I agree with Wendy. I think the second paragraph is very harsh. I don't think it's so much the content or even the specifics that make it harsh, I think it's more the approach...and the graphicness. Your approach almost makes it sound like they are wanting something like that to happen to the cat and like they should know better, I guess. Personally, I had no idea until I got this email from you...so I know there are lots of us who don't know about these things! So you need to include the information, just maybe in a different way.
I took a stab at rewriting from a slightly less harsh approach. Feel free to use or edit this to your liking...or to throw it out. But at least it should give you an idea for ways you might be able to share the same information without turning people off. Good luck!!
Here's the paragraph (for some reason it's not pasting quite right
into my browser. Hope it looks right for you - I'm getting a really long line of text rather than a paragraph. But all the info is there):
Unfortunately, there are many people in the world who would take advantage of a free pet and use it for all kinds of unthinkable things. Believe it or not, there are actually people who use cats to train dogs to fight (encouraging the dog to aggressively mame and kill the cat), or to feed their snakes. There are actually sick, demented people who look for free animals to torture and beat until they finally get bored and kill them. Additionally, there are bunchers who sell free or cheap pets for anywhere from $30 to $100 to labs who will experiment on them and then kill them. I know you dont want any of these things to happen to Tiger, and that is why we require a minimum fee rather than allowing people to give away their pets. Marissa
wendy <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
I think you should leave out the second paragraph.
It's VERY harsh and will turn people off. Or at least
tone it down a lot.
:)
Wendy
--- Belinda <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>wrote:
> Hi All,
> Every once in a while I get people who post to
> the Adoptable
> FeLV/FIV/FIP and put free for the fee, it clearly
> say's at the TOP of
> the page this is not allowed, so I send them a
> drafted letter which I'm
> copying below with the reply I got from the person I
> sent it to. Please
> tell me if my letter is rude because that obviously
> isn't my intention
> and I don't want to scare anyone away BUT I do want
> them to realize how
> dangerous it is to post a pet for FREE. My letter
> follow below:
>
> >
> > Hi Kathy,
> > Belinda here, I admin the ads, and there are no
> "Free To Good Home"
> > ads allowed, none is the same as FREE. This is
> very dangerous for the
> > cat, there are all kinds of lunatics out there.
> >
> > I don't think you want Tiger to end up being
> ripped to shreds by a Pit
> > Bull in training to fight, or to spend his last
> few minutes on earth
> > petrified while a snake squeezes the life out of
> him and devours him.
> > Or maybe a sick, demented person who scours ads
> daily looking for an
> > animal to torture and beat until they tire of them
> and finally put
> > them out of their misery by killing them. Then
> there's the buncher who
> > looks for free or cheap pets to take to labs where
> they are
> > experimented on and then killed when they have
> served their purpose,
> > these bunchers get anywhere from $30 to $100
> dollars a pet from these
> > labs.
> >
> > Giving an animal away FREE is very dangerous for
> that animal and I
> > personally would rather euthanise a pet than take
> a chance that they
> > could end up in some horrible situation like those
> I described.
> >
> > I get emails every single day about some poor pet
> that has endured
> > horrible things until they finally died or were
> killed. I have even
> > been told by some of my rescues how a whole family
> will come to look
> > at an adoptee making them appear quite normal,
> only to find out later
> > the pet was tortured again and again until it
> finally died or was
> > killed. Please, please be very, very careful who
> you hand Tiger over
> > to, he is depending on you to make sure he is safe
> when he goes to his
> > new home!! Thank you.
> >
> > I'm not saying this to be mean, believe me I know
> these kinds of
> > things happen a hundred times a day to innocent
> animals. I've changed
> > your ad to negotiable.
> >
> > Please read these links for more info about how
> dangerous this is for
> > the cat:
> >
> > http://www.theanimalspirit.com/adopt.html
> >
> > http://www.petrescue.com/library/free-pet.htm
> >
> > http://www.parrett.net/animalaid/free.html
> >
> > I belong to a group of people who are all owned by
> FeLV+/FIV, most if
> > not all have other cats who are negative. Some let
> their cats mix some
> > don't, it's a personal preference thing.
> >
> > I personally had 6 cats, my Bailey was my FeLV
> positive, he was + at 5
> > months of age. I just lost him last month to
> anemia at 11 years of
> > age, he wasn't sick for all of those years. I just
> lost him in May
> > after a 5 month illness to what turned out to be
> cancer. He lived,
> > ate, slept, played with, groomed and on occasion
> had spats with all
> > his vaccinated, negative housemates for all those
> years and nobody
> > ever got it from him. It is almost impossible for
> a healthy, adult cat
> > to get it from a positive and if they ever did the
> healthy adult cats
> > immune system would fight it off.
> >
> > The bottom line is it isn't as contagious as most
> vets would have you
> > believe. AND FIV is even less contagious and
> harder to give to another
> > cat as it takes a deep bite wound to for it to be
> even possible to
> > transmit it from one cat to another.
> >
> > If your interested in checking the group out you
> can do that here:
> >
> >
>
http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org
> >
> > Please feel free to contact me anytime.
> > 253 891-1197
>
> Here's someone named Davids reply, just got it:
>
> > oh wow that was rude. did you think it was
> absolutely needed to go on
> > for 3 paragraphs about what COULD happen to him. i
> think you are the
> > demented one! these people will get there hands on
> animals no matter
> > what i say in my ad or what i don't say. but
> thanks for the help, i
> > guess. i have decided to keep him so take it off
> all way, creep!
>
> I'm afraid my reply was rude, I just am tired of
> people not reading or
> following directions and then yelling at me for it
> when I point it out,
> I lost it this time :(
>
> > I'm really tired of people like you who are
> *too lazy to read or
> > if you did follow directions tell me I'm rude*,
> *your email was VERY
> > rude*, mine was informational, but I wouldn't
> expect someone like you
> > to know the difference. Take the ad off yourself,
> it's a free service
> > and this is part of it being free!
>
>
> I usually get a reply saying they had no idea of the
> dangers and they
> are happy to learn about it. I've only had one
> other person be rude
> like this in all the time the service has been
> available.
>
> Please don't candy coat anything, I know I can be
> tactless sometimes and
> I only want to help these kitties that is the
> priority, so any
> suggestions are appreciated. Thanks guys.
>
> Adoptable FeLV/FIV/FIP Cats/Kittens
> http://adopt.bemikitties.com
>
> --
>
> Belinda
> happiness is being owned by cats ...
>
> Be-Mi-Kitties
> http://bemikitties.com
>
> Post Adoptable FeLV/FIV/FIP Cats/Kittens
> http://adopt.bemikitties.com
>
> FeLV Candlelight Service
> http://bemikitties.com/cls
>
> HostDesign4U.com [affordable hosting & web design]
> http://HostDesign4U.com
>
> ------------
>
> BMK Designs [non-profit animals websites]
> http://bmk.bemikitties.com
>
>
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