spicymakiroll replied to your post “tinypawpets replied to your link “Shelters Contemplate Breeding Pets...”
Big agree here! When I adopted Maki it turned out she had both kennel cough and tapeworms. The bill was all mine. Thankfully it was just a quick vet visit for the kennel cough and a dewormer to get the tapeworms under control, but it could have been so much worse. They just don’t take the time and funds to properly heal the animals
It’s really quite disgusting to me because I have occasionally taken in various rescue reptiles to foster and adopt out, and I would never think to do any of the shady shit that rescue dog people do here. When I get an animal in that’s in rough shape, I spend my own money to nurse them back to health and verify feeding habits and temperament before I ever start looking for another home for them. I kept “NotStaying” the ball python for a year due to a respiratory infection and infected rat bites that I wanted to be 100% sure were healed first, and then when finding a home I communicated that while I had not been bitten I could see some cage aggression and some serious agitation during feeding and so the new owner would have to make sure to take steps to avoid being bitten or be okay with bleeding when interacting with their new snake. I rehomed that snake which cost me close to $1000 total in care for about $90 which was the cost of shipping at that time.
The shipping company approached me afterwards and set my barely-used account to lifetime free shipping when they asked me why I only ship a single reptile once every couple years- I was honest and told them that my job sometimes gets reptiles in rough shape and I take them home and get them healthy and then give them to people who want them and seem to have researched their pet choice for cost of shipping. So now I can give these rescue reptiles I pour my money and hard work into away for free!
That should be the point of rescue. Not to make money. To make sure the animals can be happy and healthy in their new homes. Whatever the cost, whatever it takes. These are animals that did not ask to be abandoned and should be cared for properly before allowing them to change hands yet again. And snakes don’t even feel love or friendship! They don’t care about the social aspect! Imagine not giving a social animal that same consideration! Criminal imo.
