attention. I plan to watch him with interest.

Looks like someone's made a new friend.

 

[Sunrise Reptile]

Looks like someone's made a new friend.

:main_laugh:

 

[Ian S.]

Love the the ringneck...

 

[Wild West Reptile]

I know this is an old thread but I wanted to tell a quick story of my rescue/purchase. A few months ago I was checking out a local pet store I had never been to and after looking at the cages I decided that they needed some serious help in their husbandry skills if you know what I mean. The cages were filthy and looked like they had not been cleaned in weeks! I was upset with how the animals were being kept and was walking out to my truck shaking my head when I saw someone unloading what appeared to be a leo out of their car. As I passed by I asked what he had in the tub. He showed me a SHTCTB and explained that he was going to try and sell it to the store. Well after seeing the conditions which this cute little leo was about to be subject to I asked if he would sell it to me. Long story short, I gave him 20 bucks and took her home.

So I ask you....Was this a purchase or was this a rescue? Even though I purchased her (technically outside a pet store), in my mind I rescued her.

As a side note, 2 weeks later I found 2 eggs in the tank I put her in. They ended up being duds, but she laid a second clutch and I now have 2 fertile eggs that are a couple of weeks from hatching! The previous owner gave away the male, who he thought was another female. These will be mystery hatchlings as I have no idea what the male was. Pretty cool if you ask me!

 

[M_surinamensis]

So I ask you....Was this a purchase or was this a rescue? Even though I purchased her (technically outside a pet store), in my mind I rescued her.

A purchase.

There are people who rescue animals. They take animals which have life threatening medical conditions and they invest themselves completely in the rehabilitation of those animals; money, time, effort, emotion... it's a pretty intense expression of purpose backed by total dedication.

It's something I have run into a few times over the years. Individual animals, dropped into my possession and requiring extreme effort to bring to a point where they can be considered saved. I wouldn't call myself a rescuer, though I might say that a couple of those animals were rescued. I didn't seek the animals out, didn't have the intention to do good work, it was always just something that got dropped on me... rarely. I've done a bit of TLC on an animal that's in less than perfect shape or coming from less than perfect conditions dozens, hundreds of times, but those aren't rescues. There's a meaningful difference in the severity, the scope. A proper environment and a little light work tease feeding or removing a stuck shed or administering some medication to an animal that just needs to be treated right isn't a rescue, that's just normal pet care, within the boundaries of "stuff that gets dealt with every day." A rescue, a rescuer, is something much more.

There's something admirable about it, something noble. The sacrifice of self interest in favor of the well being of a living creature that needs it. People who do it, who genuinely do it, should be given credit and respect, should have their efforts acknowledged. Rescuers are people who dedicate every single iota of themselves that they have to give to something other than themselves. They don't give what they find convenient, they don't spend the time they have to spare, their efforts, their contributions override and consume all other concerns.

Buying an animal that needs a little TLC is different from devoting oneself to the difficult, arduous, draining process of rescuing an animal in the same way as...

Donating ten bucks to a relief charity by sending a text message is different than traveling to a disaster area and working sixteen hours a day for months on end to help the victims rebuild.

Signing a petition is different than laying down in the mud in front of a bulldozer.

Wearing a yellow rubber bracelet (they come in a variety of colors, you can pick your cause to match your outfit these days) is not the same as signing up for active military service, or volunteering all of one's free time in a V.A. facility.

Most people do a little bit, when they can do so without inconveniencing themselves, they give their ten bucks, sign a petition and buy a bracelet for a cause. Some people do a lot more, giving more than just what they can spare, throwing themselves into an idea, a cause, because they believe it is more important than their own comfort, their own desires... sometimes even more than their own needs. A rescuer, a rescued animal- those words were long associated with the kind of people who gave more than just what they could spare and the kind of situations that took a lot more to fix than just sticking an animal in an enclosure with the right temperature. It was something that really had meaning.

That meaning has been stolen. That credit usurped. That nobility undermined. By a new generation, maybe... by a change in the way we communicate perhaps... as a result of a kind of feel good consensus, where all these people who don't really know what rescuing an animal actually means get together and pat one another on the back for the neutral act of owning a pet. It has become anathema to admit to buying an animal for some reason that escapes my ability to understand, everything has to be a rescue, "I rescued this perfectly healthy gecko by buying it from this pet store." "I rescued this dog by answering a craigslist ad for free puppies." "I rescued a dolphin by signing a petition on Facebook." It is wrong, it robs the people who genuinely do that kind of work of their well deserved acknowledgement. It also mugs the English language and leaves the word broken and bleeding out in an alley, behind a dumpster.

So it tends to irritate the people who know what a rescue actually is. Although it probably doesn't irritate the actual rescuers all that much, mostly because they don't have the kind of free time required to mess around on web forums all that often. They're too busy rescuing animals to care about the credit. To my mind, that just means it's even more important that they get it.

 

[ILoveGeckos14]

I just started a foster care program in May at the SPCA and basically me along with the other 1,000+ foster parents make it possible for the shelter to take in more animals and not be such a high kill shelter. The SPCA doesn't pay for the animals coming in to be rescued so they are not rewarding the behavior and encouraging it. That is the difference I think people are trying to get at here. I can't imagine if the SPCA was paying to take animals away from irresponsible owners it would do much to solve the problem.

P.S. Giving back my first set of kittens was really hard , so I think I have to stick to adults from now on

 

[Wild West Reptile]

A purchase.

Yeah, once again your long, drawn out thesis has changed my mind.....Dammit!! But honestly, I wasn't claiming that I was a do-good, rescuer by any means. I was only trying to tell of an experience that related to the topic at hand. Sorry if you thought I was trying to glorify my act, I wasn't trying for that.

I did purchase her. I wonder if I said that I thought I purchased her, that you would have wrote a page and a half on why it was a rescue. Hrmmmmm.....:main_laugh: Nah....I'm kidding you Seamus.

Anyways, at least I got a cool gecko and some eggs out of it.

 

[Pinky81]

First off this thread made me chuckle!!

Here are my 2 cents:

If you go to your local shelter and pick up a dog, and say for example a young dog at our local humane society is around $299 for a spayed/neutered, shots, wormed, micropchipped and all around vetted dog. This in my eyes is a "Purchase" you are buying the Saved dog from the rescue who has already put in FAR more funds, time, and effort into the now saved dog. It boggles my mind when ppl complain that the humane societies charge too much for a "rescued" dog. What about the cost to remove the flees, the worms, the malnutrition, possibly IV fluids...etc etc it took to get this now healthy dog. if you do the math a spay of a female dog on average costs $200, then add in rabies vacc., annual vacc. worming (usually requiring multiple dosing), and quality food, and then the time and effort to help socialized train this dog. You get where Im going!!

Now if any of you have taken your herp to the vet you know that just an exam and fecal will almost hit that mark. I spent $150 for exam, fecal and medication for Clyde. And he wasn't even sick, just precaution on a possible belly burn. Now try to add up what it costs to take in a sick, malnurished, parasite ridden herp.

So going to your local Petco and buying there saturday special $29.99 Leo does NOT a rescue MAKE!!!

THAT IS A PURCHASE!

If you do a little research in your area I am sure you will find someone like myself who has maybe one clutch a year who is selling VERY healthy Leo's for the same prices you get at box stores, who takes tip top care of their breeders and animals. You just need to take the time out to LOOK!!! Join local Herp groups.

After seeing the skin and bones Leopard Gecko at my local Petworld selling for $95 (and Im talking skin and bones...you could see its skull!) I will not purchase ANY item from a pet store again. I get all my supplies off online suppliers, including those with banners above! I only purchase my dogs food from a local mom and pop pet store.

Rescue from a pet store and you are just supplying the demand.

 

[M_surinamensis]

Sorry if you thought I was trying to glorify my act, I wasn't trying for that.

I don't think you were. I think I remember you writing the story of how you obtained that gecko before, and I didn't think you were self glorifying then either. You just told a story.

Some people though... and I'm sure you can find examples if you look... they want credit, where it isn't really due. There's also the crowd that just cannot admit that they bought a pet because they saw it and they wanted it, it's always "Look at the beautiful new gecko I rescued from (insert pet store here)!" and a photo of a perfectly healthy looking, fat, clean little lizard.

 

[Pinky81]

Yeah, once again your long, drawn out thesis has changed my mind.....Dammit!! But honestly, I wasn't claiming that I was a do-good, rescuer by any means. I was only trying to tell of an experience that related to the topic at hand. Sorry if you thought I was trying to glorify my act, I wasn't trying for that.

I did purchase her. I wonder if I said that I thought I purchased her, that you would have wrote a page and a half on why it was a rescue. Hrmmmmm.....:main_laugh: Nah....I'm kidding you Seamus.

Anyways, at least I got a cool gecko and some eggs out of it.

Of course Semus would have...embrace it!
Of course you can get good pets from stores, but to call it a rescue?!? Its almost like tossing dirt in the eyes of those who bleed sacrafice (finacially and emotionally) for the welfare of animals who were truly rescues.

I can't take that from those ppl!

 

[Wild West Reptile]

One last thing....

Lets say I ran across the guy who shot the dog from the other post "how to piss a vet tech off" and I was about to gouge his eyes out with a plastic spoon (so it would be a longer, drawn out pain) and then I was about to do this :smash: to his head. If I was tackled from behind and he got away before I got to him, would that be considered a rescue???

I guess that's for another thread.....

 

[Pinky81]

Nope pretty sure in most states that would be considered Attempted Homicide!! LOL

 

[Wild West Reptile]

Nope pretty sure in most states that would be considered Attempted Homicide!! LOL

Damn! Oh well.......