Are pet stores bad?

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This page is about one of our past programs. The Jungle started this program and trained someone to take it over. Unfortunately that person decided the money was more important than the need for small animals to be be treated with dignity. Rescue animals should NEVER be bred! And anyone taking in animals and selling or adopting them needs to have the right licensing. Sadly the Jungle has no time for this program any more. So The Jungle can no longer provide this service. If you are ever contacted by someone claiming to rescue animals of any kind, ask for their license # and name. Check with the state they are licensed in. And be sure it is a RESCUE license, not a Commercial Breeder's License, Brokers Licence etc... Otherwise, your animal is just being used for someone to profit from and it will not go to a home that is screened to be a good home.

They just need to change a few things...

If you buy a sickly pet in a pet store, you ARE NOT rescuing it! One of the hardest things to do is turn away from a sick or injured animal. But when you buy it you may be saving that one-but you are creating dozens more. When you buy an animal it shows the breeder that they CAN make a profit with bad breeding. Please do not support these people! If you want to help that animal, plead with the pet shop owner to give it to a rescue. Find a rescue that will take it and give the information to them. They really do not want to be stuck with it either.

Be friendly and keep your judgements to yourself.

Here's how you can handle the situation: 1. Ask them if they would like you to help them find a local breeder who can give them the same price or better. THe reason even healthy animals do not make it in pet stores is because they ride on the trucks for days to reach the store. And usually distributors ship them off too early of age and do not prevent stress. 2. Some stores may even let you foster animals. But for heaven's sake, do NOT ask for the animal. This just looks like you are trying to scam them out of a free animal. Just consider that you are helping the animal without letting the breeder profit from you. A pet store will eventually stop buying from a distributer who sends animals that have to be nursed back to health. Unfortunately, sometimes distributers are the store's only option. That is why we have to offer them more humane solutions. Think of the STORE'S profit making. Make it worth it for them to stop using the mass breeders. They CANNOT say no to that, even if they have no heart! 3. If you think you can handle being a responsible breeder of even one type of animal, offer to do it for them. That is one breed that you have kept out of the assembly line breeding and off the trucks for days and weeks at a time. They cannot keep producing the animals if no one buys them. Put their distributors out of business! But don't be tempted to mass produce yourself. And check with the state Dept of Ag and your city to find out what kind of licensing you will need.

Be sure and read the progress I have noticed so far below in italics

I know a lot of rescues do not believe in breeding at all. These are my opinions. 1. Someone HAS to breed if the species is to survive and be improved. 2. People WILL buy from Back yard breeders and assembly line breeders if nothing else is available. Responsible breeders need to be the ones doing it, not factories! 3. These animals need to come into the world in loving homes, not dark bins that someone shoves food into. 4. They need to be handled and socialized to make them better pets. 5. But do your homework and a. make sure these are not animals that everyone is already breeding. b. Don't step on responsible breeders' toes. c. choose something to breed that is coming from the distributor or an irresponsible breeder. d. breed for quality, not quantity. e. Don't worry about demand, fill what you can breed humanely. You cannot beat the distributor right away. Be patient. It will happen. And people will wait to buy if they know one of yours is coming later.

And MOST IMPORTANTLY-

DO NOT send opposite sex groups of animals to the pet store. The biggest problem of overpopulation in the small animal world is being sold in opposite sex pairs and animals getting pregnant while they are waiting to be sold! Sending only same sex animals makes it a bit more difficult for novices to buy a girl and boy just on a whim to see cute babies born (then thrown away).

ARE PET STORES BAD?

Not all pet stores are bad. The drawback with pet stores is that there is no application process for animal purchasers. This is a goal we need to strive toward. Even pet stores that care about their animals have to make money. We will accomplish nothing if we picket, argue and boycot. I am not saying you need to buy your animals there. You should not if there are rescues that need homes. But pet stores are always going to exist and they are always going to sell animals! We have to work together if we want changes. We have to come up with better solutions for them. This is a long-term goal that IS reachable. Patience is a virtue. But we will never accomplish anything if we cause them trouble. Think of the end result. It will be so worth it!

After I had a couple of generations of my pocket pets in the local pet store I noticed dramatic effects here at my own rescue.

1. Fewer (almost none) pocket pets came to rescue. None of the pocket pets I have bred have come through.

2. None of the pocket pets that were bred by me were returned to the store.

3. The pet store never any of the pocket pets I have bred die or arrive/become sick. That boosted their sales up almost 50%. That certainly makes them stop using the distributors to have YOUR animals in their store.

4. There was not one pocket pet surrendered at my rescue while I was breeding responsibly for the pet stores.

These are only observations and stats from MamaDori's Jungle Rescue. It may not reflect everywhere. This could be pure coincidence, but it is hard to deny! You can do it too and it doesn't take as long as you think.

Extremists are the only people being heard by the government! Laws are being lobbied to require buying an expensive permit to breed animals. Bad breeders can afford these permits because they are not spending money on medical care for their animals. These laws, if passed, will knock breeders who do not take short-cuts out of the market. Breeders' money should be allowed to be spent on their animals' needs, not permits.

There needs to be people out there lobbying for high quality care in their animals instead of just permits. Breeders should not have to pay unreasonable costs for permits. I think if you can show quality care, then you should be allowed to breed. If you do not provide quality care, make THAT illegal. Isn't there a group out there somewhere that is not one extreme or the other? We can not have the option of having it our way until we find someone to lobby for it.

Problem is: quality breeders do not have time. They are nursing litters every two hours, giving meds, observing and socializing their animals. So how can we do this?

I also think that if people are required to provide QUALITY animals, the overpopulation problem may go down. People are not going to want to put money in animals for medical that they cannot sell. And pardon me, but many people who use sub-standard methods will not want to do the paperwork and will not want inspections. I would love to see all breeding left to the QUALITY breeders, whether you have one pair or more! No one else needs to be doing it.

Another thought: I get really tired of absorbing the costs of people who just don't care to even STOP their animal from getting pregnant, then just casually dump them on me with no where for these animals to go. So then I am paying for my animals health and well being AND for theirs. How nice that must be for them. We need laws that deal with those people; the non-breeders! Laws requiring medical care for any litter born would stop irresponsible people from letting their animals run unaltered without giving it a thought. Or what if there were at least a fine those people would pay and have that money go to caring for their unwanted litters.

It is possible that even the public who don't know didly about breeding or animals would more likely vote for quality requirements than they would vote for something that is an extreme with no other options. THoughts?

I understand why I don't hear about groups out there fighting for balance in breeding. You stand the chance of being attacked from both sides (breeders and rescuers). But I absolutely think that is going to be necessary for these new ideas of addressing quality breeders to NOT pass as law. We cannot stop breeding forever. That doesn't even make sense. There is no reason quality breeders should have to stop, especially when sub-standard breeders will NOT stop unless they are forced to.

Come on people.... doesn't anyone get it? It is not all breeders who are bad. It is bad breeders and people who are not professionals who are creating this problem of overpopulation. Let's deal with the issues of animals born that no one wants! Animals from quality breeders who give their animals the best care and socialization are not the problem.

I would like to inspire all of you to fight for quality in animal care! While the rescuers are out there spending all their time trying to comfort the unwanted, can't you be out there fighting for us? Fight for quality care in animal breeding. Fight for permits only being given to people who prove their excellence in breeding. Fight for making sure only WANTED animals are brought into this world.

Also check out "getting involved"