Anyone ever dealt with this?

[meezermobile]

Hello, heres the scoop. I will admit that a few months ago I didn't know much about the over population of pets. About all I did know was the final conclusion. However I took it upon myself to learn as much as I could from all sides of the issue.

So armed with my knowledge I drafted a carefully worded letter to the editor and sent it in. The letter did get printed but he left out what I felt was a critical part. The part cut out simply stated that many pet stores get there pets from less than reputable sources and people should avoid them. These sources are what we all know about, puppy and kitten mills. I ended that paragraph with a simple statement. "No reputable breeder would sell their pets to a pet store". I suggested instead suggested that they get new pets from the animal shelter and wrote how friendly they are and how they genuinely care about the welfare of their animal (because they really do, I've witnessed it first hand).

Now I'm a big boy and I can take the cut, I know how things work. Their are only two pet stores in my city and one is shameful to say the least. The puppies in that store don't get ANY human interaction, except when they are fed, until they are sold. They are actually kept behind a glass enclosure like a mall display. Of course if this place is a sponsors of the paper do you think the editor is going to print a letter critical of pet stores, nope. What really bothers me is that the people who read my cut letter won't get a critical part of the message. I guess I was wondering is any of you have met up with the same kinds of sugarcoating of the issue by editors, politicians, etc.

All this is taught me is that you can't depend on other people to get your message out. You have to do it yourself if you want the entire message to get out. Thanks for listening.

Matt

[edit] Sorry for being long winded, I just had to vent.

 

[hissy]

Possibly they left it out fearing a lawsuit. Saying something slanderous in print without the right evidence to back it up sometimes leads to sticky situations. I know that a local petstore in my area only sells kittens that are taken from shelters, not kitten mills. It is the owner's way of helping. But there was another one shut down recently for abusing the animals to a degree I will not go into here.

 

[meezermobile]

Well I suppose the lawsuit could be an issue, however I knew better than to mention any particular establishment or even say pet stores in my city. But I understand what your saying, I think I'll send my letter to a national newspaper so it would have a better chance of being printed in it's entirety.. I just felt like I had to do something because the euthanasia rate in our city is over 70 percent. That to me is unacceptable and this was way my way of trying to get the message out.

 

[hissy]

Bless you for being a voice for those who cannot speak. I wish you the best!

 

[jeanie g.]

I too have nothing but praise for you for your attempt to make positive change. I agree that you should write to the editor of a large city newspaper. Of course editors don't have to publish every letter they receive, but if they decide to publish a letter if should be printed as written. Otherwise they are printing their own opinion, not that of the reader. In order to get your message printed, I advise you to keep your letter concise and concrete, and I I would avoid the words, "all" or "always." I wrote a letter to the editor of a small city newspaper. The editor called and asked my permission to change the word "my" to "our." That is as it should be.

A letter to the editor should be an exact quote. If it's edited in any way without the permission of the writer, it is no longer your letter, but the editor's version of the letter. A newspaper man should know better.

 

[angelzoo]

Good luck to you, it is not EASY to take on pet stores, of any size.

And most petstores who get their puppies and kittens from local breeders think that makes it "ok". You know they come from a real breeder and not some mill, so they think they are hero's. When they are really still just idiots.
Granted these local breeder pups might not have to suffer in the sweltering heat or cold in an unventilated 18 wheeler for hours, but in most stores they still don't get the attention and socialization that they need.

There was this one local place I used to live by, they had a bunch of puppies in these glass fish tanks, the tanks were filled with wood chips or aspen chips! And given soem little tiny water BOTTLE to drink out of. The cage had no top, any one of these dogs could have jumped out of they really wanted to and seriously injured themselves on the floor below which was about 5 or so feet off the ground.

Idiots.

Good luck. I couldn't even get a local petsmart to treat their rats decently! But that one has always been a well known problem store for the area's rescuers.