Freecyle - Advertising animals

morg_monster

Maybe in some situations people are moving so far; or cat is old or sick; and they think it would be kinder to rehome the cat locally rather than put it through a long car or air journey. Of course I'd guess such owners would take more care in the home their animal goes to than some examples you've given.

Also maybe it is people who need to rehome their pet and think that if they do it through freecycle, at least they will know where it went / if it went to a good home? Obviously if you give your pet up to a rescue, you don't know what happened to it. Again though, it seems that some people DON'T care so much about the good home part.

I am surprised at freecycle though; I think it is one of the rules on our freegle group that you can't advertise animals. Having said that; for certain people, if they weren't able to put their animals on freecycle, doubtless some of the pets would end up with a much less pleasant life than they would get from simply being hurriedly rehomed without extensive research.


I applaud you for staying in an unhappy relationship / living situation for longer than was needed to ensure that your cat was ok, but the fact is that there are pet owners out there who love their pets to bits, but would put humans above animals in the pecking order in some situations, despite it being heartbreaking. If these people were not allowed to have pets then there would be a hell of a lot more animals festering in rescues than there already are.

moneytracker

I think it good that people can post there animals on freecycle, that way only animals that really have no-where else to go end up in the rescue centres.

I also think that people probably use the excuse of "moving house" rather than having to go into any unhappy reasons as to why they must part with there pet.

EmptyPockets

morg_monster wrote: »

I am surprised at freecycle though; I think it is one of the rules on our freegle group that you can't advertise animals.

I think it does differ from region to region. Our Freegle/Freecycle did not used to allow any pet or animal posts - now, they will allow 'offers' of pets, but not 'wanted' ads. The offerer is also put on automatic moderation, until a taken message is posted for the pet.

getthemax

I used to be a mod on Freecycle and can confirm it's entirely up to the individual policy of each group as to if they allow animals to be advertised or requested on their local group.

Personally I abhor advertising animals through Freecycle as it relies so much on the integrity of the people giving the animal away and those receiving them. But there again you have to same problem with ads in papers, so I can't see any viable solution, especially when there are so many unwanted animals with rescues overflowing.

orlao

I wonder if it's because so many rescues are not accepting "hand ins" anymore because they are so full?

hethmar

I think its also because its the easy way out. If you contact a rescue it takes effort, time, questions and so on. But put an animal on free ads and its a job done in seconds. Course, you have no idea what sort of loonies the poor animal may be going to but its off your hands ........................:(

cyberbob

hethmar wrote: »

I think its also because its the easy way out. If you contact a rescue it takes effort, time, questions and so on. But put an animal on free ads and its a job done in seconds. Course, you have no idea what sort of loonies the poor animal may be going to but its off your hands ........................:(

That's incredibly cynical of you. Have you thought that the reason that some people advertise of Freegle to rehome animals is that they wish to do the best for them

A few years ago due to circumstance and a death in the family a friend had after a lot consideration decided she had to rehome 3 of her 6 cats. She decided that she did not wish to let a charity rehome them for a few reason. First of all our local Cats Protection has a pretty dodgy reputation and was once prosecuted for neglect. The other reason was because she had had these cats for a long while (years) she new them better than anyone else and the sort of homes that would suit them. and it would be less stressful for the Cats to go from her home directly to a new one. Rather than possibly spend months in some dodgy shelter.

So she advertised in the free adds papers and had a lot of people interested. She visited the peoples homes and in the end decided on suitable homes and these cats went there and had/have happy healthy lives (as the new owners kept her updated)

My friends assessment of possible new homes was probably tougher than any charity. I also know if Freegle had been around then she probably would have advertised there.

So not everyone advertising free pets on freegle is a bad owner. Some are good pet owners trying to do the best for the animals in difficult situations.

Also a lot of charities care for animals is not as top notch as some people think.

EmptyPockets

cyberbob wrote: »

Also a lot of charities care for animals is not as top notch as some people think.

I wish I didn't agree, but sadly that is very true.

Regarding Freegle though, as usual, it does come down to each individual case - this isn't something you can judge one way or the other. There are going to be owners offering up their animals and not giving a damn about their fate. It's a sad fact of life, and I'm sure there are cases where the animal does not have a happy ending. But, for the success stories, Freegle/Freecycle is a God send.

Not only do we have Bruce who came from Freegle, but in the past we have also owned a total of 15 rats - nine of whome came from Freegle. Three seperate people, over the course of a year or so, advertised pet rats who 'were bought for the kids and now they've lost interest in them'... etc etc... We took them on as experienced owners and those rats had happy, healthy lives with us. All except one lived to very old ages (3+ years) and most died in my arms either at home or at the vets.

hethmar

cyberbob wrote: »

That's incredibly cynical of you.

So not everyone advertising free pets on freegle is a bad owner. Some are good pet owners trying to do the best for the animals in difficult situations.

Also a lot of charities care for animals is not as top notch as some people think.

Yes, I didnt mean to generalise and Im sure there are people who actually dont even know that there are rescues out there to take animals. Im astonished how many times people I speak to think only the RSPCA exists and there are no other rescues at all.

So I should have said, "some" people see it as an easy way out and I still believe thats true. However there are people who arent aware of any other option. Fortunately there are people like EP above who are there to take some of these pets to a safe future.

But I spose I may get cynical because I hear day after day feeble excuses from people who want to get rid of their pets including the "or Ill drown it" lot and so on. In most cases its a very good thing for the animals to be taken away from people like this.

welsh_cake

I am a bit split on this discussion. I understand that sometimes people can't keep their animals for many reasons, but for me personally, i would have to be dying before I gave my dog away and i certainly wouldn't advertise on freecycle unless i could home check the people he was going to (thinking about it, even then i don't think i could give him away). I would probably have to find a family member who would care for him and that he knows. Having said that, i am very lucky and have lots of family who love Charlie. I feel people give up too easily these days. I have had some horrific times with my Charlie with aggression, behaviour, etc, but have never given up on him and never will. When i got him from the rescue i promised him that I would never let him down and so far i have kept to my promise.

Ps - Bruce is sooooo cute.