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Not sure where I can stand on this... our recent doggie came from Puerto Rico. We had no idea until we met her and proceed with the adoption from the local humane society. They then disclosed to us that they have no history of Mushu and she was transferred from a rescue over there. She is a year old when we adopted her. The humane society never explained why they accepted the transfer or why the rescue in Puerto Rico would pick this humane society to do the transfer with. They are a kill shelter! In fact, Mushu was on the list for euthanasia for lack of space. Why would so much $$ be spent just to transfer some dogs to a kill shelter? Mushu is not a desirable breed. Actually, she's funky looking: crooked face, walks with a limp with a square shaped body. And she is a bull dog mix, a breed not very easily adoptable in my area. It appears there are more to these suspicious transfers than we know...
If she was never transferred, would I still adopt her from Puerto Rico? Yes, no doubt about it. A rose is a rose. A dog that needs a home still needs a home, no matter where it's from. But I also understand OP point in this matter. There are rescues trading and shipping dogs to each other or moving to avoid being caught. They operate more like a business than a no profit - send this cute huskie from FL to GA because there is a higher demand in that particular shelter, even if the huskie is aggressive.
I used to volunteer at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary, near Kanab, Utah.
It's in a very beautiful, but very remote part of the United States. I was often DISGUSTED by the masses of people that meant-well, but would spend thousands of dollars & a dozen or more hours to fly/drive there to adopt and/or volunteer, instead of adopting an equally wonderful dog from a local shelter that was probably within a 1 hour drive of their own home.
I volunteer one to two times a week at a local shelter and make an annual trip to BFAS. I enjoy the area, get to learn/practice dog handling skills as well as get my annual Vegas fix. Yes, they are good at marketing and I hope they do bring back the Dogtown show, which they said was under consideration last year when I was there. I am fine with people who do their once-a-year "good deed" at BFAS. I'm sure there ones that do the same thing at Villalobos. At least they are doing something to help homeless animals. Also, maybe the experience does get them to start volunteering once they get back home.
Many no-kill shelters do 'pick-and-choose' the dogs they want. Sometimes, they get the ones they think are most adoptable, other times it is the ones most at risk. Either way, it opens a spot at the donor shelter for another dog, and/or delays having to put one down.
I used to volunteer at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary, near Kanab, Utah.
It's in a very beautiful, but very remote part of the United States. I was often DISGUSTED by the masses of people that meant-well, but would spend thousands of dollars & a dozen or more hours to fly/drive there to adopt and/or volunteer, instead of adopting an equally wonderful dog from a local shelter that was probably within a 1 hour drive of their own home.
While many did volunteer at local shelters, many others just came to Best Friends once or twice a year to volunteer for a few days, explore the nearby national parks & monuments, & thought that was enough to make them a wonderful person that cared about animals. They didn't care for their local shelters because the shelters weren't as pretty, and/or the shelter would euthanize animals. These fools didn't understand that Best Friends was a 'no-kill' shelter because they pick & chose what animals they allow to come-in, like a doorman at a trendy nightclub. Best Friends would usually select animals that had a compelling story so their massive media/marketing operation could broadcast the sad story, put the happy-ending spin on it, and use it to collect donations from naive people around the world who'd support Best Friends but ignore local shelters.
It's a society problem. Too many people aren't simply satisfied to tell friends they adopted a dog from and/or volunteer at their local shelter. They think they'll get more gratitude & karma by spending lots of time & $$$ to rescue/volunteer at
some distant place that can be more 'fun' to go to instead of their local shelter, where they're dealing with the aftermath of
their irresponsible fellow community members. In their warped thinking, spending $1200 (gas & hotel bills) to go to Best Friends & adopt a dog or cat is preferable to spending $2 - $20 (gas) to adopt from their local shelter & then maybe donating a couple hundred dollars to it. To me, it's an example of how dumb some of us humans are, and how strong BF's international lure is.
I did volunteer at Best friends for a week back in 2005 along with my two sisters, It was actually a fun vacation as we got to do something we all enjoyed and spend time together. Our local shelter has volunteers but the group is lead by a woman that can be difficult so I myself really do not want to have to deal with her nor do I have the time right now.
Not all people can find the dog they want at a local shelter. The shelters where I live usually are full of pit bull or pitbull mixes and Chihuahua's. When I got my last dog I was looking for a new agility partner so was interested with some herding breed dog mix and locally there was nothing. Someone I know posted a photo of a puppy in a high kill shelter in Texas ( I am in CA) and the minute I saw it I knew that was my dog and I adopted it and flew there to fly home with it. I have no regrets as I have had her 4 yrs now and she is a perfect fit.
I know this is more about overseas transports but domestic groups get a lot of flack, too. I volunteer for a domestic transport group. This was shared on the group's facebook page. It's not just people cherry picking designer dogs to sell.
I've done about 6 transports now. They've all been pitt mixes or hounds. No designer dogs have ridden with me but I have fallen in love with each one I've had the pleasure of driving.
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