Saving Beardies :/

[blue11]

i was just on the Beardie Rescue forum, and everytime i go on their it breaks my heart, but i LOVE to hear the success stories.
I was doing some thinking, and trying to see the UPSIDE to these craglist postings...even though most of the dragons look sick or mal-nourished amon or housed totally wrong among MANY OTHER things, i was kinda struck with a thought...
i know i get angry mad and sads when i see these listings, BUT at he VERY least, its alot better than them ignoring the dragon totally and just letting them die. If it werent for people getting their crap somewhat together, realizing that they need to re-home their beardie, then there would never be any rescues at all. To me the treatment of many Beardies we see on craiglist is totally irresponsible (not all, but the majority we see) ..... unacceptable. But i;ms trying to think of it like this:

some people have pets that they just drop on the side of the road when they dont want them or cant take care of them anymore, or tie up or pen up and totally ignore them instead of taking some sort of step to make things better. like dogs and cats ya know? The people that take them to the SPCA are at least giving them somewhat of a second chance. And i KNOW that there are special circumstances with EVERY animal/situation, life sometimes just throws us a horrible bone, and you have to what you have to do. Like having to give up a beloved pet.

I know it doesnt validate any sort of actions of getting a pet whether it be a reptile or a bird or a turtle or a dog, without THINKING ahead of time of the care they will need. Its so frustrating

But like i was saying, i do try to see the upside of anything, and these Beardies fates could be ALOT worse .... people could just release them into the wild illegaly, completely continue to ignore them and mistreat them, continue to neglect them, but they are making SOME sort of effort.
i was saying in the other post, its bitter~sweet ........

i understand that not all craiglist posting are bad, some are very healthy dragons that the owner has just run into some hard luck. And some, (seems like most) like the many we see, tear us apart inside at their housing, lack of light, total un-educated care or lack thereofe, and horrible looking conditions. I guess what im just trying to get out, is that if they didnt get off there asses and take the time to post a listing to get their beardie re-homed, think of how many sweet Beardies WOULDNT get a second chance.
*le sigh*
i just dont know. As we allllllllllllllll know here, they are creature like no other, and deserve nothing but the best. so KUDOS to all of you who are able to take in rescues. AND, KUDOS to ALLLLLL of you on here who have enough passion, heart, and smarts to love, cherish, and give our Beardies the best care EVER.
MUCH LOVE TO YOU ALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL, i adore and admire each and every one of you that keep continue to LOVE ON YOUR BEARDIES.
i feel very special to be a part of the community. and most of all, my beardie Blue does too.
KEEP UP THE AMAZING-NESS of you ALL!!!!
peace and light and have a BEARDIFUL DAY,
~Emily (and Blue )

 

[Claudiusx]

I wish I could see it the same as you.

I don't see it as them trying to make a right step, I see it as them realizing 'I don't want this reptile, but I can sell it and make some money!' If they couldn't get some money for it, I can guarantee you that most would be dumped, and thats what gets me all heated up :|

Like I said, I wish I thought like you, because It would at least save me from getting a bit more angry lol.

-Brandon

 

[blue11]

Hi there Brandon
yeah i know. trust me, i get soooooooooooo angry and upset. i just thought, ok, i NEED to find a small upside to it. It jsut sucks all around.
and yes, you are right about the money. :evil:
I mean, wow, WOW, I know if i had to god forbid re-home my Blue for some fod forsaken reason, i wouldnt charge a PENNY. Hell, id be buying things left and right like bulbs for future replacement, a lifelong supply of free collard greens at the grocery store, a check in the mail for upkeep, and a thousand gift certificates to online feeder websites to give to the person. Makes me sick to think about it though.
i feel ya, majorly. i dunno maybe i was having a "positive and enlightening moment" ...... lol, i dunno, there is one in Richmond VA that MAY still need a home, and im close to to Richmond ... its killing me trying to figure out a way to do this. Heart Breaking.
~Emily

 

[NightmareDisco]

I agree with Brandon. I see it as someone trying to make a quick buck for an animal that they have destroyed. They want someone else to clean up their mess. If they really wanted to help the animal after their neglect, they would give it so a rescue for free.

 

[blue11]

yeah, i was just saying that about the money up there.
i dont know, was just trying to figure out someway to not get so angry.

 

[Claudiusx]

Yeah Emily, I really should look at it that way too, maybe it wouldn't be so upseting. :?

But what can ya do? Hopefully, it will mean that person is never going to get another dragon again.

-Brandon

 

[Atrax]

I wish I could see it the same as you.

I don't see it as them trying to make a right step, I see it as them realizing 'I don't want this reptile, but I can sell it and make some money!' If they couldn't get some money for it, I can guarantee you that most would be dumped, and thats what gets me all heated up :|

Like I said, I wish I thought like you, because It would at least save me from getting a bit more angry lol.

-Brandon

I agree with you Brandon on this one. If someone would want what's good for the animal they would offer it for free to a good home and not take some unsuspecting begginer their money and than say that beardie is healthy ( most of these characters that post on CL are saying their beardie is perfectly healthy).

Edit: wow, how many posts in secs that it took to me write this. :shock:

 

[blue11]

Brandon,
OH i know, SO agreed, hopefully they will never, ever, everrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr again. and you are right, what can we do? We can advocate and educate. Cant save the world i guess. Wish we could. Yet, with all the tiny baby beardies selling like hotcakes non-stop out of pet shops, people are going to do this no matter what. And i, like you, just dont see why they are tryin to make a buck off of it if they REALLY cared more about the beardies well being than $$$. Blarg.

 

[Claudiusx]

Yeah Emily, It's got to the point that I don't even look at the beardie rescue forum because people keep posting links to Craigslist and I always click on them and see the beardie and it makes me sad :|

-Brandon

 

[MissT]

Someone close to me has a beardie. They decided they couldn't afford her anymore so they advertised her for sale on a site similar to craigslist. The tank they were using is mine an I told them they were not to sell it with her. They had a few calls then one girl called , wanting her as a mate for her male. The person selling the beardie told me she was selling it to this person. I tried tontalk reasonably with her but ended up screaming at her! I was so totally horrified that she would do such a thing. She spent the whole day texting me and no matter how many times I told her why I was upset she continued to take the **** out of me! In the end, she didn't sell her-despite her pretending she didn't care what I thought, somewhere along the way, I hit a nerve. I am selling her Huffs old viv when his new one is ready (her poor beardie is a year old and living in a 2x1.5 viv) but with the condition that if she ever sells the beardie, she must offer to sell me the viv... She does get well looked after- she is fed and bathed, good UV, tiles etc etc but for a while there she was just seen as a quick buck- it's hard to see past that

 

[reddragon087]

That is the whole reason I go to craigslist to get my bearded dragons, I feel I can take care of them more than the owner
if they have them on there trying to sell them. I'm very tempted to get another one, I have Loki right now and I'm tempted
to get her/him a playmate.

 

[Atrax]

I doubt that I will be fortunate enough to see the reason behind peoples *****ic decisions before I die.
It's much easier to understand an animal that in their whole life didn't said a word, than people that talk but don't actually say anything.

 

[blue11]

@Atrax so. very. true.

 

[reddragon087]

I was looking around craigslist today and saw this poor little guy on there, not far from where my mom lives. He's 1 and 1/2 years old, in a 29 gallon tank which is fine for right now cause he still looks small for his age, on what looks like molded moss and looks to be underweight and this guy is selling him for $50 for tank and what he calls decorations. I see no bowl in there for water, no food in there, its completely dark, there's no light on him and I'm seriously considering buying him just to rescue him.

 

[ziggy23]

I stopped looking at that stuff years ago. Sad fact, the world is full of suffering and cruelty, you can't save everyone and everything. There's no point in looking for it, it's just a matter of time before you find something that rips your heart out.

My advice, unless you are in a position to personally take it, don't go looking for one. You are just going to make yourself depressed and miserable. It does nothing for the animal in question. I know a lot of people think, well I might be able to find someone who can. Rescue burnout is a major problem. Good people do what they can, when they can. It's a huge emotional burden, and being bombarded with horror stories is one of the main reasons why people quit rescue. Then you have 1 less person to help when there's already not enough people. It's all about pacing yourself, and other well meaning people can make that very difficult.

I know it sounds really cold and like it's ignoring the problem but it's not. It is better for an individual to handle one or 2 at a time for the rest of their lives, rather than them take on 6 and get overwhelmed and quit after a few months.

If you want to really help, support better pet laws. IMO the best would be outlaw pet stores from selling animals period. There's a big movement to ban them from selling dogs and cats, why not add all exotics as well. Reptiles are the number one abused and neglected animal, and no one does anything. Let the general population know this and that the authorities often do nothing We are a silent minority and these horror stories rarely leave our little "club." The problem is and always has been this is not common knowledge with the majority. Animal rights have become a majority concern. More people now are convicted of animal abuse than ever before. i know it doesn't seem like that, but it is slowly getting better. I remember a time when killing a cat for fun was often overlooked. Now there's lots of outrage if it hits the news. The fact that animal abuse is even news worthy is a change that happened in my lifetime. I'm sure a lot of animal lovers would join in, if they knew. Changing things for the future is the ONLY way to curb this problem. Spending all your energy saving each individual animal is like trying to mop up the floor before you fix the busted pipe spraying out water.