Boas donated for a good cause - cancer victim charity raffle

[ramanth]

This is a charity raffle for four snakes and all proceeds go to The Rachel Riskin Fund. Rachel is a beautiful 3 year old girl who just a few weeks ago was diagnosed with Aggressive Brain and Spinal Cancer. According to the Doctors at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, MD. where Rachel is currently a patient, only one in three children survive this type of cancer.

http://www.riversidereptilebreeders.com/charity.html

Such a sweet looking little girl. I'd love to win a boa, but we just don't have room. I plan to donate but will request my name not be put in the raffle.

So if you love snakes, or know someone that does, or if you just want to help, please give what you can.

[LilacDragon]

While I feel very, very sorry for this little girl and would love to donate $10 - I have a hard time with people raffling off living creatures of any type to raise money for any charity. Wouldn't it be just as easy to raise money raffling off, say, homemade quilts?

[Vela]

I agree with Lilac Dragon, especially something that can get as large as the Boas. I have one and they need specialized things to stay healthy, not to mention a lot of room. I'd rather they reaffled off something non-living as well.

[CathyBogart]

I cannot agree with live animals being used as a prize in a game. I hope that these animals end up with someone who has the knowledge and desire to care for them, especially the red-tail boas when they are 8-12 feet long. :(

[ramanth]

While I agree to an extent, I'm under the impression that this is being passed around to snake/herp/animal forums and not to the general public.

I would hope the person in charge of the raffle would screen winners.

On a cornsnake forum I'm on, live snakes were the prize for a photo contest and snakes are raffled off at Reptile Shows.

I didn't plan to post this into a yahoo chat or anything. Seeing as this is a pet forum, I figured there would be snake owners, and thus, some who may be inclined to donate because of it.

[Argranade]

I know it's nice and all there doing this for that girl but why not use a car or somthing,

I mean what if that snake goes to a bad home or a beginer snake owner. :(

Lucky person who gets that beautiful snake ... I just hope they know how to take care of it properly.

[Logan]

Kimmy, I hope that some good money can be raised for this child. How tragic! I can't imagine how her parents are feeling right now.

I, too, am against the auctioning of live animals, though. My daughter told me this week that for a fundraiser at school, 3 animals (cats and dogs) were auctioned last week. I was horrified and she knew I would be. If you know me, and I think you do, you know that I am terrified of snakes, so my reaction to this auction might not be so negative, but when it comes to the furry ones, I can hardly contain myself.

Logan