How do you make someone understand...

[Vegreenmom]

...that buying a pet from a pet store isn't "rescuing" them?

A ton of people on another forum I'm on have been posting recently about rescuing animals. I, as well as others, asked them where they got the animals (because they're not ones you would find in a shelter typically) they replied that they bought them from the pet store. The excuse was "They're better in my care than at that store!" and I was even told, "and it DOESN'T mean I'm supporting a mill of any sort" :mad:

I'm trying to explain the entire supply and demand issue, but I just don't seem to be getting through to these people (many of which are younger, around their early to mid-teens).

Any idea what I could say to make them understand that this isn't 'rescuing'?

[Animosity]

Give them all the details. information about health issues, images of the mills, Tell them that they are infact supporting that everytime they buy from a petshop, Then show them statistics from shelters and tell them everytime they buy from a petshop or breeder they cause an innocent life to be lost. Tell them even though it's sad to leave the animals in the store it has to be done in order for the demand to go down and eventually save animals like them from going through it in the first place. Yes, Those animals deserve a loving home but sadly providing them with one will infact insure future suffering of their kind. Help them find links to local rescue groups so they can find animals there instead.

[Vegreenmom]

Give them all the details. information about health issues, images of the mills, Tell them that they are infact supporting that everytime they buy from a petshop, Then show them statistics from shelters and tell them everytime they buy from a petshop or breeder they cause an innocent life to be lost. Tell them even though it's sad to leave the animals in the store it has to be done in order for the demand to go down and eventually save animals like them from going through it in the first place. Yes, Those animals deserve a loving home but sadly providing them with one will infact insure future suffering of their kind. Help them find links to local rescue groups so they can find animals there instead.
Thanks! By any chance do you know where I could find such shelter statistics?

[LovelyPerv]

I don't know what you could say about that... I'm sure that in their minds, the pets were alone and lonely...and now they're not anymore because they were purchased.

And, maybe their responses have more to do with shielding their guilt, once they've been made aware of the horrors.

Here you go, challenge them to look in the dumpsters behind the pet stores. But then, that'd re-enforce the idea that they are rescuing.

It's not totally impossible to 'rescue' a pet from a pet store, though. For example, a long time ago, I worked at PetSmart. Now, I've read the stuff out now about PetSmart, and it touches on truth...but not really. Yes, sick and injured animals are taken to a back room - where they are provided with space heaters in the winter, and they have their meds in little baggies, and they each had their own little clipboard. The only reason I bring this up, is because many of them weren't just sick, they were permanently messed up and could not be sold. So, every so often, we'd find someone in the store who is maybe talking about animal shelters, their adopted pets, or voicing concerns about the shipment of the animals, or they talk about one legged birds they had inthe past. We'd take them to the back room, and ta-dah! The one-eyed one-eared guinea pig that just had hernia surgery has a new home!

I'm busy with my dogs and cats, but in the future, if I wanted smaller pets again, I might hit the pet stores and ask about purchasing injured or sick pets that might otherwise be killed. Esp. smaller pet stores that don't have a vet readily available like PetSmart. I'd leave my phone number and offer to pay full price, so I'd be taken seriously rather than just a person looking for a free bird.

[Vegreenmom]

^
See that would at least make a little more sense to me. The animal is already in a position where it probably won't be bought, and it would probably end up dead.

However, some of the animals people mentioned buying were:
hermit crabs, feeder mice, puppies and kittens (of course), and hamsters. And they all just say things like "I HAD TO SAVE HIM!". It just bugs me for some reason. Most things don't get to me, I'm able to educate and move on. But every single time I see someone go on about how they rescued this animal and then I find out it was from a store...my heart aches.

[Huckleberry]

I really don't think you can make them understand. In another thread a vegan didn't see anything wrong with "responsible" breeding.

Have you explained that pet stores don't kill animals but shelters do?

[*AHIMSA*]

You cant make people unwilling to face reality do it. It's a very individual thing.

[Vegreenmom]

I really don't think you can make them understand. In another thread a vegan didn't see anything wrong with "responsible" breeding.

Have you explained that pet stores don't kill animals but shelters do?
Yup, I have explained that.

I think it's just going to be like anything else with animal rights (including not eating meat). All you can do is give people the facts and hope that they eventually understand and make wiser choices :(

[*AHIMSA*]

I think it's just going to be like anything else with animal rights (including not eating meat). All you can do is give people the facts and hope that they eventually understand and make wiser choices :(

Exactly. That's what I meant in my drunken post.

[peace]

For every puppy they buy, they're supporting the abuse of a puppy mill breeding dog like Mabel. (http://network.bestfriends.org/Blogs/PostDetail.aspx?g=569c59200aaa4c35908e35a0ad2fbdc3&bp=5772)
When she was rescued from a commercial puppy breeder, Best Friends described her as "a senior Beagle who is at least 50% blind, has only a few tartar-covered teeth left in her mouth, and is pregnant. Again."

Of course, the vast majority of Mabels are not rescued and live their entire lives out in a cage.

But as others have said, it's just like factory farming, fur, or any other animal issue. It's impossible to make someone understand or care, even with all of the evidence in the world.

[Fat Doug]

I don't see pet stores as any better than the old slave-traders of yesteryear - it's immoral to exploit the animals in much the same way as it was to sell on people

[nookle]

Hmmm... I got something in my email a couple of days ago about petsmart, and the place that supplies them pets. Apparently, in true peta style, there was an undercover investigation done, and there are a slew of discoveries, videos and photos. Try showing them that? A lot of the pictures are of the crates and boxes that they keep an untold amount of animals in for storage, shipping, etc., and that might really get the point across that in these situations, animals are really nothing more than a commodity to be shipped, fixed, sold for the highest possible profit, no matter what needs to be done. I know it really gave me that feeling quite strongly.

http://getactive.peta.org/campaign/petsmart_investigation

[skfamiliar]

what's wrong with buying a puppy from a legit breeder? yes there are animals that are in shelters that need homes, but a lot of people want a puppy, for various reasons.

[Kiramiabee]

I bought my dog from a pet store, so shoot me. I was walking past and I saw her (ironically enough, on the way to the animmal shelter) and I knew that she was the dog I was supposed to buy.

[nookle]

....and I knew that she was the dog I was supposed to buy.

:confused: ??

[Kiramiabee]

:confused: ??

Heh, I have a few strange quirks.

[nookle]

Heh, I have a few strange quirks.

Yeah....there is another girl called squeeze around here somewhere who has a quirk like that....

[VibrantSunrise]

Wait....what? Why is buying an animal from a pet store bad? This is the first time I've heard something like that O_o

[peace]

Pets sold in pet stores are bred in places like this:

http://stoppuppymills.org/inside_a_puppy_mill.html

When you buy an animal, your money supports the abuse of the breeding adults who are treated like machines and live out their days in cages--as well as the production of more cute puppies who will replace the one you bought.

It's so much better to save a life and adopt a pet from a shelter or rescue.

[nookle]

On top of the fact that the animals are frequently not given the care they need in the pet stores themselves. I think particularly the big chain stores - petco, petsmart, etc.

[Vegan2RawVegan]

Show them the documentary 'earthlings'. You can buy it at http://www.isawearthlings.com/ but don't watch it yourself - the images will haunt your mind!