Not having all the information about this organization, obviously none of us are getting the full picture. However, I will tell you about our local humane society, of which I was a member of the Board of Directors for years.
We also required people adopting animals to use one particular veterinary for follow-up vaccinations and spaying/neutering. The reason being is that vet gave us a HUGE price break, and without it, we would not have been able to make it financially and would have closed our doors.
Here's an example: Our adoption fee for a dog was $70. If we would have had to pay for vaccinations at the customer's vet of choice, they would have been between $35 and $75 each time. And a spay would have been about $85. So we would be paying vet bills of at least $200 for a dog that we received $70 for ... and that is not including and office calls the other vet would charge. You can see where we could not have continued as a going concern like this for long. Our vet, on the other hand, was a strong supporter of our organization, and charged us about $3 for vaccinations and between $20 and $35 for spays and neuters. This allowed up to make a little profit on the adoption fee, which then allowed up to pay for food, utilities, more extensive vet care for injured animals, etc.
Believe me, animal rescue is NOT a profitable business. No one is getting rich doing it, and no one's pockets are being lined with kickbacks. Every organization I've ever come in contact with is struggling, barely making it. One very sick or injured animal can cost an entire year's budget in vet care, even at reduced rates. NO ONE is getting rich doing this. Most of the people involved at the higher levels of a rescue organization end up spending thousands of dollars of their own money, just to keep the doors open. So, sorry, given the fact that these people are devoting hundreds of hours per month to this organization, most often without any pay, and pouring their own money into it to make ends meet sometimes ... I don't think your friend should complain about driving a little further to use a vet that is probably giving this organization a price break.
As for the early spay/neutering, I can tell you what they are probably thinking there, as well. I can tell you from decades of rescue/shelter work, there are lots of people who do care about the pet overpopulation problem and want their animal altered. But, there are just as many if not more who either don't care, don't want to take the time and make the effort to take the animal down for a (free to them!) spay or neuter, or WANT to breed the animal. I've have a LOT of people tell me, when I called to check on their pet and see if they had it altered yet, that they "decided" to breed it instead, sorry. Never mind that they signed a contract, promising to alter the animal. They "changed their mind". Sometimes, when we used to wait until the animal was six months old before alteration, the people had moved, changed their phone number, or given the animal away to someone else .... not yet spayed or neutered. Once in a while, the animal had already been bred and was pregnant, if her first heat came a little early. Do you have ANY idea who disheartening it is to be devoting every moment of your free time and every dollar you can spare to try to prevent animals from dying due to overpopulation ... only to find out an animal YOU placed in a home is now three states away, or given to someone's brother's cousin's friend, or is already pregnant? THAT is why we started insisting on early spays/neuters. Yes, there are disadvantages ... as well as advantages. But it is SO much easier to get the animal altered while it's still in our possession, or within a couple of weeks after being adopted, than trying to keep track of hundreds of people for six months.
If you haven't run a shelter/rescue, you really have no idea what the people who do go through. When you see hundreds of people every year who violate contracts and don't care, you MUST take precautions. Try to see this from the viewpoint of the people who are struggling to save the lives of thousands of animals per year. It's not about your friend and her slight inconvenience, really, it's about making sure thousands of animals get homes, not the gas chamber.
"We give dogs the time we can spare, the space we can spare and the love we can spare. And in return, dogs give us their all. It's the best deal man has ever made" - M. Facklam
"We are raised to honor all the wrong explorers and discoverers - thieves planting flags, murderers carrying crosses. Let us at last praise the colonizers of dreams."- P.S. Beagle
"All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost. From the ashes a fire shall be woken, A light from the shadows shall spring; Renewed shall be blade that was broken, The crownless again shall be king." - J.R.R. Tolkien
I don't think my friend comprehended the part of where they would NOT hesitate to take the kitten away from her BEFORE they had processed her credit card in 30 days.
Or the kitten gets taken away!
I am very much FOR spaying/nuetering animals. However, I believe it is healthier for the animal to wait till AFTER it's first heat to be fixed. My cat had a HUGE bad experience with being fixed too young. I wish I had waited. My friend isn't given that option of waiting if she chose. There is much contraversial debate on this subject that I believe each owner should have the right to decide to wait or not wait. NOT to have it enforced upon them without doing research.
I had a dog I couldn't keep and the control office was full. They told me that the dog had a better chance of getting adopted at another shelter besides this organizations. There seemed to be serious issues between the two places.
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Originally Posted by Scooby4
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