We have all seen them, read them looking for a deal. I’m talking out the local swap and sell magazines or the online sites for selling or trading things. These sites are set up so people can sell things like tires, dining room tables or TV’s right?
Sadly, you would think so, but on every one of these sites, it is OK to sell a living creature — a being with a soul. I am talking about pets. Every one of these selling places allows people to trade or sell an animal. This is sad. To me, they are no different than a human. What would you think if you opened it up and read “5 year old child for sale. Just don’t have time for her anymore. Free to good home.” You would be appalled. I ask you, what is the difference?
In the last five months, the team at HHS and myself have saved eight dogs and one pig from these sites. All of them were being given away for free. The comments under their sad pictures makes my skin crawl. These people are not asking who these other people are, or where their pet will be going. All they want is an easy out and these places allow it to happen. All nine of these animals we saved were traded for something sadly.
I traded a girl a tube of flea meds for a pig — yes a pig — that she was giving away to a person in a trailer park, where pets were not allowed. I traded a man a carton of cigarettes for a puppy. He didn’t even ask me who I was. I traded a girl a bag of cat food for a 10-year-old dog, who she was giving to someone who wanted him for a “guard dog.” He is blind and going deaf. What is he going to guard?
None of these people asked me one question. It was like I was buying their used washing machine that was in the way. The saddest of these ads are the ones that are not truthful about the animal they are trying to give away. It is those ones that make my heart sink.
Chance was one of these animals.
I got a message from a girl who saw an ad and she wanted to know if I would try and help. I never say no. All I can do is try and talk to the person. Maybe I can offer advice on the right way to re-home. Maybe they will give me the animal. Either way, I have to try.
So I messaged the person and asked the story. She told me she got the dog from another site and was told he was 2 years old and healthy. After having him for a month, she realized this was not true. She had absolutely no money and didn’t know what to do. Instead of calling vets and shelters, she too posted him as 2 and healthy needing a home. I told her I would take him. She told me he could barely breathe and would not eat. I arranged to meet her in Presque Isle to get the dog.
When I got there and saw Chance, I knew he was dying. I found out he had been on these sites four times, all lying about his age and health. These people were never checked out. They couldn’t afford vet care. He was suffering. I knew I couldn’t leave without him. I took him home and called my vet, who came and looked at him and told me my thoughts were right. He was in fact dying of a tumor in his throat. I kept Chance one night, just to give him stability and love before he crossed the bridge. Someone owed him that. Had I not got him, he may still be suffering in a home that could not afford a vet. He is now at peace.
Another was Hamlet the pig. Being given away for free to a person in a place where he would be kept in a cage in the bedroom. I traded him for a tube of flea medicine for her cat. He now lives the life, with a girl pig, on a farm. His outcome could have been worse too.
These animals deserve better than being on the same page in the local swap and sell as tires or microwaves. They have feelings and require care. If you are having an issue and cannot keep your pet, please call the shelter. We will do all we can to help. Don’t let their future be determined by strangers you do not know. We as animal people owe them more than this!
The Houlton Humane Society is located on 263 Callaghan Road in Houlton. To contact the shelter, email animal@ pwless.net or call 532-2862 or visit www.houltonhumanesociety.org.
Heather Miller is the executive director of the Houlton Humane Society.
