Ha ha, fooled you.
This topic is currently near and dear to my heart. See, last spring, we lost our 13 year old neutered tomcat. Our 8 year old spayed female was devastated at the loss of her playmate, and went into a bit of a funk. She came out of it, only to try and start playing with my small breed dog, who happens to be VERY submissive, and rather afraid of cats. Needless to say, while hilarious, it's not exactly fair to the dog.
So, it's been almost a year, right? The cat has recovered from her loss. The other cat is getting older, and may not be around much longer(she's around 16ish? We found her on the street 15 years ago, and she didn't grow any after we found her). We don't want the younger cat to go into another depression. So... Time to find another cat.
Now, I write up a nice little advertisement, detailing my home, the house pets we have, what I am looking for in a cat. I clearly state that I do not want to go to a rescue, and that I am willing to pay a "small rehoming fee" if the cat's a good fit, though I did not specify what my rehoming fee limit was.
So, I post this post to a local Facebook animal classifieds group. I go about my normal day, waiting for the responses from people who have kitties that fit my requirements(and they weren't strict requirements - no kittens, must be fixed, must have claws, must have no litter box or major behavioural issues, must get along with cats/dogs and be at lest a little bit playful, prefer between the ages of 2-8yrs).
I get a response.
"go to the humane society".
I reply back that no, I don't want to go to the shelter.
Next response : "go to [local rescue], all their cats are spayed/neutered!"
I reply back that I do not want to go to a shelter or humane society, that I am looking for a cat currently in a home, that needs a new home, and am hoping to avoid that whole messy shelter step in the middle.
After that, I get yet another response. This one was a long winded tirade about how I should go to the humane society and stop talking them down, and how I just need "an education."
Of course, I lose my temper at this point, and it ended up being a childish shouting match back and forth.
Why is it so hard to offer an animal a home without paying a shelter for it?
Why do people insist that the shelter is the only option for someone who wants a pet?
Well, I've thought about it for a bit(and fumed angrily. Very angrily.) I'm pretty sure this insane push for shelter pets is because of all the literature available on the internet as to WHY it is bad for the animal to be given away free to a good home. The literature that rants about the evil-doers out there who are taking your kittens and puppies, your cats and dogs, your rabbits, horses, hamsters and goats, for nefarious purposes with the intent to mutilate, torture and destroy them.
The problem with that rhetoric is that these types of evil-doers are just as likely to affect you as the ones that will steal an unattended animal, or that will take pot-shots at a dog out in his yard, or a cat in a window screen. The problem is, this problem has been blown out of proportion.
Now, there's quite a history of people misunderstanding or misreading what I am saying. Let me make this perfectly clear.
I do believe that the nefarious evil-doers exist. I do believe that there have been cases of people taking free kittens, or free puppies, and beating them, torturing them, feeding them to snakes, whatever. This does happen.
My opinion, however, is that this doesn't happen nearly as often as you think it does.
My opinion is that, the person who seems like a nice person who wants a kitty to keep him company is quite often just a nice person who wants a kitty. The family that wants a puppy, but doesn't want to spend more than $100 on the puppy is quite possibly a family that is aware of what the vaccinations, supplies, food, desexing, etc of their new dog is going to cost, and don't really have an extra $400+ on top of all the required costs to buy the dog in the first place. Or maybe, that senior on a fixed income looking for a fixed small breed dog really does just want a reason to get out of bed and walk in the morning, and can afford routine care, and just wants to open their home up to a quiet, mature small dog.
I often post rabbits for free. People who approach me for free rabbits go through a much more vigorous screening process than those who approach me willing to pay for the rabbit. It's a fair bit of work, but I have a great success rate in rehoming the "foundlings" who visit my home for a short period. Most times, the ones who weren't of good intention will go and find someone else who will give the animal away for less work.
More people need to be willing to take the time to investigate those they are giving the animal to.
This article right here, despite being very heavily AR, is actually pretty good on laying out some guidelines as to how to safely rehome your pet. The only one I do not agree with, and do not do myself, is the contract.
However, so much about rehoming pets is common sense, and that's just not something you can teach someone. You can't teach someone how their gut should react to a bad situation, you can't teach someone how an answer can seem fake and ring untrue. These are things they have to know themselves, that they learn through life experience.
I'm not saying that people should willy nilly give their animals to anyone who shows up with an interest. That is not fair at all. But I am saying, is that people don't need to be afraid of giving their animals to a home that sounds good, and that animals don't have to go through the shelter system to become a suitable pet for someone. I'm saying that sometimes, people don't financially value animals the same way you do.
When I posted my ad, looking for a free or cheap cat, I fully expected to be run through the wringer by anyone trying to rehome their cat. I expected a dozen questions, and then more new questions. I expected my motives to be questioned, and to have many false starts before I found a cat that was suitable for what I want, and meshed well with my current animals. However, I did not expect to be jumped on because I do not want to spend more than $25 on an older cat, that's going to need care the rest of its life, that may end up with an illness that needs treating down the road. I do not value adding a new cat for more than $25, which is one of the reasons I do not want to go to the shelter.
However, because of this no-free-pet movement, people are too afraid to even post that they have an older cat/dog to rehome, and they are afraid to respond to people that are looking for a pet outside the shelter system. The ideal behind this no-free-pet movement, to me, seems to be to have as many animals go through the shelter system as possible - there are animals who are wait listed to be put into the shelter, there are animals who's owners cannot afford the relinquish fee, there are animals who have been turned away from the shelter.
Apparently, these animals do not deserve a chance at a happy home, because the shelter system has not had their finger in the pie yet.