Few Steps from Home

Free to Good Home? Think again!!

Shelters and rescues are frequently criticized for charging an adoption fee. "If you're so anxious to find homes for these pets," we're told, "you should just give them away."

This attitude makes us shudder. In the first place, these small fees in no way begin to cover the cost incurred for medical treatment and upkeep of the pets we adopt out. Yes, we're anxious to find homes for our animals--GOOD homes. And many people who take free pets do provide wonderful homes. However, frequently--much too frequently!--animal welfare workers are called in to rescue former "free to good home" animals. Read more here

Unfortunately, "free" is too often seen as "worthless" in the eye of the beholder. Animal hoarders, 'back-yard breeders' and people who train dogs to fight frequently search the "free to good home" ads in newspapers and online. This is how some people view a give-away pet:

FREE bait to train fighting dogs and greyhounds.

FREE snake food.

FREE sacrifice for satanic rituals.

FREE animal for malicious pranks.

FREE to a good home to breed indiscriminately

FREE fish bait

FREE money from the research lab

FREE animal to set on fire

FREE animal to do bad things to.

PLEASE don't offer your companions FREE to a good home unless you just don't care what happens to them.

Volunteers who work endless hours to save pets from the horror of abuse and homelessness bring this message to you.

So, now that you know, what can you do to help?

Some folks answering the "Free to Good Home" ads really are loving, responsible pet owners. Many are not. There are steps YOU can take to help end abuse:

DON'T advertise Free pets; DO convince others not to. Some people even take the time to phone owners of pets advertising Free to Good Home and warn them of the dangers.

DO ask your local newspapers to quit accepting, or at least actively discourage, Free To Good Home ads.

DO write letters to the editors of your local newspapers warning of the dangers of Free to Good Home.

DO spay/neuter to keep from creating possible Free to Good Home situations or condemning your pet to a short, miserable life in a puppy mill.

DO contact breed rescue organizations (there is one for every breed of pure-bred dog!) or local animal welfare organizations for help in placing unwanted pets; if you bought the pet from a responsible breeder, he/she will help you re-home the pet.

For more information and more steps you can take to help, visit: http://www.nowisconsinpuppymills.com/free.html