I have been doing some in-depth research, looking at available furbabies on petfinder and on other websites over the past few days, and I am appalled by people's lack of compassion and emotional detachment. I had no idea the condition that many, many defenseless, helpless animals are forced to live in, at the hand of heartless, greedy and self-centered human (in the loosest sense of the word) beings. I cannot get the picture out of my head of the little yorkie, that could not even be identified what breed it even was when found, its hair a solid mass of dried feces, mud and grime, teeth rotting out of her mouth, infection in and on every part of her body, cowering in the corner of what looked like a pig pen in sheer terror.
That being said, I have also over the past few days gained a tremendous new-found respect for the passionate souls that rescue these creatures, make every attempt to socialize and nurse them back to health so that these babies might become adoptable, endeavoring to give each one a chance to live a life filled with the absolute opposite of anything they have ever known - a warm bed each night, a bowl of always-fresh water, nutritious food, a lap to rest on, a clean blanket, a hand that lovingly pets and a voice that comforts...surely these little ones must feel they have truly died and gone to heaven. And sadly some are never able to be adopted due to extreme behaviorial or health issues as a result of their previous life.
Yes, the craigslist posting is very disheartening...hopefully not "real" but honestly, it wouldn't surprise me.
Thanks for letting me share my thoughts (maybe this wasn't the best board to post this topic on). I am by no means an expert on this subject (actually pretty naive apparently) and I am sure most of you were already aware of these types of situations; I wasn't but I do have enough common sense and decency to be disturbed and disgusted by the things I have read and seen over the past few days.